bear with me; my primary shift key has decided not to function, so you will definitely get some weird typos in this post, but i am going to take after it with a pin in the theory something has gotten under the keyboard…
here’s what i found out; 4 of the formats will read the art— .prc, .lit, .epub, and .pdf. many others will drop it. .txt will drop all art, all italics, all bold, all font changes, and just displays in ascii characters; curly-quotes and other symbols are in ansi, not ascii. so we need to make a step changing all ansi characters 9one by one0 to ascii. i wonder how many of you actually need .txt as a first choice, or whether anybody does.
i found finally a copy of microsoft reader, which handles and converts .lit files better than calibre. i can now run a fix on any misbehaving lit files.
what we are going to have to work out is a chain of conversion that presents each converter with its favorite format to convert. so bear with us—if your primary file type is screwed, we’re going to work with this until it is right.
now i am going to go fix that stuck key.
Have I got it fixed? Yes! Thank goodness for canned air!
Caps are so nice. On the other hand I’ve worn out my left mouse button and was almost hoping for a new keyboard to install…
Here’s the scoop. When I have a brain, which is not tonight, I am going to install a new reader download button on CC. This will be a plugin for Microsoft Word 2000 or later, and it will enable you to read .lit format books on your computer; also, if you go to their site, it will assist you to link up to 6 devices to this reader format, and it is pretty good.
Not only that, for anyone with a visual problem, or who wants to be read to sleep…it has a voice. It’s a male voice, somewhat similar to Stephen Hawking’s arrangement—but it can actually parse very difficult names like Cinnfhail and Ceannann—not correctly, but recognizably and consistently, and with an intonation that is pretty good. I would put it one step above the voice of GPS. Just hit play, and it will read to you.
It will never replace me reading my own stuff—and Jane and I are thinking of offering some audio cd’s, in our copious spare time.
So that would give us .lit, .prc (mobi), .epub and .pdf with some pretty stable formating. If we output .rtf and .txt directly from our word processors, we should be able to stabilize those formats and elimininate glitches: we can’t get the artwork into them, because they can’t display it. But at least you’ll have the text. That’s 6 of the eleven formats accounted for, in new and stable versions. And we may be able to improve the ones we can’t read: .pdb, fb2, and pmlx, because Calibre insists its favorite kind of file to convert is .lit. Re art, and those last 3 formats, we do not know whether or not art translates, because we have nothing that uses them. So we will have to see.
So we are going to revise our manufacturing stream, and we will do something to get a re-download into the hands of everybody who wants one (I would assume mostly people who have been having trouble with their favorite format.)
Thank you, thank you. We have had a nice flow of traffic through CC, people are downloading the freebies and buying things and giving us feedback which we are using to improve what we’re doing.
We are particularly glad to say our people are the NICEST folk to deal with. Thank you to all.
I’m so glad that you have indicated that prc is
in fact mobi! However from the poll it doesn’t
seem to be popular. It gives me cover art,no text
problems or inappropriate punctuation.(happy yellow circle)
Well, we don’t have too many votes yet: until we have a good statistical sample that number’s going to seesaw quite a bit.
But yes, if I have to vote for my own favorite readers, it’s .prc first, .epub second, and, once I finally got it to work! .lit third.
This is a new technology, and I suspect some people haven’t found a way to get their reading device and their software mated up accurately. If anybody’s having persistent trouble, problem is right now, we have trouble telling if I’ve sold them a flawed file—or if they’re uploading a file format which isn’t playing nicely with their reader.
I’m trying to do some online research to find out which readers actually prefer .pdf, which is kind of a fuzzy view at the moment. More data as it comes in.
Things look great so far! Congratulations! And just in time for Christmas, too.
I’m very much looking forward to seeing some of my old favorite items available again.
The notion of voice-rendered books is wonderful: I love audiobooks. There’s another author whose books I enjoy in audio format, but the production company has changed, and I really DISLIKE the voice of the new reader of her things. So, I won’t be buying them. Sigh. If I want them, I’ll have to record them myself for myself. (I’d never make them for anyone else.)
If you do make YOUR OWN readings of your things available I’d be extremely interested. There’s nothing like hearing the emphasis and pronunciations of the author, as opposed to an interpreter.
Keep going, gals! And thanks.
Phoenix Lady
Pleased to report that Jerlayne, Netwalkers & Faery Moon were purchased, downloaded, viewed in Mobipocket software and transferred to my BeBook without any problems.
Initial checking shows that prc files are legible and seem to be OK.
Congratulations on hard work.
Ian
Audiobooks…would there be any way for us to assist with that? There’d have to be some equipment arrangments, and coaching in regards to pronunciation, but perhaps something can be arranged. Just a thought.
Re: “Caps are so nice.”
Last year I was walking in Boston’s Forest Hills Cemetery, and came upon the resting place of e.e. cummings. His stone was set in all caps. Sigh.
Well done with the site, and here’s hoping that you finish soon and get back to writing! Write Write Write! 🙂
Help! I downloaded Rusalka and Faery Moon the other day. I noticed that there were double suffixes on all the Rusalka books. For example, epub.epub and lit.lit and pdb.pdb. Both were downloaded to my mac e-reader but I cannot transfer them to my nook to be able to read in a comfy chair. B&N is looking at it from their side but I wonder if you could do so too. I am getting a little frustrated because I got the lovely cover of Faery Moon, but I have yet to see the Rusalka cover. I hate to complain because I love your writing and website so much!
BarbieA, no problem at all and we’re glad to help: e-mail us as authors@closed-circle.net and we will get right on it. We’ll just give you new downloads if need be, but if not, we’ve had some recent info on getting Nooks to play nice!