Salvation War ePub

[Bureaucromancer]

So I just came across Salvation War and loved the first couple of posts. The problem is that I hate reading things of much length on a screen, and have a new ereader, so combined with a bit of archive panic I threw together an ePub of Armageddon? so I could read it on a decent screen. It occurs to me that some people might appreciate this, so I'm putting up a poll to see how much interest there is.

For anyone who is interested in the details, the file comes in a little over 2.5mb for the entire thing, I kept the chapter credits and all formatting (I had to rework a couple of instances of code snippets in the boards formatting, but the rest copied over trouble free) and could probably trim quite a bit more in size by editing out the Word derived garbage in the html. I The file works fine on a Kobo (pretty much a barebones ePub reader, with the only real feature of note being compatibility with Adobe DRM and as such most non Kindle ebook stores) and as such just about anything (in theory) that reads ePub. I don't have anything to test mobi files with, but could make one easily enough for everyone with a Kindle. have a full table of contents and for anyone who knows the ePub format it's broken down as one file per chapter (for those who DON'T know the format, don't worry, it's still one file for the whole book).

In any case, I won't actually release anything unless Stuart gives me the go ahead, but since I can't PM him I'm just going to post this (so if anyone would like to PM him about the thread, please do). If it is ok to do this, I'm perfectly willing to do the same packaging for Pantheocide, although by choice I'd wait until the whole thing is posted and do the whole thing at once. There are no chapter titles, no cover art and the only meta data is Stuart as author and that it is part 1 of The Salvation War right now, but I am willing to add any of this if you'd like me to (heh, maybe this could be considered a call for fan art covers?).

ECarlson (Bureaucromancer)

PS, in any case, great work.

[Arachnidus]

I'd love to have TSW on my Kindle, so in addition to ePub, what about .mobi and the other extensions?

[Bureaucromancer]

I don't have anything to test mobi files with, but could make one easily enough for everyone with a Kindle.

I would post it at the same time since so many people have Kindle, but like I said, I don't have anything to test it with (other than Kindle PC and Calibre), it would just be a straight (automatic) conversion from the ePub.

[Stuart]

There's a serious copyright issue here. The contracts for the publication of TSW:A and TSW:P have both been signed and their publication rights committed. That means that any other attempt to distribute the work will be in breach of copyright and will be pursued by the publisher's lawyers. At the moment, we only envisage publishing in dead tree but the provision for an E-book is included within the existing contracts.

So, if somebody has an E-book version for their own use that is OK but any attempt to distribute (including distribution for no monetary reward) would not be OK at all.

[Simon_Jester]

Just speaking for myself, I would like an E-book version because my supply of paper books has already hopelessly outpaced my available shelf space.

[ray245]

There's a serious copyright issue here. The contracts for the publication of TSW:A and TSW:P have both been signed and their publication rights committed. That means that any other attempt to distribute the work will be in breach of copyright and will be pursued by the publisher's lawyers. At the moment, we only envisage publishing in dead tree but the provision for an E-book is included within the existing contracts.

So, if somebody has an E-book version for their own use that is OK but any attempt to distribute (including distribution for no monetary reward) would not be OK at all.

I thought that you are self-publishing TSW?

[Stuart]

I thought that you are self-publishing TSW?

There is still a contract with the company that handles publication. And copyright still applies. So, any distribution by another source or person is in breach of both contract and copyright.

[Lagmonster]

In case it isn't clear; no distribution of Stuart, or anyone's, works without their permission.

I realize that it might be impossible to stop you, but we expect people to not be dicks.

[Bureaucromancer]

There's a serious copyright issue here. The contracts for the publication of TSW:A and TSW:P have both been signed and their publication rights committed. That means that any other attempt to distribute the work will be in breach of copyright and will be pursued by the publisher's lawyers. At the moment, we only envisage publishing in dead tree but the provision for an E-book is included within the existing contracts.

So, if somebody has an E-book version for their own use that is OK but any attempt to distribute (including distribution for no monetary reward) would not be OK at all.

Fair enough, end of discussion.

PS:
I will leave the poll up unless someone (Stuart or mod) would prefer otherwise since I really would like to see an official ebook if you're publishing this.

[nobody_really]

In case it isn't clear; no distribution of Stuart, or anyone's, works without their permission.

I realize that it might be impossible to stop you, but we expect people to not be dicks.

And, as I understand it (although I'm no lawyer), according to U.S. copyright law, what Bureaucromancer did is worth a maximum $250,000.00 fine. He/She might be able to justify their action by saying that Stuart doesn't mind them having a copy for personal use, but still. The RIAA and MPAA have earned their reputation as dicks because they have lobbied for and gotten the CTEA and DMCA passed and signed, and actually taken people to court for violating copyright. Even people who thought they were doing nothing wrong and didn't distribute the works they copied.

The thing is, being a dick is not illegal, but permanently copying a copyrighted work without the permission of the copyright holder (and then modifying the format) is. Bureaucromancer, I would strongly recommend that you delete that copy when Armageddon? gets published, if not earlier. You definitely do not want to be on the wrong side of publishers in this case.

Edited: added the permission part in the 2nd paragraph.

[Eddie Van Helsing]

There's a serious copyright issue here. The contracts for the publication of TSW:A and TSW:P have both been signed and their publication rights committed. That means that any other attempt to distribute the work will be in breach of copyright and will be pursued by the publisher's lawyers. At the moment, we only envisage publishing in dead tree but the provision for an E-book is included within the existing contracts.

Hopefully you'll spread the word if your publisher goes ahead with an ePub edition of The Salvation War.

[Bureaucromancer]

Outside the US (which I am) the trend has been toward de facto (and in some cases explicitly) allowing personal format shifting under the same logic that personal backups are, for the most part allowed. Even the RIAA hasn't managed to get anything out of people for converting CDs to mp3s for personal use, which is exactly what I have done. I would also argue that calling a format shift "modification" of a work is a bit of a stretch given most interpretations of what constitutes a work. In any case, everyone calm down, no one here has suggested anyone but Stuart has any legal or moral right to distribute or modify anything.

Beyond that, yes, please let us know whatever they will let you say about the status of publishing this.

[DKeith2011]

I wouldn't mind an electronic version of the books, but this series is one I will definitely be getting in hard copy.