SC - Re: pb edition of :Soup for the Qan"

[margali]

Well, I am also on the ebook group, and we have been comiserating the
lack of reasonably priced e-text versions of the books. It is actually a
fairly easy[though time consumong] task to scan books into various
formats. the act of scanning, ocr[optical character recognition] and
then editing to make sure that errors didnt pop up from the program not
recognizing the characters correctly is what takes the longest. To
produce it in cd-rom format would require a scanner, an ocr program, a
program like adobe acrobat[not the reader, the full version that will
take the scanned in text anf format it to be used as a pdf file] and a
cd burner, with a program to design and print the lables for the jewel
cases and on the disc itself. It would also require [obviously] the
permission of the holder of the copyright and time.
Rough cost?
$249 for the cd burner
$99 for the scanner, comes with an ocr program
$549 for Adobe Acrobat
$49 for a program to print cd lables
material costs-depends on how many you want to make

Putting the book out as a spiral bound volume? It could be fairly cheap,
ranging from
scanning the book in to get it into a desktop publishing program like
Office Word, a printer to make the master copy and access to a copier
that will make 2 sided copies and a comb binder. Just as an example I
happen to have a comb binder, and staples inc has a print shop. It could
be as expensive as taking it to a vanity publishing company where as
Devra points out that they often have a setup cost, and then a per copy
cost of [depending on the size of the book and various options such as 4
color printing and glossy covers, etc] anything from $5 to $15.

Either way the first step is getting the permission.

margali