Sony Ebook library idea

[amalthia]

I'm giving some serious thought to creating a community (locked) for people who want to trade Sony E-Reader formated (mostly RTFs I hope) stories. (novels and fan fiction and whatever else people like to read on their reader including manga) However, I'm not sure if there is a protocol for this because this wouldn't be an archive but it's not a rec site (though I doubt people would waste their time converting stories they hate)

So right now I'm debating community names, should I do it or not, if anyone would be interested? I know I immediately started looking for some way to find already formatted stories as soon as I got my e-reader but I couldn't find any sort of trading library for fan fiction. I'm also not sure how to set up a trading system. I just figured I'd upload a list of what I have and the rar file with everything in it...however my collection is already 94MB. At a certain point it'll be too large to share without going to torrents.

I'm at the moment trying to figure out what's absolutely necessary for this community to work without having it explode in my face. (I know people manage to run communities for episode and music downloads,however they are flying under the radar and as far as I can tell they aren't offending their favorite authors)

This community I'm thinking about creating will be mostly about trading fan fiction. I know I didn't ask any author's permission to take their posted fics combine them into single files and format them for my reader (which by the way is very time consuming). And I'm not sure if permission is needed to set up a library for those with e-readers.

So basically this is something I've been thinking about doing for weeks now but I'm not sure how to set it up and promote it without offending people. I don't really imagine there being that many people interested because well I've only met a few other people with ebook readers. But I'm hoping in time more people will discover the Sony Reader and hopefully by then there will be a library of sorts set up for the new users so they don't have to spend hours converting their favorite stories to read on their reader.

Comments

[chopchica.livejournal.com]

Ha! I just got one and *last night* my husband was all, "so I'm making you all of these giant formatted PDF files with embedded links; you should go and share them!" And then I gave him the whole lecture about Sharing and how it is Confusing and Vague.

But my point here is that PDFs are so much better! Because they fit the page size and you can make a table of contents, which means you can load one 2,000 page PDF with fifty stories in it, and click and go right to the story.

I love my reader so much. I couldn't love it more if I tried. I do wish that there were page turn buttons on the right side of it as well, though.

[amalthia]

I haven't quite figured out how to use PDFs on mine. Do the links really work in the reader???

So far the biggest draw back is the inability to make collections on external memory cards.

So does this mean you'd be interested in joining a community like this???

[chopchica.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the collections thing is what led me to PDFs, because I sure as hell don't need thousands of small files when I could have dozens of big ones.

The links really do work, but you have to make them with some other weird version of Acrobat - not just Reader, but like Performer or something (my husband is out, so I can't ask). But anyway, you make a word file with a table of contents and just click the "convert to pdf" button and it does it automatically.

Honestly, I don't know how I feel about a comm. But I'd be happy to send you some PDF files!

[amalthia]

can you please!!! I'd like to try this out and see about doing this with future stories.

I think the hard part is finding out who has readers and would be interested in trading. (communities take a lot more work too.)

my email is amalthia@slashcity.com

[chopchica.livejournal.com]

As far as I know, you are the only other person out there to have a reader. I think until they get a lot more popular (and affordable), it's going to be all about the emailed files.

Expect an email in a day or two when I get my shit together.

[amalthia]

i'm deleting the post with the link i just posted. next time I'll use email to send links for any ebooks..just realized this is a bit too public and I don't want my bandwidth completely killed for this month. :)

[delibby.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the collections thing is what led me to PDFs, because I sure as hell don't need thousands of small files when I could have dozens of big ones.
I'm assuming that getting files on the Sony Reader has the same problem as me getting files for my ebook. It's the grabbing and cleaning up part that's time consuming. The actual conversion goes quickly. So getting the files to rtf would be the annoying part, doing whatever you want to after that would be easy.

If we were exchanging rtfs then people who want rtfs can do what they want with them. Anyone that wants pdfs can convert to that. Anyone like me that wants to convert to imp files. Anyone with a PDA or smart phone or PSP, ipod, whatever you happen to be reading on can convert from rtf. It offers the most flexibility to the largest number of people.

[chopchica.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the files are fine. It's just that you end up with a main menu of thousands of stories that is then impossible to navigate.

[amalthia]

yeah I think a lot of people complained about not being able to make collections. I'm very very tempted to try this pdf method but I'd like to see how it works first. So far for the shorter stories I've been putting those on the internal memory card in collections and the novels on the external memory.

[chasethecat.livejournal.com]

There've been a few posts on my flist today that someone has been doing that with HP fics, and some of the authors whose fics have been archived there without their knowledge or permission are *very* upset about it. (hp_slash2go, I think? Although that one's not locked at all, but still...)

[amalthia]

yeah that's kind of the response I'm hoping to avoid. but just trying to get authors on board from over 16 fandoms...that's a challenge to say the least.

[chopchica.livejournal.com]

Hence the reason I'm not doing it :)

Hi, chase!

[chasethecat.livejournal.com]

Heh, I guess that kerfuffle didn't last very long; the comms already been deleted. *grin*

HI! *hugs*

Dream the Impossible Dream

[delibby.livejournal.com]

Do you think we could just convince all authors in all fandoms to link to .rtf files of their stories and save us the trouble?

sigh I didn't think so.

I like the idea of not having to grab lots of little short LJ posts and combining them into a single story. But I it would require* permission from the authors. It really is archiving their work, just in a different file type.

As for PDF's I vote no. Your audience for this isn't going to be just people with Sony Readers. It's me and the other people with Ebookwise/REB1150/1100/Gemstar readers. And honestly, I think it's also people with PDAs who want simple plain files to download.

*require in the way that nothing is actually required in fandom, it's just a matter of respecting the author's wishes when they say 'don't archive.'

Re: Dream the Impossible Dream

[amalthia]

hehe that is an impossible dream. It's hard enough to find stories in single files and not 20 chapters or on a website.

My preference is also RTF because those are easier to adjust.

But if the pdf table of contents thing works..that could be very handy because i'm at over 400 stories on my reader and navigating is starting to become an issue.

Re: Dream the Impossible Dream

[amalthia]

the other solution is to add both file types as an option to download. :)

Do You Want Fries With That?

[delibby.livejournal.com]

I've got minions looking for a url for this to check the Wayback Machine. It's not up anymore, but it was pretty much exactly what you're thinking about. An archive of stories in files for handhelds. I think they were mostly in Palm format, but the idea is the same.

Re: Do You Want Fries With That?

[delibby.livejournal.com]

I lied! Minion #1 found it.
http://www.e-fic.com/fries/indexjs.html

Re: Do You Want Fries With That?

[amalthia]

I"m checking out the site!!! :) I'll have to see what they have about converting pdas to rtf...because the Sony reader doesn't read PDA files.

Re: Do You Want Fries With That?

[delibby.livejournal.com]

oops, I told my minion how she was credited and she corrected it. She's not Minion #1, she's Head Minion. I formally submit this correction and apologize for the confusion. :)

Re: Do You Want Fries With That?

[delibby.livejournal.com]

right, and the site hasn't been updated in like 5 years.

But a conversation with the chief burger flipper, whoever she is, could be interesting.
Did they get permission from the authors, what lead to the burnout, that kind of thing.

Also, I love the name. I think it's perfect.

So what kind of setup were you thinking?

Re: Do You Want Fries With That?

[amalthia]

I was hoping from some ideas fromother people. I checked out the site and I"m not sure that's going to work here because it's too much like an archive.

I have to get to bed but I'll give this more thought. I was hoping to get alternate from other people. because if it were up to me I'd just make an ftp folder where people can dump what they want and everyone can download from...but that could go bad pretty fast if too many stories end up in it. :)

[hansbekhart.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's neccessary to ask an author's permission if you're printing their work off for private use, but if it's posted to be distributed in a community, it would just be courteous to ask their permission, if nothing else then to alert the author that their story is being posted somewhere. I've always granted permission to archive, but it always makes me feel uncomfortable when I come across a story of mine on a website that I never heard about.

[amalthia]

yeah at this point I think it'll be easier to do a library for novels and mangas. :)

It'll be hard to ask for permission for some authors because I got a lot of older stuff and some of the authors have passed away or left fandom completely.

But this is one of those things if you don't want people angry with you it's better to ask permission or avoid fan fiction all together.

I've had a lot of people say they don't want their work posted anywhere else on the web or they try to limit it as much as possible. And if someone says no, then you have to keep a list of all the people that are okay with posting and those that aren't which makes it harder.

[varkelton]

rtf, doc and html are all easily converted from one to the other with Word. I have somewhere in the vicinity of half a gig of fic stored in single files in doc format (Most is SPN, but I have several different fandoms). I also have the majority already converted to html as well. I use a palm t5 with isilo for my reading pleasure, but it sounds like I need pretty much the same format as sony readers. I'm happy to share with anybody who wanted to... What about a friends locked list of files people are willing to share with e-mails so we can write a request? That seems to me to be not much different than me sending files to close friends... Just a thought. I do have an excel file with a master list of fic, but I've fallen behind and it's now out of date. I think you have my e-mail so write me if you want it... Anyway, If you do figure out how to do this without upsetting the authors, I'm very interested in participating...

[amalthia]

i need to create an excel sheet. Actually a request list may not be a bad way to go at it because then nothing will actually be archived...and it will just be a group of people exchanging emails.

basically we need to find some way to share what we've done without actually archiving.

I thought of creating a community because I'm not sure how to create a friends locked list?

[delibby.livejournal.com]

Members only Yahoo Group with at least a couple of mods to approve people. Set the group to allow attached files and we could do the exchanges right there. Maybe everyone maintain their own webpage listing what they've got and link from the group page to everyone's lists.

Or Yahoo Groups has a database thing that I've never played around with. I don't know what size limits there might be. We can also upload files to Yahoo Groups, so we could all upload our lists to there. But really, a single database with everything would be so much easier to search.

[amalthia]

i haven't thought to try yahoo groups but I'll check it out and see what the options are. being able to upload attachments has a lot of potential. I'll be gone all day Saturday so I'll have to look at it on Sunday. thanks so much for responding so positively to this idea and coming up with new things I hadn't considered. :)

[delibby.livejournal.com]

You're welcome. I've got a couple of friends that I've been exchanging files with frequently for years (Aeryn being one of them) and idea of having other people's lists of files to choose from is really appealing.

[delibby.livejournal.com]

I asked Head Minion if she had any ideas for creating a single list from lots of little ones. She suggested maybe a Google Group with a shared Google spreadsheet that we could all update.

[amalthia]

I looked but I couldn't find your email. Do you have IM??