08-30-2009, 04:01 AM | #1 |
neilmarr
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bewrite books: free offer
Apologies to be late in on this thread. If anyone here would like new title ebooks free of charge, my own wee publishing house (we've covered all paperbacks with digital versions for the past eight years) would be happy to oblige.
Just take your pick from the titles at www.bewrite.net and drop me a line at ntmarrATbewrite.net (use the @ sign) so that I can send your books as email attachments. This apparent display of wild altruism is, in fact, merely a fair swap for some splendid advice we've been given by the MobileRead community recently. One piece of advice (from several members) that we're immediately putting into practice is to offer a full range of formats rather than our current PDFs. It would be a real bonus to have a line or two of feedback on our ebooks, but please don't feel obliged. Very best. Neil Last edited by neilmarr; 08-30-2009 at 04:02 AM. Reason: typo |
08-30-2009, 08:23 PM | #2 |
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I moved Neil's generous offer from the "Ebooks and Begging" thread to it's own thread here. This is because for two reasons:
1. The "Ebooks and Begging" thread is for people to request a conversion of a public domain book. 2. More importantly, members might not notice this generous offer, which is more noticeable in this forum. Thanks, Neil. |
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09-04-2009, 02:25 PM | #3 | |
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BUT although the PDF is well constructed for Adobe Reader on a PC it does not read well on my Sony 505. The font is too small & when you chose to enlarge it you run into all the problems of re-flowing on an Ebook reader - blank pages, pages with one or two lines of text, it took me just 30 seconds to convert it to LRF with Calibre - with some minor solvable format problems - but much more acceptable to read on the Sony - which you have - try it! & you will see the problem |
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09-04-2009, 10:30 PM | #4 |
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I sent in my request, but never heard back.
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09-05-2009, 03:01 AM | #5 |
neilmarr
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Hya Karen: Very sorry. I thought I'd covered all requests (there have been a whole bunch of emails, so I must have somehow overlooked yours in the rush). Please do drop another line and I'll see to it immediately. Sincere apologies. Neil
Thanks, Rog. Your advice is well received. Our simple ebook system was put together some years ago for screen reading on PCs and laptops -- long before ebook readers became significantly popular. Only when we laid hands on the 505 recently did I notice the loss of formatting when text font is increased. No words are lost or mangled, but often paragraph breaks go for a Burton and there are line widows. We've got the software in now to convert to formats other than PDF and will offer a full range soon. Glad you're enjoying *Prestwick*. Please feel free to ask for other titles any time. Very best. Neil |
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09-05-2009, 03:02 AM | #6 |
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oops.
Last edited by neilmarr; 09-05-2009 at 03:04 AM. |
09-05-2009, 04:42 AM | #7 |
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Thanks!
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09-23-2009, 07:56 PM | #8 |
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Thanks for the generous offer! I just finished Silenced Cry by Marta Stephens & really enjoyed the book! I'll probably finish The Devil Can Wait before the weekend.
The eBook prices at the site (www.bewrite.net) seem to be very reasonable. Is there any chance of offering a format other than pdf? |
09-24-2009, 04:40 AM | #9 |
neilmarr
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Glad you liked *Silenced Cry*, Mcspice. Good luck with *The Devil Can Wait*, and please don't hesitate to drop a line if any other titles interest you. The third in Marta Stephens' Sam Harper series will be out next year, by the way, so just holler when it's released and I'll send it to you.
When we opened BeWrite Books eight years ago, we decided to cover every paperback with a digital version. Although we were dreaming of an e-reader future, at the time, ebooks tended mainly to be read on PC or laptop screens, so we decided PDF was the format best suited to the job. Crisp, perfect layout, bright full colour covers, etc. Now that e-readers are becoming so much more popular, though -- it seems, as we hoped, that e-reader use would be exponential -- we're gearing up to offer a variety of formats. After these opening years, we've just changed jockeys on the technical side, so there's been a wee bit of a delay in putting this plan into practice, but we hope to have at least ePub available before Christmas. For forty-some years, I've been a pro writer/editor, and I'm not too clued up on the technical side of things. I only realised that PDF formatting could sometimes come unstuck when I laid hands on my first e-reader (PRS-505) earlier this summer and joined the MR forums. The advice here has been tremendously generous ... and practical to boot. We owe ya. Whatever the format, the bargain basement price will remain on our own wee website at www.bewrite.net (and free ebooks to MR members), though our outside retailers -- all the usual suspects -- will continue to slap on their own cover prices, which I don't always agree are justified. One wee problem we have is with Kindle. Amazon stopped selling the ebook versions of our titles when their ereader was launched. To make our books available for Kindle, we have to open a US office, which ain't no easy job when the company is Europe-registered with its partners and pfofessional staff in Germany, France, UK and Canada. Maybe things will change when/if Amazon keeps its promise to launch Kindle outside the United States. Fingers crossed. Cheers for now. And thanks to everyone for the interest you've shown. I've sent out more than a hundred ebooks to fellow MR members so far, and there's no way with digital copies that I can say 'hurry while stocks last', so please feel free to drop me a line any ol' time if one or more of our titles takes your fancy. Best wishes. Neil Last edited by neilmarr; 09-24-2009 at 04:44 AM. |
09-24-2009, 11:59 AM | #10 | |
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09-24-2009, 12:24 PM | #11 |
neilmarr
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Thanks for the link, Gerraldo. Kind of you to suggest this service; but there are two wee problems for us if we were to go 'virtual office': One is that Amazon demands a US tax number and social security number for a key partner (we could swing that if we wanted to); The main problem, though, is that I really don't want to 'cheat' just to help a bully-boy outfit like Amazon establish even more monopolies. We've survived so far in a tough business by playing from a square bat. But thanks again, Gerraldo, this is an interesting idea for the future -- when we actually do have a US presence. Very best. Neil
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09-24-2009, 01:04 PM | #12 | |
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Just to clarify: I assume you mean "sell through the Kindle store" as opposed to "available for Kindle"? Kindle can read other formats, but yes, Amazon is apparently making it ridiculous for non-US publishers to put content in the Kindle store. |
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09-24-2009, 02:23 PM | #13 | |
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@Neil: At least they carry lots of your pbooks! |
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09-24-2009, 02:51 PM | #14 | |
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I hear rumours that the Kindle2 will be available in the UK before Xmas!!! |
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09-24-2009, 06:04 PM | #15 |
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It's very generous of you to do this for forum members, Neil.
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