On 3/5/2012 10:31 AM, Martin Packer wrote:
I'm not likely to be your customer but this sounds great. A question: What
authoring mechanism are you using to create Kindle materials and in what
format are they delivered? MOBI-derivative?
Cheers, Martin
Martin Packer,
Mainframe Performance Consultant, zChampion
Worldwide Banking Center of Excellence, IBM
All our materials are produced using Ventura Publisher.
For creating Kindle works (remember, I've only done one
so far), I use a Ventura option to extract just the text
into a file. Then I use SPF/PC (any editor will work, of
course) to convert that into HTML by copying in some small
copy books I've built that re-create the bullet / sub-bullet
structure we use (more or less; I'm still learning the
ins and outs of formatting for Kindle).
Then I add some packaging files (table of contents, manifest,
ncx file) and any image files. Put all this into a single
directory and zip it; upload the zip to KDP (Kindle Direct
Publishing)
Before I actually send a file to KDP, I test it by using
a command line book compiler available for free from KDP,
and view the output in another free tool the Kindle
Previewer. So far, the previewer seems to do a better job
of rendering my doc than Kindle PC, so you could download
that tool and use it to view any Kindle pubs you buy from
Amazon.
Kindle seems fine for novels and literature; it has a way
to go for technical presentations, just due to the nature
of bulleted notes. Still, it's an interesting process and
improving all the time.
+44-7802-245-584
email: [email protected]
Twitter / Facebook IDs: MartinPacker
Blog:
https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/MartinPacker
From:
Steve Comstock<[email protected]>
To:
[email protected],
Date:
05/03/2012 17:05
Subject:
The Trainer's Friend goes Kindle - and you don't need to own a Kindle!
Sent by:
IBM Mainframe Discussion List<[email protected]>
Well, we're trying something new: looking at putting
content on Amazon.com for reading in Kindle's. The
details are below.
But first, I want to point out right away: you don't
need to own a Kindle to read our content (or any other
eBook on Amazon, for that matter).
* If you don't have a Kindle, you can download the
Kindle app for PCs from Amazon; for free. There are
also Kindle apps for iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac,
and more.
This is pretty cool in and of itself. I think this
requires you to establish a Kindle account (also
free). If you have an Amazon account you can
piggyback on that.
Go to:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=sa_menu_karl3?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771
Alternatively, you can use the Kindle cloud reader and
read Kindle books in your browser.
See:
https://read.amazon.com/about
================================
So for right now, we're experimenting by putting some of
our free papers into Kindle format: first we write a
significant update to the paper, to add value; next we
convert the new version to Kindle format and publish
to Amazon in their eBook library.
Our first foray into this brave new world is a major
rewrite of the paper "Coding AJAX Applications in z/OS":
We've updated some content to reflect changes in the
RFC, we've added two new examples, including one that
uses POST and a php CGI to process the POSTed data;
I also made some editorial changes.
The Amazon price is about 1/3 the price of just
purchasing the support files in our own Trainer's Friend
store, and the Amazon price _includes_ free access to
the support files, so you can download all the sample
HTML, COBOL source, and php source to experiment on your
own.
Check it out at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007FY0EWI
Let us know what you think of this experiment.
--
Kind regards,
-Steve Comstock
The Trainer's Friend, Inc.
303-355-2752
http://www.trainersfriend.com
* To get a good Return on your Investment, first make an investment!
+ Training your people is an excellent investment
* Try our tool for calculating your Return On Investment
for training dollars at
http://www.trainersfriend.com/ROI/roi.html
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