Completely and utterly lost...LOL

[bboy121]

Hi all,

This is my first post on here but I am very lost. I am a merchant and am considering offering a book I am currently writing as either an ebook or a real book. I'm currently debating how I'm going to bind the books for the physical copies of the books, but for the ebooks I think I'm going with the software Calibre.

I've done a bit of reading on Calibre and understand that you can upload a PDF version of your book into Calibre and that will work for the upload process.

However, what about DRM? I really think DRM is going to be necessary for my ebooks because of the fact that I don't want people to be able to pass my book along to others without them paying for it.

Does Calibre have that capability? Thanks.

[Toxaris]

Forget about Calibre at all. It is a very good library management tool, but not so much for conversion. Not only that, PDF is the worst format to start from. A lot of repair/rework will be required if the source is PDF.
Second, also forget about DRM. It will be very expensive to achieve and is broken within a second. Not worth the effort. If you have a book worth reading and not too heavily priced, people will buy it.

[bboy121]

Hi, Thanks for your reply. However, what software do you recommend? And if not converting from PDF, what would you recommend?

I hear you on the DRM. I had no idea it would be expensive to maintain and could easily be broken. I had noticed on these forums others recommended not using DRM as well, but I wasn't sure of the reason.

Sorry, I am totally lost here. Any help would be very much appreciated.

[Toxaris]

Almost everything is better than PDF. A normal text based format as Microsoft Word, RTF, HTML, ODF, something like that.

There are various tools you can try, depending on your knowledge level and willing to have it as you want. Most here use Sigil for the final creating of the ePUB. Sigil works best with (clean) HTML. Some use Yutoh or Atlantis Word Processor. Those could be used if you have no real HTML/CSS knowledsge. However, you are then restricted to the layout they can provide.

[AlexBell]

Originally Posted by bboy121

Hi all,

I am a merchant and am considering offering a book I am currently writing as either an ebook or a real book.

Welcome to the forum, and I second the sound advice you've already received.

But I can't let your comment above go unchallenged. Ebooks are real books. They are not print books, but they are real books and have many advantages over print books.

[bboy121]

Okay and finally, do you have to have an EPUB reader in order to read the book (Kindle, etc.) or can you read EPUB files even without a reader?

Thanks.

[Jellby]

You can read them in a computer, in a smartphone...

[Arios]

Toxaris wrote:

Second, also forget about DRM. It will be very expensive to achieve and is broken within a second. Not worth the effort. If you have a book worth reading and not too heavily priced, people will buy it.

Totally agree with you.

However, you are then restricted to the layout they can prove.

Regarding AWP, limits are those of a relatively complete word processor in terms of functions. For a beginner who already knows how to properly use a word processor, AWP is a perfect solution, much cheaper than MS Word (you can buy it for $10), compatible with doc, docx, odt (can not save, however) and RTF. In general the produced epub is good and you can enhance it with Sigil after.

[st_albert]

I concur with the advice given above in all respects. I have used AWP in the past, but moved away from the Windows platform. It generates a very good basic epub that can be further optimized with Sigil. Both AWP and Jutoh seem to have desrvedly high reputations and strong support.

And now a word about DRM. The publisher I work for does not employ DRM, for both practical and philosophical reasons. (e.g. people should be able to format-shift their purchased ebooks as needed. Those who are determined to break the DRM and pirate the books, will do so. etc.)

That said, if you really feel you NEED DRM, it is provided (by default IIRC) by distributors such as B&N or Amazon or Apple at no cost to you. Only if you plan on distributing DRM'ed ebooks from, say, your own website would you need to purchase the very expensive license for setting up, say, an Adobe DRM server yourself.

HTH
Albert

[SBT]

Originally Posted by st_albert

That said, if you really feel you NEED DRM, it is provided (by default IIRC) by distributors such as B&N or Amazon or Apple at no cost to you.

Well, I wouldn't say a sizeable slice (30%+) of the revenues is a no-cost solution...

[st_albert]

Originally Posted by SBT

Well, I wouldn't say a sizeable slice (30%+) of the revenues is a no-cost solution...

Sorry if I was unclear. I didn't mean they would distribute your books for free. Only that they don't charge extra for DRM.

Albert

[Turtle91]

Originally Posted by st_albert

Sorry if I was unclear. I didn't mean they would distribute your books for free. Only that they don't charge extra for DRM.

Albert

I think what he meant is that the cost for their DRM scheme...and everything else for that matter...is rolled into the 30%+ cost that they charge for their "distribution" system.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by SBT

Well, I wouldn't say a sizeable slice (30%+) of the revenues is a no-cost solution...

Originally Posted by Turtle91

I think what he meant is that the cost for their DRM scheme...and everything else for that matter...is rolled into the 30%+ cost that they charge for their "distribution" system.

I think what you mean is that since they offer DRM to major publishers who would not otherwise be willing to distribute, the profits from there subsidize a hugely valuable distribution service for indies...

OK, I don't really think you meant that.
What I really think is that it's pointless and tedious to constantly try to spin-doctor the existence of DRM into some awkwardly contorted political statement every time it's mentioned.