Digital formats, etc: How to...

[Mermarie]

First of all, I'd just like to say that I don't pilfer books from authors who have copies in print, or reissues. I believe authors are obviously entitled to the funds that their work ensures them. Being an author is not much of a career in realistic terms(due to its difficulty), and those that have made it, should be highly praised. I praise you! I repeat, I do not promote the theft of anyone's dreams/words!


The e-books I download generally have been out of print for years, lost copy-rights, or the author's descendants haven't reissued, and therein I feel no necessary legal issues hindering my download frenzy.


The Basics:
I wasn't sure if other e-book users took the time to actually reformat their books from .pdf's for Kindle, etc. I wanted to share a few helpful tips I've stumbled across along my way.

If I have found an e-book and it's in .doc, .txt and .docx formats, I upload to an ONLINE PDF CONVERTER, this re-format's it to .PDF, and sends to your e-mail. Now that it's converted, I take that file, and use a program to reformat it to a .mobi for Kindle.


PDF's, .LIT, and EPUBs, can be converted to .MOBI's, with the program Calibre.

Calibre generally spits out 3-4 different formats, so if you don't want a .pdf & .mobi version on your Kindle, make sure you delete one or the other. I like Calibre, because you can drag/drop covers into the main window for easy management. I'm sure there are plenty more tricks to go along with it, but for the present, I'm growing accustomed to the simplicity first off. Now that the .mobi has been converted, you can simply drag/drop the file into your Kindle's documents.

I hope this helps some who're new to the digitalized world of e-books, etc.

[Tammy]

Good point Mermarie. Especially with old BR/HR, or out of print Harlequins. How else is one supposed to read them?

I use calibre and love it. It will convert just about anything and I've almost never had a problem with it.

[Mermarie]

I'm actually compiling a letter to the authors who have e-mail addresses, an Amazon.com profile, or Goodreads.com author spotlight, to suggest they speed up the the process of regaining rights to their Zebra Heartfire/Splendor/Lovegram collection. From what I've noticed so far, most of the authors still write, but few have their Kindle copies up due to that copyright issue, no doubt.

The books we fetch at second-hand stores, the author/publisher doesn't get royalties as is, so unless a new copy is issued/released, I'll continue downloading the second-hand and edited versions, that hardly sparkle like new books. :P It kinda reminds me of recording music from the radio, back in the day!

I'm frequently comparing notes between free ebook sites, and Amazon -- ensuring what books I download aren't just ripped off and uploaded. I give credit where it's due! So many of those authors I read from the 60s are already dead, sadly. :/

Thanks Tammy, if you've any helpful hints you've picked up with tampering with Calibre, be sure and let us know. As of now, I'm merely using it for the basics, and haven't explored the extra bits and tools.

[Tammy]

The best thing I've found about Calibre is that it will open up WinZip and RAR files without having to download extra software. (those 2 week trial versions that always expire just before you find a winzip that has 10 books in it.)