What would you pay for custom e-book conversions

just do it in Repligo and everybody can do it themselves

[cbarnett]

I must admit, I like Repligo as an option. It supports links within the document and externally to urls, document and personal bookmarks, the ability to highlight and add notes, as well as being fully searchable.

It would be big though.

Craig.

I would definately be willing to pay for Wikipedia for ISILO or Plucker (I personally don't like Mobireader) anywhere from 5 to 25 USD. I have been waiting for this for a very long time. Please let me know when it is available.

JB

[Alexander Turcic]

With the risk of drifting away from the topic... I'll be considering adding something like Google Ads when traffic increases by so much that I cannot handle it anymore by myself. However, I'll also always try to avoid cluttering our site with too many ads or banners.

Thanks for sharing your concern about funding Mobileread! I will come to it when necessary.

Originally Posted by Laurens

I would certainly want to pay for cost-per-click advertising on MobileRead or any other site for handheld enthusiasts, provided the costs are reasonable of course. (A royalty percentage would be unacceptable, though.) Any chance of placing Google ads or other types of ads here, Alexander? Other sites like PIC and 1src also have ads. What's your position on this?

(I think we'll have to start another thread for this discussion.)

[Mobipocket]

Originally Posted by Jorgen

Before deciding, it may be worth having a look at TomeRaider as this reader is built to deal with information in encyclopedia format. I builds an index for fast lookups. Memoware has both the suggested databases in TomeRaider format:
Wikipedia and IMDB

Jorgen

The Mobipocket Reader has the same indexing capabilities, and you can also find the Wikipedia in Mobipocket format.
There is also the "Probert Encyclopaedia" on sale on the Mobipocket eBookStore, with illustrations.

[Jorgen]

I understand that you are making high quality products and having Wikipedia in a nice layout sounds great - personally, I would probably not be interested in the film database. Any idea how large the Wikipedia would be in for example iSilo format (my preference unless an index is necessary), with and without pictures? I used to carry an encyclopedia from Memoware but now prefer to carry a library around on my SD cards.

Do you have a small sample we could download showing what it could look like or don't you want to give ideas to the competition until finished?

Jorgen

[Bob Russell]

Hacker,

I would gladly pay $25 for a professional ebook rendition of the Harvard Classics 5 shelves of books. It's available online from Bartleby in HTML form.

It's probably the most classic, well-conceived and respected collection of reading available. In fact, reading them was compared to having a full college liberal arts education. I probabaly got that a little wrong, but something like that.

Even better would be if book by book detailed commentaries could be integrated, but I'm afraid something like that is likely to be beyond even your capabilities. No, I don't have a source for such commentaries or even know how to find them. I would be thrilled if someone can point me to a place where they exist.

Bob

[hacker]

Originally Posted by BobR

Even better would be if book by book detailed commentaries could be integrated, but I'm afraid something like that is likely to be beyond even your capabilities. No, I don't have a source for such commentaries or even know how to find them. I would be thrilled if someone can point me to a place where they exist.

Did I just hear a challenge? "Beyond even my capabilities?" <grin>

Bob, consider this on my short list of things to produce for this year. Your enthusiasm is contagious! <grin>

[Bob Russell]

You can't see it, but there's a huge smile on my face! That might have been a bit of a challenge, but I don't doubt that you can do what seems impossible.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what you come up with, and hope that a lot of people get the opportunity to use it.

Much thanks Hacker!

[aCC]

@BobR:

Did you see the link on the page you were linking to? It says "Also check out the Portable Harvard Classics (Geocities)" and links to http://www.geocities.com/the_harvard_classics/

[hacker]

Heh, I've gotten significantly farther than the person on Geocities has done so far, and the formats I'm converting to are not proprietary or restricted by DRM... More news on this soon.

[Bob Russell]

Originally Posted by aCC

@BobR:

Did you see the link on the page you were linking to? It says "Also check out the Portable Harvard Classics (Geocities)" and links to http://www.geocities.com/the_harvard_classics/

@aCC - Good find. I am aware of that work. It's very nice, and I've been in touch with the guy who is doing the work. He's doing it at a leisurely pace as he has time, and is really just getting started, but I've asked him to share some info to post here at MobileRead. He seemed interested in that, but hasn't gotten back to me, so I'm glad you put the link "on record" here!

But I've already personally committed myself to purchase Hacker's version (as in my previous post), and the work he does is really exceptional so I'm looking forward to it very much.

@Hacker... I'm really excited to hear that it's still one of your projects!!!! Can't wait to see what it looks like

[Gatton]

Hey BobR...got your checkbook ready? ;-)

I've seen hacker's excellent work on the 9/11 Commission Report and would love to see how this turns out. hacker, will this be available in iSilo? Or something easily converted into iSilo?

I look forward to seeing your results and also wouldn't mind throwing a few bucks your way for your troubles. I'd love to have the Easton Press edition of these great works.* In the meantime I anxiously await hacker's version.

*For those of you keeping track at home...that beautiful Easton Press edition works out to $3200 USD. Let's hope our friend charges less than that ;-)

[Bob Russell]

Originally Posted by Gatton

Hey BobR...got your checkbook ready? ;-)

Yep, it's ready! I do admit my checkbook doesn't come out very easily for anything, but it's ready to go for this one! And I'm sure Hacker will be very reasonable with whatever he decides to do with the pricing.

[mike]

Originally Posted by hacker

Heh, I've gotten significantly farther than the person on Geocities has done so far, and the formats I'm converting to are not proprietary or restricted by DRM... More news on this soon.

It would seem that great minds think alike. I am the creator of the website in question and am surprised that it has become an item of discussion. My original intent was to just make it available in case anyone might be interested. I am glad it is even being looked at!

I don't know what DRM is, as I am only doing this as a hobby. While the format may be proprietary, the tools I use to create the books have cost me anything. I use the free eReader, available for PalmSource I think, to read the books. To create them, I use notepad, and the free DropBook, and code the books by hand. Because everything about them is free, so are they. They are just taking a little while.

For personal interest, I am trying to mimic the look of the Bartleby versions as much as possible, including chapters, formating and footnotes. It's the footnotes that take the most time. Over 300 in some books! But it is a labor of love, because I truly love these books.

Anyone who may have been to the site may have noticed a little incongruity. The Harvard Classics are available as 1. The Five foot Shelf and 2. The Shelf of Fiction. After doing some research I have decided to add another section based on articles and submission to Harvard Magazine. It is a collection of 29 new volumes, based on suggestions to Harvard Magazine of which books would bring the collection into the 21st century. I have called it The Century Collection. Presumptuous? Sacreligious? Scandalous? Maybe, but it sure is fun!

Cheers

Mike