Request for Kindle-Formatted Products
I just bought Tome of Ultimate Mapping and am greatly enjoying it so far. However, I do get tired of sitting in front of the computer all day. It would be wonderful to have a Kindle version of this (and other documentation), so I can read it elsewhere. It would be nice to have annuals converted over as well.
I realize that you can put a PDF file on an eBook reader, but that really isn't the same. You have to scroll about horizontally as well as vertically, or read really small text.
The convenience of an Kindle format would certainly be worth a few extra dollars as well.
I realize that you can put a PDF file on an eBook reader, but that really isn't the same. You have to scroll about horizontally as well as vertically, or read really small text.
The convenience of an Kindle format would certainly be worth a few extra dollars as well.
Comments
There are multiple problems with using these formats, especially for a product with a complex layout like the tome. This means that the job of converting it to an appropriate format is quite a major task. Automatic conversion is not going to do it in the case of such a book, so it needs to be done manually. The book needs to be laid out again, and all the cross-reference links in the text need to be changed to work with the flowing format rather than a strict page-based layout. All of this amounts to a fair amount of work.
Only laying it out for such a format, and skipping the regular layout is not an option either. The tome is designed to also see print, and the flowing format required for ebook presentation is real poor in print, and would result in a real substandard work. I for one still really enjoys the print format, so I would hate to see that happen.
This of course all boil down to economics. You may be willing to pay a few dollars more, but how many people will? Will there be enough to pay the cost of doing a proper ebook layout? If so, it might be feasible to do it, but unless there is a lot of people, the cost per person is simply going to be too high.
I fully agree with the sentiment that it would be nice to have it available in as many formats as possible though, I'd love for people to be able to read the tome in whatever format they preferred.
Doubling my time estimate (just to be safe) would make it a two week job so, based on a salaried position of around $50k a year, a two week project would cost roughly $2k (I don't have the figures for a better estimate). At even $10 a copy, that means 200 copies to break even. I doubt there would be that much interest. So, from a business standpoint, I suspect you are right in that it wouldn't make much sense.
Nevertheless, I hope Ralf and Simon give it some consideration. If not for the Tome, possibly for future Annuals.
Either way, I look forward to the new Tome. Is there any eta yet?
: )
For various reasons, I don't want to give a precise eta, but it should be very close now. I also picked up my new computer today (The old one decided to randomly have the disk controller stop functioning in the middle of my work), so right now I am installing it and preparing the tools so I can finish the tome.