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Kindle - Wow!


Simon-the-censored
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I've only got as far as having it available to read on my PC. I used the 'KindleforPC' as there wasn't any other choice. I'm now stuck; maybe Simon or somebody else who's better at this technical stuff could also try. OH might be able to do something, but he's busy installing a WC, so he's unable to help with my PC!  [:D]
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GG

If it reads on the PC it should xfer to the Kindle. But it would be good to hear if that happens OK.

Incidentally, the people on the Amazon forum reckon that what you've done can't be done! Just shows there's no substitute for having a go.
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Funny that, GG.  I can't transfer them to my own Kindle either.  I thought I was just being daft.  They download over the WiFi OK, but I've never managed to transfer a book I've downloaded to my PC to the Kindle, even though when I originally purchase them in this way, it says I should be able to.  Still, I guess the answer is that we can transfer them between PCs and read them that way at least.

Let me know if your o/h gets to the bottom of this, GG.

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Coop, just hook your kindle up to your pc and copy the book from pc to the relevant folder on your kindle (I'm not sure what this folder is, but it'll be the one all your other books are in. Then you might need to get your kindle to update its library.

Google 'remove drm kindle instructions' to swap books with others.
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I think you'll find that even though you can copy the books between people/PCs you won't be able to open them to read them. I have a UK amazon account that I downloaded books to my Mac application but when I tried to copy the file to my Kindle on my different .com account it said it was registered to another user.

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[quote user="Suze"]I think you'll find that even though you can copy the books between people/PCs you won't be able to open them to read them. I have a UK amazon account that I downloaded books to my Mac application but when I tried to copy the file to my Kindle on my different .com account it said it was registered to another user.[/quote]

Cooperlola's book is on my PC and I can read it perfectly normally. But I haven't cracked how to send it to my Kindle. I can get the 1996 edition on my Kindle for free, of course, but it will be interesting to see if it can be transferred from my PC. When OH has finished installing the WC and a couple of other similar minor works, he'll have a look.

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Things may change in the future

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/9421996.stm

Quote from the article:

"Amazon, the biggest e-book retailer, is getting in on the e-lending act.

It offers the ability, in the US alone and only if the publishers opt

in, to allow the "owner" of an e-book to lend it to someone else. Each

file is allowed to be loaned only once for 14 days and cannot be read by

the original purchaser during that time.
"

Brian (again)

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Brianagain, I must say that I think this is an excellent solution and hope it pans out.  I'm slightly uncomfortable with this concept (much as I still buy CDs) because I like to think that the writers get their fair share (I care slightly less about the publishing houses and the retailers although they do take financial risks in bringing books to a wider audience).  In the case of the book I sent to GG, by the way, it was a freebie one, before anybody takes me to task over this.  A sharing facility which mirrored the one whereby we pass books on to others sounds like a good way round this to me.
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I'm sure that publishers are/have been beavering away doing cost/benefit analyses on just that, R/H.  Much as no doubt the Nationwide assessed the impact of withdrawing their free cash abroad facility!  Different people come up with different responses - that's the snag with having to predict the future.

There's a band I like whom I've seen live on several occasions.  They actively encourage people to download free tracks from their own website, link people to U-Tube etc etc, on just that basis.  Others protect every word as though it were the crown jewels.  Some of the Kindle books on Amazon - even new ones - cost less than £1, others are the price of a hardback.  Go figure.

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As a writer and (v small) publisher, I followed the link on Amazon to read about e-publishing, which is very well explained.

I haven't used any kind of e-book reader yet, so do not have feelings about what subject-matter is most suitable.

It sounds amazingly simple. You can save your entire book as a single Word file (as an html file), and then upload it!

Things would get more complicated if it's anything other than a simple layout though. i.e. a novel would be easy, but anything like a guidebook (in my case), with side headings, maps, illustrations etc looks a bit of a non-starter. Maybe it would work for something very simple, like a city guide, with a Top Ten sights, Top Ten restaurants, Top Ten hotels etc.

Provision seems to be made for royalties.

However, as I have just taken delivery of 5,000 hard copies of the latest oeuvre, I don't think this is the moment for me to go into a Kindle version, but it's a tempting idea for the future.

At present, as publisher, I receive just 35% of the cover price on sales. Out of this I have to fund my research, design and printing costs, AND would have to pay 10% of cover price to an author - if that were not also me!

Angela

PS Not sure if this aspect has been covered elsewhere on the thread. It's become a bit dauntingly long now.

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As a personal view, Loiseau, I wouldn't buy a guidebook on a Kindle either - apart from the exceptions which you outline - I just don't think the graphics are good enough.  But I guess this is where the full-colour e-book readers/i-Pads etc come into their own.

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I read magazines on my colour book reader, they are usually in pdf format. However, unless they have been formatted for a book reader you sometimes have difficult using the magnify text option and my eyes are not good enough for the smallest of text sizes.

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Yes, RH, somebody has also asked if I were going to do an App. I scoured the web for info on doing one, but haven't found anything (free) yet. Again, I think the same thoughts about subject-matter apply.

I haven't got either smartphone or e-reader. (What's happened to me? I used to think I was so cutting-edge!) But my feeling would be that you would not lie on the beach idly flicking through the pages of a guidebook on either.

On the other hand, RH, I could see the usefulness of an App for Quimper ceramics, if people saw something in a shop and wanted to check out background information before deciding to buy. One for you to investigate there, I think!

Angela
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[quote user="Loiseau"]But my feeling would be that you would not lie on the beach idly flicking through the pages of a guidebook on either[/quote]No, but if you had bought the guidebook you might well find a related application (urrgh, how I hate those short-forms - I am getting old) to use while you were, say, looking around a building or standing outside a restaurant wondering what it might be like and didn't have the book with you at the time?  As complementary elements I would think that one could help to sell the other.
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  • 2 months later...
Hmm.  Time to send mine back, I think.  I charged it last week and (not for the first time) when I picked it up this morning to read something it was dead again.  I take it that by "switching off the wifi" you mean switching it off using the little slider switch at the bottom?  What I can't figure out is how to make the screen go blank - it always has a little picture up (usually of an author) which I can't seem to switch off to save the battery.  I think maybe I'm missing something because two or three days is about its maximum charge.
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You switch wifi on/off via the menu and to make the screen go blank you hold the slider button over for a while (oddly, until the screen goes blank [;-)])

I've had mine since March 16th and have charged it twice I think, maybe three times(because once I forgot to switch the wifi off) Now I only switch the wifi on when I'm shopping amazon, but I do leave it in 'sleep' mode, with the authors picture unless I'm on a flight.

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[quote user="Russethouse"]

 to make the screen go blank you hold the slider button over for a while [/quote]Great, that worked.  Thanks a bunch R/H. 

The wi-fi has been switched off but it's been in sleep mode, not properly switched off.  I'll see if the latter helps.  The thing is that I read a lot of "proper" books as well (many are far cheaper) so don't use it continuously and so it's maddening that whenever I pick the thing up again the battery is flat.

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