How much would you pay for manual pdf conversion?

[jago25_98]

As we know,

converting pdfs is a pain because of many reasons. Often it involves using different programs according to how the pdf is. Sometimes it can involve a lot of work.

90% of what I want to read are pdf files - technical manuals and non fiction.

I find Kindle DX sized ereaders unwieldy, the ipad screen ok only for a hour at a time, and my Kobo Touch requires scrolling or a magnifying glass in landscape mode.

So, how much would you pay to have someone go through your pdf and convert it manually, perhaps to epub, checking it by hand and even chopping and cutting it if need be? ...this assuming they did a fantastic job with the conversion process.

Personnally I think I would pay $1-5 or 25% the value of the book.

[elcreative]

You'd have to get a lot of people to contribute for getting even one book converted at that rate...

[DiapDealer]

So, how much would you pay to have someone go through your pdf and convert it manually, perhaps to epub, checking it by hand and even chopping and cutting it if need be? ...this assuming they did a fantastic job with the conversion process.

$0.00

I'd just wait. As much as a pain in the a$$ that converting from pdf can be, the results from free conversions tools, seems to get better and better all the time. They'll probably never be perfect, but I don't mind hand-tweaking the results for the very rare ebook that I absolutely have to have that can only be found as a pdf.

[HomeInMyShoes]

I'd pay a lot to see PDF vanquished from the planet.

[elcreative]

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

I'd pay a lot to see PDF vanquished from the planet.

Cool, great idea... no common format for printers to use anymore, no more easy document work across multiple platforms and printing... hey, why not dump ASCII and .txt at the same time... PDF was NEVER intended to be an eReader format... it was designed for other purposes... I think that Ferraris should be banned because they don't work well at 1,000 metres down in the ocean...

[anamardoll]

I'd pay quite a bit, since most of my PDFs are scans of cut books that will never be offered in eBook form because the books are in Copyright Limbo.

Currently, I'm cutting my entire Deathlands collection -- over 60 books. I'd happily buy all the books over again for proper ePub formatting at a $5.99 MMP price (and I've sent Harlequin emails telling them so), but instead I find myself cutting, scanning, OCRing, and then correcting correcting correcting.

Alas, for a price of $5.99 per book, you'd be getting much less than minimum hourly wage -- I'd estimate it takes me at least 3 hours solid to fix OCR mistakes and correct the punctuation that is missed in the process.

Originally Posted by elcreative

Cool, great idea... no common format for printers to use anymore, no more easy document work across multiple platforms and printing... hey, why not dump ASCII and .txt at the same time... PDF was NEVER intended to be an eReader format... it was designed for other purposes... I think that Ferraris should be banned because they don't work well at 1,000 metres down in the ocean...

I have one of those multi-function Ferraris that do, but it leaks like a sieve, I tell you. And I get terrible gas mileage.

[elcreative]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

I have one of those multi-function Ferraris that do, but it leaks like a sieve, I tell you. And I get terrible gas mileage.

It's not the gas that runs it, the real problem's getting enough of the gas you breathe...

[AJ Starr]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

Currently, I'm cutting . . .scanning, OCRing, and then correcting correcting correcting.

Having experienced the errors on the scanning to PDF and then converting by OCR, I have discovered something.

Only my scanner, there are several settings. When I fiddled with some of the settings, like resolution, sometimes the screening, and specifically the threshold, I got a much clearer PDF, which gave me a much more accurate OCR for my word processor. This does increase the size of the PDF, but if you delete the PDF file after you have OCR'd it, it shouldn't matter.

Let me know if this helps.

AJ

[maxim9691]

I wouldn't pay , I'd have to go the cheap route and convert them myself

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by maxim9691

I wouldn't pay , I'd have to go the cheap route and convert them myself

You are paying - unless you place no value on your time.

[OldGunbunny]

Get something along the size of the ASUS eeePad Transformer (10 inch screen). Download Adobe Reader for Android and have at the PDFs.

Works very well.

[jago25_98]

Originally Posted by OldGunbunny

Get something along the size of the ASUS eeePad Transformer (10 inch screen). Download Adobe Reader for Android and have at the PDFs.

Works very well.

Well this is just it. I have an iPad and I'm selling it because I can only go for an hour before the screen goes blurry, then wobbly. At least lcd is better than crt used to be though eh? Compared to a book which I can read in a day.

Thanks for info on the conversion times. Seemingly not worth it at USA wages. Still it goes to show that there is some demand but that it's specialist niche demand. Could be possible if based out of cambodia, until mirasol screens come along or pixelqi gets it's act together.

Perhaps there's already a service out there somewhere in the typesetting business.

[Phogg]

As you say, niche market.

The only place I see where you could charge enough to make this fly as an independant, would be OCR ing legal files into searchable reflow form for a law firm. If you went that route, you would have to commit to doint ful time, and you would know going into it that the work is going to run completely out when you get back to records of a certain antiquity.

It still might be worth doingif you are really hard up for a job, and can sell a few lawyers on the benefits.

[afa]

I would pay $500 per book!

Ok, not really. I don't think I would pay at all. I've only ever read one PDF on my Nook, and it actually wasn't that bad an experience. In fact, it was decent enough that it actually got me wondering why people hate it so much. Worked pretty much like a normal ebook, except I couldn't change the font.

Maybe I got lucky and this was a well-formatted PDF...

[Giggleton]

Converting a technical manual from PDF to epub is probably not the best way to go about the conversion, better to get the original documents from the writers and work from those...