8 tips and tricks to get the most of Project Gutenberg. Project Gutenberg is one of the most important sources of free ebooks on the web.
This longest-established ebook project releases books that entered public domain, and can be freely used in electronic format. World’s first ebook ever, created by the founder of Project Gutenberg Michael S. Hart, was officially added to the catalog in December 1971 – and, obviously, is still available for download.
Currently there are almost 43,000 ebooks in PG catalog. There are several file formats for download, including the ones compatible with Kindle (mobi), as well as Nook, Kobo or iBooks (epub). Most epub and mobi books have two versions, with and without images, so you can not only enjoy reading the classic literature at its best, but also get the feeling of an old book. I’m a fan of Project Gutenberg, not only because of its history, but also its clean interface and well-organized structure. I bet you are not aware of some of the tricks listed below. 1. 2.
The Curious Case of EBook Sharing Sites. The popularity of ebooks has skyrocketed in the last few years.
The Association of American Publishers reports that eBook sales by US publishers were up 300% in 2011: Total eBook net sales revenue for 2011 was $21.5 million, a gain of 332.6% over 2010; this represents 3.4 million eBook units sold in 2011, up 303.3 %. As comparison, print formats (Hardcover, Paperback and Mass Market Paperback) increased 2.3% to $335.9 million in 2011. (Source) With this increase has come the usual hand-wringing over the end of print, the effects on book stores, access to books for people who can’t afford e-readers, the problems caused by DRM and the demise of the First-sale Doctrine (which says you can sell second-hand books, DVDs, videos, etc.), and so forth.
These are all worth investigation, but I’ve become interested in two specific effects of this shift. First, the enormous rise in erotica sales and the ability of unknown authors without agents or publishers to publish ebooks cheaply and easily. Ebook Formats: A Quick Guide For Self-Publishers. Ebook Formats: A Quick Guide For Self-Publishers Are you considering self-publishing your own ebook?
If yes, then ebook formats are important and this is article is all for you. If no, well this post is probably a waste of your time and it’s best you stop reading now… Still with me? Good. OK – let’s just define Self-Publish a little more clearly. This article is for writers who intend to sell their book in ebook formats. In short this means via Amazon or Apple onto eReaders such as the Kindle or iPad. The goal of this article is to explain a little about the technical aspects of creating ebooks. It’s not a full-blown technical guide. It has been written to give you just enough information to be dangerous. Your E-Book Is Reading You. The Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success — A book by Mark Coker. Also in Smashwords Guides Reviews Review by: Geetanjali Mukherjee on Jan. 04, 2014 : Packed with useful tips, I was pleasantly surprised by how useful this book is. I am still working through the suggestions, doing as Mark suggests, to implement the easy tips first.
I highly recommend this to any author of e-books, not necessary only for those published on Smashwords. Review by: David Dockery on Aug. 07, 2013 : I was really impressed with the information here and I am sold on publishing with smashwords. Review by: J. Plenty of good information here, but the book would strongly benefit from a re-write - it's plagued by arguments ended in mid-thought, lack of internal transition between thoughts in paragraphs, missing words, many sections that simply repeat or rehash previous sections, and so on. Review by: Paul Morrison on June 12, 2013 : It is certainly the right material to anyone in the e-book business to read. Barnes & Noble, Taking On Amazon in the Fight of Its Life. Penguin joins push for short ebooks. Angry Birds on the way to work, or half an hour with Helen Dunmore, Julian Barnes or Emma Donoghue?
A slew of short, digital-only reads is hitting the market this Christmas as publishers look to tempt the time-poor back to books. The Penguin Shorts progamme, a collection of short digital reads, has just launched with nine titles, ranging from a creepy short story by Dunmore to an essay on multiculturalism from Elif Shafak, accounts of the battles of Alamein and Isandlwana, recipes for the perfect Christmas day from Felicity Cloake and a novella by Anita Brookner. Toby Young has written an essay on How To Set Up a Free School, John Gapper an analysis of rogue trading, Colm Tóibín a memoir of growing up in Ireland. Priced at £1.99 – "approximately the same price as a cup of coffee," says Penguin – the ebooks are available across all digital formats, each emblazoned with the iconic tri-band design with which Allen Lane launched Penguin's paperbacks back in 1935.