SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion
What Else Are You Reading?
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What if any ebook formats do you read?
Calibre is a wonderful piece of software which makes this question obsolete. pdf format makes the only difference because the results of its conversion to the other formats are somewhat ugly. Having said that epub is probably the best format to convert into/from.
I use epub almost all the time, others if my ereader supports them and a conversion seems like it'll ruin the formatting.
I tend to prefer epub -- have the iBooks, MegaReader, and Nook apps all on my iPhone and iPad. I'm also an author, and I also have the Kindle reader app, but mainly use that to "proof" the .mobi copies of my books when I get them from the publisher. I am published in all formats, but find that Amazon has some strange "fine print" in their distribution contract that lets them vary the royalties (anywhere from 30-70%) depending on which "distribution channel" they use. Since I can't see the individual transaction detail, I have to presume that what they are giving me is the correct amount. I guess that's why I prefer the epub formats -- at least with Apple and B&N, I know how much I'm going to get.
I've never looked at pre-order as an option... maybe because I don't yet have enough of a "fan following" to have people waiting anxiously for my next book to come out. :-)
It's never to early to set up pre-order... Well once you are certain of the publishing date.
I like PDF just because it look good on my screen (I have more font size options) and my Sony reader is old so I can only read PDF versions on it. I do have the Kindle and Nook software on my laptop so reading in either style is an option although neither is my favorite.
I own two Kindles so I'll take anything they can digest.
Got a kindle too, so it's .mobi for me. But as someone said before, as long as it is drm free, most of the formats work and you can easily convert them with Calibre.
Another vote for Calibre- I read on a number of different devices/apps, and calibre means that I don't have to pick only one distributor.
Mostly epub. I have a Sony reader and I use a lot Calibre.
I also like calibre, so I can propagate books to my varied devices, too.
I also use Calibre a lot. I mostly read in txt or mobi or other Kindle formats but sometimes also in epub, pdf, html etc.
One thing of note: please have respect for your readers and do not put DRM in your books, otherwise you will show that you treat all of us (readers) as potential thieves.
Amazon and B&N put DRM on automatically if you distribute through a regular publishing company. The author gets no say in it. They are the ones making the assumption of thievery, not me. My books can be had DRM-free through my author site, which uses MyBookOrders.com for distribution. MBO also allows me to offer discounts of my choosing (or even give away free books) which Amazon and B&N do not -- at least not if you don't publish through Amazon in the first place.
I see a lot of votes for Calibre, and I use that as well, mainly because I had a very large collection of classic SF and other books in the old Microsoft Reader .lit format. MS Reader is no longer supported by Microsoft, so I needed to convert that entire library into epub. Calibre did the job -- awesome software, and it allows for easy distribution of books to other devices via your own wifi network.
I like a very clean PDF - although I boycotted Adobe following the Dmitry Sklyarov incident. But all of the formats and all of the applications to create them are the same. "Seek to master no technique" - Bruce Lee, Enter the Dragon.
I find Calibre fiddly. I tend to buy epubs, though my Kobo will read most formats.
Stuart wrote: "Anything the Kindle handles."Same here.
Have Calibre on the pc and my wife and I both have a kindle so mostly mobi. I miss the smell of old paper though :)
I have the Kindle reader, which I love. It's convenient and I have a book with me all the time. I do miss the trips to B&N or Borders to scout out the new release section and stocking up. But, with the bookshelves overflowing, it was either get the Kindle, or I think I may have been ordered out of the house....lol
anything my ipad will handle, which is basically anything.pdfs have the advantage of locked-in formatting - important if you want an illustration of some sort to appear in exactly the right place. they also have the disadvantage of locked-in formatting, so it's not going to work out well for people with screens of differing sizes.
i think if you simultaneously do azw/mobi and epub, you have the bases covered for every major brand of ereader.
There is no B&N here. Most of the drm free sites won't sell here. The local book chain has poor selection of ebooks and too expensive. iBook books can't be read on my kindle and my ipad 2 is too big and heavy and bright to read in bed. I buy from storybundle but those deals are too infrequent for my taste. I am afraid it is amazon or nothing :-(
Before I got my Kindle I read all my ebooks on my laptop and so it really didn't matter all that much which format I used because my laptop could handle them all. I think I used to use .pdb and .lit formats the most, and pdfs if I couldn't get the other ones. Eventually I got annoyed having to use separate programs all the time so I got Calibre so I could use one program to read all my ebooks.After I got my Kindle I obviously tried to get books in .mobi format as much as possible. If I can't get them in .mobi then I'll try to get them in .epub since that format seems to convert fairly well to .mobi in Calibre.
I myself use Mobipocket Creator. You can create a pretty competent ebook if you know a little HTML.As far as reading goes, I'll use anything that can be read on Kindle.
Pretty exclusively kindle, and only from Amazon.I know it's possible to convert from other sources and I'm a real techy in my day job but the selection from Amazon is so wide that I don't look any farther afield.
I prefer ePubs. I bought a Nook over a Kindle partially because I didn't want to be stuck with Amazon's proprietary format. Now I have a tablet which can use either, but I still prefer ePubs.
To convert to other formats, you can use http://calibre-ebook.com/. Just download the program, add books you want to convert to your Calibre library, then convert them to .mobi format to be compatible with Kindle. After that, you can e-mail the books to your Kindle using your Kindle's e-mail address. You can find that under Personal Documents settings at Manage Your Kindle on Amazon.
Donna wrote: "How do you use the other formats on a Kindle? Do you use an app? I have tried to read things that I didn't get from Amazon but I have failed. I suck"If it's a format that Kindle supports then you just load the file onto your Kindle from your computer via USB.
If it's a format that Kindle doesn't support then you'll need to use a program like Calibre to convert it to a format that Kindle supports.
What files the Kindle can support might depend on what version you have. I have a Generation 4 Kindle and it can handle azw, mobi, pdf, txt, and doc files. Possible others as well, but that's what I can think of off the top of my head. Although my version of Kindle can handle pdf files, I discovered that it's really not ideal it will try to display an entire page at once and you'll need to zoom in and scroll a lot. It's possible that pdfs would work much better on a Kindle Fire. I'm not sure how well the txt and doc files work since I've never tried them.
Shomeret wrote: "After that, you can e-mail the books to your Kindle using your Kindle's e-mail address."You can also connect your kindle to your computer, and then 'send to device' from calibre. It just skips the email step :-)
I use .epub exclusively.I own a Kobo E-Reader and it only supports epub and pdf formats....and the pdf formatting on the Kobo is atrocious to say the least.
Grammar Goebbels wrote: "I use .epub exclusively.I own a Kobo E-Reader and it only supports epub and pdf formats....and the pdf formatting on the Kobo is atrocious to say the least."
Not sure which Kobo you have. I've got a Kobo Touch, and it not only supports epub and pdf, but also mobi, txt, rtf, and cbr/cbz. I find the pdf display to be fine, though it shares the same problem with the comic formats: if the text is small, the screen doesn't have high enough a resolution for it to be easily readable.
I haven't tried changing font settings while reading a pdf, so I can't comment on the reflow formatting, but I'm quite happy with the breadth of support on this thing.
I own a Kobo wireless Ben, which was one of their earlier models if I'm not mistaken. I believe you and I'm sure they worked out the kinks in future models, but trying to read a pdf file on my model is a nightmare.
Chris wrote: "There is no B&N here. Most of the drm free sites won't sell here. The local book chain has poor selection of ebooks and too expensive. iBook books can't be read on my kindle and my ipad 2 is too bi..."Chris: iBooks are epub format, the same format used by B&N.
You might look at Calibre for conversion and library management on a PC. It can convert epub to mobi or one of the other Kindle-friendly formats so you can read those books on your Kindle. If the iPad is too big for your taste, you might consider a phone reader. I used MegaReader on my iPhone before I finally got an iPad Mini.
I don't believe you can break the drm on iBooks files currently so calibre is out
I was under the impression Requiem does not work for the current version of iBooks.
I have quite old reader - sony prs-300, which understand only pdf, txt and lrf (sony's own format). So I use fb2 (imho best format for untechnical books) and command-line conventer fb2lrf because calibre is too slow.PS And LaTeX for making pdf from txt )))
In my last post I said that I pretty much just used mobi files these days because I have a Kindle. Well I just got an Asus MemoPad tablet so it's possible I might switch to epub files if I can get the ereader app that I want to work properly since it only takes epub/pdf. Problem is that I need the premium version of the app to get all the features I want, and for some reason I keep getting errors any time I try to install an app I paid for from the Google Play store(so far all free ones install just fine). Am currently trying to work with Google tech support to figure it out.
Kythe, have you tried calibre? It does a good job of converting across readers for me.
Art wrote: "Kythe, have you tried calibre? It does a good job of converting across readers for me."Yes I do use calibre and I love it. I also use it to track my reading as sort of an offline backup to GoodReads since it has unlimited customizable fields. Converting the ebook formats isn't the problem except for the fact that it's tedious.
Only problem I'm having is not being able to install the ereader app that I want on my tablet due to an error "Cannot install on USB storage or SD card." I didn't even have an SD card when I first started getting that error. Google Play told me the problem was that the app required an SD card. So I spent $25 to get one and it didn't help at all. Currently waiting for another response from them, but I guess I shouldn't expect one until Tuesday given the holiday weekend.
Pards wrote: "I only read on my Kindle, so mobi for me.Kythe, have you tried used the Bulk convert with Calibre. You can have it all pre-set up to convert to your preferred format.
If I already have a mobi ..."
I honestly prefer not to do things in bulk, that way I can make sure there aren't any errors. In any case I'm in the process of making a new book database with more complete metadata and most of the entries are just empty book files so far. I haven't added the actual files to that database so far.
Thanks for the link but that's not my version of the Memo Pad. I have a Memo Pad 7 model number ME172V. I tried searching that site for my model, but it didn't show any other pages besides the one you showed me. If I go into settings and try to update the firmware, it tells me everything is up to date. I'd be willing to believe this might not really be the case, but I'm not sure where to find newer firmware for me device if there actually is any.
Pards wrote: "Sorry about that Kythe :(This MAY be the latest:
new firmware update - asus-ME172V-WW_user_4.5.4.26968666_20130724 ?????
But not sure.
You can try asking here:
http://www.transformerforums...."
Thanks, already tried asking on there though. I'm pretty much being told by them and the Calibre developers that my device is probably screwed up and I'll likely need to exchange it. Again thanks for the suggestions. Didn't end up going with a Nexus 7 because it was out of my price range.
So back on topic. I guess I'll probably be sticking with my mobi files on my Kindle unless I can get this problem sorted.
Hello I have a Kindle. And Calibre - so the format is not a issue for me (because Calibre does all the work).
Calibre allows me to transfer a book to the iPad or the Android Phone.
Best Regards
Most of my reading is on the Kindle but I also use a Kobo and an iPad and also an iPhone so....Calibre is my friend and works great.My thoughts - you should only have to buy a book once - who cares what device you use, it should be able to be read on all devices.
And yes I still read print books as well :)
I read books on my kindle paperwhite, so I use mobi format only.
I use iPad but most of what I read comes from Amazon so I read them in a Kindle app. When I do a read and review and have a choice I choose ePub.I also have the Nook app but I'm not buying from Barnes and Nobles anymore. I have so few books from them that I keep forgetting I have any so I never check there. :/
I buy from amazon uk - so kindle app on iPad and iBooks when buying from apple.
Karen wrote: "I have a hunch that Amazon will respond by making preorders available to indie authors for the first time -- IF they're part of Kindle Select. If this happens, authors who want to take advantage of preordering will have to choose for which platform to publish."Amazon has already made pre-orders possible for Select. I used that feature for my latest release.
I primarily use my Sony e-reader, so ePub and PDF.I do have a Kindle app on my Samsung Android tablet, however, and have used it once in awhile.
.epubHowever that does not actually limit what I buy, since there are ways to convert almost any format into any other.
Those of you who read ebooks: what format can/do you read, and in particular, do you read .epub, .mobi/.prc, or both?
I'm asking because Smashwords has just made preordering possible for its premium distribution (B&N, Kobobooks, iBookstore, etc.). I have a hunch that Amazon will respond by making preorders available to indie authors for the first time -- IF they're part of Kindle Select. If this happens, authors who want to take advantage of preordering will have to choose for which platform to publish.