#paperback formatting

[e-kathryns-shadows]

Commission Info :)

[not-poignant]

I was thinking back to the post I made about ebooks being so much more accessible for so many people compared to paperbacks/hardbacks and the other thing I wanted to add is the vast, vast majority of the time, the author gets so much more profit comparatively for an ebook than a paperback/hardback.

That's not a problem for huge huge huge authors either way, but for small-time authors, or authors with small publishing houses, the difference in profits can sometimes be $2.00 or $3.00 per ebook sold vs. $0.50c or $1.00 per paperback. Really. You pay more, but the author gets a lot less.

In the case of indie authors like myself, ebooks give the highest returns always.

This isn't necessarily something most readers think about, but I have had readers assume that because the book format cost them more, that automatically means more goes to the author. In fact it's often the opposite. There are very few exceptions (university texts come to mind). But in the case of your run-of-the-mill indie fiction, if you genuinely want the most profit to go to the author, get the ebook.

[anne-bsd-bibliophile]

The Demon of the Lonely Isle by Edogawa Ranpo

Whatever challenge or hardship we face, it is never as dreadful as that which we are able to imagine.

- Edogawa Ranpo, The Demon of the Lonely Isle

Our youthful spirits were still capable of enjoying such adventures and thrilled at keeping secrets. Added to this, the type of relationship that existed between Michio and myself meant we were more than just 'friends'. Michio's affection for me was atypical - although I didn't really comprehend how he felt, I understood it on an intellectual level - and like any normal romantic sentiment it wasn't necessarily unwelcome, so when we were face to face, there was a kind of sweet sexual tension in the air. This tension perhaps made our 'game' all the more pleasurable.

- Edogawa Ranpo, The Demon of the Lonely Isle

Nobody can see the plight we're in, we can't see each other's faces. After we die, our bodies will lie here undiscovered for eternity. But just as this place has no light, it has no laws, no morality, no customs. It is another world, where humanity is extinguished. In the short time we have left, I want to disregard all such formalities. We need not feel embarrassment or jealousy, or hide behind good manners or put on a show anymore. We're like two newborn beings, the only living creatures in this primordial darkness. - Edogawa Ranpo, The Demon of the Lonely Isle

A little bit of darkness and people fall to pieces. Get a hold of yourself. Where there's life there's hope.

- Edogawa Ranpo, The Demon of the Lonely Isle

Fun Fact:

Ranpo's friend and fellow detective writer Yokomizo Seishi (1902-81) wrote, 'the love for the same sex, which had been a long-standing desire of the author [sakka no hisashiki ganbō de atta dōseiai], had finally been incorporated into this novel.' An insert to another multivolume collection of Ranpo's works published in 1938 and 1939 emphasizes in boldface type that Kotō no oni is 'a work in which the author dealt with the topic of same-sex love.'

- Jeffrey Angles, Writing the Love of Boys pages 14-15

[changeling-press]

Aaaaand my last book for a while! Very proud of this one.

A paperback copy of Captured by @redwingedwhump

I fought with this one every step of the way. Through formatting, and then my printer was in the process of dying. It would print about seven pages before eating my paper and forcing me to start again. But eventually I got it all done! After that covering it was a breeze.

I'm not used to paperbacks, but it turned out great! Again, loving the die cut title. It's a thicc boi and fun to hold.

RIP my printer, died doing what I loved.

[soupandsorcery]

you can tell that i am deeply obsessed with the mars house because i now have two physical copies of it. one to rebind and keep in a place of honor in my library and one to stuff full of post it notes full of my comments while i try to climb inside gale's brain.

[curewimdy]

they need to reprint CCS in a more accessible format than those stupid overpriced hardcovers so that i can finally collect the whole thing. i'm kicking myself for not getting all of the Dark Horse omnibuses when they were in print, i picked up just the first two like ~15 years ago and now the 3rd and 4th volumes are going for like a couple hundred bucks each.......

[britishchick09]

the e-book of rewrite erik's mystery is available for pre-order on amazon! :D

[voodoo-tofu]

I'm by no means making a living, but the fact that most of my sales are coming from libraries purchasing my books makes me so happy. I'm getting pocket change, but most people are getting to read my books for free so that's even better.

If anyone wants to read my books for free while still supporting me, you can request your library to purchase my books. My author name is Oli Marque (:

[queenlucythevaliant]

This seems kind of unlikely, but since a few of you have bookbinding experience I thought I'd toss it out there:

I'd like my next practice bind to be a favorite novel, but most of the novels whose full text is easily available are also easy to find as beautiful clothbounds, and thus I already own them. If I bound a favorite classic, my efforts would be redundant. This leaves me with (a) binding a B-tier favorite or (b) attempting to bind something outside the public domain. I'm trying to figure out how feasible (b) would be for me now.

Does anyone know of a method that could be used to harvest text from ebooks into Word or similar? Or can anyone even recommend some less legitimate resources for getting ahold of these texts with the formatting intact?

[pregnant-javert]

Book ask #17!! (Did any books surprise you with how good they were?)

Yes! I actually read “Leech” by Hiron Ennes which tbh I wasn’t actually expecting to be at all good bc it’s modern pop lit (a genre I tend to actively avoid) but I was shocked by how cogent and well-crafted it is as a narrative. It’s got good world building and you can tell a lot of thought and love has gone into the book!

[oidheadh-con-culainn]

does anyone else get disproportionately stressed out by being given a book they already own. it's like... objectively not a big deal! i can give it away! but also somebody thought of me, and spent money on me, and i cannot benefit from the thing they have given me (even though they objectively got something right because it interests me enough to have bought it already) so i feel both ungrateful and also a little sad that i do not get a new book (and then feel guilty for being sad because i was not, like, entitled to a new book) and oh no those are bad emotions and a gift should be good emotions, help

[lionofstone]

can i just say that ebook formatting is the most annoying thing

[rocket-candy-heart]

Sometimes when a used bookstore is having their going out of business sale, you go into a fugue state and come out of it with like 35lbs of paperbacks that only cost $15

[twisted-tales-told]

Did I just buy a book because of a tumblr post I saw about it

Yeah I did

[huwage]

Owl Update #3: The Proof

Well, that took far too long. But then it always does, every bloody time I have to format a paperback. I have been sitting here all day – and I do mean all day – transforming The Owl in the Labyrinth from the ebook manuscript into its printable, tangible form. You’d think that in this modern day and age it wouldn’t be that difficult: document has words in, books have words in; KDP knows this,…

[shouldveprayedformoreguts]

I haven't read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in a really long time, but I picked up a new copy from the library's very cheap used book sale a while ago and decided to crack it open recently.

Definitely forgot that it takes over 100 pages for the story to really start rolling... Like I get that a lot of exposition for Blomkvist was needed, and, obviously, a sufficient amount for Lisbeth, but jeez.