Kindle only

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by toddos

Not necessarily true. There are plenty of DRM-free books on the Nook store. They don't make it obvious which ones are DRM-free at purchase time, but it's pretty obvious when you go to rip the DRM off and there's none to remove

So, books that you need a special app to download, which may or may not have DRM. I won't pay for books (or other content) that won't tell me the terms or what's included before purchase.

Authors who want to reach customers who don't buy DRM can't do it by selling at B&N or Kobo.

[toddos]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

So, books that you need a special app to download, which may or may not have DRM. I won't pay for books (or other content) that won't tell me the terms or what's included before purchase.

Authors who want to reach customers who don't buy DRM can't do it by selling at B&N or Kobo.

You don't need a special app to download Nook books. You can do it directly from the website (from the Nook Library section). I will agree that they should show DRM status, but that's really a moot point. If you're an author targetting the anti-DRM crowd, you're going to need to publicize that fact elsewhere anyway. So you can get the anti-DRM people to buy from Nook because they know your book doesn't have DRM and they can download it without an app or device, and you can get people who don't care about DRM but are Nook shoppers buying your book because it's on the Nook store.

Similarly Amazon doesn't require DRM, and I'd be very surprised if Kobo required it as well (I've never bought anything from Kobo, so I can't speak first-hand). Epub <-> Mobi is a pretty trivial conversion, so why limit yourself? Unless the goal is to be able to complain that nobody's buying your book?

[pholy]

One thing B&N does require is a USA credit card and/or address.

I have given up on dealing with them.

So all the people who offer books on Kindle and Nook only are not part of my world --- and I still have too much to read.

[speakingtohe]

Kindle has perhaps the most name brand recognition among dedicated ereaders. I think epub is the most widely used format in new ebooks although it might still be pdf.

Up to the author/publisher of course, but as Amaradoll says it is their loss.

The universally viewable format is still paper and then their are quite a few kindle apps for various devices so it is not like anybody is being excluded.

Helen

[pidgeon92]

oh boo-freaking-hoo.

[ucfgrad93]

Originally Posted by GoSharks

So...if the author told us their book was only available as ePub you would be just as upset? I think not....
Maybe we could all pitch-in and buy Jon a pony that does more than one trick.

Agreed, he seems to be on quite a crusade against Amazon.

[OneandonlyDoc]

Honestly, I don't like it when a book is only available in Kindle format, either. I do all of my ebook buying (at the moment) through KoboBooks.com -- which are epubs. I'd rather not have to deal with Amazon any more than I have to (which would be mostly selling things rather than buying them).

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by toddos

You don't need a special app to download Nook books. You can do it directly from the website (from the Nook Library section). I will agree that they should show DRM status, but that's really a moot point. If you're an author targetting the anti-DRM crowd, you're going to need to publicize that fact elsewhere anyway. So you can get the anti-DRM people to buy from Nook because they know your book doesn't have DRM and they can download it without an app or device, and you can get people who don't care about DRM but are Nook shoppers buying your book because it's on the Nook store.

Similarly Amazon doesn't require DRM, and I'd be very surprised if Kobo required it as well (I've never bought anything from Kobo, so I can't speak first-hand). Epub <-> Mobi is a pretty trivial conversion, so why limit yourself? Unless the goal is to be able to complain that nobody's buying your book?

Toddos is correct -- I actually find it easier to download B&N books (because they can be downloaded directly from the website through any computer) than Amazon books (because you do need an app for that, as far as I know).

And both B&N and Amazon allow the author to not use DRM. In BOTH cases, you don't realize they've done this until after the purchase and Strippin' Time.

So, yeah, B&N doesn't lock you into an app or a DRM scheme. But many indie authors may not realize that.

[Sweetpea]

I don't care where books are sold. As long as it's in a format that is easily converted to a format of my need. So far the last books I've bought came from Amazon. And I don't even have a Kindle, Ithing or android.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

Authors who follow the SW style guide get acceptable ePubs.

All of the SW ePub files I have seen have the text colour hardcoded to black, so if you try to switch to a night-time mode the text vanishes. Is this the fault of the uploaders, or a 'feature' of the SmashWords conversion?
[Edit: If that sounded a bit snarky, it wasn't meant be be, I genuinely don't know the answer]

[jgaiser]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

Toddos is correct -- I actually find it easier to download B&N books (because they can be downloaded directly from the website through any computer) than Amazon books (because you do need an app for that, as far as I know). .

Well, Amazon *can* be directly downloaded to your computer for sideloading to the kindle, though I find it easier to use Kindle for PC so I can use Calibre to remove DRM.

[EowynCarter]

Originally Posted by jgaiser

Well, Amazon *can* be directly downloaded to your computer for sideloading to the kindle, though I find it easier to use Kindle for PC so I can use Calibre to remove DRM.

That's pretty much why i don't use wi-fi on my orizon. I need to de-drm. And most of time, edit the way too large margins.

[avantman42]

Originally Posted by pholy

One thing B&N does require is a USA credit card and/or address.

Which means I can't use PubIt to upload to B&N, since I'm in the UK.

Originally Posted by anamardoll

Toddos is correct -- I actually find it easier to download B&N books (because they can be downloaded directly from the website through any computer) than Amazon books (because you do need an app for that, as far as I know).

And both B&N and Amazon allow the author to not use DRM. In BOTH cases, you don't realize they've done this until after the purchase and Strippin' Time.

As someone else said, you can download to your computer direct from the Amazon website.

Amazon do obliquely tell you if a book has DRM. If the product details include "Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited", it doesn't have DRM. Not obvious, but it's there. I've no idea whether or not B&N has some similar oblique reference to DRM.

[anamardoll]

Whoops, I was wrong on two points -- that you can download from Amazon directly without K4PC and that you can't tell if Amazon books have DRM in advance.

Thank you, both.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

All of the SW ePub files I have seen have the text colour hardcoded to black, so if you try to switch to a night-time mode the text vanishes. Is this the fault of the uploaders, or a 'feature' of the SmashWords conversion?
[Edit: If that sounded a bit snarky, it wasn't meant be be, I genuinely don't know the answer]

Night-time mode? (I gather this is a feature of LCD-etc. screens? I don't think any of the e-ink screens have it.)

I suspect that's a "feature" of the Meatgrinder, although I'm not sure; would have to check if it supports default-color text. Because it insists on using Word's styles, a color may be hard-coded into those.