.PDF vs .Epub

[essayel]

Is anyone else having problems reading commercially produced ebooks on their ereader? I'm getting a bit irritated with buying a book then having to jump through all kinds of hoops to convert it to a readable copy. If I was buying from Amazon's Kindle Store, I'd expect the inconvenience - more fool me for buying a Sony, eh? - but when I buy from ARE or Smashwords or direct from the publisher and opt for an .epub file and it's STILL unreadably small and won't respond to resizing I get peeved.

Yes, I'm probably doing something wrong, but I can't figure out what.

This week has been knackering at work and since himself went back to school he's been chatting to himself all night. Not a good combination. But I managed to settle down last night and wrote over 1000 words spread between my spies and my pirates [who I decided DON'T need to boink after all if they don't feel like it. I know that the market demands a certain level of squelchiness, but I don't and I don't have to try and sell it if I don't want to]. Most satisfying.

Also I perpetrated fanfic, but I can give it up anytime I like. :D

Comments

[nocarename]

That is not one set of issues that I have had with my ereader, but I basically use Baen, Project Gutenberg and Twisting the Hellmouth to feed it.

(I don't have an addiction, I can quit reading anytime I want to and do for as much as three hours at a time.)

[essayel.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's just my reader? I'm finding maybe 30% of books are unreadable on it. It's annoying.

Project Gutenberg books seem to be okay. It's the published ones that are a problem.

[essayel.livejournal.com]

And ticking them off it the last thing I need to do. I've got too much plot to work my way through! :D thanks for your input.

[kc-risenphoenix.livejournal.com]

Hello Lovely

You're right. They don't have to boink if you don't want them to.

But in all fairness, let me ask you... Is it real?

The more I read about pirates, the more and more I am convinced that the book called (I think) "Sodomy and the Pirate Tradition" is pretty accurate in its assertion that pirates were, as a lot, mostly homosexual. They hung our in many coastal towns and cities where ANY kind of sex could be found and was permitted.

Is it real that your characters won't boink?

Also keep in mind all those "sexual" stories (peek at Harlequin Romances from the sixties and seventies) and a remarkable way of having sex scenes where most of it was implied rather than painted out in XXX descriptions. And included fades to black.

I've offered to give you a hand and that offer still stands. We can come up with some sensual implying without you having to get sticky and over-the-top.

Think about it.

And remember that I support you completely. You write what YOU want and befrigged to who tells you otherwise!

HUGS
Ben

[essayel.livejournal.com]

You're an enormous help, Ben, thank you so much. I'm very very grateful both for the offer and the help you are giving by betaing my novel. I'll send the chapters one at a time though because without the background to the characters it's hard to see the whys and wherefores, isn't it? Maybe we ought to talk about it by IM or email?

As for the historical background, I know that Burg is rated quite highly for the quality of his research. But if you want to write a pirate novel it might be a good idea to get some books that concentrate on the politics and seamanship as well. I have those so maybe we can pool our resources?

[gaycrow.livejournal.com]

I have a Sony Reader, and don't usually have any problems with epub. downloads. I did, however, have trouble with Tamara Allen's "If It Ain't Love" recently. I couldn't change the font size, which was so tiny I couldn't read it at all. I tried the pdf. format, and that worked out okay.

In the past, I've had trouble with pdf. files being too small to read, so I use Calibre to reformat them into epub. versions, which become readable for me.

[essayel.livejournal.com]

That's exactly the problem. Same book too. I love Tamara's stories so was doubly disappointed. Not that I should be over free read! I'll try getting a .pdf instead, then convert it if necessary. Thanks.

[melanietushmore.livejournal.com]

firstly, love the word boink it makes me LOL

secondly, damn right, it has to fit the story!
xx

[essayel.livejournal.com]

I've cut the whole scene because I went back and read about 10k words and realised it's in the wrong place. Plottus interruptus. I'd forgotten that I was writing an action adventure with a bit of romance when they have enough time for it, rather than a romance where stuff also happens between tender encounters. World of difference.

Boink = coitus on a creaky sprung mattress.

[melanietushmore.livejournal.com]

i was expecting a hammock! (this was the sea fairing one, right??)

ahh i hate plot confusion...well, you read my WIP. XD guffaw. just had to re-align all that into linear order.
if you need any beta help just shout! :)

[essayel.livejournal.com]

I didn't think it was confused, just very active :D. funny too. I enjoyed it.

Thank you for the offer. Another pair of eyes may well come in handy if I ever finish the damned thing. :)

[lee-rowan.livejournal.com]

I'm having a hell of a time with those goddamned "protected' files. DNR - Do Not Read. I can move regular epub OR pdf files to my reader, but the bloody awful Adobe program -- which will download the DNR files just fine -- will not move them to the reader. *headdesk.*

[essayel.livejournal.com]

I guess it's early days yet and we still have something analogous to VHS vs. Betamax. In a year or two it'll all be sorted out one way or another.

We're like pioneers forging our way into the wilds of digital publishing and finding that some of our wagons have square wheels.

[kayberrisford.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid I don't yet have an e-book reader so am yet to share your woes, but it sounds very frustrating!!

Yay for pirates. They're your pirates, and yeah, they do what's right for them and you, not publishers :D :D :D

And yay for fanfic!! It's all good (and we all do it ;))

[essayel.livejournal.com]

It was birthday AND Christmas last year. I find my ereader really useful because I can have all my m/m on it and don't have to worry about himself picking up what he thinks will be an Age of Sail novel then panicking a chapter or so in when breeches buttons start pinging off the bulkheads.

My pirates are sorted out. I'd forgotten that I was writing an adventure with the boys snatching moments for romance when it's not going to endanger their lives or the ship and they were both appalled at the plottus interruptus. I'm sure they'll be more cooperative when the time is right.

It was Jonty and Orlando fanfic. Poor Charlie.

[kayberrisford.livejournal.com]

I might have to wait until Xmas for mine too!! It would be useful - I'm kind of tired of sitting at my laptop and its rather crippling me!! Haha, but I'm lucking in that my other half loves all the books I read...he'll just snatch the whole kindle now, I guess!!

Yay for waiting for when the time is right. I was trying to write sexing this morning. And on monday morning, for me even if not for my characters, the time was *not* right :P

Yay for Jonty and Orland fanfic. They are emminently ficcable, and I'm sure Charlie would be thrilled :D :D :D

[essayel.livejournal.com]

I find writing sexing VERY difficult at any time. U.S.T. is no problem. Getting down and dirty - gah. I generally skim over the details. Just call me the Queen of FTB :D

[josephine-myles.livejournal.com]

It sounds like your ereader might have a fault, as epubs should resize without problems. I used to find with my old ereader that Samhain epubs still had a smallish font even at the largest zoom, though.

Have you tried using Calibre (http://calibre-ebook.com/) to convert files into other formats? Might be worth trying to convert epubs to the Sony format and see if they work any better. Calibre is free to download and very easy to use :)

[essayel.livejournal.com]

I've got Calibre :D and use if normally for sorting out uncooperative .pdfs but I've had a few duff .epubs lately too.

That said, the ereader is still under guarantee. I could take it into Waterstones and ask them to sort it out for me. There's a chap in there who is a passionate advocate of ebooks.

Eee, not long 'til Barging In!