e-Book Requests and Begging

[HarryT]

I'm eagerly awaiting the results of other peoples' book development. I'm starting to feel in a distinct minority here .

[NatCh]

Heh, more a distinguished minority.

[Bob Russell]

... or pathbreaking leader and hero!

[NatCh]

Yeah! "Trailblazer" -- that's got a nice ring to it.

[tsgreer]

I'd like to do some as well, but I am on a Mac (non-Intel) and I can't get BD to work in Virtual PC.

I use a great little program called Libriate that makes LRF's for the Mac, but it doesn't have the option to make table of contents. I can make a cover (being a graphic designer, it's my fav part of the process) and nicely formatted text, but little else. Works great for me personally but I know others like the working TOC. Sorry!!

Or how important is the table of contents to people? I can try and post some stuff but it won't have the flair of Harry's excellent books...

[RWood]

For most of what I read a TOC is a nice but not required feature. If it is something like Harry's massive Sherlock Holmes Omnibus then it is critical. For my recent post of the first Zorro book it is not needed. If you are posting single books it is a lot like distance signs on a road, it just allows you to know where you are along the path (and the page count at the bottom of the screen also does that.)

For me, please post them. I am sure that the cover art will more than make up for any (very) minor problem that a lack of a TOC may cause.

[tsgreer]

Thanks for the feedback. I actually never use the TOC either, but I agree that it's very useful for the bigger books and collections. I was just planning on posting individual books that I have been enjoying, so hopefully the TOC won't be missed. I'll add a disclaimer when I post so people will be aware...

[NatCh]

My 2¢: I can see the usefulness of a TOC for a collection or something complicated, but for most novels, I don't see much point -- I'm going to start at the front and go to the end, and knowing what pages the chapters start on is mostly irrelevant to me until I get to them.

Of course that also changes if I were doing some sort of research or review, but these days I'm not likely to do that at all, let alone trying it in the Reader.

[Strether]

Wanting to start with some shorter (and easier), I've formatted Trollope's first Barsetshire novel, "The Warden", with the idea of going through them all. I admit to some qualms about sending it in without someone critiquing it to see if it passes muster. Any volunteers? It's not clear, either, how it gets submitted for download.

I did do a TOC for it, mostly for practice; I have doubts about its use for a single novel, mostly because I can't ever remember using a TOC in a printed novel.

I learned a lot, thanks to Harry's tutorial. The tip about unchecking the auto refresh alone has saved me from continuing to pound my head against the wall.

Jim

[NatCh]

You can always upload a new version, or replace the previous version by editing the post, as you like, Strether.

As for submitting it, basically just start an new thread in this sub-forum:
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=126

You can look at the existing ones if you'd like an idea of what others have done. It's been suggested (in the interest of being able to find stuff later) that they be posted with the thread titled in the format: Author's Last Name, Author's First Name: Book Title.


I suppose that information would make a good "sticky" at the top of the Sub-Forum.

[UncleDuke]

mark twain. 1601 is a gas, mostly unknown but a gas.

[The Alternative]

No request... no begging... just a heartfelt thank you to everyone working on the eBooks on this site (especially HarryT). I, for one, am thrilled to see these books posted and wait patiently for each new upload. Keep up the great work!

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by NatCh

It's been suggested (in the interest of being able to find stuff later) that they be posted with the thread titled in the format: Author's Last Name, Author's First Name: Book Title.

Yes, if people do stick to that format for the thread title it makes life a lot easier, especially for titles that people are unfamiliar with!

I'll put together some posting "guidelines" and post it as a sticky thread here.

[Anais9000]

http://www.babblebooks.com/freebies/..._in_a_Boat.lrf

First in what I hope will be a long series of free ebooks.

More suggestions welcome...

[GKL]

This is a great effort to which I hope to contribute and get others to do so as well. This is far superior to the method used by Manybooks.

A Suggestion:

On the Harvard Classics, may using the title(s) and author(s) of the works in each volume and rather than the the title and author of Harvard Classics followed by a volume number. If one loads multiple volumes of the HC, he or she ends up with Harvard Classics Vol. __ as the title and Harvard Classics as the author with no real means of knowing what titles are in that volume (other than memory).