[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Nyet. Not if the publisher in question is going to publish on Amazon--and who doesn't? KF7, the older devices, don't even support CSS, much less CSS3. Can't be done, not reliably, which is what I'd said to the client's client in the first damn place. RE-LI-A-BLY. Sheesh. (At them, not you, Kats)

Which is a reason I prefer an app on a non-dedicated device. On a dedicated device, the viewer will be part of the firmware, and require a firmware upgrade if any are issued.

An app is a download and install of a new version. (I have enough various things installed on my tablet that I check for new versions every couple of days. Guaranteed, something got an update...)

And the understatement of the year award goes to...

I thought that was the case.

Oh, yes. We get a lot of crap about just this--we'll get a client, who has downloaded "new app reader that's being used by 10 other humans in the Known Universe" and want to know WHY the eBook(s) we made for them look crappy on said app. My usual response is: "uhhhrrr? I dunno." The books we make are warrantied on the big retailer devices, not every possible app. I mean--who could?

Not possible.

I first encountered FBReader in a version written in C that was available for Windows and Linux (and in a third-party build for OS/X.) It displayed ePub and Mobi, as well as an assortment of other formats. A special win for me was that it displayed documents in the format used by the Plucker offline HTML viewer for Palm OS. I have a large number of HTML documents I converted for reading on my PDA, and it was nice to have something other than the PDA that could read them.

FBReader for Android was a rewrite in Java for devices other than PCs. The attraction is multiple format support. It handles ePub and Mobi among others, with support for things like PDF and DjVu available through plugins. I prefer ePub, but if the only form a book is in is not ePub, I mostly don't care because FBReader will display it. FBReader doesn't handle content with DRM, but I don't care because I don't get content encumbered with DRM.

Moon Reader Pro seems to be the most popular/best regarded eBook view app for Android. I looked at it, and it's a worthy offering, but support for things other than ePub gets FBReader the nod here.

(On Windows these, I mostly use the open source SumatraPDF offering, which displays ePub and Mobi as well as PDF.)

That's because you have to be bloody daft to do it. We're doing an ENTIRE book--not a small one--in which the whole thing is a series of quotes/text messages, and yes, they ALL have rounded corners, but in the Amazon KF7 devices, they'll be single lines, not boxes, not rounded corners, etc. That client asked nicely, and understands limitations, so we'll go out on a limb for them--unlike Dildo #4,327 there, who thinks we're lazy. NOT the way to motivate me to try harder.

I bet. If I were trying to handle content like that, part of my initial estimate for what I would charge would include "You want X. We know from bitter experience that X is not properly supported on all devices the user might have to display your content. It will work on devices A and B, but will likely fail elsewhere. We'll do our best, but make no guarantees."

The thing that slays me is, I s**t thee not, we tell people about revisions costs not once, not twice, but three times, before they get to that point. We tell them about it, in DETAIL, in our Terms & Conditions. We tell them about it in a handout we provide, before they start the processed, called "Why a Proofed Manuscript Matters," AND, we detail it the third time in the instructions sheet for the Proofing form. Does ANYONE read those? S**t, NO. It's annoying as Hades.

Or they do read them, but somehow feel it doesn't apply to them, or if it does, they can avoid it by whining loudly.

I don't understand if those SS'es existed throughout time, or if they are a product of the Zeitgeist. I just don't remember EVERYBODY, EVERYWHERE, always thinking that they were sooooooooooooooooooooooo speshul. When did this start????

I think such folks always existed, but in the old days it was a factor of wealth and privilege. These days it's a lot more wide spread. It's something Christopher Lasch went on about in The Culture of Narcissism.

I swear, we really DO detail it, pre-contract.

See above about "It doesn't apply to me."

Oh, cr*p, yes. And professionals don't expect the printer, or the bookmaker, to pay for that stuff, but Ammies (Amateurs) seem to think that somehow, someway, we're their "publisher," (which we absolutely, positively, no doubt about it, are NOT), and that we'll take care of it. {sigh}. It's nothing new. It's just the SSDD.

I'm active in forums elsewhere with wannabes looking at self-publishing. Getting across reality is an uphill battle.

The prize winner was a chap up in arms about an AARP offer. AARP was looking for autobiographical content written by retired people, salable to an audience composed of retired people. They wanted book proposals for stuff they might think worth publishing. Bozo was concerned they might steal his idea and hand to to someone else to make a book. I tried to explain the basics of traditional publishing, and that reputable traditional publishers didn't work that way, but he didn't want to hear it. He decided to stop talking to me before I could get to the point of "What have you published? What have you even finished and submitted? I thought so. You're not a writer, you're a wannabe with delusions of grandeur, and you have nothing worth stealing even if anyone you point at did so in the first place." Probably just as well, since I'd already wasted enough time arguing.
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Dennis