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Old 05-26-2009, 10:07 PM   #171
Elsi
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Texas, USA
Device: Kindle; Sony PRS 505; Blackberry 8700C
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spacejock View Post
The publisher dropped back to sending Doc files after they discovered gmail was blocking the zip file containing the txt, html, rtf, etc versions. Still no idea why the zip was being blocked, unless it's the inline css in the html file.

I thought they were only sending the doc to people with gmail addresses, but it's possible others have slipped through.

Bear in mind this is the publisher's first foray into ebooks. I suggested the open, non-device specific formats like txt, rtf and so on, so they didn't have to produce different files for a wide range of devices. I know when I buy an ebook I'd rather have three plain vanilla versions than a bunch of proprietary formats ... and perhaps none for the device I really want to read the book on.

Cheers
Simon
This might explain it as I am using a Gmail address. My experience is that Gmail is much better at handling large attachments than any other mail system. If I had known that there was an issue -- in other words if there were *ANY* information available on the web site -- I could have supplied a different address such as the one associated with my PayPal account.

Simon, I can respect that you might prefer to get a plain vanilla version, but I for one want to get a book in a format suitable for my device, put it on the device and start reading. As I said before, I don't mind doing the conversions when it will benefit not just myself but other people, but I was surprised to be asked to do so for a *commercial* book. And WORD of all things! Ugh! HTML would have been a better "vanilla" format. And, if they provided a download site rather than trying to *push* the book via e-mail, that would allow the purchaser to pick the format he or she preferred.

Again, I'll recommend that your publisher take a look at Baen's web site. Maybe they can even work a deal with Baen to manage the production and distribution of the books so that all they have to do is provide a generic file type.

I'm still looking forward to reading the books and being delighted by the story.
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