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Old 08-18-2010, 04:23 PM   #1
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19 Free Gay Short Stories and Novels

Two appear to be full length novels. The rest are shorts to novellas, ranging from 2,000 words to around 18,000 words:

http://bookworld.editme.com/Free-Gay-Ebooks

Near as I can tell, these are all legit and were put up by the authors to allow people to experience their work. Most are in PDF format.

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Old 08-18-2010, 04:48 PM   #2
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Thank you, eric! Some of these are by authors I've heard of and wanted to try out their writing.

I only see 17 freebies; the two listed at the top of the page aren't free.

15 are PDF only; 1 is from smashwords in all the standard formats; 1 comes from 1romanceebooks.com (and is said to be available in several formats; I'll find out later on a non-work computer). One other is unavailable to me right now (can't go to file-storage sites).

Of the 14 I downloaded, only six have accurate metadata; about half are letter-sized and the rest are TPB sized. Several are locked. If I've got a bit more time later, I'll post a list of which ones are which.
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Old 08-18-2010, 05:01 PM   #3
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I'm not counting Duet or Painting Stephen. However I counted 19 total. Also, whatever I downloaded Calibre had no problem with converting to ePub for me, though most are in PDF format only. Then again, I may have missed a few of them when downloading. I just wanted to increase the size of my gay fiction collection. I don't really find any of these kinds of books for sale here in Israel. . .even in Tel Aviv (then again, English books in general are not exactly common here).
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Old 08-18-2010, 05:42 PM   #4
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Aha! Caught my mistake; I used a bulk downloader for the PDFs, and there were three I couldn't get and just came across as "unavailable page."

What I got:
  • Crimes of Passion by Mel Keegan: A5; 31 pgs, metadata accurate; Locked
  • Deadly Nightshade by Victor J. Banis: 5"x8"; 228 pgs, metadata accurate; also includes keywords
  • Don't Go Away by Jayne DeMarco: A5; 10 pgs, metadata accurate; Locked w/different method; I can't unlock
  • First Day of Forever by Mary Calmes: Letter; 55 pgs, metadata (no title, by Mary); double-spaced text - is tagged!
  • Gift Exchange by Lee Rowan: A5; 8 pgs, metadata ("GiftExchangeEbook" by dave)
  • Halloween Pickup by P.A. Brown: Letter; 7 pgs, metadata (no title, by pat)
  • If by Rowena Sudbury: 6"x9"; 21 pgs , metadata accurate; Locked
  • Lions and Tigers and Snares by Vincent Diamond: Letter; 29 pgs, metadata accurate; also includes keywords; Opens w/bookmark tab visible.
  • Memoirs of a Corporate Stress Reliever by Darla M. Sands: A5; 64 pgs, metadata ("Confessions-S10" by dave); Locked
  • Redemption by Sara Lansing: A5; 15 pgs, metadata ("Lansing-new" by dave); Locked
  • Semper Fi by S.J. Frost: Letter; 29 pgs, metadata accurate (author is "sjfrost"); double-spaced text
  • More than Just a Good Book by Sloan Parker: Letter; 18 pgs, metadata (no title, by SP); double-spaced text
  • The Telling by Eden Winters: Letter; 163 pgs, metadata ("Chapter One" by dee nations); Locked
  • The French Have a Word for It by Josh Lanyon: Letter; 30 pgs, metadata ("Layout1" no author); Large enough font to read on 6" screen if margins removed
Very much looking forward to reading the Josh Lanyon, Victor Banis & Lee Rowan stories. Thank you for finding them!
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Old 08-19-2010, 07:50 AM   #5
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Thanks for the link, Eric

Edit: and thanks for the list, Elfwreck!

Last edited by Ea; 08-19-2010 at 07:57 AM.
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Old 08-21-2010, 03:25 PM   #6
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Thanks all for the links and tips; a pity they are not in ePub format; I really don't like PDFs. But it's still a great resource!
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Old 08-21-2010, 05:05 PM   #7
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I just converted them to ePub using Calibre. In most cases you wouldn't even known they were originally PDF (though a handful do have the page numbers stuck in which is annoying, but I've learned to ignore that).

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Old 08-24-2010, 11:56 PM   #8
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Nice..Thanks for sharing. Will drop by the website once at home..
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Old 08-25-2010, 06:48 PM   #9
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Yes, those stories are legit and posted by the authors for the readers to enjoy. Not being very computer savvy yet (hope springs eternal!), I didn't realize the issues with formatting, or locked files. What can be done to ensure that readers can get the files? I'd be happy to drop a line to the admins over at GLBT Bookshelf.

Oh, and current count looks like twenty-one.

Last edited by Eden Winters; 08-25-2010 at 07:07 PM.
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Old 08-25-2010, 08:53 PM   #10
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It's me again. I mentioned the issue to the powers that be at GLBT Bookshelf, and they asked me to post this response:

"We just uploaded two more titles to our Free Gay Ebooks page, so the count is now 21. On the use of PDFs -- most of the titles on this page are posted by the writers, not the Bookshelf itself, so we're not actually in control of the file formats. But we don't *think* the use of PDFs is an issue, because this is still the most commonly read ebook format, and they'll convert to almost anything else. Most writers -- who are the folks posting these works to our freebies page -- publish/export to PDF becase it's what they understand, and the plugins to make PDFs are either free or cheap. It's very true that epub is also easy ... but this is still something new, something that has to be learned, not by publishers or web-gurus or computer-savvy folks, but(gulp!) by writers themselves, many of whom would still be more comfortable using typewriters! So ... please bear with us format-wise and, like us, give a nod of gratitude to the writers for their efforts and generosity in making these titles available free. Thanks to all on the forum here ... might I invite you to join the Bookshelf, and bring with you your experience? For example, someone could post articles about the "how to and why to" aspects of making epubs, and the benefits of this format over PDF. Such articles would be enormously useful, but it takes someone with the experience to write them! Cheers, Mel Keegan."


My own story, The Telling, is in PDF format because that's all I knew how to do. I'd gladly change that if 1) it would help and 2) I knew how. I like Mel's suggestion of one of you tech savvy people posting on the topic. I've read several "how-to's" on this site and must say that I am impressed.
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Old 08-26-2010, 04:23 AM   #11
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Hi,

It's actually very easy to do. The biggest issue is the page numbers and any headers or footers when you format in Word (or whatever word processor you use). Those need to be taken out before you save as a PDF. You want it to have only chapters and (ideally) you should have a table of contents with hyperlinks to the chapters (Unless it's a short story in which case it obviously doesn't matter). Then, just save as a PDF like you normally would, download Calibre, click "Add Books" and add your story. Then, click "Convert Books," make sure the thing in the upper right hand corner says "epub" (I think that's the default) and click "OK." You don't have to change any other settings. Calibre will then save it as an epub. You just look in the folder where Calibre saved it and there it is, ready to be uploaded to the web.

If you want, you can also click "Edit metadata" and put in tags (basically category identifiers) by typing in whatever you want, separated by commas in the tags section, a description and whatever other data you'd like to include. Though that isn't necessary to do.

Good luck. If you need more help, feel free to PM me. I'm an author myself (though haven't published any of my gay fiction yet) and also a bit of a computer geek, so I know my way around all these things, but it's really very, very simple.

And thank you (and the other authors) very much for making your work available. It's much appreciated. I haven't had a chance to read them yet (been busy and have a backlog of other stuff to read) am very much looking forward to doing so.

Eric
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Old 08-26-2010, 05:03 AM   #12
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@eric11210
It would be better to use .rtf as a source in Calibre. PDF is really the poorest choice of source file type and only to be used if you can't get anything better. If it's the author who converts, then the author will also have the option of saving a word processing file, such as for example a .doc, as an .rtf file.

For the creation of .mobi/.prc files, using Mobipocket Creator with .doc files is very easy, and creates good results as well.
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Old 08-26-2010, 06:13 AM   #13
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Good point. I forgot about that.
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Old 08-26-2010, 12:59 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Eden Winters View Post
"But we don't *think* the use of PDFs is an issue, because this is still the most commonly read ebook format, and they'll convert to almost anything else. "
True, for the most part. (Some locked PDFs won't convert. I have no idea why people hand out free promos as locked PDFs; I suspect it's a matter of "the software has a click-here-to-protect-your-file function, so I clicked," without realizing what it actually does.)

I like PDFs... because I'm a PDF fanatic, and I have ridiculous amounts of expensive software to convert to & from PDFs, and am perfectly comfortable cropping the pages to remove the headers, tagging the files, saving them out as Word docs, reformatting to 6-inch-reader sized pages, and converting back to PDF. For some files, this is a matter of a couple of minutes. (For others it's longer, and I won't bother unless it's something I want to re-read.)

Most people read PDFs on a computer, and are content with them looking "just like a printed book." Mobileread members aren't most people, in regards to ebooks; we have detailed opinions on *every* aspect of ebookery. And often, the first notion an ebook devotee gets is "throw out the idea that it should look like print."

We want some of the advantages of print--kerning, leading, easy-on-the-eye fonts--but ebook screens aren't paper pages, and don't have to cater to the limitations of print: margin requirements, putting as many words on a page as possible to cut down on print costs, layout chosen by designer preference instead of matching the reader's wants or needs. (We have *endless* discussions about what are, and are not, important aspects of ebook formatting.)

PDF is the format that best emulates print... with all its advantages, and all its flaws.

Quote:
My own story, The Telling, is in PDF format because that's all I knew how to do. I'd gladly change that if 1) it would help and 2) I knew how. I like Mel's suggestion of one of you tech savvy people posting on the topic. I've read several "how-to's" on this site and must say that I am impressed.
One of the key points for making ebooks for portable devices instead of computers is the metadata--the ebook device is almost always looking within the file for the title & author info, not just showing the filename. In Word, this is easy to fix; the Properties option (under the File tab in W2003; I have no idea where '07 hides anything) gives a dialogue box with title and author. (And subject, and company, and several other bits of less relevant metadata.)

Lots of ebooks are released with metadata saying indicating their title is something like "9780373150915_SAMPL.indd" because nothing was set, so the conversion program grabbed the InDesign filename and used it as title, and the author is often the first name of the person whose computer was used for the most recent conversion.

When those books get put on a portable reader, they often don't get read, because the person can't remember what they are. Or they get read ('cos I can see what I downloaded yesterday), but they don't get remembered; the reader forgets the author's name because it doesn't show up on the ebook list as she's scrolling through her device's contents.

Think of bad metadata as paperbacks with the front & back covers & title pages torn out. The book itself is fine, but the reader has no easy way to associate it with an author or publisher, no way to find more like it in the future. Because when we look at our "library" of ebooks, we're usually browsing either by filename or metadata, not by cover picture, which is inside the file.
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Old 08-26-2010, 07:11 PM   #15
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Actually, I didn't know I was locking the file. But then again, last version created was done by a beta reader (when I kept messing it up), so will have to ask. I'm getting one heck of an education here, and will direct Mel (of GLBT Bookshelf) here again, too. I will try to find time to redo file this weekend. Thanks so much for the info.
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