09-05-2010, 01:16 AM | #1 |
I would prefer not to.
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Poetry Formatting
I have a question for those who read poetry on this device.
Are poems formatted correctly? I've ordered the device but don't have it yet. And I have no experience with any e-reader. What little poetry I see on the Internet is haphazard at best. Sometimes the formatting is correct, most times it's not. I'm curious what to expect from this device. Thanks. |
09-05-2010, 10:52 AM | #2 | |
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09-05-2010, 12:17 PM | #3 |
Nameless Being
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Unfortunately Amazon's MobiPocket format (*.mobi, *.azw) hog-ties a lot of the CSS which is used to control formatting. Couple that with the fact that a lot of publishers really don't understand ebook formatting concepts, and you get some horrible looking poetry formatting. Can poetry be formatted correctly in MobiPocket? Yes. Should you expect it to be? Probably not, at least until publishers become more critical of how their books look on ebook readers. At current most publishers treat ebooks as an afterthought. And most publishers are still living in their limited typesetting world. Until 2 or 3 years ago most publishers rarely even saved the electronic files used to create their printed books!
Last edited by jswinden; 09-05-2010 at 12:21 PM. |
09-05-2010, 01:21 PM | #4 |
neilmarr
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Good to have your company, DistantStar. My own wee house publishes two sole-authored poetry collections each year (they always lose money, but who cares?). They don't always work in ebook form because of -- well, let's say -- eccentric layout. We've overcome this problem in tandem with our poetry editor, Sam Smith, and his authors in some formats. But it's a headache. Best wishes. Neil
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09-05-2010, 10:43 PM | #5 |
I would prefer not to.
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Thanks for the well-informed responses.
I was hoping against hope for a different answer. Perhaps the future will provide a better experience. I guess we all hope that. |
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09-06-2010, 08:35 AM | #6 |
neilmarr
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Who knows, DistantStar? My guess would be that it's coming soon. After all, the devices we have could quite accurately be called prototypes.
Some of my own house's poetry collections do convert, but some in unusual layout form are available in only paperback and PDF for this very reason. And PDF ain't too hot on a Kindle. I'm having internet problems just now, but if you email me in a couple of days, I'll happily send you, with our compliments, a recent poetry release of ours that's available in Mobi and will work fine on your reader. If you visit our site (www.bewrite.net) you'll find details, extract and author bio on the front page of the store section to go with *Repulsion Thrust*. Cheers. Neil -- ntmarrATbewrite.net (but use the @ sign) |
09-06-2010, 08:41 AM | #7 | |
The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠
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