Tor offers free weekly books if you sign up

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

From what others have said, Tor is possibly in a deal for eBook with BAEN. I don't know the specifics yet. But this i a very good first step for Tor as far as eBooks go.

Quoting from an email from a Toroid on the topic:

The site will _not_ be built around giving away free digital editions of novel-length works, although we may well do some of that when it suits our other purposes. And it's entirely possible that in the fullness of time we'll have something like the Baen Free Library (or, more likely, simply join forces with the Baen Free Library). But the shapes of the cones in which we're giving out this particular round of free ice cream should not be taken as determinative of our future plans.

In other words: yes, we know. This is a rough-and-ready freebie, not a blueprint for further e-book publishing.

I don't think Tor has fully made up their minds about which way they plan to jump on electronic publishing. But they are certainly aware of it, and it seems likely they will jump at some point.

Expect rights and permissions to be a factor in terms of how fast they jump. When Baen did the Free Library, part of Eric Flint's efforts revolved around convincing the participants in the program to allow their works to be offered through the library. So it is with this, I suspect: Sanderson, Scalzi, and Wilson had to agree to allow their books to be offered this way. Tor's contracts with them covered pbook editions, and electronic rights are another matter. New contracts (or amendments to existing ones) will be required for ebooks Tor might choose to issue.

At least the capability to offer electronic editions is now there. It didn't used to be.
______
Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by tsgreer

Ahh, thanks for the clarification. I guess I should pay more attention. I see the words FREE ebook and just jump up and down and my eyes glaze over, causing me to miss the details. Thanks.

GMail is a Wonderful Thing. Among other reasons, it means I still have all the Tor email on the topic to double-check.

You're welcome.
______
Dennis

[JSWolf]

I do hope this is the beginning of something good.

[bwaldron]

Originally Posted by Donnageddon

But I noticed one curious thing about this promotion. I wanted to get Scalzi's next book in the trilogy "The Ghost Brigades", and they have it at Tor, but it is not available as an eBook?

Only on Kindle, as far as I can tell. Would love to get it in Mobi format.

[Lemurion]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

I don't think Tor has fully made up their minds about which way they plan to jump on electronic publishing. But they are certainly aware of it, and it seems likely they will jump at some point.

Expects rights and permissions to be a factor in terms of how fast they jump. When Baen did the Free Library, part of Eric Flint's efforts revolved around convincing the participants in the program to allow their works to be offered through the library. So it is with this, I suspect: Sanderson, Scalzi, and Wilson had to agree to allow their books to be offered this way. Tor's contracts with them covered pbook editions, and electronic rights are another matter. New contracts (or amendments to existing ones) will be required for ebooks Tor might choose to issue.

At least the capability to offer electronic editions is now there. It didn't used to be.
______
Dennis

I know that several Tor authors have posted information to the effect that Tor's contract does include a mention of electronic rights. Given that I would expect that while hoops may be required to get permission to give books away, Tor probably wouldn't have too much difficulty arranging to sell e-books.

Personally, I don't mind not getting them free. I'd be happy with the ability to buy un-infested copies at reasonable prices.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Lemurion

I know that several Tor authors have posted information to the effect that Tor's contract does include a mention of electronic rights. Given that I would expect that while hoops may be required to get permission to give books away, Tor probably wouldn't have too much difficulty arranging to sell e-books.

Good, if so. But arrangements would need to be made.

Personally, I don't mind not getting them free. I'd be happy with the ability to buy un-infested copies at reasonable prices.

That's a point I've emphasized several times in email with Tor people about this effort: it's not about getting free ebooks, it's about getting Tor ebooks at all. There is a market who will pay for them, but first they have to exist.
______
Dennis

[Lemurion]

As it is, I have paid for Tor e-books. I bought the three Stross volumes they offered on Webscriptions and also bought the Lord of the Isles bundle offered through Baen. (I don't know if the Lord of the Isles bundle counts as Tor because I believe David Drake sold the e-book rights separately in that case since it filters as Baen not Tor in Webscriptions. Regardless it should count because the paper versions are Tor and I did pay for them as e-books).

That's proof right there that I'm willing to pay for Tor books in electronic format.

[Donnageddon]

I am absolutely willing to buy eBooks. The most frustrating part of that willingness is the lack of availablity to get some books, and of course, the draconian web of competing DRMs and formats if you can find what you want. I am more than willing to buy a .lit file and unDRM it and convert it to LRF. And I would never think of bootlegging the result. But it is a hassle.

I just want to purchase and read the danged thing.

It is similar to digital music, which, I hope, is starting to get sorted out. Most people are willing to pay for the product, but the harder you make it to use the product, the less enthusiasm there is to bother.

Here is to hoping they will figure it out, and make it more convenient. I don't see eBooks going away.

[llasram]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The zip file contains Obelisk.py and the diff file to generate the LRF.

You appear to have accidentally included the original PDF in the archive. You probably want to fix that before the copyright monsters eat you.

[JSWolf]

Thanks... It is sorted now and reposted.

[Xenophon]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Going back to Mistborn, I have a conversion from the PDF to LRF. It's not perfect and I will be revising it as I read. I'm up to chapter 6 and I've cleaned up some of the missing fi and fl and bad paragraphs that I have noticed as I have been reading. But the format looks good though.

Thanks to llasram there is a NEW Python program called Obelisk that will take two files and make a diff file so you can recreate the secondary file if you have the primary file. So what I am doing it posting my diff file for Mistborn.pdf so as long as you have that, you will be able to generate the LRF that I am reading.

The zip file contains Obelisk.py and the diff file to generate the LRF. This is a command line program only. There is no GUI.

1. Open a command prompt
2. Go to the directory that has Mistborn.pdf
3. unzip the contents of the attached ZIP file into that directory
4. Type in the command below
5. Enjoy reading on your 500/505.

obelisk.py M1stb0rn Mistborn.pdf "M1stb0rn#Mistborn.pdf#Mistborn The Final Empire.lrf.obelisk" "Mistborn The Final Empire.lrf"

Please let me know if you do get this to work.

The original thread on his Obelisk is here at https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?p=156354

I got it to work OK on my OS X Mac. A few tricks:

• Remember to set the obelisk.py script to be executable. Use 'chmod +x obelisk.py'
• Make sure you properly quote any spaces in your file and/or path names. Details will vary depending on the shell you use.
• If you are not running directly in your home directory, give full path names for all files. This makes the command line look like:

  ./obelisk.py M1stb0rn /path/to/files/Mistborne.pdf /path/to/files/M1stb0rn#Mistborn.pdf#Mistborn\ The\ Final\ Empire.lrf.obelisk "Mistborne The Final Empire.lrf"

• Fix the python script: three of the error checks at the end have 'parse.' where they should have 'parser.' Use your favorite text editor to correct them. This makes no difference unless you get one of those errors, but...

I also observe a problem with the file you have produced. There are a whole bunch of words that look like: "bers" for "fibers" and "briely" for "briefly." (both from first page of chapter 24). I think this means that your conversion dropped all of the ligatures on the floor -- like the fi and fl in the words above. It's a bit annoying.

It shows great promise! Figure out how to fix the ligatures and it'll be SUPER.

Xenophon

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Xenophon

I also observe a problem with the file you have produced. There are a whole bunch of words that look like: "bers" for "fibers" and "briely" for "briefly." (both from first page of chapter 24). I think this means that your conversion dropped all of the ligatures on the floor -- like the fi and fl in the words above. It's a bit annoying.

It shows great promise! Figure out how to fix the ligatures and it'll be SUPER.

Xenophon

Yes, I know the ligatures were dropped. I was too far into the formatting to start over. But one sort of error I cannor fix until I've seen it while reading is the broken paragraphs. That happened even when it was converted with Acrobat 8 Pro. I think the copy here is fixed up to chapter 6. When I finish chapter 10 and have made any additional corrections, I'll post a new copy to replace the one here.

[GeoffC]

My first book from Tor.com arrived in my morning 'mailbox', in PDF, HTML and Mobi formats.
Loaded into Mobipocket Reader on my PC.

Question, how do I get the cover to show up in the 'right' place?

[Dave Berk]

GeoffC, were you able to download the html zipped version? When I try, I get an empty zip file.

[rlauzon]

Originally Posted by simple dave

GeoffC, were you able to download the html zipped version? When I try, I get an empty zip file.

There's an error with the ZIPped version. I ended up downloading the HTML version and the cover picture.