1 and 2. I never do 3. For really long fics, I still use option 2.

I basically download the mobi file from ao3 on my computer, and then email it directly to my kindle.

That way it's saved on my computer and sometimes I use kindle for PC to read it.

Cool! It sounds like we do things pretty similarly. Do you always download the mobi file onto your laptop first? Or do you sometimes download the mobi file onto your kindle from the kindle browser?

I have the first generation kindle so it's like super super old. It has wifi access but the browser sucks. It's easier to download the .mobi on my computer and email it directly to my kindle email address and when i open the kindle/turn it on... the story is already there waiting for me.

I dont read on a tablet... But if your tablet is an iPad then maybe it has iReader? I have an iPhone and it comes w this app called iReader (but you can download the kindle app and Google's "Play Books" too if you prefer or dont have an iPhone). On AO3 when you click the Download button at the top of the fic, it has options for how to download. I always choose "EPUB" and it downloads it automatically to iReader and that app is amazing because it keeps your place and you can flip through like a book. I like how my phone is small so I can read in bed. Im sure a tablet is great for the same reason.

I basically exclusively read fics that way now. Is also convenient because if Im on the train or in a waiting room or just wherever, I can pull out my phone and read.

Ahh, iReader, interesting! My tablet is a kindle fire, which is cool because you can download a MOBI file direct from AO3, and then it shows up like a book too. :D

I don't use my phone much for fic reading unless I'm stuck somewhere and super bored though. I like my tablet, because it's a smaller screen, but not *too* small, like my phone screen is for long!fic.

...i just read everything in the browser on my iPhone. I read a mix of AO3, tumblr, and LJ, and I use this mode which translates the page to plain text for LJ, IJ, and tumblr often. I like to stick with the browser because then I'm more likely comment/kudos/like if I'm right there. I'm also rarely without network, so it works for me.

Oh man! I can't even imagine reading super long!fic on my phone screen! But then again, if I have the time to read fic, I'm generally at/near my laptop or kindle, so I haven't really had the need for it either.

I just keep scrolling, and I'm used to it by now, I think. I've read books for so long on my phone, and compared to the screen I had on the old Blackberry, this is like three times the size! I figure it's the one device I always have on me, and by using the tabs in Safari on the phone, it makes it easy to track what I've read for the day (versus the tabs I have open on the laptop waiting to be bookmarked).

I admit, I do most of my reading in really awkward moments, too. Like waiting for an appointment, in the five minutes before TKD class, or while walking across campus (those instincts I honed back in junior high and high school when I read books walking between classes).

I read on my phone, does that count? In fact I read about 80% of fics on my phone, when I'm supposed to be sleeping.

I have a ton of mobile data so I never have to worry about reading things and searching for things online so I guess that helps. but I find the smaller screen makes it easier to keep track of where I am at.

Oo, interesting comment about the smaller screen actually making it easier for you to find your place. I never thought of that! Do you just read right in the browser or download?

I often get lost if I'm reading on a full sized pc screen.

I do it in browser :)

If I read short fic I read it in the browser, but otherwise I download the .epub file from ao3 and open it directly into iBooks on my iPad. I don't need to download it onto the computer and email it to myself. PDFs I can also open and save directly to the iPad (iBooks or Dropbox) if I want to (I have tons of PDFs saved, those are mostly literature for my uni courses).

I don't download PDFs of fics unless it's the only format it's available in. I prefer ePub because iBooks allows me to change the font size and background colour etc to make reading easier. PDFs don't give me that. (It's also how I read ebooks most of the time.)

I also have a kindle app for those select occasions that I've got something in a .mobi file only, and a bluefire reader app for protected/certified ebooks (mostly academic literature).

I almost never use my laptop these days for internetting (too big, slow, hot, noisy) - I do everything on the iPad (I'm commenting on this entry from my iPad right now), so that's also why I have an iPad and not a kindle or another ereader. I needed my tablet to be versatile enough that it could a) replace my laptop if need be (I write fic in the googledocs app, for instance) and b) have something light and handy that I could use to save all my uni PDF literature onto (I was tired of having to read PDFs on the laptop sideways; the iPad can lock the screen so I can turn it upside down and have the PDF face me the right way) and bring to class easily so I wouldn't have to print those texts, and read digital comics easily, AND read fanfic easily as well as ebooks (I keep epubs of all my favourite novels so that if I need to look up something I can use the search function in iBooks to find what I need). And because ao3 is so super handy having a download option for epubs, and because all my fandoms are present on ao3, having the tablet is a godsend. :D

Nice! I've been considering getting a legit tablet (I have a kindle fire that I got a few years ago as a gift) but I think I'm too wed to having a laptop. I'm not sure I could realistically write fic on a tablet. Do you use the touchscreen, or use a keyboard? My thing is that I write everything pretty much on my couch, and I feel like having a tablet propped up and a keyboard would be way too many moving parts to arrange on my lap...

But anyway, fic! Your setup definitely seems convenient! Do you save all the fic on iReader? Also, does the iPad/iReader app not have the option to convert the PDF into an EPUB? I can DL and read PDFs on my kindle, but I don't like the formatting, which is why it's nice that I can convert PDF files into MOBI by emailing them. :)

I use the touch screen :) I've considered getting a keyboard, but I don't think I ever will. I use the iPad on the couch, curled up - which is why most of my fic writing has migrated to the tablet, because I can't comfortably curl up with my laptop on the couch. Way too bulky. Back when the laptop was newer it wasn't a problem and I was used to it that way anyway, but the iPad is just a really handy light size that also doesn't burn a hole in my thighs! I also don't have a tv, so I use the tablet to watch Netflix, live tv, blockbuster rented movies, etc. But anyway, back to fic writing - I do the bulk of my writing on the iPad, but all the formatting and editing and proofreading and blah blah I do on the laptop. I'm not writing a lot of fic these days (haven't since last summer really) because of my thesis, so what I really use my laptop for is thesis writing and nothing else. Which I can only concentrate on when I'm seated at a desk in a proper work position :) but with fic I can allow myself to relax more and do it on the iPad on the sofa and then when I get to the serious parts of the writing, I move to the laptop on the desk.

...although, in the weekend I betaed a 47k fic for a friend and I did it on the iPad through the googledocs app, because it has a comment function there as well. I never needed to open the laptop and do it there, I could stay comfortably on my sofa under a blanket with just the tablet in my lap and gdocs open, highlighting text and typing in comments where necessary.

I don't have iReader (never heard of it), I have iBooks, which comes standard with iPads and iPhones and I think iPods (it's been a while since I had an iPod) and it can sync between devices as well through the iCloud. I don't know if it has a converting option as I've never needed it,so never checked - all my uni lit PDFs are scanned book pages or PowerPoint slides from lectures saved in PDF format. Fic in PDF is really rare for me as 99% of what I read these days is on ao3, so I just download the ePub and don't bother with PDFs. The good thing about those epubs is also that there's a link at the end of them to the fic on ao3, so it's really easy to leave a comment. Just click the link and it takes you right there. :)

I actually recently cleaned out all my saved fic from the iPad because I couldn't anymore tell what I'd already read and what I hadn't, and some was fic I was never going to reread and some was fic I was never going to read (downloaded on there years ago, left unread). So right now I have no fic on here, just uni stuff and some novels in ePub form. Fic reading isn't something I've done a lot lately either! so a cleanup was due, so that when I dive back into fic reading, I have a clean slate.

Eta: what fic writing on the iPad through gdocs looks like:


Edited 2016-04-28 09:50 am (UTC)

It is very important to me that I maximize my fic reading experience. ;)

LOL! I know! And, you probably won't be surprise to know, I have a method. :D

First off, I save pretty much everything. Anything longer than a ficlet (say, 800 words?) I try to save. Granted, when it's part of a series (like Dig, Jae, Ali, etc. do), I don't and just either I 1. wait until it's completed and then download it or 2. if it's an on-going thing I don't save but keep track.

I read all the time though. If I have a spare moment, I read on my phone. If it's a shorter piece (say, 1-5K that I'm going to finish while I'm commuting, or in a waiting room etc.) I download it to remind myself to save it to my computer (AND TO COMMENT!). Which I do regularly. This is mainly the reason why I download 99% of what I read in my phone or ipad (my e-reader).

Once I'm home, I save those in word docs and make my comment, then remove them from my phone/ipad to have more space for, yes, more stuff. ^^

I read a lot in my computer. It's my favourite way because like this I can write my comment as soon as I finish reading, save it, etc. But lately I've been reading a lot in my ipad (especially long fics, it's the main way I've been reading long!fic). I download a fic in epub (I really like this option because I can control the size of the font, the font, colours, etc) and read in bed rather than in the computer. I usually make notes in a note as I go along for my comment, these "notes" are usually quotes from the fic I want to mention in my comment.

If it's a long fic that I don't plan to read right away, it gets stored in my ipad, say, because I'm "saving it" for a trip. But I'm always careful to remove fics I've already read from my ipad so I know which stories are new (to me) vs. having a lot of fics there not knowing what I read already.

All this reading is in epub.

Now, I have PDF files with fics I don't part myself with. :D Like, fics that are my comfort reads, my favourite reads, stuff that I'm always and forever re-reading, those are in PDF, and because it's a different format they are stored in a different place.

That way I don't get fics all over the place, you see? :)

Now, I don't know if that makes sense. Lol

That totally makes sense! LOL, I love that you have a system. :D

Like you, I'm super on top of keeping copies of fics, though I just do it with fics I rec. But yeah, if I've recced a fic and it's on AO3, I download a PDF of it and store it on my onedrive. If it's not on AO3, I copy it into a word doc on my google drive. :)

I do like my eReader for longer fic, but my preferred method is also still my browser. Mostly because I find it much easier to comment, write posts, write fic, etc from my laptop, and I tend to bounce around and do a lot of stuff at once. :D

I do it pretty much like Nerak_Rose: f I read short fic I read it in the browser, but otherwise I download the .epub file from ao3 and open it directly into iBooks on my iPad.
Only I read on my laptop, all the shorter fics. Long fics I download onto my iPad and open it in iBook and read it there.

Makes sense! eReaders really are wonderful when it comes to long fic. :D

Everything I download from AO3 I choose the 'Open in Overdrive' option and read it on the Overdrive app.

I don't really get fics from anywhere else...

Oo, interesting! I've never downloaded anything to read in the overdrive app...I might have to try that out!

I save everything as a .doc file and then email it to my Kindle. I don't like how PDF's show up on my Kindle. That way I have the file on my computer if someone wants a copy of an old fic that's no longer available. I also have a spreadsheet with the name of the fic, author, rating, date posted, summary and a link to the actual fic *if available*.

I don't like how PDFs show up on my kindle either, but if you download a PDF onto your computer, and then email it to your kindle's email with the subject line "CONVERT" it will convert the PDF into a mobi file for you, and then it shows up just like a book. I use that sometimes for longer fic. :D

When you email .doc, do they show up as editable documents on your kindle?

I download the longer fics onto my kindle too. It's a paperwhite so they actually have to be sent to it via e-mail or the pc/laptop. Longer fics start between 5-10 k even though that's not really long. But I like to have them secured (all these orphan accounts make me really sad).

Lately, I've started to read more and more fics on my mobile. It's new (a S5neo) and it's screen is pretty good. That way I can comment asap and don't have to go back to it later (except to download them on the ereader). And as I tend to browse authors' and other readers' bookmarks it's perfect to not have to switch between devices. But that's one of the reasons I'm so MIA from LJ because I hate the mobile app and the online version isn't very comfortable to use on the phone.

I follow a lot of ongoing fics on my ao3 marked for later list and browse it regularly to clear it of the things I downloaded or check on the authors' progress. That way I don't loose count of things. Sadly, I'm not the most organised person when family chores or work don't force me to be.

Ahh, yeah, that makes sense. It can be super hard to be organized with fic reading, especially when there is so much, and we read in multiple fandoms! :D

I have an eInk reader (Sony T1 because the Kindle wouldn't let me manage categories in bulk), but I think 80% of my reading is on my phone. Moon+Reader app set to black screen/white text, AO3 epub downloads, done!

The other 20% is on my laptop, where I use calibre and plugins to download fic and merge series into anthology epubs. I sync them to my ereader as my standby library, but I also load them into my phone because the one-handed reading anywhere really is super convenient.

(I'f I'm knitting, I use my laptop+browser on AO3 because I can hit the spacebar with my elbow and page down without putting my needles down ;)

I never use PDFs because I find them inflexible about formatting.

Oh yeah, I never actually use PDFs to read themselves, but I've found PSDFs are pretty neutral and there are lots of tablets that convert them, so I keep things in PDF form in case I ever move to a non-kindle device. I think it'll make converting stuff easier. :)

But it sounds like you've got quite the system down! I've used Moon+Reader on my kindle, but I hadn't thought to use it on my phone...Interesting!

this is how they look on my Kindle. The top one is the carousel view - the second one is how it looks to read it - and the last one is the only editing I can do. I use that to highlight something I might want to mention in a comment - if it's a fest fic.

I mostly do the .doc file as that's how I like to read them on my computer and I have a copy in case it "disappears" from fandom. I wish I'd saved all the original World Cup fics and the website that they were posted on no longer hosts them. :(







Edited 2016-04-29 08:45 pm (UTC)

Oh, interesting! I wouldn't have expected .doc files to look like that at all. Definitely convenient then. :D

It works best for me. :D

I read sometimes on my tablet (it's a Galaxy). If I'm somewhere with wifi and the fic is short I'll just read in the browser. If it's long and/or I need to have it for when I don't have wifi, I download the AO3 .pdf file and read that (If the fic is not on AO3 there's an extra couple steps, because then I need to do a "print to pdf" from my computer and then put the .pdf on file on the tablet. The other option is to copy/paste into a Word document and that I can do straight on the tablet but rarely do.)

Edited 2016-04-29 09:06 pm (UTC)

Nice! I've found that PDFs are really wonky on my kindle fire, so I generally end up converting them. DO you convert the PDFs, or do they should up fine on your Galaxy tablet?

They show up fine on my tablet, but I have the adobe reader app (it's a free one) so that may be why. I'm not sure how kindle's capabilities and apps compare.