Free Foreign Language Versions of my books

My books have been translated into a lot of languages, and often times (though unfortunately not always), they send me copies. I like to keep at least one of each, but I have a few extras around if anyone's interested. All you have to do is send me (via Paypal, for example) the shipping costs. First dibs for subscribers :)

Here's what I have:

Japanese
Perl & CGI for the World Wide Web, 2nd Edition

Italian:
XML for the World Wide Web, 1st edition
Crea una pagina Web con HTML
Pubblica un blog con Blogger, 1st edition

Spanish
HTML, XHTML, y CSS, Fifth edition

French
HTML4 avec XHTML & CSS
Creer un blog avec Blogger

Chinese
HTML, XHTML and CSS, 6th edition

Dutch
HTML XHTML CSS, 6th edition

Swedish
Blogg med Blogger, 1st edition

Print edition of Read Aloud EPUB for iBooks

This is an exciting day! My Read Aloud EPUB for iBooks Miniguide is now available in print from Amazon and Barnes & Noble. It is 48 pages long in full color and includes an index, and explains how to create fixed layout EPUB books with an accompanying audio track that plays while the corresponding text is highlighted. (Read Aloud EPUB for iBooks is also available in EPUB and PDF formats.)

Read Aloud books—which currently work only in iBooks on iPhone/iPad/iPod touch—are perfect for children's story books, but don't stop there. Think about the possibilities of language instruction where your readers can see the words highlighted as the speaker pronounces them (and click on them to repeat as many times as necessary). Or perhaps you'd like to publish a play or poetry and include a dramatic reading. Imagine a travel book in which you can narrate the photographs.

This book teaches you how to create the audio, create and format the text, and then mark both the audio and text so that they play and are highlighted simultaneously. You'll also learn how to create stop and start buttons and a background soundtrack.

Here's what Pablo Defendini of Open Road Integrated Media had to say: “Just took a read through the Read Aloud guide—great job! Hits all the points, and it doesn't look like anything is missing. Also, great, great Grep recipes!”



Because this miniguide focuses so closely on just what you need to know for Read Aloud, some knowledge of EPUB in general and Fixed Layout books in particular is also required. To that end, you may also be interested in my EPUB Straight to the Point: Creating ebooks for the Apple iPad and other ereaders (available both in print and in digital editions) and my Fixed Layout EPUBs for iPad and iPhone (available only digital format, with print on its way).

I would also like to note that this is my first foray into publishing my own books in print and I'm really excited about it. Cookwood Press is just me, and thanks to InDesign and Print on Demand and Lightning Source and distribution, a one-woman operation like my own can now sell high quality full color print and digital books all over the world with very little initial investment or infrastructure (though a lot of experience in writing and publishing!). I am hoping it allows me to get more books out more quickly on a variety of topics.



One of my strategies is to write very short books that cover a very specific topic, and Read Aloud EPUB for iBooks is a perfect example. It is just 48 pages but covers everything you need to know. I hope you enjoy it. Please leave reviews wherever you buy it, even if it's just a couple of words.

Volume discounts are available. Please contact me directly.

By the way, that gorgeous cover with the hand-modeled 3D pencil was created by Andreu Cabré. You can see more of his work on his blog: Everything 3D. His demo reel is particularly impressive.

Poll: Paper or Bits?

I've been learning a lot about publishing my own books, and am seriously considering offering print editions of my miniguides (with links to download the example files). Would you, dear reader, prefer to buy my books in print or continue to read them in EPUB and PDF editions? If you wouldn't mind, answer the poll here in the right-hand column of my blog. I'd sure appreciate it.

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The results are in! Out of the 130 people who voted, 82 said they preferred the ebook format over print. Only 18 preferred print, and 21 said they'd buy both. 9 said they had no preference.

At first glance, that might look like an overwhelming victory for electronic formats, except that the poll must be pretty skewed by the fact that I asked for responses from Twitter and my blog, where people are most likely to be comfortable reading on screen. The truth is I, like the rest of the world, sell many more books in paper than I do electronically.

I thought the fact that 1/3 of the responses preferred print, both formats, or had no preference, was even more telling, given the folks who I asked.

At any rate, I keep printing out bits of my miniguides so I can consult them faster. So, it looks like once again, I'm going to make something for the rest of you just because I want it for myself :) Printed editions of my miniguides are on the way. Details to follow!

Printing Notes from iBooks on iPad

One of iBooks 1.2 new features is the ability to print or email notes that you've made. There was a bit of interest in notes on Quora this morning (with which I've been experimenting) so I thought I'd talk a bit more about them here.

First, how do you insert a note? Simple. Just select some text with your finger, and then click Note in the pop-up menu that appears.



If you're reading a non-DRM protected book, you'll also have the option of copying the text. I like to copy the referenced text first and copy it into the note so that when I email or print the note, I can remember where the note came from. I have found that if you first copy the highlighted text and then press very close to the beginning of the selection, you'll be offered the opportunity to create a note as well, where you can then paste the copied selection. (Click anywhere else and you'll have to select the text again.)



Click outside of the note to close it. The referenced text is highlighted and a little post-it note with the date appears in the margin. If you click the note, you can change the highlight color or delete the note entirely.




To email or print notes, go to the table of contents by clicking the bulleted list icon next to the Library button in the upper-left corner.



You can preview the notes (and bookmarks) by clicking the Bookmarks tab, but it's not required.

And then click the "Away" button in the upper-right corner. You'll have the choice to either email or print the notes.



But what if you have an oldish printer like me? Can you really print? I was under the impression that you could share a printer with any computer on your network, simply by choosing the appropriate option in Print Preferences. But that doesn't work automatically from an iPad.

And Apple has released a technology called Airprint, but it only works with a select few HP printers. I talked to Epson and they just have a little app that lets you print photos from the iPad, and only if you have a wifi-enabled printer, which I don't.

Then I asked on Twitter, and within minutes, Gabriele Alese quickly pointed me to a tool called Airprint Activator. It somehow links up the printer sharing and Airprint capabilities and gave me access to my oldish Epson R200 from the iPad. Absolutely brilliant!



Thanks so much to Gabriele and to the folks at Netputing for making this possible!