The Art of Kiltmaking: Any change in the ebook policy?

[cadilhac]

Hi there Barb!

I hesitated to ask this as a private message, but I guess this would be more useful for the community here. In 2008, you said you were not considering releasing TAoK in ebook form in the near future, mainly because it wasn't practical for the reader, and prone to help illegal dissemination. With the advent of tablets, I believe that such a book can definitely be used in electronic form nowadays. As for the illegal dissemination, you could now easily watermark each copy with the name of the owner, discouraging illegal copying.

Personally, I've been using a tablet for most of my books in the past couple of years, and, living in Europe, I'd rather do without the shipping costs if possible. I went through the Box Pleated PDF and really enjoyed the writing style; I was planning to follow the ScottishDance.net tutorial, as I did for my first kilt, but I'm now convinced that having your book at hand would terrifically improve my new kilt!

Thanks for your work and consideration!
M.

[Barb T]

I have definitely considered it, but, at the moment, I just don't have the time to make this into a good e-book. If it were all text, it would be child's play. But with a lot of graphics, it isn't straightforward, and I just don't have the time to do it.

Many of you know that I have a full-time job as a geology professor, and I have a major research project in Egypt that will take a lot of time for at least the next year or two. Plus, of course, I make kilts and play the pipes. Some day, I will make it into an e-book (probably when I get close to selling out this printing), but it won't be soon. Sorry.

[cadilhac]

Thanks for your reply and explanations, Barb! So I ended up buying it; that'll make my kids' inheritance more substantial :-)

As a computer scientist myself, I must admit I'm not sure I understand the technical difficulties caused by the pictures, but I trust your reasons are good :-)

Have great fun in your projects to come, in Egypt and everywhere else :-)

Cheers;
M.

[Barb T]

It's definitely not the pictures per se. It's the layout, which is complicated when you have both pictures and text. I know I can do it - I just don't have the time at the moment.

[GrainReaper]

Personally I love the spiral binding, it makes referencing the book on a given step so much easier than a standard bound book, I feel that should be a requirement for instructional books like cookbooks, kilt construction books, etc....

E-books are great but I think the fact that it's not really a reader as it is a reference source. when I'm making a recipe for instance and using my iPad, when I am looking for the next step in the recipe or instructions the iPad has winked out, I need to wake it up and sometimes open the browser or program again to see it, this gets tiresome after a while. I suppose I could change the power settings to prevent it from sleeping, but unless it's plugged in, I'm just wasting the charge keeping it on when I'm just glancing at it every so often..

I could just be less inclined toward technology for some things..

[uncle remus]

I also while I like e-books when I travel I prefer a physical book. there is nothing like the sensual feel and smell of a real book.