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IDPF call for board candidates: Chance to help reform the e-book industry and advance tech standards
November 7, 2008 | 12:22 pm
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By David Rothman
When, oh when, will the IDPF release a logo for non-DRMed ePub books? And how about standards for reliable interbook linking? Or for annotations? Or more international representation to help the group live up to its name?
If you sit on the IDPF board, which now has an opening, you can encourage the organization to address those and many other important issues in a timely way. Or—if you’re from outside the U.S.—address the international matter directly. The IDPF includes people from international conglomerates. But I’d like to see more of those from, say, the U.K. directly.
Although just one of nine seats is open, this is a chance to remind the group of issues dear to you even if you don’t win.
Important restriction on eligibility (update, 1:40 p.m.): As Paul Biba correctly jogged me just now, you must be associated with a member company of the IPDF. But many faithful readers of the TeleBlog do. What’s more, you or your employer can always join the IDPF to qualify. Here’s a chance to help effect reform from within the “inside.”
You have up to Monday, November 10 (2400 EST(, to self-nominate yourself. Go here for more details, then e-mail IDPF exec director Michael Smith (himself Canadian).
Related: IDPF’s latest e-book sales stats.
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Comments:
The way I read the invitation for nominations, the only people who can self nominate are those who are members of the IDPF. Your post indicates that any member of the public can self-nominate, and I don’t think this is correct.
Hi, Paul. I should have mentioned that detail. Many thanks for the jog—I’ve added the information.
David
Some news on ePub you might have missed. I got an e-mail from AllRomanceEBooks.com (they’re an eBook distributor specializing in romance) indicating that they’re making ePub an option. They’ll convert for all the publishers who sell through them–assuming the publisher signs the approval form. I’m certainly going to sign up.
As regular readers know, I’ve been offering ePub versions of our latest books for a number of months now, but one small publisher doesn’t really constitute a movement. I’m glad to see All Romance taking this step. I have no inside info, but it would also make sense for Fictionwise to add ePub to their multiformat option list. I suspect they’re already looking into this.
Rob Preece
Publisher, http://www.BooksForABuck.com
I commissioned some unofficial ePub logos and released them into the public domain: http://www.threepress.org/epub/logos
They don’t distinguish between DRM and non-DRM but anyone would be free to remix them to do so.
Terrific news about AllRomanceEBooks and ePub, Rob. Thanks for telling us, and it’s great to hear of your own efforts. Small publishers like you will especially benefit in the long run from the economies of ePub. Hello, Fictionwise! May you be next.
Thanks,
David
Liza: Good show! I hope you yourself can do a no-DRM version. With proprietary DRM, the usual kind, the ePub standard is no longer a standard in practical terms.
Thanks,
David