Unwelcome

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I get what you're saying, but the numbers are pulled out of thin air.

I guess I should ask my friend again what his estimate is for the amount of time he takes to put a book together. I can't remember now, but I don't believe it was thirty hours per book. And the books he puts out are of higher quality than many small press books I've purchased (though those have gotten better).

You can ask your friend, of course, but if you've ever looked at the MR library you will be aware that I have created literally hundreds of ebooks, which I'd like to think are of reasonable quality, so I do speak with some confidence when I say that 30h is a rather conservative estimate for the length of time it takes to properly proofread a typical novel.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Please don't be absurd. As mentioned several times, his books are quite nice. Naturally they are proofed.

Alas, I wasn't being absurd. I have seen too many scanned books that the scanner was just trying to make a quick buck. So they scan, run through an OCR, upload.

Hey if your friend does take the time to make sure his books are good, then he should earn money off of them and not expect that self-entitled people to want him to work for free.

Look here is the thing, I have been told because I don't have a job, I should do something for someone else for free because my time is not valuable but because they "work" their time is valuable.
Well guess what, whatever they wanted done by me was not done.
I don't watch kids free, and I am not going to risk my hands or my eyes for some egotistical idiot. My time is as valuable as yours. I have paid my dues. Neither me, nor your friend owe the world anything.

Look if he wants to do it as a hobby cool, but there is no reason to say there is no cost.
Everyone's time is worth something.

There is no excuse or reason for saying there is no cost to an ebook.
Whether it is a file or a car, if one is not entitled to it and one takes it, it is stealing.
But please keep justifying it to oneself.
If you obtain something illegally, that is theft.
As to the justifying, I consider those people slightly lower than a guy I used to know. At least he admitted he took stuff from stores.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Alas, I wasn't being absurd. I have seen too many scanned books that the scanner was just trying to make a quick buck. So they scan, run through an OCR, upload.

Hey if your friend does take the time to make sure his books are good, then he should earn money off of them and not expect that self-entitled people to want him to work for free.

Look here is the thing, I have been told because I don't have a job, I should do something for someone else for free because my time is not valuable but because they "work" their time is valuable.
Well guess what, whatever they wanted done by me was not done.
I don't watch kids free, and I am not going to risk my hands or my eyes for some egotistical idiot. My time is as valuable as yours. I have paid my dues. Neither me, nor your friend owe the world anything.

Look if he wants to do it as a hobby cool, but there is no reason to say there is no cost.
Everyone's time is worth something.

There is no excuse or reason for saying there is no cost to an ebook.
Whether it is a file or a car, if one is not entitled to it and one takes it, it is stealing.
But please keep justifying it to oneself.
If you obtain something illegally, that is theft.
As to the justifying, I consider those people slightly lower than a guy I used to know. At least he admitted he took stuff from stores.

Well, that was totally unexpected. I think you and I are discussing different things.

I was replying to Harry's comment that converting an existing book to a digital format is an expensive undertaking. I am saying that while there is cost associated with it, it is not as cost prohibitive as folks think. I used my friend that creates e-books from paper copies and a small press that does the same thing as examples.

I am guessing that the cost/trouble of securing the rights for said book may be a be what keeps certain books from having e-versions released.

Any of what you just discussed, if it was as a reply to me or my messages, is totally on you.

[Little.Egret]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I get what you're saying, but the numbers are pulled out of thin air.

{. . . }

And they wouldn't be able to do it if the costs you are quoting are accurate.

Are their accounts public ?

But $1000-$2500 per book is a good commercial range for conversion and providing a cover image.

For a decade and more Baen has been hiring it done for reprints to fulfil their promise to have four new ebooks in every monthly bundle.

http://www.baen.com/catalog/category...undles/id/1999

"Every Monthly Baen Bundle features at least four books new to Baen Ebooks. "

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by shalym

Actually, that's not true at all. If you use the web browser to read by going to http://read.amazon.com you can download books to your device to read offline.

Shari

That must have been implemented later then, as I did try that cloud reader at the start, but was always required to have an active internet connection... At least they're listening to their userbase!

Sadly, though, that cloud reader is horrible on a small screen like a phone. Practially unusable. So, still no option for all devices. Good try, but that's it.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

That must have been implemented later then, as I did try that cloud reader at the start, but was always required to have an active internet connection... At least they're listening to their userbase!

Sadly, though, that cloud reader is horrible on a small screen like a phone. Practially unusable. So, still no option for all devices. Good try, but that's it.

If you have a Smartphone, though, you can install reading apps. I'm not sure I understand where you feel the problem lies. Can you elaborate?

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by HarryT

If you have a Smartphone, though, you can install reading apps. I'm not sure I understand where you feel the problem lies. Can you elaborate?

There isn't an app for every OS. They removed the Windows 8 store app last year, for instance. And some people are not allowed to install apps on their smartphones (due to them being supplied by their employer).

So, I do really like the fact that they have made a HTML reader, but sadly it doesn't work for some devices at all.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

There isn't an app for every OS. They removed the Windows 8 store app last year, for instance. And some people are not allowed to install apps on their smartphones (due to them being supplied by their employer).

Fair comment. The overwhelming majority of personal (rather than corporate) users with Smartphones are running either Android or iOS, though, and there's no shortage of reading apps for either.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Fair comment. The overwhelming majority of personal (rather than corporate) users with Smartphones are running either Android or iOS, though, and there's no shortage of reading apps for either.

True, but not all of them can handle the DRM (implementation problems? licensing costs? I don't know the exact reason).

Which brings us back to the start of the thread: if HTML5 can handle the DRM, any self-respecting modern browser that implements HTML5 (which is a standard) can handle DRM'd streams which means it won't be the limiting factor of watching those streams

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Which brings us back to the start of the thread: if HTML5 can handle the DRM, any self-respecting modern browser that implements HTML5 (which is a standard) can handle DRM'd streams which means it won't be the limiting factor of watching those streams

I completely agree with you.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Which brings us back to the start of the thread: if HTML5 can handle the DRM, any self-respecting modern browser that implements HTML5 (which is a standard) can handle DRM'd streams which means it won't be the limiting factor of watching those streams

Thread back on topic and neatly summed-up to boot? How did that happen?