kepub: why does it exist?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by DNSB

...make it easy to get absorbed into the book. That is my preference 99.9% of the time.

That's the purpose of my editing as well - I want to get lost in the book immediately, not start to fiddle with the settings right after opening a new book, or feel annoyed with the publisher's formatting choices when I should be enjoying the writing.

[JSWolf]

The font CareInk6SP helps a lot as it has a reduced size space. Using it, I have a lot less hyphens then I used to and the space between words is smaller. So even if you do not use hyphenation, you'll not get as may rivers of space.

[kandwo]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The font CareInk6SP helps a lot as it has a reduced size space. Using it, I have a lot less hyphens then I used to and the space between words is smaller. So even if you do not use hyphenation, you'll not get as may rivers of space.

Yes, it's a great font. I switched to it from Literata Book, which also is very compact. I use it for all my non-fiction reading and some other books, too.

I personally have all my books as kepubs on my Libra 2. I just can't stand the sluggishness of epubs, and the impossibility to access any footnotes (please, just make them as big as the normal text! And pop ups.) in them.

In case I run into problems with formatting I just switch to Koreader, fiddle with the settings until everything looks good and then get lost in the book (hopefully!). I also feel much more comfortable playing around with the settings in Koreader, as they are book specific and I don't have to worry about what will look good universally.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by kandwo

In case I run into problems with formatting I just switch to Koreader, fiddle with the settings until everything looks good and then get lost in the book (hopefully!). I also feel much more comfortable playing around with the settings in Koreader, as they are book specific and I don't have to worry about what will look good universally.

I absolutely hate doing that - fiddling with the settings while reading. Doesn't matter if it's KOReader or native Kobo reader. That's why I edit all my books before loading them to my devices. Then the formatting is uniform and all I have to do is open a book and read. Bliss.

[kandwo]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I absolutely hate doing that - fiddling with the settings while reading. Doesn't matter if it's KOReader or native Kobo reader. That's why I edit all my books before loading them to my devices. Then the formatting is uniform and all I have to do is open a book and read. Bliss.

I understand that. I just can't force myself to take the time to figure out how to edit books to fit my perfect reading experience. And I'm not sure what that even is. Sometimes I'm fine with wide margins, other times I have to have huge margins, etc.

The fiddling happens once when I start reading and is something I can do rather quickly and then not think about it.

My problem is introductions and forewords. For whatever reason I feel forced to read them and fear missing important information if I don't. When I finally make my way through, I'm so exhausted that I can't be bothered with the actual book. It can then take weeks before I get started on it. Luckily, other books exist to keep me entertained during that period.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by kandwo

My problem is introductions and forewords. For whatever reason I feel forced to read them and fear missing important information if I don't. When I finally make my way through, I'm so exhausted that I can't be bothered with the actual book. It can then take weeks before I get started on it. Luckily, other books exist to keep me entertained during that period.

I always read them as well, but I mostly read pretty lowbrow genre fiction, most of those don't either have any introductions or have only very brief ones.

Nonfiction is rare for me these days. I read more of it when I was younger, but I no longer have the patience. Now I prefer web articles, magazines and such for nonfiction, not books.

As to classics and literary stuff, I did read quite a lot of it in my teens and twenties. Then I lost interest, for good it seems.

[JSWolf]

Another reason for KePub is that it's Kobo's DRM. So they don't have to pay Adobe for every eBook with DRM downloaded.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Another reason for KePub is that it's Kobo's DRM. So they don't have to pay Adobe for every eBook with DRM downloaded.

Well, some of us only download from Website to PC (or whatever), not via Sync, and that is always either Adobe DRM ACSM or DRM free epub.

Certainly Amazon used to use Adobe DRM and switched to their own to save money (before Kindle), but Kobo use of kepub is likelu more complicated.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Well, some of us only download from Website to PC (or whatever), not via Sync, and that is always either Adobe DRM ACSM or DRM free epub.

Certainly Amazon used to use Adobe DRM and switched to their own to save money (before Kindle), but Kobo use of kepub is likelu more complicated.

Also, added to my reason of not paying Adobe for every eBook with DRM, They don't have the latest version of RMSDK. So it could also be that Kobo does not want to buy the latest version of RMSDK and have to do the work to intergrate it. That would basically negate the need for KePub.

[Aleron Ives]

Originally Posted by kandwo

My problem is introductions and forewords. For whatever reason I feel forced to read them and fear missing important information if I don't.

It sounds like you'd save more time by editing your books before you read them. If you delete the introductions and forewords, then you won't feel compelled to read them anymore.

[kandwo]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I always read them as well, but I mostly read pretty lowbrow genre fiction, most of those don't either have any introductions or have only very brief ones.

Nonfiction is rare for me these days. I read more of it when I was younger, but I no longer have the patience. Now I prefer web articles, magazines and such for nonfiction, not books.

As to classics and literary stuff, I did read quite a lot of it in my teens and twenties. Then I lost interest, for good it seems.

Yeah, I started reading nonfiction just a couple of years back. And even now the vast majority of what I read is fiction. The problem with nonfiction books that I've encountered is that the publisher seems to demand a certain word count, which leads to many, in essence, long blog posts being stretched out to fill a book. Some nonfiction authors also seem rather drawn to writing fiction ("It was a chilly May morning and the birds had just started their morning singing as I rang on the professor's door ...").

I feel more stimulated and much better afterwards having read a classic or some other "highbrow" literature. So I try to fit that in whenever I can.

On the other hand, I'm into language learning, so in the languages I'm studying I tend to read easier stuff. The added challenge of it being in a foreign language is plenty stimulating. That way I get the best of both worlds

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

It sounds like you'd save more time by editing your books before you read them. If you delete the introductions and forewords, then you won't feel compelled to read them anymore.

Sounds like a great strategy! Except I would still know that they were once there.

That gave me an idea, however! Maybe I could just cut out all the introductions and forewords and save them as separate articles in wallabag and read them on the go. I generally don't opt for a book on public transport, for instance.

Thanks for the inspiration!

[Aleron Ives]

You're welcome. It amuses me that I have essentially the opposite compulsion: I assume that forewords and introductions contain spoilers, so I deliberately avoid reading them. Besides, I don't need some rando telling me how wonderful the book is before I've even read it. I'll decide whether it's a good book on my own, thank you very much.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

It sounds like you'd save more time by editing your books before you read them. If you delete the introductions and forewords, then you won't feel compelled to read them anymore.

But you might miss something important if they are deleted. You don't know until they are read.

[Quoth]

I'd avoid reading any preface, introduction or foreword added by the publisher years after the novel was originally published until after I read the book.

Do read the Prologue as it's really Chapter 0. Some people skip it due to confusion with a preface.
Sometimes there is "what has gone before" which usually can be skipped if you've read the earlier books in a series.
The preface, introduction and foreword almost always can be skipped, especially if not by the author, but it's unwise to delete them as you might want them afterwards or on a second reading.

[beedaddy]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Also, added to my reason of not paying Adobe for every eBook with DRM, They don't have the latest version of RMSDK.

How do one know which version of the RMSDK Kobo is using? Can I look it up somewhere?