http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Leiber#Fafhrd_and_the_Gray_Mouser

US Copyright is death + 50 years, correct? So since he died in 1992, that puts us at 2042. Do I have that correct?

How do you book heroes (Patricia, HarryT, RWOOD, Dr. Drib, et al) find your content? PG?

death + 50 in the US, how naïvely optimistic of you. that's the country of mickey mouse : you're lucky it's only death + 75 (95 ?) at the moment (they're lobbying for death + eternity*).

but if you're looking for something pd, you can try here as well :
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/

*but only if you were good.

On Feedbooks: http://www.feedbooks.com/discover/author/380

Thanks, Hadrien. The Sony Reader links (at least on the one book I checked) give a PDF, not an LRF.

So using this particular author as an example, say I wanted to create ebook versions of his works. I'm looking for a general outline.

1. Research copyright. How? Where? Tools, databases of works?
2. Find content. What sites? Do any of you scan/OCR your content?
3. Format as ebook. I know there are tools/tutorials here, I can research that.
4. Upload

Thanks, Hadrien. The Sony Reader links (at least on the one book I checked) give a PDF, not an LRF.

So using this particular author as an example, say I wanted to create ebook versions of his works. I'm looking for a general outline.

1. Research copyright. How? Where? Tools, databases of works?
2. Find content. What sites? Do any of you scan/OCR your content?
3. Format as ebook. I know there are tools/tutorials here, I can research that.
4. Upload

It's a PDF customized for the Sony Reader. You don't get the possibility to change the font size, but you get better typography (hyphenation).

For this particular example, this author is available on PG. I don't think anyone really scan/OCR/proofread all by themselves here. Some might be some proofreading for Distributed Proofreader or before creating an e-book version, but I haven't met anyone doing the whole process on Mobileread.

PH, I'm most glad that you're interested in uploading books here.

For copyright rules and where to check them see this thread: http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14163

For content, I mostly use PG and the Penn site that ZP mentioned. A few things I've found in the far corners of the web that weren't listed in either of those (no, these weren't pirated copies - we're only talking public domain stuff).

OCR? I doubt if many people use OCR at all unless they enjoy proofreading ebooks thoroughly. Way too much effort. That means I rarely start with PDFs since most of those are scans. Starting with HTML is best if it's available but a lot of stuff is only available in TXT format. It would be great to use the scans from Googlebooks but then we're back to OCR and I'm not going there.

Conversion: You didn't ask but I will point anyway to Harry's invaluable tutorial for using BookDesigner (a free program) in the first post of this thread on book creation: http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10313&highlight=tutorial&page=6
There are also other useful comments in that thread. Note that some people (like me) don't like BD much (although I use it exclusively). Some people use Stingo's Word macro to get started.

Uploading: See the Uploading Guidelines in the first post here:
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14163

And feel free to ask if you have any questions or problems. I've only done a couple of dozen or so (x3 formats) so I'm still a neophyte.

the Penn site also has an RSS feed of new books which is very nice, although you do have to wade through the innumerable "journals of the senate of the state of new jersey" (etc.), because they apparently repertorie *everything* that can be considered a book posted anywhere on the intertubes. but you can find some unexpected stuff there. and they repertorie PG books as well, so it's very convenient.

as for making books, i only tried BD once and didn't like it at all, although i will probably end up going back to it (it's terrible for making .imp books so now i use a specific app for that, but i would like to make all formats of my books from now on, so i might not have a choice) but a tip which will probably be pertinent regardless of the program you use : if you know html, use that as your source format whenever possible, and try to have the cleanest possible code. stay well away from word if you can avoid it ; it creates the most appalling html code i've ever seen (although, i have heard that later versions have the option to "export clean html" but i don't know how that looks). also, keep a backup of your source, and save early, save often.

Thanks, Hadrien. The Sony Reader links (at least on the one book I checked) give a PDF, not an LRF.

So using this particular author as an example, say I wanted to create ebook versions of his works. I'm looking for a general outline.

1. Research copyright. How? Where? Tools, databases of works?
2. Find content. What sites? Do any of you scan/OCR your content?
3. Format as ebook. I know there are tools/tutorials here, I can research that.
4. Upload


I've done all of it except for the copyright research, (I have done several keel-up scans of 19th century books (clearly P.D.) for P.G Australia). It's not simple and easy, but you get that "craftsman" sense of accomplishment when done (at least I did).

Equipment - OMNISCAN 3600 Scanner, Windows Professional SP2 computer, ABBYY Finescan OCR software (comes with the scanner). Budget 1-2 days per book.

After installing the scanner software and powering up the scanner, a typical book goes as follows.

I scan either 1 page per scan or 2 pages (flat) per scan. 1 page if the scanner won't hold the book flat. I scan 50 to 100 pages, the OCR software tends to choke on large scan files than that. Once the OCR is done, save each block of text with a different name. I save it in RTF format, as I find that format is the easiest to edit later. Repeat until the whole book is scanned.

Not the real work begins... Load the first block into Wordpad. (I find Wordpad simplier to proofread with than Word.) Put the book in your lap, and start reading an OCR block. Anything that looks odd in the block, compare with the text, and fix as necessary. You can't afford to get lost in the story, you're working... After you have done all the OCR block, use 2 wordpad windows and cut and paste the blocks together. Once the book is together, reset the margins to a consistant margin. Save the resulting e-book. Then take it and start the proof job all over again (you will find mistakes you missed the first time.) The OCR software is about 99.5 percent accurate, which means around 1 error per page....

By this time you will be heartily sick of the book you are working on. (after 2 pleasureless proofreading reads). Fire up Word and load the RTF book into Word. Save it as HTML. The result will be a single page HTML e-book (hurrah, send white smoke up the chimney!!) I don't know HTML, so I can't do the fancy hyperlinks. I also don't do LRF/MOBI/PDF, so for those you're on your own. (That's why I don't do uploads to Mobileread.)

Warning, the equipment isn't cheap, and it's work. But to me, there's the satisfaction of adding something to the e-book world. Pro Bono Publico

Your mileage may vary......

P.S. If you're going to do multiple formats, get a good file hex editor. You'll need it...

Ralph Sir Edward, i salute you. in fact i'm going to give you some karma as soon as i finish this. i don't think i would have the patience for all that, but i deeply admire those who do it. just one question, if you're preparing texts for PG, why take on the proofreading yourself, rather than allow DP to help you with it ? in any case it's admirable work. maybe you could upload your work in html format to the "other format" ebooks here, someone might take pity on your and convert it to standard ebook formats...

so what books have you contributed, for the next time i stroll around PG australia ?

Ralph Sir Edward, i salute you. in fact i'm going to give you some karma as soon as i finish this. i don't think i would have the patience for all that, but i deeply admire those who do it. just one question, if you're preparing texts for PG, why take on the proofreading yourself, rather than allow DP to help you with it ? in any case it's admirable work. maybe you could upload your work in html format to the "other format" ebooks here, someone might take pity on your and convert it to standard ebook formats...

so what books have you contributed, for the next time i stroll around PG australia ?

P.G. (US) uses a completely different method nowadays. You scan the pages as TIFF image files, and upload them (zipped) to P.G. (US). P.G. US does the OCR and the hands it to DP for proofing. The the resulting proofed file is sent to HTML specialists to make the actual book... Turnaround time, about 1 year. After putting 3 books into the assembly line, I got fed up waiting (after 6 months). So I talked to P.G. (AUS), who said I could do it myself, and they would upload. So I took 2 books on their want list (that were PD in both countries) that were in my library, and put them on the scanner and did them myself, from the ground up. I think I'll do the last one that I have on their list next week.

As to the books themselves, most people (even me) would find them rather dull (although I have a soft spot for The Crystal Button). (But as Cooch told Wal, "Somebody has to look after the scrag ends.") They are various forms of 19th century utopian fiction. Here's the list.

PG US - Mizora - 19th century feminist Utopian "lost world" fiction.
Pharoah's Broker - 19th century pure science fiction.
The Doomsman (Illustrated) - still in process - 1907 SF adventure

PG AUS - The Crystal Button. - 19th century Utopian SF story (similar, but not political, to Bellamy's Looking Backward). If you can put yourself in a 19th century mindset, it's not a bad read.
Man Abroad - 1870 Political Satire done as SF.

I would do Psi Casseopia (French 1838), but the translation is still under copyright.

Thanks everyone, and thanks especially for the pointers to existing, excellent, threads on general e-book design and editing. RSE, I'm impressed. The only part I fault (and please scale the word "fault" relative to the massive respect for the amount of effort you go to) is using Word to generate HTML. Word's HTML is so bad that I, in an official troubleshooting capacity for a software firm, do not support Word-generated HTML.

There are RTF to HTML converters available.

Thanks everyone, and thanks especially for the pointers to existing, excellent, threads on general e-book design and editing. RSE, I'm impressed. The only part I fault (and please scale the word "fault" relative to the massive respect for the amount of effort you go to) is using Word to generate HTML. Word's HTML is so bad that I, in an official troubleshooting capacity for a software firm, do not support Word-generated HTML.

There are RTF to HTML converters available.

I think that there's a special option in Tidy to correct HTML generated through Word.

Thanks everyone, and thanks especially for the pointers to existing, excellent, threads on general e-book design and editing. RSE, I'm impressed. The only part I fault (and please scale the word "fault" relative to the massive respect for the amount of effort you go to) is using Word to generate HTML. Word's HTML is so bad that I, in an official troubleshooting capacity for a software firm, do not support Word-generated HTML.

There are RTF to HTML converters available.

Undoubtable, but after gone thru 6 different hex editors to find the one that was what I wanted, I didn't want to go thru that again. Besides, as I didn't know HTML, I didn't know what was good or bad....(Dammit, Jim - I'm a mainframer, not a Web guru...)

My reading preference is still to read them in my RTF intermediaries.

Undoubtable, but after gone thru 6 different hex editors to find the one that was what I wanted, I didn't want to go thru that again. Besides, as I didn't know HTML, I didn't know what was good or bad....(Dammit, Jim - I'm a mainframer, not a Web guru...)

My reading preference is still to read them in my RTF intermediaries.

given your remarkable efforts i certainly don't mean to imply that you're not doing enough already :wink: but just in case you ever feel the urge to take a look at html there was a thread with recommendations for good html editor (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20619&highlight=html+editor) which might interest you.

(Dammit, Jim - I'm a mainframer, not a Web guru...)
:p

on a completely separate note, Taylor in the name of elegant code zealots and purists everywhere i'm thrilled to hear that you do not suppost word-generated html. not that i would have expected any less of you. i'd tip my hat to you but as you can see i'm not wearing one.

Since I am a complete idiot in HTML, could somebody recommend a good, easy, RTF to HTML converter program (commercial is OK, as long as it's under $100 US). Remember, I don't know HTML, so I can't go in and tweak the result...RSE

What RSE said is basically the way I added a few of the books I posted here and also for parts of the Harvard Classics series. I have four scanners her -- film (slide), flat bed, page, and auto feeder -- that are used depending upon the original source material. OCR programs are by Abbyy, Xerox, and Omnipage. For text editing I use UltraEdit. (As an ex-mainframmer it is the best text editing program I have ever used.)

The conversion from single lines to full paragraphs is often by Stingo's Word macro (available through the MR Wiki.) This also avoids a lot of the broken paragraphs.

Once loaded into BookDesigner, hyperlinks are added for the footnotes (although many are in-line right after the reference), graphics added, and titles (chapter and subtitles) are identified. One sticking point in BD is the need for another size font for captions. Currently any centered text picks up the subtitle attributes. I am studying calibre but I am not yet happy with the results (my html is also poor.) Covers are created in Corel Draw, Adobe Photoshop, or Adobe Illustrator.

Some books are quick, others take forever.

Oh, the pain of it all! I bleed for you, man. Or is it that you bleed for us?

Besides, as I didn't know HTML, I didn't know what was good or bad....(Dammit, Jim - I'm a mainframer, not a Web guru...)

For text editing I use UltraEdit. (As an ex-mainframmer it is the best text editing program I have ever used.)
... (my html is also poor.)

Careful, guys. You'll give us mainframers a bad reputation. Today's mainframes (err... IBM System z Servers) speak HTML as well as they speak VSAM.

I am a current mainframer supporting the CICS subsystem. Even CICS speaks HTTP, HTML, XML, SOAP, and all those cool modern Web technologies. Heck, CICS has even delivered a preview of forthcoming Web 2.0 capabilities in the form of a simple application implementing the Atom publishing protocol.

But, if you ever need help with HTML, let me know.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Leiber#Fafhrd_and_the_Gray_Mouser

US Copyright is death + 50 years, correct? So since he died in 1992, that puts us at 2042. Do I have that correct?


No, it's death + 70 years.

For text editing I use UltraEdit. (As an ex-mainframmer it is the best text editing program I have ever used.)
I've looked at it. I like Notepad++ at the moment, based on the Scintilla Edit Control, with code folding and syntax highlight for just about every current language.

I also like The Hessling Editor, which emulates Xedit on the mainframe and uses Rexx as the script language, and Hybrid Editor XE from a Japanese author, which also emulates Xedit. Both are cross platform and open source under the GPL.

THE: http://hessling-editor.sourceforge.net/index.html

Hybrid Editor XE: http://www.geocities.jp/sakachin2/index.htm
______
Dennis