The Idler
25th August 2012, 14:35
Formats
ePub is the open standard used by almost all e-book readers (except the industry leader Amazon Kindle which uses Mobi and AZW3).
ePub is reflowable unlike PDF or Djvu which is designed for printing pages.
ePub is also smaller file size than almost all other formats including plain text.
Plain text is reflowable and used by all e-book readers including market leader Amazon Kindle but unlike ePub does not generate tables of contents or hold front covers.
Downloading
Marxists Internet Archive (http://www.marxists.org/) + grabmybooks (http://www.grabmybooks.com/) (firefox plug-in)
Project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/)
Internet Archive (http://archive.org/)
Google Play Books (https://play.google.com/store/books)
Libcom.org ePub (http://libcom.org/tags/epub) + Mobi (http://libcom.org/tags/mobi) (pdf (http://libcom.org/tags/pdfs))
Anarchy Archives (http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/)
Spunk Library (http://www.spunk.org/)
Feedbooks (http://www.feedbooks.com/)
Manybooks (http://manybooks.net/)
Scribd (http://www.scribd.com/) (pdf)
Reading
To read ebooks on your pc use fbreader (http://www.fbreader.org/), coolreader (http://crengine.sourceforge.net/), epubreader (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/epubreader/) (firefox plug-in) or sumatra (http://blog.kowalczyk.info/software/sumatrapdf/free-pdf-reader.html) (windows).
Writing
To generate epub use Sigil (http://code.google.com/p/sigil/), writer2epub (http://extensions.openoffice.org/en/project/Writer2ePub/) (office writer plug-in) or grabmybooks (http://www.grabmybooks.com/) (firefox plug-in).
Converting
calibre (http://calibre-ebook.com/) converts epub, odt, pdf, mobi, txt to azw3, epub, mobi, pdf, txt etc.
pandoc (http://johnmacfarlane.net/pandoc/) is free software command line and also works online
avs document converter
ebook.online-convert.com (http://ebook.online-convert.com/)
http://www.2epub.com/
http://www.docspal.com/
Publishing + Distribution
Smashwords (http://www.smashwords.com/)
Lulu (http://www.lulu.com/)
Feedbooks (http://www.feedbooks.com/)
Internet Archive (http://archive.org/)
Bookbaby (http://www.bookbaby.com/)
PubIt! (http://pubit.barnesandnoble.com)
Help
MobileRead (http://www.mobileread.com/)
ePub is the open standard used by almost all e-book readers (except the industry leader Amazon Kindle which uses Mobi and AZW3).
ePub is reflowable unlike PDF or Djvu which is designed for printing pages.
ePub is also smaller file size than almost all other formats including plain text.
Plain text is reflowable and used by all e-book readers including market leader Amazon Kindle but unlike ePub does not generate tables of contents or hold front covers.
Downloading
Marxists Internet Archive (http://www.marxists.org/) + grabmybooks (http://www.grabmybooks.com/) (firefox plug-in)
Project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/)
Internet Archive (http://archive.org/)
Google Play Books (https://play.google.com/store/books)
Libcom.org ePub (http://libcom.org/tags/epub) + Mobi (http://libcom.org/tags/mobi) (pdf (http://libcom.org/tags/pdfs))
Anarchy Archives (http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/)
Spunk Library (http://www.spunk.org/)
Feedbooks (http://www.feedbooks.com/)
Manybooks (http://manybooks.net/)
Scribd (http://www.scribd.com/) (pdf)
Reading
To read ebooks on your pc use fbreader (http://www.fbreader.org/), coolreader (http://crengine.sourceforge.net/), epubreader (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/epubreader/) (firefox plug-in) or sumatra (http://blog.kowalczyk.info/software/sumatrapdf/free-pdf-reader.html) (windows).
Writing
To generate epub use Sigil (http://code.google.com/p/sigil/), writer2epub (http://extensions.openoffice.org/en/project/Writer2ePub/) (office writer plug-in) or grabmybooks (http://www.grabmybooks.com/) (firefox plug-in).
Converting
calibre (http://calibre-ebook.com/) converts epub, odt, pdf, mobi, txt to azw3, epub, mobi, pdf, txt etc.
pandoc (http://johnmacfarlane.net/pandoc/) is free software command line and also works online
avs document converter
ebook.online-convert.com (http://ebook.online-convert.com/)
http://www.2epub.com/
http://www.docspal.com/
Publishing + Distribution
Smashwords (http://www.smashwords.com/)
Lulu (http://www.lulu.com/)
Feedbooks (http://www.feedbooks.com/)
Internet Archive (http://archive.org/)
Bookbaby (http://www.bookbaby.com/)
PubIt! (http://pubit.barnesandnoble.com)
Help
MobileRead (http://www.mobileread.com/)