Kickstarter 1770-Style

Once upon a time, an author had to directly solicit pre-sales for his own book. Those who bought in were subscribing to the book.

From the 1770 book, Antiquity [Google Books link], we see how this worked out in the finished product.

eBook Glue Could Be Something

Convert Blogs to eBooks Instantly

I tested eBook Glue, which will turn a blog’s feed into an ePub or Mobi eBook file.

It didn’t seem to handle Blockquote correctly.

But I was impressed that it could do this entire post as part of the file. dotEpub couldn’t do that for me (too many images).

If they would let people use it to turn individual posts into an eBook file, I think they’d be on their way to success. I’d use it to turn posts like that into eBooks to offer here.

Export An ePub eBook From Wikipedia

Wikimedia enables ebook export feature on Wikipedia for your offline reading pleasure

I gave this a try and I have put together a screensnap guide (click on any to enlarge).

The UI is not exactly straightforward.

Update dotEPUB!

If you haven't updated the dotEPUB bookmarklet for a while and it freezes on "Working…", please LET US KNOW. & then update the bookmarklet—
dotepub.com (@dotepub) April 21, 2012

I got caught out this week, with my Bookmarklet no longer working. It turns out there was an update and I didn’t know it.

See how to update it as an Extension for Firefox in this video.

Other people use things that will save a webpage to read later. I like dumping those pages into an ePub file to eventually read later on an eInk or tablet screen.

And oh, if you have a Kindle, it will save in Kindle (MOBI) format too. Now you have no excuse not to get it.

iBooks Author: Creating A Children’s Book

Shoo Rayner is a professional who does children’s books.

This is his website (warning: autoplay music; click Stop button when there!)

He found out about iBooks Author by accident and has done two videos about it.

Now All eBook Eyes Turn To Kobo

Children of @elandes reading on Kobo eReaders

And FINALLY got to fondle the Kobo Touch. How I wish that ran Android and could be rooted!! Better form factor than Nook Touch. @mserbinis—
Mike Cane (@mikecane) January 20, 2012

And you @Kobo people are freaks!! SLIDERS for font size, margins, and spacing? Couldn't believe my eyes.—
Mike Cane (@mikecane) January 20, 2012

The Missing iBooks 2 Post

I made a special trip into Manhattan today to go to the Apple Store to try out iBooks 2.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t yet loaded onto any iDevices.

Apple Corporate has to give the word. There are things to consider when it comes to Sample books shown, apparently. Some might be Copyright-related, but I’m not sure.

As it stands, it will be perhaps a few days before I can try the new iBooks 2 and the new interactive iBooks Author-created books for myself.

Until then, I won’t have anything to say about all of what’s been happening Apple-wise in this area.

You Need This: GrabMyBooks

Liz Castro — who is an ePub expert — tweeted about something she was looking at called GrabMyBooks.

I went to the site and then downloaded the Firefox extension.

This thing kicks ass!

Book Cover: Genius Or Madness?

This is today’s featured Kindle Nation Daily book.

WTF?

Two Press Stupidities Of The J.K. Rowling Coverage

Two bizarre notions the press has latched onto:

1) That writers need permission to create a Kindle book! See this:

As Business Insider points out, if Amazon wants the incredibly popular Potter books on Kindle, the company will either have to let Rowling use the Kindle format or open the Kindle to ePub books.

Boldfaced emphasis added by me.

What? What? You can buy a damn book to learn how to create a Kindle book! No one needs Amazon’s permission to use the format!

2) That Amazon is going to have to cave in and adopt ePub. See above again and see this:

Henwood’s words suggest that the Potter books will be released in a single format, probably EPUB. The problem? Amazon’s Kindle, which controls about 60 percent of the e-reader market, according to PaidContent, doesn’t support EPUB. But, if that’s the route Rowling decides to take, it had better start. If Amazon doesn’t change its policies, it will risk losing Potter fans to the Nook, the iPad, the Kobo and other e-readers currently on the market.

Boldfaced emphasis added by me.

What? Do you think Rowling is stupid? Of course there will be ePub — but there will also be Kindle format too. Why would she want to say No to all her readers using Kindle hardware or Kindle apps? Does the press have this stupid idea as a corollary to thinking people need permission or a license to create a Kindle format book?