Backlist Ebooks--A source for inexpensive author-published out of print books!

[FizzyWater]

Originally Posted by Doranna Durgin

Gah! That's awful! I mean, I'm all excited that you bought it, but I had no idea that had happened to anyone. (Author = last to know.) Which book was it? *baffle*

I tried to send this as a private or public message directly to you, but it appears you don't have that feature turned on here. (By the way, it doesn't mean they can email you, it just means when you log in, you'll be told you have messages and offer to take you to that page).

Anyway, the book was one that was released on Fictionwise right before the Agency 5 cabel...late March, I think. The book is "The Reckoners". I included a screenshot of my Fictionwise bookshelf - it says I downloaded it 9/7, but as I mentioned before, if you do a "bulk download" it'll update the date even if the file is unavailable. I check back in every couple of weeks, but it hasn't been available yet.

[LynnO]

Originally Posted by Doranna Durgin

Hello!

Signing in as one of the Backlist Ebook mavens (still trying to decide if it's a good thing to be a maven), mainly to say "thank you!" for the comments and suggestions regarding the web site.

Pat has the wedding thing (!) and I have a month full of agility competitions (er, it's a doggy thing), but we're both looking forward to getting a simple non-FaceBook site up once we s/u/r/v/i/v/e/ enjoy those things. Not a blog, because the logistics of interim author wrangling are untenable, but a place with all the info we can provide.

We really do want to make this resource as usable as possible, as quickly as possible. 8)

Thanks!
--Doranna

Sounds good. While I don't mind going to a open facebook page (although I can't from work, even though we are allowed to do some personal surfing), I would prefer a simple web page with descriptions and links. I just didn't see that on facebook, but maybe I was in the wrong place.

[rleguillow]

I do hope you post an announcement in the News forum when you get a website up for Backlist Books. I don't Facebook at the moment and am resisting the blandishments of my nephew to change that... but I'd sure like to get my hands on some of these books!

Robin

[Doranna Durgin]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

I tried to send this as a private or public message directly to you, but it appears you don't have that feature turned on here. (By the way, it doesn't mean they can email you, it just means when you log in, you'll be told you have messages and offer to take you to that page).

Probably just my ineptness with the forum, re the email thing. Not to mention a complete schedule nova at the moment. (I'm in my agility trial phase, and generally wandering around with a dazed look on my face.)

I really would like to send a copy of the book, though, if you can stand one without the CE markup (that was all basically a house style process--just a few glitchy things). My email is doranna@sff.net, and if you don't mind emailing, surely we can find a place where our formats intersect...

[Darqref]

Originally Posted by Doranna Durgin

Hey, thank you to both Jeffrey and Dennis--those are perfect decision points to ponder. I appreciate it!

+1 for finding about you or your books though Baen Webscriptions.

I'm going to propose an alternate thought than suggested by Jeff and Dennis. Ergonomics is EVERYTHING!

If the device does not feel comfortable in your hand, or at whatever location you want to read, you won't use it. You want to visit actual stores and hold the units in your hand, check whether the buttons fall under your fingers, see if the screen matches your vision. If you can, find some of the lower-visibility brands, such as the Pocketbook units or the Jetbook units. You may find that color trumps eInk for you, or that the material you want to read just doesn't look good on the screen of a particular device or size. There have been cases reported here, of the other occupant of the bed being irritated by the click of buttons (and some devices have more "click" than others). Sometimes a backlight is important, or sometimes the physical size makes it easier for you to carry it with you. You can't really decide those questions without actually holding a unit.

Formats are painful, but realistically, if you have problems you can usually find a friendly geek to help navigate the conversions. But, I consider the ease of buying material (via 3G or WiFi or whatever) to be part of the ergonomics.

[Patricia Ryan]

Originally Posted by rleguillow

I do hope you post an announcement in the News forum when you get a website up for Backlist Books. I don't Facebook at the moment and am resisting the blandishments of my nephew to change that... but I'd sure like to get my hands on some of these books!

Robin

I'd like to get your hands on some of these books, too, Robin! We'll definitely post far and wide when we get our interim website up and running. Real Life is getting in the way for both Doranna and me for a couple of weeks, but then we should be able to get to it.

Pat

[ficbot]

How's this for a start, Patricia? I have only listed the Smashwords ones since that is my mandate a little. But I do have some authors listed on mine that you don't have

Some authors have really anemic author profiles at Smashwords. Makes it very hard to search for this kind of thing. I wonder if they realize how much easier it would be for people to find them, if they just list some basic information?

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Doranna Durgin

(I'm in my agility trial phase, and generally wandering around with a dazed look on my face.)

You are? What about poor Connery Beagle? He's the one that has to be agile...
______
Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Darqref

I'm going to propose an alternate thought than suggested by Jeff and Dennis. Ergonomics is EVERYTHING!

I whole-heartedly agree. Format and DRM narrow down what you look at when you are considering makes/models, as whatever you buy must be able to display the books you want to read.

Once you've done that, you start thinking about the experience of reading on the device, and how easy and comfortable the device makes it.

Jeff and I talked about the first set of selection criteria. You are taking it to the next step.
______
Dennis

[dreams]

Originally Posted by ficbot

How's this for a start, Patricia? I have only listed the Smashwords ones since that is my mandate a little. But I do have some authors listed on mine that you don't have

Some authors have really anemic author profiles at Smashwords. Makes it very hard to search for this kind of thing. I wonder if they realize how much easier it would be for people to find them, if they just list some basic information?

Here are a few more from my list.. (I haven't yet checked to see if these are on yours Patricia.)

Melanie Jackson - smashwords

Paul Levine - smashwords - MR member profile

Linda Palmer - smashwords

Robert Walker - smashwords

[FizzyWater]

Originally Posted by Doranna Durgin

I really would like to send a copy of the book, though, if you can stand one without the CE markup (that was all basically a house style process--just a few glitchy things). My email is doranna@sff.net, and if you don't mind emailing, surely we can find a place where our formats intersect...

Thanks so much for the offer. I just sent an email from my Yahoo account...

[Patricia Ryan]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

I whole-heartedly agree. Format and DRM narrow down what you look at when you are considering makes/models, as whatever you buy must be able to display the books you want to read.

Once you've done that, you start thinking about the experience of reading on the device, and how easy and comfortable the device makes it.

Jeff and I talked about the first set of selection criteria. You are taking it to the next step.
______
Dennis

You guys are right about ergonomics. I love my Sony PRS 505 (which I bought after the touch-screen version came out because the touch-screeen had gotten such lousy reviews). The problem with the 505, though, is that you turn pages by pushing one of two buttons, on either side of the machine. The one on the right is small and oddly shaped. The one on the left is fine, except that I had the MCP joint in my left thumb surgically fused a few years ago, so pressing that one is a bit of a challenge. I'm really looking forward to Sony's new touch-screen reader, which is supposed to be very sensitive, with no loss of sharpness and nice contrast.

Pat

[Patricia Ryan]

Originally Posted by dreams

Here are a few more from my list.. (I haven't yet checked to see if these are on yours Patricia.)

Melanie Jackson - smashwords

Paul Levine - smashwords - MR member profile

Linda Palmer - smashwords

Robert Walker - smashwords

Many thanks to you and Ficbot for these names! So far, Doranna and I haven't been actively recruiting authors--we can barely keep up with those who've been seeking us out. But it behooves us and our readers to have as large and diverse a pool of authors as possible, so maybe we ought to shoot off a few emails... after my daughter's wedding is over (this coming weekend) and my life returns to normal.

Pat

[Doranna Durgin]

Originally Posted by Darqref

I'm going to propose an alternate thought than suggested by Jeff and Dennis. Ergonomics is EVERYTHING!

Ah, yes! Ergonomics are really important to me, too. Luckily, I have an older Sony and a new Kindle nearby so I can "test drive" them to some extent. (Luck is a sister who is into tech. ;> )

--Doranna

[Doranna Durgin]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

You are? What about poor Connery Beagle? He's the one that has to be agile...
______
Dennis

Well, this weekend ConneryBeagle mostly overcame the fact that I was wandering around in a daze. ;> He's a good boy! And I didn't fall on my face, which is also good. Some dogs can be run by a less active handler, but ConneryBeagle is not one of them! It'll keep me young, right? ;>