What Do You Do When A Book Isn't Available For eReaders?

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

You were OK until you said to export as RTF and use Word. NEVER EVER use Word for any document that is eventually going to be made into an eBook. That is the worst thing you can do. Word puts in sop much crap and garbage that sometimes it's not worth the effort to strip the mess and clean it up. That adds hours to your 10 minutes. That makes converting a pBook to an eBook almost worthless. Word is horrible for anything other then something to be spit out as PDF or printed.

Word's what I know. I'm aware of the nightmare coding Word throws into everything it touches; I don't save from Word to HTML because it's a waste of time--if I need an HTML doc, I do the markup by hand, paste into notepad, and save as HTML. (I don't know enough HTML to make this practical for real book formatting, and I know nothing about CSS.)

And I often format it to make 6"-screen sized PDFs, because of this. Or do light editing & save as RTF to throw on my Reader.

Since I'm just formatting it for myself, it really doesn't matter what method I use.

[TenaciousBadger]

What Do You Do When A Book Isn't Available For eReaders?

I...
Then I ...
Afterwards, I also...
In the mean time, I...
I write the author
And I get...
EVentually I give up.

However, some of the authors I or my book fiend friends have approached have started being more careful when it come to their deals with the publishing houses.

[Latinandgreek]

If I can't find a book as an e-book, I order the paper copy off of Amazon or pick it up from a local bookstore, if I can. I'm not crazy about paperbacks - ebooks have ruined that for me! - but I don't mind reading hardback books.

Or I'll take it out of the library. The library here isn't great, though, and I can only take out 6 books at a time, so I end up buying most of my books. When I lived in Canada I was a BIG library user (I'd go to the library perhaps every other day), and didn't buy nearly as many books as I do now, even though I had much more cash to spend on books back then.

[OtterBooks]

Originally Posted by Keryl Raist

I have a friend who makes a point similar to this. She loves the look of books. She loves having them in the house. She loves the idea that her children will grown up with actual books around them, learning the whole 'books have a tangible presence and are your friends' sort of thing. She talks about how the pictures on a cover can ignite your curiosity and draw you in. And she's concerned that kids even ten years from now won't have that experience.

I also think that's invaluable. I discovered a lot of books as a child going through my parent's book collection. It's a good atmosphere to have in your home.

[pidgeon92]

If an ebook is unavailable, I add it to my Amazon wish list, and Mysteria will email me when the ebook becomes available. In the mean time, I have hundreds of other ebooks waiting to be read.

[GA Russell]

Thanks for that Mysteria link, Pidgeon. I'll take a closer look at it.

[Harmon]

Originally Posted by GA Russell

Inkmesh shows no eBooks available for a number of series I am interested in, including Perry Mason, Ellery Queen, Mr. & Mrs. North and Mike Shayne.

So the first thing I did was email letters to the most recent publishers requesting eBooks of them. I got a couple of replies. My emails may not have any effect on the publishers, but they make me feel good.

Then I went to Amazon, only to find out that there are few paper books currently in print of these series! I always click on the "Please publish an eBook button". It's effortless, and can't hurt.

One day I'll buy the paper books I can, but so far I've just read other things.

Same for Margery Allingham. it looks like a small publisher has made a deal to publish very nice paperbacks of her Campion books. The price is 15 bucks, 10 at Amazon. So why not sell an ebook version for the same 10 bucks, and sell more, overall? Beats me...

[RedHeadPeter]

I didn't buy a book reader so I could either become po-faced about 'dead trees' or to claim that the e-reader version is somehow 'better' than the print version. It almost invariably isn't. More convenient maybe, less weight definitely but 'better'? And if its cheaper to buy the print version that is generally what I would do. So through an online/catalogue book seller in the UK I can buy the whole Booker prize shortlist, mostly in hardback, for about £30. How they do it I don't know but its not bootleg. Nowhere could I get the e versions for that price. Amazon uk are selling the kindle editions for about £36 now - some months later.
So if its not available in e-book, buy the real thing. If the real thing is cheaper - buy the real thing.

[rogerVA]

I love regular books, I have a couple thousand. I love eBooks because they allow me a lot more space around here. I love buying real books still, so I'd buy the real book.

[Lutraa]

I travel by air A LOT. You can't have your eReader on from the time the plane's door closes at the gate, through de-icing, taxiing, take-off and climb out. Can't turn the device back on until the plane reaches 10,000'. That can be a long time (up to 45-60 minutes) to do without reading material. I take both my Kindle and some hard copy books and magazines on my trips. Paper is also more practical for reading in the tub or on the beach on a windy day. I think it's wise never to be vulnerable to a single point of failure when it comes to keeping myself mentally engaged.

[Rich_D]

Camp Privateer - Buy the DTB, scan and convert it, sell copies on ebay!

[icebreaker]

We are in the midst of getting the house ready for sale. Part of this is my having to face up, again, to the pointed comments and looks about how many books I have around here.

All of which I have paid money for.

I am starting to think that unbinding them and scanning them may be the only way I will ever be able to keep some of them, many of them.

I guess jail is next.

[chamekke]

Has anyone written out a step-by-step process for unbinding and scanning books? Or rather - recommended the most effective way of doing this?

I have an old flatbed scanner at home (laborious option) and access to a MFD (multifunctional device) at work that will scan in an 'automated' way, but tends to jam up (faster but could tear up the pages). Also, I have OCR software at home - but not at the office. Any suggestions as to how to begin without (1) driving myself insane or (2) chewing up my books?

Unfortunately I have a fondness for books that will probably never make it into e-book format, so jailtime with icebreaker is starting to look increasingly attractive...

[kurzon]

I buy a hard copy. Or I just don't get the book.

It's rare that there's a book that I am so desperate to read that I can't bear not to have it, and I'm comfortable reading in hard or electronic format.

[Lirael]

Originally Posted by chamekke

Has anyone written out a step-by-step process for unbinding and scanning books? Or rather - recommended the most effective way of doing this?

I have an old flatbed scanner at home (laborious option) and access to a MFD (multifunctional device) at work that will scan in an 'automated' way, but tends to jam up (faster but could tear up the pages). Also, I have OCR software at home - but not at the office. Any suggestions as to how to begin without (1) driving myself insane or (2) chewing up my books?

Unfortunately I have a fondness for books that will probably never make it into e-book format, so jailtime with icebreaker is starting to look increasingly attractive...

I haven't done any scanning myself, but from lurking about here I've picked up a little info...

There are instructions floating around on the forum somewhere about how to build a do-it-yourself OCR cradle, if you've got a digital camera and a handy streak. Ah, here they are. It doesn't involve hacking the spines off but it makes use of stuff you've already got lying around. Probably faster than scanning page by page without automation.

Otherwise, you can always take a book you don't like very much, slice off the spine, and try putting it through your machine at work (so if it gets eaten, no big deal!) A guillotine-type paper cutter will give you a clean edge that's less prone to jamming the scanner, if I'm recalling correctly.

If you've got some spare cash you might look into buying a scanner that does the whole auto-document-feed thing, though the good ones tend to be a bit pricey. Check out the workshop forum here - it has loads of information!