Using a Kindle

[JWolf]

Re: Kindle books

Ok, so I'm getting a Kindle - after years of saying EBooks are hard on the eyes, I finally bit the bullet. Now the problem is: what do I put on it?

Definitely getting Slings and Arrows; been wanting to read it for a while. I have read most post-2000 novels and a few pre-2000 novels (I think I started reading Trek a year or two before the numbering stopped).

I have enjoyed most of the recent novels, although New Frontier got too confusing and surreal after book 7 or 8.

So… any suggestions for Kindle books? (Mostly Trek but other advice also welcome.)

I assume any Kindle book is available in the uk if it's in the us store?

Thanks!

There's a thing called georestrictions. This means that not every eBook that is available in the US is available in the UK.

If you are getting a Kindle, you'll want to get a Kindle Touch. The Kindle Keyboard may not be able to handle KF8 (Amazon's answer to ePub) and the Kindle non-keyboard non-touch is really annoying for typing with just a 4 or 5-way controller.

 

[JB2005]

Re: Kindle books

Anything that's rare as rocking horse whatsit that you don't have (I got A Stitch in Time)...things like Articles of the Federation if you don't have that?

CLB's new e-book is pretty awesome!

 

[T'Ressa Dax]

Re: Kindle books

I started with Star Trek Slings and Arrows rather than waiting to see if the seris ever came out in print. Definitely worth buying and reading.

 

[garamet]

garamet, will your "Others" series be available soon on Kindle? I read the first book several years ago and loved it. I would dearly love to read the whole series on Kindle.

ePub first would be nicer.

Unfortunately, in their present form they're not adaptable to Kindle format. They were written in long-hand and then typed on a - gasp! - typewriter. Once the St. Martin's Press version went out of print, they were reissued by iUniverse, and you can still buy the dead tree version from them.

What the nice folks at iUniverse did was scan them into PDF versions, but they're literally scanned...each page is a snapshot of a page from the original volumes. Consequently, they can't be translated into Kindle format (I know, because I've tried).

I may eventually get organized enough to offer the PDF versions for sale through my site. Maybe after the holidays.

 

[BrotherBenny]

garamet, will your "Others" series be available soon on Kindle? I read the first book several years ago and loved it. I would dearly love to read the whole series on Kindle.

ePub first would be nicer.

Unfortunately, in their present form they're not adaptable to Kindle format. They were written in long-hand and then typed on a - gasp! - typewriter. Once the St. Martin's Press version went out of print, they were reissued by iUniverse, and you can still buy the dead tree version from them.

What the nice folks at iUniverse did was scan them into PDF versions, but they're literally scanned...each page is a snapshot of a page from the original volumes. Consequently, they can't be translated into Kindle format (I know, because I've tried).

I may eventually get organized enough to offer the PDF versions for sale through my site. Maybe after the holidays.

Do you still have a copy of the original hardcopy manuscript which could be copied? It would be a long process but there are people who that for a fee. Hell, I'd even do it for the extra money. Once it's in a word document, it can be converted to ePub or Kindle in a matter of hours.

 

[Stoek]

Re: Kindle books

If you are getting a Kindle, you'll want to get a Kindle Touch. The Kindle Keyboard may not be able to handle KF8 (Amazon's answer to ePub) and the Kindle non-keyboard non-touch is really annoying for typing with just a 4 or 5-way controller.

I cannot vouch for the tech stuff (because I don't know much on that end of kindleage) but I can certainly second that the idea of trying to do much with a basic kindle and it's five way controller seems tedious.

I have a touch and I've been quite pleased so far with how easy it is to use.

 

[JWolf]

garamet, will your "Others" series be available soon on Kindle? I read the first book several years ago and loved it. I would dearly love to read the whole series on Kindle.

ePub first would be nicer.

Unfortunately, in their present form they're not adaptable to Kindle format. They were written in long-hand and then typed on a - gasp! - typewriter. Once the St. Martin's Press version went out of print, they were reissued by iUniverse, and you can still buy the dead tree version from them.

What the nice folks at iUniverse did was scan them into PDF versions, but they're literally scanned...each page is a snapshot of a page from the original volumes. Consequently, they can't be translated into Kindle format (I know, because I've tried).

I may eventually get organized enough to offer the PDF versions for sale through my site. Maybe after the holidays.

Were any changes made after the typed paged were turned in? If not, the typed pages could be scanned, OCRed and then proofed. After that it should not be hard to create an ePub which could then be converted to Mobipocket and done.

 

[JD]

garamet, will your "Others" series be available soon on Kindle? I read the first book several years ago and loved it. I would dearly love to read the whole series on Kindle.

ePub first would be nicer.

Unfortunately, in their present form they're not adaptable to Kindle format. They were written in long-hand and then typed on a - gasp! - typewriter. Once the St. Martin's Press version went out of print, they were reissued by iUniverse, and you can still buy the dead tree version from them.

What the nice folks at iUniverse did was scan them into PDF versions, but they're literally scanned...each page is a snapshot of a page from the original volumes. Consequently, they can't be translated into Kindle format (I know, because I've tried).

I may eventually get organized enough to offer the PDF versions for sale through my site. Maybe after the holidays.

You're Margaret Wander Bonnano, right? If so, do you know if the version of Music of the Spheres on your website is readable on the Nook?

 

[Admiral_Young]

I've also asked for a Kindle for Christmas this year. Storage is one reason as well with me but also due to my ongoing back issues I feel that a Kindle might be a better way to read stuff rather than my computer which I really can't do any more. Plus my Mom has raved about hers. I think I'm getting a Kindle Touch but won't be sure until Christmas.

 

[JWolf]

ePub first would be nicer.

Unfortunately, in their present form they're not adaptable to Kindle format. They were written in long-hand and then typed on a - gasp! - typewriter. Once the St. Martin's Press version went out of print, they were reissued by iUniverse, and you can still buy the dead tree version from them.

What the nice folks at iUniverse did was scan them into PDF versions, but they're literally scanned...each page is a snapshot of a page from the original volumes. Consequently, they can't be translated into Kindle format (I know, because I've tried).

I may eventually get organized enough to offer the PDF versions for sale through my site. Maybe after the holidays.

You're Margaret Wander Bonnano, right? If so, do you know if the version of Music of the Spheres on your website is readable on the Nook?

Margret sent me the source I used to make the different formats. Back when I did the conversions of the different formats for Music of the Spheres, ePub was not yet out. So I have not made an ePub edition. What I can do is make an ePub version and let you know when it's finished. I can have it made sometime this week.

 

[bfollowell]

Margret sent me the source I used to make the different formats. Back when I did the conversions of the different formats for Music of the Spheres, ePub was not yet out. So I have not made an ePub edition. What I can do is make an ePub version and let you know when it's finished. I can have it made sometime this week.

Jon, I don't think there's a proper Kindle version either. If you want to get the epub version looking/working well, I'll take it and make the appropriate tweaks for the Kindle and convert to mobi. We could then offer them back to Margaret so she'll have them along with the other versions she offers.

- Byron

 

[JWolf]

Margret sent me the source I used to make the different formats. Back when I did the conversions of the different formats for Music of the Spheres, ePub was not yet out. So I have not made an ePub edition. What I can do is make an ePub version and let you know when it's finished. I can have it made sometime this week.

Jon, I don't think there's a proper Kindle version either. If you want to get the epub version looking/working well, I'll take it and make the appropriate tweaks for the Kindle and convert to mobi. We could then offer them back to Margaret so she'll have them along with the other versions she offers.

- Byron

There are versions in LRF, PRC, IMP, & PDB. They are all in the eBook section over at MobileRead. The PRC is Mobipocket and will work fine on a Kindle. There is just not yet an ePub. But there will be.

 

[garamet]

You guys have inspired me. I took a look at those PDFs last night and thought, Hmm, I wonder if they can be directly uploaded to Kindle?

Turns out that, yes, they can, and they look good. You can change font size, etc., just as you would with the Kindle format.

I need to get new ISBNs for them but, once I do that, I can sell them direct to consumer from my site (and at a lot less than the original h/c price).

Will let you know.

 

[Kirby]

On the other hand, I'm of the opinion that the rise of e-books will enable novellas to become a viable format again. There's very little print market for novellas anymore; most magazines won't take anything over 10,000 words due to space limitations and you can rarely find a novel shorter than 60,000 anymore.

One of my favorite mystery writers, Lawrence Block, has written a ton of short stories over the years and most of which were no longer available, and the ones that were, were available in big expensive anthology books.
Over the past year or so he has put out a bunch of his short stories for 99 cents each in an e-format. Totally worth it if you ask me.

I still buy regular books on occasion, but I much prefer my Kindle. When I finish, or just want a break from one book it's easy enough to switch to something else.

 

[Lee]

You guys have inspired me. I took a look at those PDFs last night and thought, Hmm, I wonder if they can be directly uploaded to Kindle?

Turns out that, yes, they can, and they look good. You can change font size, etc., just as you would with the Kindle format.

I need to get new ISBNs for them but, once I do that, I can sell them direct to consumer from my site (and at a lot less than the original h/c price).

Will let you know.

Thank you.

 

[Rosalind]

thread restored.

 

[RoJoHen]

Was it hiding?

 

[Brikar99]

It's a faaaaaaaake!

 

[Captaindemotion]

thread restored.

Well done.

I got a Kindle for Christmas and am very impressed. I downloaded the new Lee Child novel on Xmas Day and got through it very quickly. I've downloaded a few free books from Amazon, but as I have a few paperbacks in the house to get through, I haven't gone crazy.

I've sort of lost touch with most recent Treklit over recent years and am considering getting back into it over the next while.

 

[Ferd Burfel]

My wife got me one for Christmas, I love it.

The biggest reason for me, like others, was storage space. I have about 6-7 bookcases full of books in my office and living room. With the Kindle I can store them on my computer and Kindle and only load up the ones I want to read. So the space saving is going to be profound.

The only books I will continue to buy in physical format are Star Trek books as I collect them. All the other reading I do will now by ebook on the Kindle. Also, with the Kindle I can load up PDFs and search the documents. Why is that important? Right now, for example, my company is trying to become PCI compliant for credit cards and e-transactions. The process is terribly involved and requires a ton of documents. Instead of printing out all the PDFs, I can just walk around the office and load them up and access specific parts. I don't need a computer to view them or sift through dozens of printed pages.

I still love the tangible feel and smell of a book. I always will. But I'm married now with a specific amount of space in OUR house, so I can't just keep buying them and storing them.