Comments on: The Ridiculous Way Publishers Sell eBooks

By: Alex

Alex — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 16:11:26 +0000

I don’t see the point of making PDFs from EPUBs. It’s downgrade from pure e-book format with support of text reflow and variable font and page sizes suitable for any reading device.

PS A good online tool to convert PDF to EPUB is http://2epub.com

By: Nico Vreeland

Nico Vreeland — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 18:57:11 +0000

OK, good points. I’ll update the post to reflect them.

I didn’t realize that ePubs could do static pagination quite as well as they do, and that was my last reason to argue for PDFs.

I still can’t find ePub editions of most books I want to read, especially in library book form, but that’s the fault of publishers.

By: Chris Meadows

Chris Meadows — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 18:29:26 +0000

Seconded on the ePub thing. The interesting thing is, ePub is pretty well on its way to becoming a universal e-book format already. People who want PDFs can use a converter program to make them from an ePub.

PDFs are not iPhone/iPod Touch friendly.

By: Nico Vreeland

Nico Vreeland — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 17:55:34 +0000

Interesting. You’ve got a point there, publishers should be trying to push a new, custom-designed ebook format like ePub, and not one like PDF, with the vestiges of image-format still in its DNA. So let’s say two formats, ePub for the future, and PDF for the interim.

Right now, PDF is my favorite format to read on my Sony 700, because it resizes text without justifying (justifying gets obnoxious at the bigger type sizes), and also because it’s the only format i’ve found that uses static pagination.

Most formats repaginate for every type size, making it hard to discuss those books with paper readers, and impossible to cite those books in academic papers.

However, my love for PDF is largely a love by default: it’s the only Reader-readable format available for borrowing at the library; and it’s often the cheapest format at ebookstores, at least for the books I’ve gone looking for. That’s the biggest reason I use PDFs more than any other format.

By: Dave Robinson

Dave Robinson — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 17:39:26 +0000

I agree with you except on one point: PDF.

Baen Books, who make more money from eBook sales than from all foreign sales combined (and a decent profit) sell all their titles in multiple formats for $6 with no DRM. The one format they DON’T offer is PDF.

Just about the only thing most eBook readers agree on is that PDF is a terrible format for electronic fiction. It’s the next best thing to worthless because it’s normally formatted for US letter or A4 neither of which translates well to ANY screen. Adobe’s epub would be fine, but not PDF.

Otherwise you’ve a great idea: but please please please don’t use PDF.