Let me think about the best way to do this. I made a bunch of .PRC ebooks way back in 2001, but I’m a little rusty right now.

Michael

ebook
AT
care2.com

Reading whole books online doesn’t really work for me. As for converting ePub to a different format, well, I’d have to experiment with public domain works first. I’ve had no problem converting HTML or RTF documents, the PDF format is almost always complete trash, and I just don’t know about ePub.

I find it ironic that a ebook about about the benefits of ebooks should present such difficulties. And I’ve read more than a hundred ebooks in various formats on a few different devices.

I disagree with Spider’s opinion about the way the book looks.

I’ve just looked at the book using the online ePub reader BookWorm,

http://bookworm.oreilly.com/library/

The design looks clean and easy to read. (And I think that’s what book design is for.) The book contains larger fonts, colors, bold and italics — beyond the capabilities of a mere text file.

Of course, you can’t expect to get the precise typographic control in an ePub ebook– using XHTML and CSS — as you can with book design software and PDF. However, ePub is still the most flexible format, and my personal favorite.

Your feedback is important to me.
Thank you, TeleRead, for making this kind of dialogue possible.

–Michael Pastore

Spider (and others) … My first priority was to create a “valid” ePub document. That is done. Now I’m interested in improving the look of the ePub ebook. You can contact me by email and let me know how to make it look better. I would appreciate that input, because I can’t possibly test all the possible reading devices and reading options.

Email me here: ebook AT care2.com

I will make the aesthetic changes and then send a free copy to you.

Thanks very much … Michael Pastore

I find it very interesting that you feel ‘jipped’ even after only spending $1. I can’t speak specifically because I have not seen the formatting of the epub file, but what do you expect for $1? What dollar amount would you be willing to pay for a ‘properly formatted’ version? I’m all for lower prices in general, but IMO, this race-to-the-bottom in regards to pricing is part of the problem with producing quality digital content.

Thank you so much for your support here. It’s a new world of publishing for all of us. The old world was “a war of all against all” — and that’s one reason that the print publishing industry is struggling these days.In the new world we work together to nourish one another, to promote paperbooks and ebooks, to encourage a cottage industry of small presses, and to make us once again a nation of readers.

You may not have known (unless you’ve read my 40,000-word book very quickly this morning) that both you and your blogs are mentioned in the book — in the chapter about essential resources for learning more about ebooks. I’m counting on Teleread.org and Gutenberg.com to keep me apprised of the latest breaking news — and informed opinions — in the world of ebooks.

Thanks again …

Michael Pastore
Ithaca, New York