Crenk » Books

Free Multiplatform Tools To Create Your Own iBooks

Steven Finch — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 07:12:33 +0000

Being an open source format, ePub books are already widely available on the net. But you can also create your own electronic books in ePub format. Here are two free multiplatform tools to create iBooks – a.k.a: ePub books.

eCub: A lightweight ePub publisher to create iBooks available for Windows, Mac, Linux, FreeBSD and Solaris platform. Some of the features are:
- creates unencrypted ePub files from text or XHTML files;
- allows editing of the text or XHTML files with a simple internal editor or designated external editors;
- helps to create a simple cover design image;
- optionally creates title, content and cover pages;
- can be run from the command line as part of a build script;
- can convert the book content to audio files (WAV or MP3).
Sigil: Describes itself as a WYSIWYG ebook editor. Available for Windows, Mac and Linux. Some of the features are:
- WYSIWYG editing;
- Multiple Views: Book View, Code View and Split View;
- Metadata editor with full support for all possible metadata entries (more than 200) with full descriptions for each;
- Table Of Contents editor;
- Multi-level TOC support;
- Currently imports TXT, HTML and ePub files; more will be added with time;
- Currently exports ePub and SGF (Sigil native format); more will be added with time.

Amazon Kindle To Be Launch in UK Next Week

Steven Finch — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 09:17:33 +0000

Amazon’s Kindle e-reader has been getting a lot of great reviews ever since its launch in the USA in 2007 and now it is set to make its way to the UK. It has been reported by the The Bookseller that claims Amazon is preparing to announce the device as early as next week. This announcement is of course timed nicely so that the Kindle will have a nice run up to Christmas.

The delay in launching internationally has been down to the internet connection used on the Kindle. The connection works over mobile phone networks and allows users to browse and buy book wherever they can get a phone signal. Qualcomm has reportedly been working on a version of the Kindle compatible with UK mobile frequencies.

Moving the Kindle into the UK market will really help move the e-reader market, in which is still yet to take off here in the UK.

MakeMoneyOnline.com: Money Making Tips Sites Thats Actually Worth Reading

Steven Finch — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 09:56:55 +0000

I came across a very interesting site the other day. I know its not really a startup so I shouldn’t be reviewing it, but I thought it was worth a mention anyways. The site is MakeStableMoney and it talks about how the average person can make money from home. I realise there are so many poor sites out there that seem to talk about this same issue, but for some reason I think this site actually has some quality.

Previously the site has talked about way to make money through sponsorships, best 3 google adwords books to read, 17 secrets on how to sell ebooks and more. This site can really help people make money online and I think it is a good investment of your time to check it out.

Book Worms Unite with BookSprouts

Luis Sandoval — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:17:21 +0000

Never before have we as a global community ever felt so connected as we have in the past ten years. We have grown from gatherings, town hall meetings, forums and message boards, internet chat rooms, to social networks. I host a podcast over at Tech in Twenty, and we’ve discussed the growth in popularity for social networks and how niche interests have played a huge part of that growth.

We have all heard of the popular social networks like MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Ning, etc. But there are a lot of networks out there that cater to a more specific market, no matter if you’re into music, television, knitting, dating, marbles, or candles, there is a group for you. BookSprouts is the newly developed social site for book clubs. The site is a amongst a few competitors that claim to be a space for readers, but BookSprout is different in that the actual design is easy to navigate at the layout is welcoming to new users with little confusion. Every step for you is laid out so that users can get started immediately without getting lost in the site.

I had time to explore the site and came across the same problem the write of the TechCrunch article did. Only two of the books I listed had actual groups connected to them. This was rather limiting since those books were not considered favorites of mine, so it left me little desire to join that discussion. While I won’t blame this entirely on BookSprout, this is a user generated community, unless someone starts a group for the book, I have little time to manage one on my own.

I like how the site is free of ads. Though one might question the ability of the site to sustain itself, other social sites like Ning are free of advertisements and function perfectly well without all the advertising. The ability to purchase what other users are reading straight from the site is nice with an easily accessible Amazon link, but might be too limiting considering that there might be other places offering the book cheaper. For that you might want to check out my post on Booksprice.

Here is a video that details what Booksprice offers and what they’ve done for their users. Pick a couple of books, sign-up, and enjoy!