I totally admire every one of you who self-publish, create your own covers, and somehow have figured out how to get your books on Kindle and the Nook and all the other gadgets. I totally freaking admire you.
Never more so than when I read an article by David Gewirtz on ZDNet called, Six Tips for Getting Apple’s iBooks to Accept Your EPub File.
He began to lose me in the third paragraph when he wrote “… I attempted to sign in to iTunes Connect using my iPhone developer account…” Huh?
My eyes glazed over at: “The container.xml file contains a reference to the content.opf file, which, in turn, references the toc.ncx file. Here’s the thing: the content.opf and toc.ncx files are key to making all this work.”
Now I know a bunch of you are super smart folk who can probably speak the language that includes things like “META_INF” and “OEBPS” and:
I’d originally used UltraEdit on the PC, and when I moved the files to the Mac, I used TextWrangler. TextWrangler allowed UTF-8 encoding, but listed files as “(no BOM)” meaning the encoding isn’t prefaced by a multi-byte bill-of-materials. This didn’t seem to be a problem.So, somebody zip over, read this article, and tell me what in the heck Gewirtz is saying. If you do understand it, is the process as hard as it sounds? Or does he make it crystal clear to those of you who speak computer? Then come back and tell me so my head will quit spinning around.
I'm with you... Geek Speak is beyond my ken.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read this snippet in his article Helen, I realise it must be code! LOL
ReplyDelete~~~
Because I’m privy to some sensitive national security and counterterrorism details outside of the media realm, I self-censor much of what I write.
~~~
Sorry, cannot crack that one for you. ;0
I can't help you. I married a techie but even this seems like a different language to him.
ReplyDeleteThis generally makes sense to me. What can I do to help?
ReplyDeleteDo you have work ready to upload, or do you just want to know the process?
Too difficult for me too, at least at the moment. I may work it out one day.
ReplyDeleteReally Angelic
Barb, I don't have anything ready to upload, just doing research. You and Enid seem to be the tech-savvy folks so far. Learning code is to me learning another language. The amount of code I understand is teeny.
ReplyDeleteUnless you're interested in computer science and technical stuff, you probably don't want to dig into this.
ReplyDeleteAn iPhone developer account is something you need to write and share programs for iPhone, so-called apps, everything from games to calenders.
The rest of this article is full of computer abracadabra, about standards and protocols (the recipes computers needs to talk to each other). For instance, UTF-8 is computer standard for representing characters (one by one), a more well known equivalent is ASCII.
I think all this computer science stuff is boring, and it's changing all the time, as technology develops. Knowledge from a few years back is useless today.
That's why I prefer to work with physics and mathematics; it's knowledge that lasts forever, just like good literature >:)
Cold As Heaven
I think part of what you're struggling with is the word choice. I doubt the process is all that hard, its just that he's chosen to describe it with the type of language he feels most comfortable with, but 95% of the world doesn't quite get. I would look for a more plain-English guide and work through it one step at a time. There's no way you need to know what UTF-8 is in order to upload a file to iTunes.
ReplyDeleteIf it makes you feel any better, I feel the same way when I hear someone use religious language. A woman I know from blogs put on her profile that she was "a handmaiden of Christ". I mean, I'm happy for her, I guess, but I have no clue what she really means.
Cold As Heaven, I only want to know enough computer-speak to get by. That leaves me frustrated when the computer glitches. I just hope when I get to the point I want to put a book on the iPad, there's easier instructions somewhere.
ReplyDeleteIndia, it is interesting, isn't it, the way different people specialize in different areas.
I agree, Helen. A computer is a useful tool, but not that much interesting itself.
ReplyDeleteI'm a handmaiden of Satan >:)))
Cold As Heaven
I think I saw an iPhone once. And I bought an mp3 player for my husband for Christmas, after he told me what it was.
ReplyDeleteHeck, I was the one with questions when you showed us how to sign with our names and blogs! hat does that tell you?
ReplyDeleteHappy are those who get paid to do the things I can't.
Maribeth
Giggles and Guns
A handmaiden, huh? That explains a lot, Cold As Heaven.
ReplyDeleteKathy, I suspected there was someone out there who was less tech-savvy than I.
Yep, that'll be me, Maribeth ...shelling out money to a 15 year old to put my book on e-form.
Yup, I'm quite sure an entire industry will develop to support us in our quest for self-publication. You know, a Geek Squad for writers...
ReplyDeleteSorry, I can't help you. Blogging is as tech-savvy as I get.
ReplyDeleteSurely someone will come out with software to guide authors through the process, sort of WYSIWYG for non-techies. That may even already be out there.
ReplyDeleteLOL, Helen. When I encounter an article like that I send it to my techie kids and ask for a translation.
ReplyDeleteAnd because I am clueless when it comes to that kind of coding, etc, I used Smashwords for my suspense novel, One Small Victory.
Maryann, I hereby invite you to guest here on SFH and tell us about Smashwords! I often smash words, but I'm guessing that's not what you do.
ReplyDeleteYou probably have your answer, but he does make it harder than it needs to be.
ReplyDeleteAnd that's okay, Helen - not everyone can be a geek!
I think the problem for me is when I need to connect one device with another. That always drives me nuts because I never seem to have the right software...
ReplyDeleteHelen, skip all that! Smashwords. Format properly, make it into their national catelog and select Apple's store, and presto - you're in! Oh, and you're in B&N, Amazon, etc., as well.
ReplyDeleteThere's a one site does it all? Wow. Thanks, Diane!
ReplyDeleteAlex, I feel like I need to join a support group: Hi, my name is Helen. I am not a Geek.
Sorry I can't be of any help - my head is spinning just from your excerpts!
ReplyDeleteIsn't it mind boggling, Jane!
ReplyDeleteYikes - I gotta say I skimmed over your snippets. Don't have a clue!
ReplyDeleteBoy do I identify with you! When they start talking techno talk my eyes glaze over. I'm still trying to find my way around the blogosphere. Thanks for letting me know I'm not alone! ;)
ReplyDeleteAs a teacher I've always thought the secret to being an effective instructor was to explain things in terms everyone could understand. This explanation doesn't quite fit my explanation and I bet it can be made much simpler.
ReplyDeleteI'm lost just reading your explanation, wow.
ReplyDeleteMason
Thoughts in Progress
Somewhere out there in the code-o-sphere, there is someone who totally understands what was said. Let's find that person and get him/her to talk English to us.
ReplyDeleteI spent a week on Costa Rica with very limited Spanish and got along better than when I stopped at a local computer shop for some help...
ReplyDeleteNice post, Helen. I totally related.
Sounds complicated!
ReplyDelete