[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Pierre Lawrence

Hitch -

Yeeees???

The example you cited – the Adobe editor's (the pro version's) inability to repaginate a fixed format file, Adobe's own format, after adding a page renders it instantly useless. Just as bad, simple operations like deleting and adding text, cutting and pasting you take for granted with any competent text editor I found so daunting with the Adobe editor I gave up on them. That a company as prominent as Adobe would offer such a user-hostile product and charge a fee for it I found astonishing.

But, Pierre--it's NOT a text editor. I'm not sure what makes you think that it is, or that Adobe even really markets it that way. It's not a word processor. Given what PDF is--why it exists, how it's made, what it does, etc.--it's pretty boggling that any form of editing exists in the first place.

I mean, hell--take any modern PDF and open it in (current) Word. MSFT claims that it "edits PDFs." Go ahead--see what happens.

I don't give a crap what anybody says--you take a modern PDF, which has not one but two layers--the bottom of which is basically a series of images, of the pages created, and the top, which is a text layer--and then expect it to magically edit (I'm not saying this harshly to you, but this sort of thing, request, expectation, is something I see daily and it irks me)...well. That's just, let us say, HIGHLY unlikely. PDF is a remarkably complex thing, in its own right.

I have a little analogy I say, to people--I tell them that making a Word file is like making a stew--they can add as many ingredients as they want, change it, modify it, add this, etc. and it's still stew and (from the time the meat is cooked, anyway) it's editable at all stages.

But a PDF is like a cake. You take your ingredients (source files), mix 'em together and put it in a pan (PDF distiller/engine). It's baked (Source-->PDF) and then, if you don't like the cake, you have to make another one. You can't "fix" the already-baked cake, right? The cake (PDF) is the result of ingredients and processes. So too is the PDF--the result of your source files and your export-to-PDF or save-to-PDF, etc. processes.

It's baking, not cooking. (Finished document production, not word processing.)

PDF is like cake, no matter who tells you what marketing drivel. It's not a big deal--you just regenerate the (new) PDF from the (revised) source. Now, if you don't have the source, that's unfortunate, but--that's not the fault of the PDF, or the creators thereof, now, is it?

(Here endeth the cooking lesson.)

As to the cover problem, I first tried to solve it by adding the cover jpeg to the original odt text file (one click does it) using Open Office, and converting the modified file to pdf. It worked, but I wasn't satisfied with the appearance, and finally arrived at the fix discussed elsewhere for the pdf file downloaded from D2D. That file, viewed on the SumatraPDF pdf viewer, was much the best from an appearance standpoint compared to the mob/epub versions viewed on either the Kindle Previewer or Adobe Digital Editions.

Okay? I'm not sure why we're talking about that, but...I'm glad you found a solution.

As you surmised, I went to all this trouble to offer my novella for free to members of Library Thing (of which there are about 2.5 million, according to the site), in return for a review of the piece. Every month, through its “early reviewers” feature, LT allows authors to offer as many as 30 free copies of their book to readers in return for a review. For established authors, reader requests far exceed the copies available, typically numbering in the hundreds. I offered 30 copies of my piece as part of LT's “May 2022 Batch,” and received 37 reader requests for copies, of which only 8 were granted by the site administrator for various reasons. To these readers I emailed my ebook in all three formats, as none of the requestors specified which format he or she preferred. Four of the reviewers responded with reviews, three favorable and one not so favorable. One of the favorable reviewers was kind enough to post the review on Amazon.

Okay. Yes, if you're sending files directly, as you did, for whatever reason, then (most) Kindle users will need a MOBI file for the moment. That moment is passing, however. BTW, did you know that if you send a MOBI file to a Kindle for iPad user, they will not see the eBook the way it's intended? They should use AZK--but honestly, they're better off receiving the PDF. Using AZK would make them go through an entire Goat Rodeo that nobody should have to go through.

What effect the reviews will have on sales of the piece remains to be seen. They have been disappointing so far, and it may be that “psychic income” will be all that I ever receive from the effort (the connection I made with the reader who left the glowing review on Amazon, who “got” what I was attempting to do with the piece, made my day).


- Pierre Lawrence

Well, psychic income ain't bad. With regard to filthy lucre, the reality is, 99.98% of all authors, of all sizes, shapes and stripes, never earn more than pocket change or maybe even (wowzers) grocery money from their writing endeavors.

Hitch