Cleared Out the pBooks!

[pshrynk]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

in case you're interested, i wrote to les Éditions Robert Laffont using their contact form. i wrote to the service commerciale, maybe i should have chosen a different one...

here's my letter, feel free to take it as inspiration if you would like to write to them as well... there is also Robert Laffont Canada so it could be pertinent for you.

Well, I'm convinced!

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by pshrynk

Well, I'm convinced!

thanks, that's encouraging !

[Sweetpea]

Now, if I could understand what that letter was saying....

My French is horrible, but I do get the impression that you're asking for an omnibus of the collected works of that writer, in an electronic format so you can read it on your Sony...

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

no, probably not. they are worth a lot to me, because i love them and want to be able to keep reading them, but they aren't very rare books necessarily. and the editions i have as i said are nothing special in those cases. they are mainly old mystery novels (Léo Malet for instance) in cheap pulp editions which are falling apart, which haven't been released as ebooks but which aren't nice enough paper books to want to keep. but i will keep them, until i can replace them, and this is frustrating because it could be years, unless i do it myself, and... i don't really want to.

Scanning/proofing is a pain, voice of experience. If your p-books are small enough to fit on a standard printer scanner, you might scan as TIFF files and convert them with separate scanning software. I find that this way is somewhat slower, but gives paperback the same OCR rate 99%+ as Optiscan. I forget the name of the software, and I'd have to swap packs to get it, but you have a higher DPI on these cheap printer/scanner combos than Optiscan has (300 DPI vs 100 DPI for Optiscan)

[RWood]

You rock DixieGal!

I am still doing it book-by-book but they are going to veterans returning from the overseas conflicts.

I noticed a large amount of books behind our local library, if they don't like your book donation they trash it and not all of my books are "correct" to their way of thinking. They also want me to sign a form stating that the book has never been in a smoking environment. Heck, some of the books are so old that they smoked in the bookstore when they were bought.

Local used book stores only give credit for used books and all I need is more books.

Local thrift shops/charity shops have signs up saying that they will not take any books.

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by RWood

You rock DixieGal!

I am still doing it book-by-book but they are going to veterans returning from the overseas conflicts.

I noticed a large amount of books behind our local library, if they don't like your book donation they trash it and not all of my books are "correct" to their way of thinking. They also want me to sign a form stating that the book has never been in a smoking environment. Heck, some of the books are so old that they smoked in the bookstore when they were bought.

Local used book stores only give credit for used books and all I need is more books.

Local thrift shops/charity shops have signs up saying that they will not take any books.

speechless.....I can even remember teachers smoking as they taught...!!!!

[RWood]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

speechless.....I can even remember teachers smoking as they taught...!!!!

As can I. I even remember smoking in class myself. (Well, not in bio or chem lab.)

I remember talking to a former professor a few years back who said that he had to extend each lecture when they banned smoking in the classroom because the delays in lighting up, smoking, and disposing of the cigarettes had taken about 10 minutes of class time.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Now, if I could understand what that letter was saying....

My French is horrible, but I do get the impression that you're asking for an omnibus of the collected works of that writer, in an electronic format so you can read it on your Sony...

sorry, i can post a translation of it if you like, since it was to a french publisher i wrote it in french. but you understood what i said. in fact i got a reply today from the publisher, which is nice ! and best yet, here is what he says :

- they have been working already over one year on questions of digitising their catalogue.
- there are two parts to the problem which must be addressed distinctly :
1. the digitisation if the catalogue, which is long and costly which they are currently working on. the Collection Bouquins, including the books by Léo Malet, is at the heart of this work. (yay !!!!!!! i am overjoyed to hear this)
2. the sale of a digital catalogue is much more complexe because of legal and commercial questions (authors' rights, price of an ebook, partners...)
He says they will soon begin to sell their first ebooks (yay !) but the Collection Bouquins (so, Léo Malet...) will not be among them yet (aw. )

so, overall it's good news ! but i must be patient for a while longer... arg, that is so hard !

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward;366284[B

]Scanning/proofing is a pain,[/B] voice of experience. If your p-books are small enough to fit on a standard printer scanner, you might scan as TIFF files and convert them with separate scanning software. I find that this way is somewhat slower, but gives paperback the same OCR rate 99%+ as Optiscan. I forget the name of the software, and I'd have to swap packs to get it, but you have a higher DPI on these cheap printer/scanner combos than Optiscan has (300 DPI vs 100 DPI for Optiscan)

yep, i don't even need to try it to know this is true. i don't have the patience to scan them, honestly. it would be a herculean task. i'd rather just replace the ones i cherish the most and give away the paper ones.

Originally Posted by RWood

I noticed a large amount of books behind our local library, if they don't like your book donation they trash it and not all of my books are "correct" to their way of thinking. They also want me to sign a form stating that the book has never been in a smoking environment. Heck, some of the books are so old that they smoked in the bookstore when they were bought.

Local used book stores only give credit for used books and all I need is more books.

Local thrift shops/charity shops have signs up saying that they will not take any books.

you know, it's kind of sad when you can't even *give* books away. luckily i've not run into that problem yet, there are still plenty of places which will take them from me (for free, anyway), and nobody is making judgements about the quality of the litterature or whether or not they have been exposed to cigarette smoke... that just seems insane to me. and it's a bit worrisome if a library is practising that kind of censorship ! unless you only mean the physical state of the book ?

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

sorry, i can post a translation of it if you like, since it was to a french publisher i wrote it in french. but you understood what i said.

At least those three years of French at school wasn't completely wasted then


I've scanned 4 books so far, it's a tedious process, the OCR (I can't even remember what I used for that) not so much, but rather the scanning itself. Only the fact that I'm for 99,9% sure that those books will take ages to come out in ebook form and I really loved those books made me do it...

(so far, the only Dutch books I could find in ebook format are of the self-learning kind and a few cheap pockets)

[RWood]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

... you know, it's kind of sad when you can't even *give* books away. luckily i've not run into that problem yet, there are still plenty of places which will take them from me (for free, anyway), and nobody is making judgements about the quality of the litterature or whether or not they have been exposed to cigarette smoke... that just seems insane to me. and it's a bit worrisome if a library is practising that kind of censorship ! unless you only mean the physical state of the book ?

If a book is in demand and the library budgets are limited (and what public institution does not feel its budget is limited) then they should be happy for any contribution. Once, the library held sales of excess books and donated books that they could not use. This raised funds to purchase other resources. This I supported. For them to dump books (some still in shrink wrap) is wrong. They lost my financial and physical support with that act.

[lilac_jive]

There's a really good program by my old university that holds a giant book sale once a year (people from several states go). They take donations all year round and weed out the really bad books. It was awesome.

Now I donate to my local library, which has a book sale every few months. I wish they'd try to put some on the shelves though. They have limited space for paperbacks, so I understand. I told them they should use this binding tape that my old library used for paperbacks so they would hold up longer.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by RWood

If a book is in demand and the library budgets are limited (and what public institution does not feel its budget is limited) then they should be happy for any contribution. Once, the library held sales of excess books and donated books that they could not use. This raised funds to purchase other resources. This I supported. For them to dump books (some still in shrink wrap) is wrong. They lost my financial and physical support with that act.

yes, i have to agree with you on this. it boggles the mind that a library (a LIBRARY !!) would do such a thing.

[pshrynk]

The Cedar Rapids Public Library (motto = Bail! Dammit! Bail!) is accepting donations, most of whivh go into their sales bin to raise money for new collection.

[zelda_pinwheel]

my local library accepts donations of any and all books. i think most of them go into the books exchange (they stick the books on a table in the entry, and you can take any of them that interest you, for free, and add any of your own books you want to give away), but maybe they keep some of them for the collection if they are decent quality. they have a special library rebinding service they use so a paperback will get sent out to be rebound and come back with a stiff cover and plastic film over the outside for protection. so even a paperback could be of interest to them if it were in demand.

there is also a pub just near my house where i can give books for their informal lending library (a big bookshelf on the back wall with books for patrons to read).

[yvanleterrible]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

in case you're interested, i wrote to les Éditions Robert Laffont using their contact form. i wrote to the service commerciale, maybe i should have chosen a different one...

here's my letter, feel free to take it as inspiration if you would like to write to them as well... there is also Robert Laffont Canada so it could be pertinent for you.

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

sorry, i can post a translation of it if you like, since it was to a french publisher i wrote it in french. but you understood what i said. in fact i got a reply today from the publisher, which is nice ! and best yet, here is what he says :

- they have been working already over one year on questions of digitising their catalogue.
- there are two parts to the problem which must be addressed distinctly :
1. the digitisation if the catalogue, which is long and costly which they are currently working on. the Collection Bouquins, including the books by Léo Malet, is at the heart of this work. (yay !!!!!!! i am overjoyed to hear this)
2. the sale of a digital catalogue is much more complexe because of legal and commercial questions (authors' rights, price of an ebook, partners...)
He says they will soon begin to sell their first ebooks (yay !) but the Collection Bouquins (so, Léo Malet...) will not be among them yet (aw. )

so, overall it's good news ! but i must be patient for a while longer... arg, that is so hard !

Mais c'est merveilleux tout ça! I would never have expected you to get a reply so fast. Okay, the books you wanted are not yet available but they might, by recieving your letter, put them in the 'To do ' pile!