Saturday, February 28, 2009

Ebook Humor: Why the Ex-Perts Call Them E-books

Edward Lear, poet-king of nonsense

Email is now officially spelled with or without the hyphen: why not ebooks?

The ebook world has plenty of technology; we can use a bit of humor and a dash of art. Here is a poetic parody that gripes about the ludricrous hyphen in the word "e-book". Written by a man who is unafraid to put his name at the bottom of a beautiful heap of nonsense.


Why the Ex-Perts Call Them E-Books



“You say e-books, and I say ebooks! Let's call the hyphen off.”
— George and Ira Gershwin

A travesty against our race!
Of every creed and sex —
The adding of the hyphen
By the pompous scholar ex-
Perts, for no other reason
Than to obfuscate the poor
And humble e-book
Which requires nothing more.

“But why not?” ask the ex-
Perts as they while away the hours
Sipping fresh-frapped Capp-
Uccinos in the slippery ivory towers.
“All these lexographic capers
Add a dash of cold romance,
Makes for more grad-student papers,
And more fedly-funded grants.”

See the superfluous hyphen
As it separates the “e” —
From the book’s beloved wife an’
Paper-viewing family.
As we who love this brave new place,
Cannot but stop and think:
O, what a waste of precious space!
O what a waste of ink!

Somewhere in the thankless cold,
A poet longs to e-
At night when all his tales are told
To deaf posterity.
With every lovely line I write —
From heart, and hope, and mind,
The “e” stands all alone at right —
The book is left behind.

—- Michael Pastore

Copyright (c) 2009. From the paperback book and ebook:

50 Benefits of Ebooks:
A Thinking Person's Introduction to the Digital Reading Revolution
Where Ebooks are Low-Cost or Free.


Forthcoming, on March 8, 2009.

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Saturday, February 14, 2009

Share The Love at Care2.com



Happy Valentine's Day. You can put a smile on the faces of your family and friends, by sending them an e-card from Care2.com.

Shown in the image is the card calleld "I Like You" by Camilla Eriksson. You can find it here:
http://www.care2.com/send/card/5937

The moving images, and the lively song made me laugh out loud.

There are dozens of more e-cards at the site. And every time you send one, you'll be contributing a little bit to a project that helps to save the environment.

Take a look at the Care2.com website, which connects you with socially-conscious causes worldwide. And Care2 also offers a very nice free email feature.

For more information, visit the Care2 home page: http://www.care2.com


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Friday, February 06, 2009

50 Benefits of Ebooks - A New Ebook About Ebooks

cover image of 50 Benefits of Ebooks

50Benefits of Ebooks:
A Thinking Person's Introduction to the Digital Reading Revolution, Where Ebooks Are Low-Cost or Free.


We are hoping to release this book during "Read An Ebook Week", March 8 to March 14. The book will be published simultaneously as a pocket-sized paperback, 320 pages, for $ 20; and an ebook for one dollar. The ebook will be available in two formats: PDF and ePub. The ebook editions will contain all the same content as the paperback — except the paper.

In addition to the 50 Benefits, the book contains essays about the value of reading, and additional chapters of ebook-related resources.

Stay tuned for updates about this unique book!


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Thursday, February 05, 2009

Summer Camp Jobs USA (new book and ebook bargain)

Book cover of Summer Camp Jobs USA

Summer Camp Jobs USA is a new book published as a pocket-sized paperback (204 pages), and also as an ebook in two formats: PDF and ePub. If you visit the web page of the paperback book, you will find a strange message at the top. The message says: "Do not buy the paperback." And the message is written by the author himself.

This is an oxymoron known as "honest marketing." It reminds me of that splendid scene in the film "Miracle on 34th Street." A man named Kris Kringle lands a job as the Santa Claus in Macy's, a large department store in New York City. When a customer asks for a fire engine for her son, Santa tells the customer that she can find it at Schoenfelds, a competing store nearby. Schoenfeld's. Later, Santa refers another customer to Gimbels, another competing store.

At first, the manager at Macy's is furious, because the standard store policy — when a customer asks for a product not carried by Macy's — is to suggest an alternate product that Macy's carries. But soon, the customers report that they are so happy about the honesty of that Santa Claus, that they will forever after be loyal customers of Macy's!

The author of Summer Camp Jobs USA wants readers to know that they can buy the paperback for $ 18, or the ebook — with all the same content of the paperback except the paper — for one dollar.

The technology to make it possible is here, and our economy is plunging ever-deeper into a heartbreaking recession. The time has come for the one-buck ebook!

For more information, visit:

The web page of the paperback book:

http://www.zorbapress.com/books/campjobs.html


The web page of the PDF ebook:

http://www.lulu.com/content/5750220


Summer Camp Jobs USA: the companion blog-site:

http://summercampjobsusa.wordpress.com/




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Sunday, February 01, 2009

Yes We Have No DRM (Digital Rights Management)

Image by Michael Pastore, of a sign that says No DRM

What is DRM? ... And why are so many authors and publishers supporting the "No DRM" philosophy? ...

"DRM (Digital Rights Management) refers to a method of protecting digital content that a publisher can apply to videos, music files and ebooks. Adding DRM has three drawbacks. Always, DRM makes your digital products cost more. Sometimes, the DRM does funny things to your computer. And often, DRM limits what you can do with your own purchase. For example, many DRM-afflicted ebooks do not allow you to print the files."


There is a danger in publishing DRM-less ebooks: they are easier to steal than the protected kind. Authors who spend a great deal of time, sometimes years, to create a significant book, may be concerned that their labors of love might be so easily lost.

The problem is parodied in a bit of doggerel composed by Michael Pastore:

=============

Publishers' Lament

Sweet Publishing is Chaos!
A war of Us and Them.
Will Readers ever pay us,
If we don't use DRM?

=============


In the world of music, the problem was faced and resolved by the iTunes model: selling the songs for cheap made much more sense than going after students and grandmothers for illegal downloading.

Could this plan work for ebooks? ...
Here (click the link below: Why Our Ebooks Have No DRM) is a brief yet wonderfully creative letter from an author to his readers, explaining why he hopes they will choose not to steal his ebook, but to buy it for a buck.

Why Our Ebooks Have No DRM
by Michael Pastore.


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