Backlist Ebooks--A source for inexpensive author-published out of print books!

[Doranna Durgin]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

Thanks so much for the offer. I just sent an email from my Yahoo account...

Got it! I may be strangled by the office today, but we'll get there!

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Doranna Durgin

Well, this weekend ConneryBeagle mostly overcame the fact that I was wandering around in a daze. ;> He's a good boy! And I didn't fall on my face, which is also good. Some dogs can be run by a less active handler, but ConneryBeagle is not one of them! It'll keep me young, right? ;>

Sure. And ConneryBeagle is a good boy and a smart dog, who has done this before.

If you want a real challenge, consider what was involved in doing this:

______
Dennis

[Doranna Durgin]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Sure. And ConneryBeagle is a good boy and a smart dog, who has done this before.

If you want a real challenge, consider what was involved in doing this:

______
Dennis

*runs away*

[jes1]

The upside of using hamsters is you can stand in one place while the hamster runs, instead of having to run along with a dog. Hamster agility is the animal sport for couch potatoes.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Patricia Ryan

(This is from today's blog by my Evil Twin Pamela Burford because I can't say it better myself.)

“Where Can I Find Your Out-of-Print Books?”

Every author who’s been around long enough gets asked that question, and many of us have responded by self-publishing the books we have rights back to online as ebooks, at prices significantly lower than the original print-version prices. About a gazillion ebooks are now offered on sites such as Kindle Store and Smashwords, both previously print-published books and original electronic books. Sifting through all the choices can be a daunting task for readers looking for books by authors with a proven track record.

The good news? There’s a new page on Facebook devoted to bringing together authors who have published their out-of-print books in electronic format, and the readers who are eager to get their hands on those republished books. Here’s the description from the Backlist Ebooks page:

“We’re print-published authors who have released our out-of-print backlist titles as reasonably priced ebooks. Our Wall has announcements of new projects; check out the page tabs for the books we’ve put into e-vailability.”

The Backlist Ebooks page is well thought out and easy to navigate. The Authors tab lists participating authors (the number keeps growing), along with links to their websites and books. The Genres tab tells you who writes what kind of book. My favorite is the Resources tab, which provides valuable info about ebooks, where to buy them, what equipment you’ll need to read them (a computer is sufficient, no special player needed), and the various formats available.

This line from the info tab says it all: “We’d like to create a thriving backlist ebook community.” I’m very excited about connecting with readers and other authors on the Backlist Ebooks Facebook page.

*********

I'd like to add that we've got New York Times and USA Today bestselling author participating, as well as major award winners. Drop by Backlist Ebooks and check us out!

Well, I've tried not one, not two, but FOUR searches on FB and still can't connect to your page. That's entirely too much trouble--and I have a list of authors with backlist books they want to promote.

Hitch

[JSWolf]

Are there any free eBooks available so we could check out how the formatting is? I've found most ePub are rather poorly formatted and if I could not strip the DRM and fix them up, I may have gone back to paper books.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Doranna Durgin

Hi, Dennis!

Is it okay to ask those questions here? I'm nuts getting ready for this trial/working deadlines, so haven't further explored the forum...topic drift 'r' us...

Anyway, I know I'm looking for your basic ereader, and I even know it's between Sony and Kindle...

I don't need the device to do anything but read books. 8) And I plan to start my purchase list there on Backlist Ebooks, which seems to be equally friendly to either Sony or Kindle...

If you want to be able to check out books in the two most popular formats, my suggestion is to get both a Sony Reader PRS-650 and a Kindle 3. That way you can see how things look when you have your eBook made.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ficbot

I really think that in the coming 'ebook revolution' as we start hitting the tipping point here, authors will no longer be able to ignore these issues if they want to be successful. I mean, think about it from a business standpoint. Can you think of any other business where they would receive a letter that basically says 'here is my money in exchange for your product, do you want it?' and the letter will be dismissed or ignored?

I bought an eBook via Simon & Schuster's website and there was a problem with it. There is no easy contact at S&S to actually deal with eBooks. I finally got someone who passed it onto someone else who emailed me and after exchanging email I did end up getting my money back. But that's not really what I wanted. I wanted a working eBook. But getting my money back was the best that could be done. I do think these big publishers that sell eBooks direct do need to have support in case something goes wrong.

Most people would have given up and just called it a loss. That's the sad part. They would have paid for a product that was useless.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ficbot

But that's the problem: we, the end customer, have absolutely no idea who the Superwhooper Machine people or or how to contact them. The author does, even if it is only through an agent or third party. If you could reply to someone and say 'unfortunately, this is not my area but you can contact Joe Smith of XyZ Publishing, care of my agent, at this address' then I could understand. But 'shrug, oh well' is not really an acceptable reply to me.

I have written to authors, I have written to vendors, and I have said 'if you cannot fix this, can you tell me who can?' And no answer. It is unbelievably frustrating. Say, for example, you are a loyal customer who has bought every single book in a 30-book series and then book 31 comes out and is geo-restricted in your region. You have invested---time, money, brain cells, etc.---for 30 books so far. You are a sure sale. But yet...and then you write to the person whose name is on the book, and they say 'shrug, oh well' to you. Whether it is your *fault* or not, your name is on the book so you are that customer's face behind the curtain. If you are not the SuperWhooper person yourself, you at least are one level closer to them that that poor customer. And part of being that face, imho, is understanding that. And I think that as the internet brings people closer to those names on the book, this sort of thing is going to became more important and the people who won't, or can't give satisfactory answers will find their bottom line affected.

The problem with geo-restrictions is just stupid. Why is an eBook treated differently then a pBook? Why can people buy a pBook from Amazon.com who say live outside the USA yet they cannot buy the same eBook from the same site? I'm sitting at the same computer in the same part of the world and I'm using the same IP address. Yet, I cannot buy an eBook say in the UK if I wanted to. But, I could probably buy a pBook and have it sent here. A lot of publishers are dumber then dirt when it comes to eBooks it seems.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Patricia Ryan

You guys are right about ergonomics. I love my Sony PRS 505 (which I bought after the touch-screen version came out because the touch-screeen had gotten such lousy reviews). The problem with the 505, though, is that you turn pages by pushing one of two buttons, on either side of the machine. The one on the right is small and oddly shaped. The one on the left is fine, except that I had the MCP joint in my left thumb surgically fused a few years ago, so pressing that one is a bit of a challenge. I'm really looking forward to Sony's new touch-screen reader, which is supposed to be very sensitive, with no loss of sharpness and nice contrast.

Pat

I have tried the new 650 and found the touch screens to be very nice. The amount of swiping/pressure you need is very light. So that should be good for you.The new Sony's no longer have the touch layer so they are very clear now.

[starrigger]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Are there any free eBooks available so we could check out how the formatting is? I've found most ePub are rather poorly formatted and if I could not strip the DRM and fix them up, I may have gone back to paper books.

My Chaos books have a lot of funny formatting (as you know, Jon, since you worked on them). So far, they've come out of the Smashwords conversion system looking great in epub. I think that's because I assiduously followed the style guide with respect to Word styles and other things that can cause problems. They also say that they recently upgraded the "Meatgrinder," so maybe that's part of it, too.

But the ability to easily upload corrections and tweaks on SW is something I haven't seen in other systems. Kindle store isn't bad, but SW is better.

[starrigger]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I have tried the new 650 and found the touch screens to be very nice. The amount of swiping/pressure you need is very light. So that should be good for you.The new Sony's no longer have the touch layer so they are very clear now.

I haven't seen the new ones. But the swiping pressure on the 700 is very light and responsive also--as long as you use the back of a fingernail instead of a fingertip. I know the touch layer got a lot of flack because it reduced contrast. But I've always appreciated it because it's pliable and makes the screen less breakable.

[mish]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Well, I've tried not one, not two, but FOUR searches on FB and still can't connect to your page. That's entirely too much trouble--and I have a list of authors with backlist books they want to promote.

Hitch

I just clicked the link in Patricia's post and went right to it...easy peasy

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by mish

I just clicked the link in Patricia's post and went right to it...easy peasy

Let me rephrase: I tried 5 searches from within Facebook itself and not one returned their page--not even one in which I used their URL. My point was that I can send authors there--but if it doesn't turn up in any type of FB (or SE) search results, it's not very useful.

A list of "backlist ebooks" in which authors are pimping other midlisters isn't that useful; it's the DorothyL of Facebook, if you see what I mean, upon which there are 3 actual real-live readers and 3,998 authors all trying to get those three readers to buy their books.

I'll give the link to my authors. {shrug}. I'm sure they'll participate, regardless.

Hitch

[Patricia Ryan]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Are there any free eBooks available so we could check out how the formatting is? I've found most ePub are rather poorly formatted and if I could not strip the DRM and fix them up, I may have gone back to paper books.

Some (maybe all--I'm not sure) of the outlets that sell our authors' books offer free samples. That would answer the formatting question, yes?

Pat