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Fanfic Ebooks

RichMerk

RichMerk

Captain
Captain
Lots of us have our own web sites where we offer our fanfics as HTML pages or PDF downloads. A few of us even distribute our stuff on http://issuu.com. But since Santa brought me a shiny new Amazon Kindle I've been searching for another kind of fanfic -- ebooks -- and have come up empty. I've found 3 by John Erik Ege for sale, and 3 more by Gabrielle Lawson in Palm Pilot format.

Is anyone out there producing their fanfics in ebook formats? EPUB or MOBI, for example.
 
Assuming you're using a PC, I suggest downloading Calibre. It's awesome for converting html, txt, pdf or whatever into whatever formats your e-reader uses. I've used it to convert html's of old fanfics (Alternate Universe 4 and Kraith from www.simegen.com) into epub format for my Sony PRS-300 and it's virtually hassle-free, athough it sometimes has trouble with embedded pictures.
 
Yup, I have Calibre, and use it to put the final polish on my own epubs as well as convert them out to mobi format.

I guess what I was fishing for was if anyone out there was actually making ebooks. It's a relatively new and mostly empty area that Trek fanfic writers seem not to have taken advantage of yet.

I'm beginning to suspect I am a pioneer for once instead of 'new kid on the block'. :)
 
There is a group who do a Christmas trek collection and I think they do it in ebook format.
 
This is something I've been thinking about a few months ago. And when I first dabbled with it I figured it be something as simple as get a Word file and just hit a button somewhere to convert it. Turns out it's much more complicated.

With the free software I had available you have to do each chapter individually and work on the formatting an everything manually. It seemed like a lot of work.

But I like e-readers and I would still like to get my novels converted. I might look into this again when I have more time on my hands.

I like what you've done with your stories.
 
A very kind reader of one of my stories asked if he could convert it into EPUB format for his personal use and sent me a copy, but I wouldn't know how to do it myself. I'm still not entirely sure what the advantage is over PDF, honestly, but then again, I only have a laptop and a smartphone, not a dedicated e-reader.
 
In a PDF, the text and layout is fixed. When you display it on an ereader, you have to take the pages as they are, just as you would if you were viewing it on a computer screen. The problem is that ereader screens are too small for your typical PDF layout, so you wind up having to zoom in and manually panning back and forth to read it. So, yeah, technically you can read PDF's on an ereader, but it's a very negative experience.

Ebooks use "reflowable" text. There are no "pages" in an ebook. The text displays comfortably on the screen and adjusts itself to your particular model device and your viewing preferences. Kind of like how the text on a web site will shift around if you resize the browser window.

I'm wondering if there would be a market for an ebook creation service. For a modest fee, you could get your .doc manuscript converted to an ebook. I'm wondering if anyone would be interested in something like that.
 
RichMerk said:
Lots of us have our own web sites where we offer our fanfics as HTML pages or PDF downloads. A few of us even distribute our stuff on http://issuu.com. But since Santa brought me a shiny new Amazon Kindle I've been searching for another kind of fanfic -- ebooks -- and have come up empty. I've found 3 by John Erik Ege for sale, and 3 more by Gabrielle Lawson in Palm Pilot format.

Is anyone out there producing their fanfics in ebook formats? EPUB or MOBI, for example.
Click to expand...

I never thought of doing an e-book format, but I could. I suppose it wouldn't be too hard to convert Battlestar Urantia into .pdf. :)
 
BolianAuthor said:
Are you allowed to sell fanfic?
Click to expand...
Well, the books themselves are free, and the HTML and PDF versions are free to download, but the web site requires a membership fee in order to download epubs and mobi files. So if I want something for my e-reader the net result is 5 less dollars in my pocket. Guess I should have been more clear.

convert Battlestar Urantia into .pdf
Click to expand...
PDF is not what I'm talking here. PDF's are easy to make. But they're no good for reader devices. I'm on the hunt specifically for epub and mobi formats.
 
I use an imac and IWork 09 does export to the epub format. I've played around with it, and converting it is easy. Getting the format right once it's converted is the hard part. It can be done, but it will take a lot of work. I haven't seen any fanfic in either epub or mobi formats, but it doesn't mean it's not out there. I'm sure it is.
 
Cool website, RM, thanks.

Would you consider black text on a cream-coloured background? Easier on your eyes.
 
Neat. I hadn't stumbled across this site in any of my searches. Guess I'll have to take down my "first and only ebook archive" claim. :p
 
Time for a quick update...

The Archive project is coming along nicely. So far we have the complete Banshee Squadron, the first 7 episodes of Dark Horizon, 6 episodes of Epiphany Trek, an Outwardly Mobile story, and our most recent addition, Reversal by Jespah, a Star Trek Enterprise novel.

http://ebooks.merknet.com
 
Just converted the first two Star Trek - Angel books to Mobi and will be working on the rest sooooon (along with new material now I'm getting back in the groove!) :)
 
Cool! Are they online? Can we link them on the archive page?

I looked over your web site. I can't imagine how I missed it until now! :) I really like your choice of actors you've got playing your characters, and the photomanips are great!
 
Cheers Rich. The Mobis aren't online yet though they're already converted. Just recovering from a long spell of illness and finally getting my feet back under me so I'll be updating the site AND uploading the conversions as soon as poss mate.

Thanks and I'll send a link when its done :)
 
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