SF Writer Talks eBooks at Asimov's

James Patrick Kelly, a noted science fiction author, writes in Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine about ebooks:

should say here that I have long been one of those saurians who disliked reading for pleasure from a computer screen. But a couple of months ago, for reasons too boring to mention, I popped for a personal digital assistant (PDA) , mostly to keep track of appointments and addresses when I was away from my desk. As it happened, shortly after I made the buy, I went to Florida to attend the International Conference on the Fantastic and to soak up some rays. On a whim, I loaded some ebooks into my new gadget. By the time I got off the plane in Fort Lauderdale I’d fallen in love with my PDA as a reading device. Yes, the screen is smallish but I can change the font at will. Maybe it isn’t exactly ideal for the beach because direct light washes out the backlit screen, but my days of sunbathing are over and this thing is made in the shade. Often as not it’s my book of choice for bedtime reading. And if my wife wants to turn in, we can douse all the lights and I can read from that cheerily lit screen.

Article at Asimov's

This sounds like my own exact experience with ebooks and PDA's. I had little interest in reading ebooks until I tried it on a PDA. By the way, Asimov's Magazine is available in ebook format from Fictionwise which is a great way to distribute a literary magazine.

Source: Boing Boing

Print On Demand Books and the Developing World

The article below shows how important POD publishing can be, especially in rural areas of the developing world.

Wired News: Rural Kids Print, Bind and Read: "Anywhere Books has piloted a digital bookmobile -- a van outfitted with a laptop, laser printer, bookbinding machine and cutter -- in remote areas of Uganda to print free books for children since November 2003."

PDA as eBook Reader: Frosting the Cake

David Rothman points out that we often take a PDA-fixated approach to ebook reading and devices inTeleRead: Tobisha exits U.S. PDA market, raising questions about PDA-fixated approach for e-bookers

One paragraph caught my eye:

"Needlees to say, ignorance of the usefulness of PDAs for e-book reading didn't help Toshiba. It's not that e-bookers should give up on this platform. But whatever the reason, ignorance or others, PDAs as e-book readers have not lived up to their promise so far."

It seems to me we have two problems going on here and both revolve around proprietary format issues:

1. Lack of marketing PDA's as eBook Reading devices: even though the hardware manufacturers generally include ebook reading software with the PDA they do not publicize the PDA as an ebook reader enough to the public - it is mentioned but not emphisised. I showed my Palm Zire 71 to a friend last night at a party and told him there were over 40 books on that device, many of them free. He was amazed and went and showed it to his wife. This despite the fact that I had been telling him about PDA's and ebooks for months on an online forum. Like so much in the computer world, seeing a live demo can be worth a thousand words. (Take your PDA to your next party.)

2. Another problem is in showing the value of the supplied ebook reading software to the PDA buyer so they will actually use it. To do this, the ebook reading software should make it easy for people to retrieve free ebooks either directly from Project Gutenberg or from one or more of the other free ebook collections such as Blackmask or Manybooks.net. The system we have now has each ebook reader only trying to push people to their own proprietary stores filled with over-priced DRM'd ebooks. (eg. eReader pushes people toward the eReader store, Mobipocket pushes people to the Mobipocket ebook store, etc.) I think a lot more people would get excited about the PDA as a reading platform if they saw all the free, public domain, ebooks that were also available and make it easy to upload them. I think long term it would increase the sales of both PDA's and even DRM'd ebooks to readers.

What we have now is like TV manufacturers making TV sets that are preset from the factory to only receive that manufacturer's own TV network station - and tries to ignore all the rest. To the consumer it looks like the ebook reader does not do much.

This is also an area where 3rd party reader software could improve, with iSilo, Plucker, uBook and the rest tying in access to Fictionwise, Blackmask and/or Manybooks.net via their desktop clients. I am not a programmer, but I know a bit about linking and the Web, and I know the more interconnected, useful and transparent you make things the more people will find utility in them. Book readers are not always the most tech savvy, so you have to 'prime the pump' and make it easy for them.

Pocket PC for Mac Users

The Missing Sync from Mark/Space, Inc. will let a Mac OS X user sync a Pocket PC PDA. I am kind of amazed I have not found this before. I had always assumed that Mac users could never use a Pocket PC. Looks like I was wrong.

Web Functionality and eBook Formats

There is a good article at, eBook Culture: Web-based eBook Formats where Richard points out that many of the functions that we like about HTML on the web are what also work well in ebooks, (eg. hyperlinks, character formatting, etc.) It is a very insightful and well written article.

I must say I agree. This is why I was immediately drawn to iSilo and Plucker formats over the more text based PalmDOC.

Lulu Partners With ColorCentric for On-Demand Publishing

Lulu Partners With ColorCentric to Bring Xerox On-Demand Publishing to Thousands of Independent Authors and Publishers: "ColorCentric, based in Rochester, New York, has announced a partnership with Lulu that delivers on the promise of the Xerox television commercial by combining cutting-edge digital printing solutions with a web site that literally gives everyone the power to get published."

Speaking from my own experience Lulu has significantly improved the delivery time on their POD books. Now I spend a lot of time talking about ebooks, but an important part of a self-publishing strategy is to also offer a print version of your book as well as electronic version(s). This way you capture the 'I only buy print books' sales and the the ebooks help on the price point and impulse sales. Lulu is a fantastic resource to publish that print book through.

Source: Tenebris

Tenebris: Lulu.com considering software self-publishing

"It just so happens (you heard it here first) that Lulu is, shall we say, seriously looking into launching on demand software self publishing (icky phrase) as a content category. Stay tuned on that subject."

This is an exciting thing for Lulu.com. I hope they can find a way to do it.

Tenebris: Everybody wants to be a hero

Periodicals in eBook Form

One thing I have noticed at Fictionwise is that some genre magazines are now being offered in ebook format. One example is Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine. It seems to me that this is a very good idea for magazines, since so many times they are read once and then either thrown away or tossed into a box to languish forgotten until the next time you move to a new house. Magazines are intended to be disposable and so an electronic format ought to suit them well. Literary magazines lend themselves well to this because they are text heavy, but I could see Time or Newsweek coming out with a paid ebook edition.

I have not tried buying an ebook magazine to see how they are formatted. I am curious. I think I would prefer to have more than just text. That may serve well for novels, but part of the joy of magazines is having some illustrations and pictures. IMHO. I know they cannot recreate the whole print version experience on a handheld screen, but I would like to see the "feel" recreated to some extent in the formatting.

I am wondering if it would also be worth it for non-print ezines to offer an ebook version in addition to a web version. I have seen this in ezines delivered by email, The Illuminata is a good example of one sent in PDF format, but I am thinking of more PDA friendly formats. I wonder if their is a market for that? I wonder if many ezines and webzines could broaden their readership by offering PDA friendly formats of their magazines that could be downloaded or emailed to the subscriber especially if this were marketed to the handheld owners? It seems to me that handheld owners are always looking for new content and ezines are always looking for readers, especially the free ones that are put out as labors of love - could there be a market?

While I am thinking of Fictionwise, they have a free ebook giveaway going on. Grab them while you can.

eBook Reader Soup

I currently have 6 different ebook readers on my Palm PDA, my ebook reading device of choice. Why? Well partly it is because I'm testing ebook reading software, but it is also because no one ebook reader actually reads all the formats I encounter. It seems like every ebook reader out there is about 80% of what you need to really have full coverage of all the formats available and have the features I like.

Here is what is on my Palm:

1. eReader - (fka PalmReader) I have the free version. It is a decent reader for the PDA. I keep it for reading DRM (encrypted) books. I try to avoid buying books with a DRM scheme, but sometimes it cannot be avoided so whaen I do buy a DRM title it is in eReader format.

2. TiBR Reader - this is the very first ebook reader I ever installed right after I bought the Palm. I had no idea what I was doing but TiBR was easy to install, free and easy to use. It is not a bad little free reader, very stable, but it only reads PalmDOC and that format is covered by other readers like eReader and iSilo.

3. Weasel Reader - reads PalmDOC and the more compressed open source zTXT formats. It is not a bad little open source ebook reader. The two reasons I keep it: it is the only thing I have that reads zTXT and it has the ability to beam a copy of itself and books to other Palm PDAs. As one who is trying to popularize the reading of ebooks that strikes me as an important feature: being able to give a friend not just an ebook, but also a free reader for it. Half the battle is just getting people to try it. eBook evangelism!

4. Plucker - I love the reader's interface. I wish Plucker would read some more formats like PalmDOC and zTXT in addition to it's own open source Plucker format. It would make Plucker a better rounded reader. I do like the off-line reader too. I like being able to convert documents from HTML and still have hyperlinks and character formating. I like that it is free. I like that it is open source. This one is a keeper.

5. iSilo - right now I have this on 30 free trial. I will probably buy it. It essentially does the same thing that Plucker does in converting HTML pages - I am still experimenting with it but it seems to handle HTML tables better than Plucker. That normally is not a problem with fiction books, but I was trying to convert an open source game rule book which has tables in it and iSilo did handled the tables very well. I will probably start buying unencrypted ebooks in iSilo format whenever Plucker is not available, because of iSilo's high file compression, font formating and hyperlink support.

6. Adobe Reader for Palm OS - this program actually has a decent interface and they do not try to charge you for it. It only reads Adobe PDF format and it still has to optimize a regular PDF file so it will display on your Palm. It takes awhile for it to do that conversion on my desktop computer. Then it has to be synched to the Palm. There is a lot of code bloat here sometime I think my Palm has frozen because there is a pause when reading from the SD card. File size is large. So far I have kept this reader because I still encounter ebooks that are only published in PDF format. However, I am really starting to think about getting rid of this and see if I can get by without it. PDF is just not the best format for handhelds. One problem I see is that some DRM'ed ebooks are not offered in eReader but are offered in Adobe.

Summary - every single software reader has some glaring omissions or fault. TiBR is the first to be slated for removal. I would like to slim down to 4 readers. I am eyeing Adobe with a mind to removing it too, but I worry about encountering a DRM'ed book that is not available in eReader. I could get rid of Weasel, but then I would have no reader I could beam over to others, and nothing else that will read zTXT. *Sigh.*

Article on POD Publishing

This is a good article on print on demand publishing, how it works and the effect it is having on the publishing industry.

They also touch upon another effect of this technology, that is the impact upon the creative community. A lot of people have a tale to tell, but have little use for trying to publish their story by traditional means. Or many people have a story which might well be of interest to a limited audience, but our mass production economies of scale means that it has no hope of becoming a commercial success if were conventionally published. Print on demand publishing helps bring new writing to life that would otherwise be ignored or frozen out of the market place.

Thanks to maitaman for sending me the URL.

PyGE: Python Gutenberg E-text Project

PyGE: Python Gutenberg E-text Project is a neat looking project intended to make the texts at Project Gutenberg more accessible and readable on the consumer's desktop.

PyGE consists of a suite of three subprograms: a desktop search of Project Gutenberg texts and download them; a compiler to convert the texts into a more usable but still open source format (zTXT); provide a reader for the desktop to enable comfortable reading, said reader to have optional speech output.

It looks like the project is in a stable beta.

PyGE has some key cross platform capabilities:

• Windows platform
• Linux platform
• X11 platform on Mac OS X (although a true Mac OS X version does not seem to be available and I do not really consider X11 to be usable by the general public)
• Palm OS (since the zTXT files created can be read on the open source Weasel Reader for Palm)

This is exactly the kind of software needed to really make Gutenberg texts come alive with the public. Those applications need to be fairly seamless and easy to use. They also need to be easy to install, so I presume that someday any installation wizard will include the Python libraries needed for this program to work.

Unfortunately, as a Mac user, I was not able to test this suite of programs since it seems to be for Windows and Linux. If any of you try it on one of those systems, please let me know how the installation and trial went.

Plucker eBook Reader and Compiler

I have been playing with Plucker. Like iSilo it is an outstanding product and one well worth using for an ebook format.

Plucker consists of two parts: a reader which resides on your Palm OS PDA*; and a compiler which converts HTML files to Plucker format and will also download web pages. The compiler will run on Windows, Mac and Linux computers. (*OpieReader for the Linux based Sharp Zaurus PDA will also read Plucker format ebooks.)

Plucker does not spend enough time trumpeting how good of an ebook compiler and reader they have. The reader, on the Palm has one of the most elegant interfaces I have seen. The compiler is not quite as straight forward but if you play with it you will figure it out rather quickly. Both reader and compiler are absolutely free and without any royalties for publishing in the format.

Plucker format supports, images, bold, italic and text size in it's format. It also support hyperlinks, which is handy for short story collections and table of contents. Since it converts from HTML, just like iSilo, it is just an extra 5 minute operation to convert an ebook into both Plucker and iSilo formats. Give people the choice. And given that the Plucker reader is free, choice is good.

I can see what eBookCulture is talking about now with perhaps using Plucker for ebook conversion of OpenReader XML based ebooks to a format usable on the Palm OS handheld. Why Plucker? Because Plucker format is open source. Others can make readers and compilers for the format so the format is less likely to die out if one company goes out of business. Hopefully the commercial companies like Mobipocket and iSilo will also support conversion of OpenReader format.

Plucker does not have the commercial market penetration that other formats have: Fictionwise does not offer Plucker as one of it's multiformats. However, there are several free book collections offering Plucker formatted books: Manybooks.net, Pluckerbooks and Memoware, to name a few. I also converted a short story collection from Blackmask from HTML (Zipped format) to Plucker very easily, but it was an extra step.

Pros:

Easy/fast conversion from HTML.
Text formatting.
Hyperlinks.
Images
Open source format
Elegant reader
Free reader and compiler
No royalties
No DRM scheme
Compiler for Win., Mac, Linux.

Cons:

No commercial use of format.
Reader only for Palm OS and Zaurus handhelds.
Not as widely known as commercial ebook readers.

This is a great format for Palm OS handhelds (60% of the PDA market). It is so easy to convert you would be foolish not to offer it. This one is worth checking out.

Linux Tablet Computers and PDAs as eBook Readers

This article about using Microsoft Tablet PC OS tablet computer (Source: eBook Culture) got me looking around for non-Microsoft powered tablets.

I note the desktop Linux folks at Lycoris have developed a Linux based Desktop Tablet Edition. This shows there is hope for a portable ebook reading device that does not lock the consumer into Microsoft's OS. Now, is there a Linux based ebook reader that will run on a tablet?

PDA's and Linux:

I found something else on the Lycoris website that was exciting: they are developing a Desktop Linux OS for HP iPAQ PDA's, which use the StrongARM processor and normally run MS Pocket PC operating system. (They also mention the Sharp Zaurus which already runs embedded Linux).

"Synchronization with popular Desktop operating systems, including Desktop/LX Personal, Professional, and Tablet Editions"

If they will support using this PDA OS with Windows, Lycoris Linux and Mac OS X, for synch purposes they will have succeeded in providing a true multiplatform PDA. Right now it is still vaporware, but it is an exciting propect, especially if PDA manufacturers would start equipping their handhelds with Linux from the start.

But if it should happen, it underlines the need for a Linux based handheld ebook reader plus and formats.

Could this OS form the basis of an inexpensive ebook reading hardware/PDA combo for the masses?

Webrings

I have applied to a couple of ebook webrings at Webring.org (see code at the bottom of my index page.)

I checked the other major webring host: Ringsurf and could not find a ring I thought was quite right so I created my own ebook ring. The purpose is to create traffic to like minded sites. I know webrings are a bit passe in the age of Google but they do serve in finding very narrow interest groups.

Most of the rings I did find were oriented towards authors and writing, but I wanted to slant the emphasis towards the ebook as medium and the how-to's of ebook publishing.

eBook and ePublishing Webring

eBook and ePublishing Ring Homepage


This ring is for sites about the technology of ebook hardware, software, ebook publishing and things about ebooks as a medium for publication.

If you offer information about using ebooks, creating ebooks than please join.

1. Please put the ring code on your page when you join.

2. You may alter the code but please include the Ring Name, Join, List, Next and Prev links in good working order.

3. Please do email me and let me know when you have the ring code in place so I can approve your site quickly.

4. The ring code will be available after you register and it will also be emailed to you.

Ready?

Join the ring! :)

List sites in Ring.

------------------

Powered by RingSurf

OpenReader Discusses Palm OS and Mac OS X Support

The OpenReader Consortium has addressed some of the fears about Palm OS support raised by Richard at eBook Culture and myself. Here is the response on Teleread Blog and here is the response from OpenReader. I really must commend both for the quickness and openness of their replies, it speaks very well of them and their dedication.

I do understand having limited resources and having to set priorities. But, I also think Mac OS X laptops are going to be gaining popularity on college campuses so OS X support is important if etextbooks are ever going to take off. Palm support remains important for reading fiction. I do think it will all sort itself out, especially since the folks at OpenReader are aware of it. The good thing about open source is that others can contribute without getting to entangled in copyright and patent issues.

I have to echo Richard's observation:

"Although OpenReader probably won't directly support the Palm OS until v3.0 at least, they will make it as easy as possible for users to convert OpenReader files to Palm formats. Two possiblities mooted for conversion formats are Plucker and the commercial Mobipocket."

Unless it is very easy, non-tech savvy people just will not use it.

Fortunately, I have Plucker on both my Mac and Palm, which I downloaded for evaluation a few months ago. I will have to dust them off and play around. I'm not tech savvy enough to really understand what the XML of OpenReader entails, but if there is an easy way to convert OpenReader XML to HTML then both Plucker and iSiloX ought to be able to convert it easily and both of those compilers have Mac OS X versions. At least it looks like it might be acceptable as a temporary workaround.

Cheap eBook Hardware

There has been a lot of discussion over the last few weeks on the eBook Community Discussion Group about the need for a $50 ebook reading device. I agree that this is as important as the different software formats since ebooks will not gain significant market share until there is a cheap, easy to use handheld reading device.

But I have to say that we are already getting very close. Today I noticed the PalmOne Zire 21 Handheld over at Amazon has a $25 rebate for purchases before 9/12/04. This brings the Zire 21 down to about $75. That is very close to that $50 price point that was being discussed. I also notice that the Zire 21 comes with the eReader (aka Palm Reader) ebook reading software already installed. Frankly, given the datebook, address book and other applications on the Zire it makes it more attractive in many ways that just a dedicated ebook device. Plus it works with both Windows and Mac computers.

Now the Zire is not perfect, one would wish for a backlit screen, but at that price with the rebate, you could easily save that much money if you read some ebooks from free ebook collections like Manybooks.net or Blackmask.

Now my point is not about buying from Amazon for this particular rebate deal. My point is that you will probably find similar rebates repeated regularly at Amazon, Office Max, Staples, etc., especially between now and Christmas. It will pay to shop around and keep your eyes open. Ebooks did not come alive for me until I got a handheld and this is the kind of entry level device that can introduce many new readers to the power of ebooks. If you want a device for only reading ebooks on this is probably the best priced device available.

New eBook Links and Housekeeping Notes

This is sort of a housekeeping post. I have added quite a few new links to the navigation column here on ePublishing Blog. The most significant ones are the blogs and email discussion groups in the "Related Conversations" category but there are great new links sprinkled throughout the sidebar.

Why eBooks are Important

I know most of my friends do not share my enthusiasm for ebooks and epublishing. I do not think they really grasp the importance of it.

The costs involved in producing and selling a traditional book are prohibitive for the average person. You would need to buy a printing press, facilities, trained workers, trucks for distribution, and a network to get your books into the hands of retailer and distributors.

Publishing an ebook can all be done by one person and a computer. While there are costs involved, none come even close to the price of a small offset printing press. Distribution and fulfillment can be done over the internet. Literally, the publisher does not have to leave the room, he/she calls an office in order to publish, sell and deliver that ebook. This is an incredibly democratizing force.

Before the capital costs of publishing meant that only a select few companies could produce books for sale on just a national scale. Today with ebooks, a single person of modest means can publish and distribute their ebook globally. That change is going to prove profound in the future.

OpenReader Flawed?

I have been reader some facinating discussion about the OpenReader Consortium on the excellent eBook Community Yahoo Group. OpenReader is an attempt to come up with an open source ebook format that can be read across a wide range of platforms. A very worthy goal.

While poking around the OpenReader site I came across the Implementation Roadmap page and was shocked to scroll down and find that under "Operating System Support" the first version of OpenReader would not work on Mac OS X. I was even more surprised to see that Palm OS would not be supported in the first two versions and even the third and forth versions of OpenReader only list Palm OS support as 'Maybe'.

Sorry, but I think OpenReader is completely missing the boat. PocketPC PDA's will not work with Apple computers. By ignoring both Mac OS X and Palm OS, you effectively eliminate all Mac owners from using any OpenReader ebooks. Moreover, Palm OS is the most widely used PDA operating system it seems silly not to make it a priority since most people prefer reading ebooks on mobile devices.

It looks like OpenReader is hitching it's wagon to Microsoft Windows and Microsoft PocketPC. (They do support Linux and Solaris but frankly neither of those operating systems are yet ready for the desktops of the masses.)

While the technical plans for OpenReader are impressive, their near total reliance on Microsoft powered devices is, IMO, a fatal flaw.