ebook author/publisher, Which format do you prefer?

[BobT]

I currently offer my ebooks in Palm Reader and iSilo formats. I am considering dropping the iSilo format and going with MobiPocket.

What do you think?

Thank you.
BobT

[mikegehl]

Hey, Bob! Long time no talk!

I use PalmReader myself. What sort of ebooks are you publishing?

[BobT]

Hello Mike,

Yes, my friend, it has been a while since we talked. Good to hear from you.

I currently have 3 ebooks available thru Palmgear and am working on more, a lot more. Some will be free and others will be available at a very reasonable price (less than $5).

I too like Palm Reader. However, their license and royalty agreement is not condusive for small authors/publishers such as myself. For example; for me to "legally" sell an ebook in Palm Reader format on Palmgear I must pay Palmgear their 30% and Palm Reader their 15%. That's 45% of the gross sale... not smart business on my part. (I get to do all the authoring, formatting, proofreading, etc... and "give" away half the proceeds to boot.)

My current offerings are available in Palm Reader format however, an additional format is also included. See where I'm going with this...

Anyway, I have sent a rather lenghty letter to Palm Digital Media concerning their resale license, and asking them to consider the small ebook author/publisher. (I also just happened to mention the MobiPocket license agreement... <grin>... and how it "compares" to theirs.)

Time will tell.... as always.

Talk to you soon Mike.

All the best,
Bob

[Peppy]

I really only read ebooks in Palmreader format. I've looked at others but I always end up back at Palmreader.

[Omnitron]

I read about 50% Palmreader, 40% Mobipocket, 10% other...

I tend to buy books in Palmreader format

[CWolf]

I really / REALLY prefer the iSilo format - I use it all the time for work stuff and web stuff.

How about offering a html option with whichever format you settle on so that it can be encoded into any format?

[PatrickS]

Palmreader... every chance I get.

[bryus]

Originally posted by Omnitron
I read about 50% Palmreader, 40% Mobipocket, 10% other...

I tend to buy books in Palmreader format

I buy all my eBooks in Palm Reader or Palm Doc format. I use MobiPocket for the free Honor Harrington series, but don't like it enough to buy eBooks for it.

[LanMan]

I use TiBR, so all my ebooks are in the basic Palm Doc format (.pdb). Please, include .pdb in your considerations.

BTW: Bryus, I just finished the Honor series. Really fun, and free! You can't beat that. ;)

Now, thanks to the Left Behind ILumina Edition, I'm off to the first ten books of the Left Behind series. Which is terrific timing as Jerry Jenkins is coming to KC on April 30th. :D

[Galley]

RepliGo

[tpipher]

Isilo for me!

[*YellowRose*]

Maybe sell them at fictionwise in one of their 'open' formats? I'm sure it would be much less expensive . . . just a thought.

[bee]

Hi Bob,
Gee, that resale agreement sure is incredible. Doesn't sound like you're going to make your fortune very easily.
I use both Palm Reader and iSilo, myself. Probably a bit more the Reader, but iSilo not far behind.

[Shiregardener]

I buy books for PalmReader. Free books I take in doc format and read them with Wordsmith--nice fonts. Or if there's a free book posted on the internet and it already has a good reading font, I snag it with RepliGo--one of my favorite apps.

[Kesh]

eReader (formerly PalmReader) all the way. It just has the best selection / features match for my needs.

[pruss]

What can we do to make Plucker more attractive for this purpose--what feature are we missing? The advantage of Plucker for the reader is that the full-featured viewer is free, and you can distribute it for free, too. And you can, of course, sell the texts without any fees to anybody.

If you want, you can even lock texts by the hotsync name.

[techick]

Almost entirely Mobipocket:D

I used to use iSilo a lot but with the lack of upgrades and the fact that many of the purchased or borrowed books (online library) are in either Mobipocket or Palmreader. Nt to mention that iSilo still doesn't support the screen rotation and if you read for a long time, it is a great help on the eyes, almost like reading a paperback in width:)

As for the cost of selling, why don't you give an excerpt on Memoware.com and then sell it yourself on your own site? Just an idea, I've been hooked that way a few times already!!

[javabird]

I buy books from Palm and Fictionwise. I only buy books in Palm or Multi-format. I use MobiPocket to read free books or Multi-format books, but don't buy in Mobipocket format.

[techick]

i think most of mine that are in mobipocket are free or elibrary books

[PDAJah]

I use Mobipocket on my P900, Palm reader on my TH55 and Microsoft reader on my laptop - I use all these as it depends on the book I want to read! I have found that most book, now, seem to be at least in either Palm Reader or Mobipocket format.

[dwig]

eReader seems to be the most commonly touted eBook reader on the forums I read. Personally, I went with MobiPocket years ago when it had a _VASTLY_ superior display on hires Clies (then T415) and have never switched even through hardware upgrades (now UX50).

If you need/want some form of DRM, then Palm eReader and MobiPocket are the two formats that seem to be the best choices as far a market penatration is concerned.

Personally, I read mostly classics (from MemoWare and Project Gutenberg) and eZines (copied from the online issue and read as PalmDOCs). These are available free and I read them in the generic PalmDOC format that allows me to use almost any eBook reader.

[dwig]

addenda...

"Palm eReader and MobiPocket ... best choices ...":

1. Palm eReader - because it seems to have the largest installed base on PalmOS devices and is available for WinXP and MacOS, Classic and OSX.

2. MobiPocket - becasue it has absolutely the widest OS support including PocketPC, WinXP, PalmOS, EPOC, System60 phones, ... .

[sigelang]

Which free reader supports Landscape mode. I have TH55

[gollum]

I buy eReader format for my TH55.

[Omnitron]

I use PalmReader and Mobipocket -- in several years I've yet to find Isilo useful...and usually look for the OTHER formats...

[Srcguy]

Ok...

.... I have a th55 and adobe e-book reader came bundled...So far I have just been reading the free ebooks available on Amazon and manybooks.net (Guttenerg project I think)...

This seems to work and obviously i am familiar with the PDF format.

It seems to me though that the reading experience could be better... i guess from the fact you guys are buying readers that I am missing out on something so in addition to just saying which one you use.. could you add what that reader adds to the experience... Could make this thread really useful to newbies like me


Cheers ;)

[mannoman]

I use only Mobi - not saying it's the best it's just what I started with and don't know if I should change. For those that have used Mobi and other readers why should I change? What features am I missing from other e-readers?

[dwig]

I'm very happy with MobiPocket and, personally, haven't heard anyone describe a feature in another reader that would cause me to _change_. Most of my eBook library is in generic PalmDOC format (so any reader will do) and a few are in MobiPocket's format. I do keep eReader installed to allow me to read the occasional eBook in its proprietary format.

As far as the most important feature go, most eBook readers pretty much the same. The differences fall into two main categories; formats supported and "secondary features".

Formats: all read generic books and most have a proprietary advanced format. eBooks in the proprietary format can only be read in that one reader so if you want to read an iSilo formated book you must use iSilo's reader. Make avid readers of ebooks will have more than one reader installed.

"Secondary Features": I say "secondary" instead of "minor" because those that want a particular one will consider it critical to using the reader. These are things like font support (format, number, ...), screen display format (hires support, portrait/landscape control, ...), user interface (button usage, screen taps to flip pages, ...), additional reading functions (news clipping, ...). Some of these features actually involve the desktop utility sofware that is part of the reader software and not the reader itself.

[willgoss]

I use both Mobipocket and eReader for purchased books. CurrentlyMobipocket work better on UX50 as it has a margin and the fonts size better to the small screen.
----BUT----
With Sony retreating, I could end up changing to the PPP format and lose the ability to read the Mobipocket format in the future?????

[javabird]

The main complaint I have with Mobi is that it doesn't seem to support back and forward page turns very well. If I want to flip back a page, sometimes it goes several pages, and I lose my place. So I have to add bookmarks continually.

[dwig]

MobiPocket's "margin" option (user selectable) is one I value highly. When on, it improves readability substantially on displays that don't have a physical "margin", like the UX. With older, primarily reflective, displays turning the margin off will often display an additional 2-3 characters/line without hurting readablility since there is a physical boader around the display.

willgoss: One of MobiPocket's best and most important "features" is that it supports the widest array of OS's of any eBook reader. If you should abandon PalmOS in favor of "the dark side" you'll still be able to get a MobiPocket reader. They support PalmOS (v3-5.x), Franklin eBookman, SymbianOS, Window 9x, Windos NT (v4, 2k, XP), Windows CE (v2, v3, Casio BE300), Windows PPC (2000, 2002, 2003), and a few phones (MS Smartphone 2002, Sony-Ericson P800, PalmOS phones). I've used MP on a Win98 sub-notebook a bit and find ita a very satisfactory reading experience.

Javabird: yes, this has been a bit of an issue with MobiPocket for some time. I've found that it is more likely to "make a mistake" when flipping backwards when you tap quickly to go back several pages. I haven't had it jump "way back" in the last couple of versions but it often misses a small amount.

[willgoss]

dwig, I agree the margin is important, especially on my UX50. Mobipocket is the best reading experience for both books and news.

I think the purchased e-books cannot be moved to another format. Perhaps if ypu change the PID and then download you would get the changed format???

[hpf]

I think the purchased e-books cannot be moved to another format. Perhaps if ypu change the PID and then download you would get the changed format???
When you have encrypted eBooks in Mobipocket format, you don't need to "change" the format. The same eBook can be read on all devices (if they are encrypted with the correct PIDs).
I use my eBooks on a Palm, a SonyEricsson and a PC (the same downloaded files).

That's a major feature.

[pruss]

Does Plucker provide enough of a margin? If not, post a request to bugs.plkr.org

[phoenix_06]

eReader here for all the books I've bought. I use landscape a lot.

[willgoss]

I didn't comment before, but TIBR is excellent on the UX50. You can set all four margins. With the bold font I get about 40 characters on a line. I use this for my doc files.

[cat_taylor]

eReader is definitely my first choice and Mobipocket second for some books that only come in that format - encyclopedias mostly. I used to like Mobi better, but it seems to be annoyingly slow on my NX70.

Cat