Suggestion - Web site for PD Sony Reader Books?

[HarryT]

The thought occurs to me that it would be a good idea to set up a web site specifically to allow us all to share public domain Reader books. Even with the great tools we have available now (especially "Book Designer"!) it can take many hours to produce a nice-looking book with a proper table of contents, illustrations, etc (I speak from experience, having now spent about 10h creating a "Complete Sherlock Holmes" eBook), and it's silly to duplicate all the effort it takes if people are willing to share the results of their work. I'm thinking particularly of the "classics", which are likely to be of interest to many people, and for which having good quality versions is a lot nicer than plain text versions.

I know that we can upload files to the "Reader Contents" section of the forum, but these quickly disappear from view as new messages are posted.

Does anyone know if such a web site exists or, if not, does anyone have the resources available to set up and manage such a site?

It strikes me that this could be a great means of sharing our efforts, and giving new Reader owners a ready-made source of nice books to download.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

[Alexander Turcic]

I think http://www.feedbooks.com is going in this direction. Am I right?

[Alexander Turcic]

Harry send me a good suggestion ... what do you guys think we if add a new subcategory to every ereader section called "Book Uploads"?

In Book Uploads, you could add e-books you've converted yourself, and we could discuss them there.

[HarryT]

I think it's a great idea - as you know!

[sic]

I don't think feedbooks is going this direction.
They're generating the SONY Reader format from text source using LATEX and what not...
I also don't think that a forum is the best way to do it, because it will always promote the latest and not the greatest
I have a lot of diskspace on my webhosting service.
If someone would point me to the right Drupal module or similar php stuff to use I'd be glad to set up something...

[TadW]

What about the Gallery? (gallery.mobileread.com) -- I know it can be also used to add non-image material... it's nicely integrated with the forum and it allows for comments.

[Alexander Turcic]

Originally Posted by sic

I'd be glad to set up something...

Thanks. Bandwidth & storage is currently not an issue.

[sic]

10 bucks per month...

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by sic

I also don't think that a forum is the best way to do it, because it will always promote the latest and not the greatest

My thought was that a forum dedicated to book uploads - basically one book per thread, or whatever - would be a place where people could easily find books, and at the same time provide a place to talk about each one. At present, if you upload a book to one of the general "chat" forums it's quickly pushed out of sight by all the general conversational threads.

Why don't we try it for a few weeks and see how it works out? We can always try something else if it proves to be unsuccessful (providing Alex is willing to take the chance on it, that is?).

[sic]

I've been running a site at ebookmark.digitalreading.net where users can link to a ebook and then discuss it.
It doesn't let you upload anything at the moment.
There was very little interest in the site... close to none.

I think sharing content that is hand-formatted for the reader is a great idea, but I have serious doubts if people will really discuss those books.

[Alexander Turcic]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Why don't we try it for a few weeks and see how it works out? We can always try something else if it proves to be unsuccessful (providing Alex is willing to take the chance on it, that is?).

I actually see advantages in using the forum for the uploads:
- tight integration - works with your current user registration
- allows for immediate comments
- allows for section-only searches
- possibility for us to write supporting scripts to pull data from the database (for instance to show you Top 10 downloads in the last 30 days etc.)

[TadW]

I agree, at least until it grows out of proportion, uploading to a forum subsection seems like the most ideal solution. And if you can integrate it to the frontpage, e.g. showing the last e-books uploaded, even better.

[sic]

the other thing is copyright...
if someone uploads Harry Potter formatted for the SONY Reader the it's the site owner's responsibility to notice it and take it off...

[Alexander Turcic]

Originally Posted by sic

the other thing is copyright...
if someone uploads Harry Potter formatted for the SONY Reader the it's the site owner's responsibility to notice it and take it off...

Good point. I think we should all be clear about it: no uploads of copyright-infringing material. I have good faith in our community and that this is actually not a problem @ MR.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by sic

I think sharing content that is hand-formatted for the reader is a great idea, but I have serious doubts if people will really discuss those books.

I wasn't thinking so much of discussing their literary content (although obviously that would be good, too), but rather a place to discuss the practicalities of creating books. So people could ask "how did you do such-and-such".