Hi, ebooks lovers !
I'm from France and Switzerland, and I can assure you that ebook readers are not well known at all in these countries. It's a great technology, and I know a lot of friends who would just love getting one.
I'm a writer myself, and I've been giving out my book for free on the internet since 2002, chapter by chapter. I recently started a blog about writing and publication, and we've had already a very interesting article on ebook readers (written by a friend of mine, who holds a Cybook).
I would like to know if some of you would like to share their love of their favorite ebook reader :) It would be really usefull for the people who read my blog (mainly other writers, also interested in owning an ebook reader, and some people from French publishing house who would be interested in selling their books in ebook format).
I would need a presentation of the ebook reader (enthusiastic, if possible ^^) and some pictures, like the ones in the article concerning the Cybook :

http://blog.lesenfantsdelo.com/2008/04/06/photos-du-bookeen-compare-a-un-livre-de-poche-classique/

I would translate the article in french and post it on my blog, of course mentionning the name of the writer and their website, if you want.

Of course, I could just throw some wikipedia links, but I feel some real user interaction would be better :)

If you feel motivated for that, it would be just great !!! (and don't worry, I translate far better than I speak :))

salut !
i am in france and i agree, liseuses are not well known at all here. however, almost all of my friends have been very interested and enthusiastic when i have shown them mine (one notable, very refractary exception), and although none have bought any yet i think their main hesitation is the price.

i think your idea is very good, the more people who know about them, the more are likely to buy one, and the more (hopefully...) publishers will follow with ebooks, and the more ebooks are available the more people will continue to buy them and (again hopefully...) this should also make prices go down sooner and then even more people can buy them and the snake eats its own tail... :rolleyes:

i could possibly write something about my liseuse, however :
1. it is not a recent e-ink device (but i really want one !!! and i will get one, hopefully soon...) but an eb-1150 (which i adore, even if it does not have an e-ink screen, so i will have no trouble being enthusiastic), is this a problem ?
2. is there a deadline for this ? because i don't know whether i could do it *soon* (sadly, i do have actual work to do as well *sigh*).

bonus : you would not need to translate mine, i could write it directly en français. ;)

héhé, cool, another French here :)

No problem if your reader is not a recent one ! And there is no deadline for this, it's an open offer :)

I'm actually looking for articles on all kind of ebook reading devices, if somebody wants to make an article on a cell phone on which it's possible and more or less comfortable to read ebooks, it will be great as well !

The main answer I always get when I ask my readers or other people if they like reading free novels in pdf format is : "I would prefer a real book, because it's tiring to read on the screen and I don't always have my computer with me. You can bring a real book everywhere".

I'd like to show them that there is a bunch of other solutions. A friend of mine actually read my whole book (a bit more than 100'000 words) on her cell phone...

The main answer I always get when I ask my readers or other people if they like reading free novels in pdf format is : "I would prefer a real book, because it's tiring to read on the screen and I don't always have my computer with me. You can bring a real book everywhere".


PLEASE don't offer your books only in PDF format. It's the worst possible choice if you want the book to be read on a wide range of different devices. A format such as HTML or MobiPocket can be read on more or less anything, and can be easily converted to other device-specific formats.

I'm planning to release the book in prc format as well :)

You mean MobiPocket? Good!

Yes, mobipocket :)

I had to ask because other file formats, such as "eReader", also use a "prc" file extension.

Oh, ok, I didn't now. Yes, it's mobipocket. One of my short stories has already been transformed as a prc to be given out with some others as a "bundle" for the cybook, that's how I know the format.
Too bad it can't be read on the mac.

There's a lot of french people around here Vanessa, there's even a thread: http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12807

Hey, that's cool ! Do you think I ask for articles and photos on this french thread, or do you want me to stick to my own thread here ? (I'm asking you, because you seem to be responsible of the french thread)

Hey, that's cool ! Do you think I ask for articles and photos on this french thread, or do you want me to stick to my own thread here ? (I'm asking you, because you seem to be responsible of the french thread)

Well if you're looking for pictures and reviews from french users, I recommend asking in the french thread. We'll have a dedicated forum for french users pretty soon too, as soon as Alex finds enough time to work on it.

Ok :) I don't mind translating the articles, so ATM it's okay for me to stay in this thread, but I would love to see a french forum, and it would be great also for me because I could advertise it to all the French speaking people I know !

BTW, an article (French) about my brand new iLiad, with lots of pictures :)
http://blog.lesenfantsdelo.com/2008/05/04/iliad-les-nouvelles-photos/

So, anyone interested in doing something similar about their favorite ebook reader ?

I'm planning to release the book in prc format as well :)

hello Vanessa,

don't know where you release your book on Internet but I read you release'em as PRC format....what about releasing'em in both formats: PRC and PDF so also people which uses a normal PC/laptop could read it?... :-)

Ciao,
Luigi