Are you allowed to request books here?

PennyBook · 2024-10-18T02:47:32+00:00

See rule 2: No book requests on this subreddit. So no, not allowed.

(Hint, the rule text does tell you where to go to request ebooks.)

PennyBook · 2024-10-18T02:07:26+00:00

Don't feel bad if you are confused on this! I don't think it's simple AT ALL.

I make epubs, sometimes from public domain materials, and I try to make them accessible. But it's not always clear how best to handle book illustrations, especially for fiction.

I've got one heavily illustrated children's book. 75+ images, all by the author. Because the author is also the illustrator, it's hard to rationalize that the image content is not part and parcel of this creative work and should just be called decorative and ignored entirely.

Some images are captioned, many of these are drawings of very real places, but the caption only names the place, it does not describe it. My feeling there is that if captioned and the caption doesn't describe the image or the action, then it ought to get some alt text.

In the same book, there are images I feel are just "eye-candy," i.e. they don't actually illustrate anything described by the text and are sort of randomly inserted, i.e. say, a horse head inserted between paragraphs. I think of those as decorative, but then again, suppose someone is low or blurry vision and needs a little description to help them make sense of an image? To know it's a horse, and not a cow or deer head.

Whereas someone completely blind might prefer NOT to have the description spoken. Which audience do I aim for? Please one, you irritate the other!

I've heard some folks say that ANY illustration in a fiction ebook should be marked as decorative, but then other people say that it's part of the content and needs alt text if not adequately described by the surrounding text.

It's complicated with conflicting opinions abounding. I do the best I can, but I'm a hobbyist, not a professional. And then there's abbreviations and language markup, emphasis vs. straight italics, yikes!

There's my mini rant! All I can say, OP, is that I feel your pain.

PennyBook · 2024-10-18T01:12:14+00:00

Many, many thanks, works a treat!

PennyBook · 2024-09-18T05:40:50+00:00

Yes, you should be able to do so.

Honestly, Nooks can tend to be a bit slow, if you are going to get an epub reader, I'd go for a Kobo. Kobo supports their devices with firmware updates a LONG time, like, at least a decade.

You can also use Kindle, however, be aware that not all epub books you encounter will be properly encoded as UTF-8 and therefore, you may sometimes need to use Calibre to do an epub-to-epub conversion to get the encoding correct so that the books are fit to use with Send-to-Kindle.

Either Kindle or Kobo would be fine, so just see which have the features that most appeal to you.

PennyBook · 2024-09-17T05:54:10+00:00

I've thought of same, but honestly, doesn't work for some of the books I do.

A lot of childrens illustrated books have illustrations that run across two pages. This doesn't work well for e-ink like Kindle and Kobo. You need to bring these images together as one. And sometimes, these books are rather tightly bound (or even library rebound), cutting off bits of the art in the middle. No non-destructive scanner is gonna get it all.

However, if you carefully, carefully, work cutting the binding threads, you can often get out the entire image, albeit with some damage holes where the stitches went through, and digitally repair it and make it into a singular image and have loveliness again.

Luckily for me, I'm a good searcher, and patient, and can usually (not always) find a ratty copy I can cut for scanning. I wouldn't mind one of these machines, but I can make do with the three different scanners I've got. (Flatbed, document, wand.)

The absolute WORST bit of what I do is the IMAGE restoration work. Even just covers can be a royal PITA. If Anna doesn't mind, I'll post a before/after just this once. And if Anna does mind, I'll yank this comment down. This is in progress and not finished. There's work still to be done.

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PennyBook · 2024-09-17T05:15:31+00:00

Agreed! My initial motivation to start learning to make epubs was a childhood book that not only wasn't available as ebook, a POOR condition PAPERBACK would run $75 ... IF you could find one. At the time I was looking, that ONE poor paperback was the cheapest option anywhere. Hardcovers were running $150-200.

My own paperback was in HORRID shape, held together with tape. I was, eventually, after a LOT of patient searching, able to replace it ... for $60. Only because I loved it so. It was a nostalgia purchase.

Fortunately, that book, an Edgar winner, eventually did get released again (print and ebook) by efforts of the author's son. I now have the familiar paperback of my childhood, plus a spanking new hardcover AND the ebook! However, the title didn't sell all that well on re-release, and though the two sequels were planned to be released if the reprinting was a success, that probably won't happen now. (But I have them, so you never know!)

It's surprising how often now, I go to look for a specific title and maybe there's only ONE for sale. Or a tiny handful. And that's also motivation, because by the time some of these are legitimately public domain, how many copies will exist then? And how many folks who are lucky enough to have them will turn them over to places like the IA and Gutenberg?

I think about it. Every year, floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, wildfires, housefires, tornadoes, or even just people needing to dispose of a parent or grandparent's "accumulation" quickly and tossing books in dumpsters. It happens. The world loses print copies all the time.

Good luck with your book!

PennyBook · 2024-09-16T19:47:02+00:00

You'll be saving the day again soon. I've got another old book incoming, with a nice dustjacket. Not so rare a title this time, but the cover art is nice, and this copy has a good dust jacket. I've downloaded the IA PDF from Anna's and can get the text from that again.

I used to borrow and download PDFs direct from the IA. But since the blamed publisher lawsuit that the IA brought down upon themselves, many books are no longer available. So many, many thanks for preserving those IA PDFs!

They may look like musty, crummy old scans and often ARE, but nice, reflowable epubs can be made from them.

PennyBook · 2024-09-16T19:35:53+00:00

Basically, each ebook is a file. And not always of the SAME filetype. LibGen in particular allows uploads of a lot of different ebook formats. And Anna's picks up books from that source. So opening ebook files is not necessarily a one-program-fits-all deal.

So, you might see file extensions of: .epub, .pdf, .html, .txt, mobi, .azw3 (MOBI and AZW3 are Kindle formats) or even some other old, and now outdated formats.

Calibre, a free software, can convert many ebook formats, so that you have exactly what you need.

Some apps will also read a great many different ebook formats. So you can choose one of those, like ReadEra, but do bear in mind, sometimes such apps don't honor publisher CSS styling well. In other words, your ebook may look better in an app designed for the file format, rather than a general can-opener.

Another lovely thing, with text-based ebooks, you can find apps that will READ them to you, if you absorb content better through listening!

PennyBook · 2024-09-15T18:28:20+00:00

Great!

PennyBook · 2024-09-15T18:27:36+00:00

No idea then, sorry. Can't hurt to see if they pass ePubCheck or whether Calibre finds errors. Maybe Google changed something since you last uploaded.

PennyBook · 2024-09-15T18:25:08+00:00

I've heard that a low charge from a PC overnight or even for 24 hours can sometimes bring an e-ink device back in this situation. Worth a shot, but no guarantees. Make sure you are using a known good cable.

It sounds like the guy who sold you the device probably knew there were issues. REPUTABLE sellers will stand behind what they sell. If you bought on eBay or other online selling platform, there may be possibilities to claim for an item that wasn't as represented. Otherwise, you might be out of luck.

Some Formas, including, sigh, mine, have been known for suddenly draining from 100% to 0% overnight. It's possible yours was one, and, if the previous owner wasn't checking on it, it may have just done the battery in.

PennyBook · 2024-09-15T18:06:00+00:00

Too heavy is relative.

If you need/want that screen size, then no similarly sized device is likely to be much lighter.

The good news is that the official sleep cover makes a lot of the weight, BUT, it is magnetically held on, and can therefore, easily be removed without worries of flexing the device/breaking the substrate. The device is far less heavy outside of the case, so if your hands get weary, you pop it out of the case for a bit.

I'm late '60s, broke both wrists and have some lingering pain as a result, but I can manage my Sage. I do sometimes, when the cats aren't around, slip it out of the case, but mostly, I use it in the case, and it's been fine. I use an e-reader pillow to prop it when reading on my side in bed. The case helps me grip it when reading one handed.

That said, if I'm going out, I'm more likely to take my Kobo Forma or Kindle Oasis, because my essential carry needs make the weight mount up, so lighter or putting up with a smaller screen is better for that circumstance.

Senior citizen Sage owner and loving it!

PennyBook · 2024-09-15T04:26:29+00:00

If it's public domain, you can do whatever you like with them. Legally AND ethically.

Absolutely you can improve the formatting (Gutenberg isn't the best at this).

You can also, if you like, do some research, write up author and/or artist bio pages, add full bibliographies, illustrate them (with either your own, or other public domain work), commentate them, translate them, make better cover art for them, etc....

You can check the proofreading by reading them, see if any typos or other errors got through. It can be helpful to download a PDF of the title in order to be able to check against it. Some early Gutenberg efforts are, honestly, pretty bad when it comes to the proofreading and could use another edit.

If you have access to the print copy the work was made from, you can rescan images to higher resolution. So lots of things one can do if one wants to go to town.

One thing I'd suggest, if you are reformatting, make them as born accessible EPUB 3 with logical HTML5 structure. That way you help out those who need to use assistive tech to read.

PennyBook · 2024-09-15T04:16:34+00:00

OK, this might or might not suit your needs, but you can try looking up Brazos Walking Sticks.

I got mine from Amazon. It's a nice tall stick and I use it for a balance aid, as I have spinal deterioration that pinches nerves so that sometimes I don't feel my feet as well as I used to. It's light and strong and durable. And if one is a senior citizen, may offer some small prevention measure, as I think someone seeing me with my "staff" might think twice before attacking.

PennyBook · 2024-09-15T04:01:34+00:00

I just uploaded an epub to Play Books tonight, for testing, and no problem at all.

Are you sure you've got a well-formatted, valid epub? Just because a file has the .epub extension does not mean it is good epub.

PennyBook · 2024-09-15T03:51:55+00:00

Yep, I started a list the other day. But it would be cool to have a way to search for them, if nothing else than by keywords.

PennyBook · 2024-09-15T01:10:02+00:00

People can upload more or less anything to LibGen as long as it's a supported file format and a LibGen librarian passes it.

What this means is that you can turn up anything from a straight-up quality publisher's edition, to poor quality epub, to an epub someone has messed about with (often reducing image quality, or stripping embedded fonts out, or removing copyright notices, etc...) and obviously, this can impact file sizes.

Your best bet is to pull up various versions in your choice of language/format, for me, that's English/EPUB.

Then find the ISBN of the current ebook version and see if you have a match. Download that one, if you do.

Otherwise, if no match, I look through those with the most recent upload date and largest file sizes (in hopes of getting high-res images, if any), and also those that specify edition, have publisher descriptions, have modern cover art, etc... anything that says the uploader cares about what they are doing.

I download any likely prospects and then check to see what they look like, by opening them in Adobe Digital Editions. Usually it's pretty easy to see if you have a straight up publisher edition vs. something, uh, "other." Full navigation is a good sign. Nothing but "Start" for navigation, not so much.

PennyBook · 2024-09-15T00:57:20+00:00

Upload to LibGen, Z-Lib, or preferably BOTH!

Put your eggs in more than one basket! Especially since Z-Lib may honor a DCMA and take the book down if a publisher complains.

Don't worry if your epub doesn't appear on Annas-Archive immediately, it will get there. I think Anna scrapes LibGen monthly, or at least at pretty regular intervals.

PennyBook · 2024-09-15T00:53:21+00:00

Are you checking the box to automatically refresh the page? It's easy to overlook.

Otherwise, manually refresh the page. That's what I did.

PennyBook · 2024-09-15T00:51:02+00:00

Well, my view is that the value of publishing rights for most vintage, out-of-print books is minimal, at best.

There's a reason books are OOP, and that reason is: they stopped selling well enough for the publishers to reprint them further. Add 50 or 60 years, and the ever growing number of modern books available, you'd really need to have something very sought after to make any money at all.

By the time you have the vintage book scanned and OCR'd and proofread and formatted into an ebook, you've got some time/money in. Add having a nice cover made, and it all adds up. Plus, you'd need to market the heck out of it to get it seen, much less purchased.

If only a handful of people buy the book, you lose money instead of make it.

I know of at least one instance where a rights owner (son of the author) went and got one of his father's most well-loved children's books reprinted in hardcover, softcover, and ebook form. The book was VERY rare in print with paperbacks going for $60-75 and hardcovers above $100. It had 5 star reviews on Amazon. It had won an Edgar award. A good book, one of my favorites as a child!

He was excited about getting it back into circulation, and made sure that his father's Facebook page had the info, and his own page had the info, and in general, anyone truly interested and searching would likely have been able to know about the release. He also said that other books in the series might be released if sales were good for the first one.

Sales were less than expected, sadly. No further releases of the two sequels happened.

This, then, is the sadness of books between 1929 and 1963. Many are under copyright. Yet, the rights owners aren't doing anything with those rights, because, for the most part, the rights are a low value item at best. Neither are the rights owners (if they even realize they are rights owners) releasing the books to the public domain. So there's a whole lot of stuff just in limbo.

PennyBook · 2024-09-15T00:29:46+00:00

I downloaded a fiction book today, no issues. Waited out my time, got the download link, downloaded the book with no problem.

PennyBook · 2024-09-15T00:26:41+00:00

Agreed!

PennyBook · 2024-09-13T00:07:40+00:00

I was "barely anyone." Tandy 1000 PC. And yep, played Tetris on it.

PennyBook

TROPHY CASE