Questions about Self-Publishing for Dedicated E-Book Readers

[Boojatta]

(I use the word "dedicated" in the title of this thread to distinguish what I'm trying to talk about from devices such as laptops that might, among other things, function as e-book readers, but that are much more expensive and fragile and may have displays that aren't easy to read outside.)

1. What are some of the most frequently used file formats for portable e-book readers?

2. Are there portable e-book readers that are used by many people and that use a non-proprietary file format for which file conversion software to create the files is available at no cost? If not, then what options are there? For example, can one pay for some period of time during which one can convert an unlimited number of files, does one pay for each file conversion, or must one pay a lump sum to buy the software to convert files?

3. What choices are available for how an e-book is created or distributed that will tend to reduce the amount of unauthorized copying that will occur?

[MineralMan]

1. Here's some info for you.

Question 1: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=ebook+formats

Question 2: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=ebook+reader+popularity

Question 3: The larger question is whether anyone will actually be interested in downloading your ebook in the first place. If that happens, then worrying about unauthorized copying will be appropriate. There are a number of e-book publishers out there, and they have some controls over unauthorized downloading. However, the formatted files will end up being everywhere if your e-book is actually interesting and becomes popular. Bottom line is that there is no protection.

[Boojatta]

2. Thank you for drawing to my attention the existence of search engines.

Do you think that Wikipedia is a source of completely reliable and useful information? Any kind of disinformation can be put on a website, so what appears on a random website might be much less reliable or much less useful than what is in Wikipedia. What does the popularity of a website as indicated by its ranking in a hit list generated by a search engine tell you? Speculative investing was very popular early in the year 1929, but we cannot necessarily conclude that it was a good idea.

[MineralMan]

3. In most cases, Wikipedia is quite accurate. In some cases,

as with political issues, it's not, but for pure information, it's great. Those searches, however, lead to other sources as well. As for whether websites are useful, that's a mixed bag, of course. It's equally accurate to say that random information obtained on discussion forums is also of questionable accuracy. You'll do better to search the internet and draw your own conclusions. There is no source of "completely accurate information."

My point, of course, is that open ended questions like the ones you raised are not going to be answered fully on a discussion forum like DU. Further, as someone who's made my living as a professional writer since 1974, I can tell you with absolute certainty that there is no way to secure unencrypted documents from being distributed by anyone who has copies of them. That's the nature of today's Internet, you see.

The larger problem is writing something that anyone is interested enough in to bother reading at all. If you are thinking about making money with your writing, the problem's even larger. E-books are a great way to self-publish, but you'll find that most authors of such things don't make much, if any, money from them. If money's your goal, getting your writings on Amazon's Kindle list is the best possible venue. But, even there, your own personal marketing efforts will make the difference between a few, random readers and success. Few manage to get the latter.

You may think I'm being facetious with my advice to you. I assure you that I am not.

[fasttense]

6. So, MineralMan do you recommend the traditional book method

of publishing if you wish to make money off your writings?

I've always been leary of self publishing, even in electronic form.

I've written some stuff for on-line magazines and the pay is underwhelming. What is your recommendation for earning the best money off your writings?

[Boojatta]

7. "I can tell you with absolute certainty"

Are you familiar with written works of Descartes?

[OneGrassRoot]

4. Whoa...that's cool. That "lmgtfy" search engine. Thanks! :) n/t

[Ghost in the Machine]

5. if you were looking for a free ebook writer/creator, have you seen the Cute Writer?

http://www.cutepdf.com/products/cutepdf/writer.asp

I have used it to publish a few of my own ebooks before... it's very easy to use.

I can also point you to some software for creating ebook covers if you are interested

[reACTIONary]

9. PDF is a "fixed page" format...

...that doesn't "flow" the text onto the page size of the device or reader you are using. Check out Calibre, which can convert a PDF into an ePub eBook that repagenates to conform to your reader. Calibre is free, open source software.

[reACTIONary]

8. I've just gotten into eBooks...

...I have a dedicated eReader, the Kobo, which uses the ePub format. The ePub format is the "open standard" for eBooks. It is used by the Gutenberg project, as well as other free publishers.

You can easily create ePub books using the free, open source Calibre eBook management software. I used it to convert some PDF files into ePub format. Don't know its full capabilities, but I loaded the book onto my Kobo and it worked.

PDF (Adobe Acrobat) is a fixed page format. Real eBooks "flow" - they automatically repagenate and size for the device they are being read upon. They are VERY cool!

I don't know much about Digital Rights Management, but that's OK for me, since all the books I realy want to read are free anyway! What a deal!

If you want to publish for free, then it is fast and ez. Don't know how to go about publishing for profit.