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Winnetou · 10-18-2008, 08:11 AM

Hi Hit&Run … Karl May is an inspiration – he survived against all odds – and even prospered … until the ‘Guardians of all things German’ (Kaiser Wilhelm was at the helm, it was the time of the Boxer Rebellion in ‘the far away Orient’) went after him … it was a public mob lynching attempt par excellence that spanned decades, but, in the end, Karl May triumphed, only a few days before he died.

Hi slite (I wanted to tell you for some time – I like your Bernese puppy – I’ve written a book about the Bernese Mountain Dog, from the Australian point of view as I was the first person to import a Bernese into Australia directly from Switzerland in 1996 – injecting fresh blood into some truly good ‘old’ lines without the burdensome ‘modern’ genetic flaws.) Anyway – on with the quest of Karl May e-books … don’t worry about your French – I’m okay with that (I speak several of those languages myself <wince>)

Hi kacir … to your note: >>>So tell us. How do you want to publish, and distribute your books?
Do you plan to sell them?
Locked (DRM-ed)
or Unlocked (DRM-free)<<<<

okeydokey … it takes a minimum of 17 weeks for one Karl May translation (the way I work and structure the translation/edit/proofreading steps). And that’s on a ‘constant’ basis. As I said earlier – I’m neither a publisher, nor other ‘big business’, Karl May translations are a hobby for me (I have them on Lulu [the first ones are on BookSurge/Amazon, but the horrendous ‘royalty-trap’ made me run for the hills] because there’s no use in just stockpiling the translations in the broom cupboard).
Having said that … I would become an instant divorcee if I ‘give away’ my labour of love. Hubby has become used to playing the second fiddle next to Karl May, but he’s also very protective of my creations.
Locked or unlocked doesn’t mean much to me. Don’t forget – I’m a ‘printed book worm’ and e-books is an abstract concept to me (thus far). However (and I’ll blame Dave Berk for it [I’m sure he won’t be too offended]) I’ve become interested in making available my Karl May translations in e-book format because there are obviously people out there who would appreciate it.

So – no, I won’t make them available for free. No, I don’t want an impossible amount of money for them. I love the Lulu principle because the ‘formatting’ of the books is absolutely free, no fuss no hassle. If I chose to make them available to the reader, I can set an amount of money for myself – the system does the rest of the calculations. The PDFs are ‘protected’ obviously (believe me there are enough people out there who wouldn’t think twice about piracy on a Karl May translation – right down to ‘Hollywood talk’ … oh the crap that’s come my way because of what I do is unbelieveable [especially now that Karl May has entered ‘museum’ stage in his ‘home country’, which means he’s an accepted part of German heritage] and doesn’t belong here) – in that case, any e-book formats would have to be protected from that.

Distribution? No idea. I’m not a sales person (on the contrary – I’m a dunce with regards to that … hubby is the salesman…in white goods … LOL).

The short of a long story … I won’t give them away and I won’t do anything that would incur the risk of piracy (anything can be pirated, I’m aware of that, but why make it easy for them). Also … I need to be able to do everything myself – not becoming ‘involved’ with someone else on the project (but mobipocket didn’t work). Is that a ‘workable’ combination or ‘impossible’ ?

I'm open to suggestions and guideposts that would send me in the right directions ...

10-18-2008, 08:11 AM	#23
Winnetou Member Posts: 11 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2008 Device: none	Hi Hit&Run … Karl May is an inspiration – he survived against all odds – and even prospered … until the ‘Guardians of all things German’ (Kaiser Wilhelm was at the helm, it was the time of the Boxer Rebellion in ‘the far away Orient’) went after him … it was a public mob lynching attempt par excellence that spanned decades, but, in the end, Karl May triumphed, only a few days before he died. Hi slite (I wanted to tell you for some time – I like your Bernese puppy – I’ve written a book about the Bernese Mountain Dog, from the Australian point of view as I was the first person to import a Bernese into Australia directly from Switzerland in 1996 – injecting fresh blood into some truly good ‘old’ lines without the burdensome ‘modern’ genetic flaws.) Anyway – on with the quest of Karl May e-books … don’t worry about your French – I’m okay with that (I speak several of those languages myself <wince>) Hi kacir … to your note: >>>So tell us. How do you want to publish, and distribute your books? Do you plan to sell them? Locked (DRM-ed) or Unlocked (DRM-free)<<<< okeydokey … it takes a minimum of 17 weeks for one Karl May translation (the way I work and structure the translation/edit/proofreading steps). And that’s on a ‘constant’ basis. As I said earlier – I’m neither a publisher, nor other ‘big business’, Karl May translations are a hobby for me (I have them on Lulu [the first ones are on BookSurge/Amazon, but the horrendous ‘royalty-trap’ made me run for the hills] because there’s no use in just stockpiling the translations in the broom cupboard). Having said that … I would become an instant divorcee if I ‘give away’ my labour of love. Hubby has become used to playing the second fiddle next to Karl May, but he’s also very protective of my creations. Locked or unlocked doesn’t mean much to me. Don’t forget – I’m a ‘printed book worm’ and e-books is an abstract concept to me (thus far). However (and I’ll blame Dave Berk for it [I’m sure he won’t be too offended]) I’ve become interested in making available my Karl May translations in e-book format because there are obviously people out there who would appreciate it. So – no, I won’t make them available for free. No, I don’t want an impossible amount of money for them. I love the Lulu principle because the ‘formatting’ of the books is absolutely free, no fuss no hassle. If I chose to make them available to the reader, I can set an amount of money for myself – the system does the rest of the calculations. The PDFs are ‘protected’ obviously (believe me there are enough people out there who wouldn’t think twice about piracy on a Karl May translation – right down to ‘Hollywood talk’ … oh the crap that’s come my way because of what I do is unbelieveable [especially now that Karl May has entered ‘museum’ stage in his ‘home country’, which means he’s an accepted part of German heritage] and doesn’t belong here) – in that case, any e-book formats would have to be protected from that. Distribution? No idea. I’m not a sales person (on the contrary – I’m a dunce with regards to that … hubby is the salesman…in white goods … LOL). The short of a long story … I won’t give them away and I won’t do anything that would incur the risk of piracy (anything can be pirated, I’m aware of that, but why make it easy for them). Also … I need to be able to do everything myself – not becoming ‘involved’ with someone else on the project (but mobipocket didn’t work). Is that a ‘workable’ combination or ‘impossible’ ? I'm open to suggestions and guideposts that would send me in the right directions ...