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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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