Formats I should offer?

[Steven Lake]

Ok, I admit, I'm a *BIG* stickler about free and open source formats, software, etc, and as such I've stuck exclusively to epub to date. However, I'm hearing a lot of mumblings from people because I'm not offering the ebooks in mobi, or kindle (btw, what extension *is* Kindle anyways!?), or Nook or whatever other crazy format that's out there. (Come on, I thought people were trying to consolidate everything into one format, not make new ones!!)

So, my question is as follows. What formats, other than Epub, should I offer my ebooks in? And what are the extensions, as I can convert them in Calibre, but it only tells me the file extension, and not the actual file type when converting. (I've got 0.6.x, as I can't run 0.7.x because my distro is too old.) Anywho, your input is greatly welcome.

[desertgrandma]

Thank you for caring!!!

Just as an example, if you go to smashwords to download a book, this is what is offered.......


Available Ebook reading formats:
This book is free.
Format Full Book
Online Reading (HTML) View
Online Reading (JavaScript) View
Kindle (.mobi) Download
Epub (open industry format, good for Stanza reader, others) Download
PDF (good for highly formatted books, or for home printing) Download
RTF (readable on most word processors) Download
LRF (for Sony Reader) Download
Palm Doc (PDB) (for Palm reading devices) Download
Plain Text (download) (flexible, but lacks much formatting) Download
Plain Text (view) (viewable as web page) View

[BexBits]

Originally Posted by Steven Lake

Ok, I admit, I'm a *BIG* stickler about free and open source formats, software, etc, and as such I've stuck exclusively to epub to date. However, I'm hearing a lot of mumblings from people because I'm not offering the ebooks in mobi, or kindle (btw, what extension *is* Kindle anyways!?), or Nook or whatever other crazy format that's out there. (Come on, I thought people were trying to consolidate everything into one format, not make new ones!!)

So, my question is as follows. What formats, other than Epub, should I offer my ebooks in? And what are the extensions, as I can convert them in Calibre, but it only tells me the file extension, and not the actual file type when converting. (I've got 0.6.x, as I can't run 0.7.x because my distro is too old.) Anywho, your input is greatly welcome.

Nook format is epub. You've already got that covered. For Kindle you need .mobi.

[MrPLD]

Are there popular eReader devices out there that are not covered by ePub and mobi ? I didn't really bother to ask with PDF/Postscript since I really more see that as a print focused format.

[Worldwalker]

Do the newer Sony readers even support LRF anymore?

[doreenjoy]

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

Do the newer Sony readers even support LRF anymore?

Yes, absolutely. They don't support the DRM'd LRX format anymore.

OP, I think you're covered if you do Mobipocket, EPUB, and LIT (for other devices that run MS Reader).

[jaxx6166]

Originally Posted by doreenjoy

Yes, absolutely. They don't support the DRM'd LRX format anymore.

OP, I think you're covered if you do Mobipocket, EPUB, and LIT (for other devices that run MS Reader).

As far as I know, M$ discontinued their LIT format about a year and a half ago. While you can't purchase DRM'd LRX, most of the Sony Readers have shifted over to ePub (with the exception of those with 500's that refuse to mail their device to Sony) around the time the 505 released their only major firmware update to allow for ePub.

You can cover around 90% of the eBook market with just mobi and ePub right now.

I use LIT exclusively as a conversion from my exported DOC formats, which I then turn into ePubs...

LRF does have its advantages though, for one, I think they're better reads on a Sony than the ePub. I get annoyed when I see "Page 38-39" or whatever on the ePub versions of my books.

[doreenjoy]

The new Sony Readers will handle both EPUB and LRF. EPUB is the more universal choice if you want to minimize how many formats you create.

I'm still seeing strong sales of LIT format books for people who don't have the latest ereaders.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by jaxx6166

As far as I know, M$ discontinued their LIT format about a year and a half ago. While you can't purchase DRM'd LRX, most of the Sony Readers have shifted over to ePub (with the exception of those with 500's that refuse to mail their device to Sony) around the time the 505 released their only major firmware update to allow for ePub.

You can cover around 90% of the eBook market with just mobi and ePub right now.

I use LIT exclusively as a conversion from my exported DOC formats, which I then turn into ePubs...

LRF does have its advantages though, for one, I think they're better reads on a Sony than the ePub. I get annoyed when I see "Page 38-39" or whatever on the ePub versions of my books.

LRF is dead. Let it stay dead.

[nomesque]

Originally Posted by MrPLD

Are there popular eReader devices out there that are not covered by ePub and mobi ? I didn't really bother to ask with PDF/Postscript since I really more see that as a print focused format.

PDF is still popular for computer-based reading. I'd recommend including it for the ebook-readerless crowd.

[MrPLD]

Nomesque,

Agreed, I am keeping PDF - I just didn't bother to include it in the discussion as I consider it a different catagory of format compared to ePub/Mobi and such, sorry about that.

Paul.

[Tom Wood]

The 'official' file extension for Kindle is .AZW. Closely related to .MOBI and .PRC.

Since Kindle has up to 80% of the market, seems a mistake to not offer one of its flavors.

(Edit) I just noticed in that blurb for .MOBI that it supports Javascript. Does that mean that I could use Javascript to manipulate the CSS in a Kindle? That would be cool because it opens up the possibility of adding easter eggs to the text. Blocks of new text/graphics that can be opened and closed.

[Steven Lake]

Ok, well, I can convert my ebooks to mobi, as that's all my version of Calibre will allow (I can't run the newest version because my distro version is too old, and I can't upgrade right now), so that's at least a start. If someone can do AZW for me, that'll help even more. Or course, if the latest calibre will do AZW, then I may need to find a way to get that running so I can make that conversion.

[Freeshadow]

if you compose your texts on a TeX/LaTeX system like XeteX you could easily produce highq PDF's supporting all the nice typographical extras like ligatures, kerning pairs, etc. this way you could even offer high quality print-ready files for people preferring to buy a file and print/bind themselves at the local copyshop (as often common in RPG sector)
While this seems to be more expensive than order a pbook or POD copy this may differ in regard of your reader's residence and thus the shipping costs.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Steven Lake

Ok, well, I can convert my ebooks to mobi, as that's all my version of Calibre will allow (I can't run the newest version because my distro version is too old, and I can't upgrade right now), so that's at least a start. If someone can do AZW for me, that'll help even more. Or course, if the latest calibre will do AZW, then I may need to find a way to get that running so I can make that conversion.

If you strip the DRM from AZW, you end up with a Mobipocket file. AZW is just Mobipocket with a different flavor of DRM. So once you convert to Mobipocket, you are good to go for the Kindle.