I've seen the docs too, but the fact remains that converted pdf documents are usually pretty messy, because their layout information is pdf specific and doesn't convert well. Even the best pdf to html converters usually come out with extreme messiness. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Soronel Haetir" <soronel.haetir@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Friday, January 22, 2010 1:41 AM Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Simon & Schuster
Umm, the PDF format is well specified (I've seen the Adobe doc detailing it). If the document is actual text it shouldn't be too hard to get that text (other than it's in Unicode). It gets nasty with some characters though because it composes things like the section mark from a couple Greek letters. On 1/21/10, Robert Riddle <captinlogic@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:Well, there's not much you can do with pdf. I mean, it's a proprietary Adobe format and not really meant for conversion; the best solution, I've found,is to OCR them and then proof them like a normal book. This is not, of course, the ideal solution for you guys, but it's what I do.Epub is cool though, all it really is is a zip file that has a bunch of html files and layout information in it. Conversion to daisy is probably prettyeasy with those. Congratulations on the new publisher acquisition! ----- Original Message ----- From: Carrie Karnos To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Thursday, January 21, 2010 10:41 PM Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Simon & SchusterOur digital content person can accept books in almost any digital format,and convert them to DAISY and BRF. Still haven't a really reliable PDF to RTF converter, most of them drop about a character a page, but they are slowly getting better. Carrie ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: Robert Riddle <captinlogic@xxxxxxxxx> To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Thu, January 21, 2010 4:25:02 PM Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Simon & Schuster Bookshare supports epub? That's news to me. ----- Original Message ----- From: Carrie Karnos To: Bookshare Vol Group Sent: Thursday, January 21, 2010 6:12 PM Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Simon & Schuster Hi gang, Good news from our Publisher Liaison! I received this from her today: ---- Simon & Schuster has signed our agreement, granting us world rights.They have 5,200 titles in EPUB format which they will be uploading shortly with an additional 800 backlist files in conversion. We expect to receive100 titles a month ongoing.S&S, founded in 1924, is a division of CBS Corporation and is one of the four largest English-language publishers, alongside Random House, Penguin,and HarperCollins. It publishes over 2,000 titles annually under 35 different imprints, including Pocket Books, Scribner, Free Press, Atria,Fireside, Touchstone, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, Little Simon, SimonSpotlight, and Simon Spotlight Entertainment. S&S has won 54 Pulitzer Prizes and been the recipient of numerous National Book Awards, National Book Critics Circle Awards, Grammy Awards,and Newbery and Caldecott Medals. The New York Times Book Review's "10 Best Books of 2009" list included Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls; A ShortHistory of Women by Kate Walbert; and Raymond Carver by Carol Sklenicka. S&S authors include Stephen King, Mary Higgins Clark, Bob Woodward, David McCullough, Jackie Collins, Hillary Clinton, and Michael Moore. Theypublish 27 dramatic works, including The Miracle Worker by William Gibson.Simon and Schuster.net offers resources for K-12 and higher ed educators and librarians such as classroom activities, reading and curriculum guides,reading lists by state of award-winning titles, and suggested titles for course adoption. They publish the Folger Shakespeare Library with full explanatory notes, The Ernest Hemingway Library, and the Scott FitzgeraldLibrary. The “Enriched Classics Books” series consists of annotated editionsof over 80 classic works of literature and nonfiction. S&S has 1500 employees and distributes its titles in more than 100 countries and territories around the world. It has publishing anddistribution capabilities in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdomand Australia, as well as an international sales presence in every major market. --- Carrie again. The answer to your first question is no, we don't know when they will be sending us the books. And no, we don't know which books they will send us. Believe me, if we knew, we'd tell you! So now HarperCollins, Random House, and Simon&Schuster are giving ustheir books in digital format free. Wahoo! Usually the books that publishinghouses digitize first are their most recent books, and then they workbackwards in time. No idea if they will digitize ALL of the books that they have ever published, or if they will stop at some point. So should you scana book from one of these publishers? If it's an old book, sure, you bet,please scan it. If it's a more recent book, I dunno. Please be warned that the more recent the book, the greater the likelihood that we will be getting the book from the publisher. No idea WHEN the book will appear, but chancesare high that it will be soon. I am especially excited to put the play, The Miracle Worker, into the collection. I have had a LOT of requests for it. And it's certainly appropriate for Bookshare! Hope everyone is having a wonderful day! Carrie-- Soronel Haetir soronel.haetir@xxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxput the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the subject line. To get a list of available commands, put the word 'help' by itself in the subject line.
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