This talk will answer the question: "How does my company build ebooks that will still work in two years, or five, or ten?" Taking a pragmatic approach based on real-world examples of ebooks that did not last, with a dash of the theoretical that considers how web archiving work might apply to ebooks, Teresa will cover workflows, common issues that prevent ebooks from being sold, standards compliance, link rot, accessibility, and more. She will also look at how web communities are talking about digital archiving and how this might apply to ebooks. March 19, 2019 ebookcraft.booknetcanada.ca #Ebookcraft

1. Building
Ebooks
That Last

2. senior managing editor at
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
(until recently!)
@teresaelsey | teresa.elsey@gmail.com
Hello!
I am Teresa Elsey
2

3. How do we build
ebooks that last?
3

4. 1.
Why It Matters
wherein we consider the consequences
of not making our ebooks bulletproof
4

5. 5
“a new and necessary
American voice”
“couldn’t download it
to my Kindle”

6. 6

7. 7
Celso Lobo [Own work, CC
BY-SA 4.0]
via Wikimedia Commons:
https://commons.wiki
media.org/w/index.php?
curid=76515157

8. Build bulletproof
ebooks.
8

9. 2.
Why Ebooks
Don’t Last
wherein we discuss the many reasons
HMH ebooks have been removed from
sale or flagged by retailers
9

10. 10

11. 11

12. 12

13. 3.
Workflow Tips
wherein we cover some practical—if
controversial—advice for building
ebooks that last
13

14. Just build the
simplest epub you
can stand.
14

15. Just build the
simplest, semantic,
standards-
compliant epub you
can stand.
15

16. 16

17. 17

18. 18

19. Fixed-layout ebooks do not last
◎Don’t make fixed-layout ebooks.
◎Or, accept that fixed-layout ebooks are
temporary.
◎Or, at least don’t make fixed-layout ebooks
when reflowable will work.
19

20. Ebook design
◎Don’t be cute.
20

21. (No, I don’t. I hate
dropcaps.)
21

22. 22

23. 23
Kindle look-inside
on Firefox ...
... and on
Google Chrome

24. Ebook design
◎Don’t be cute.
◎Don’t be clever.
24

25. 25

26. Ebook design
◎Don’t be cute.
◎Don’t be clever.
◎Actually, just don’t use CSS.
26

27. 27

28. 28

29. 29

30. 30

31. 31

32. 32

33. 33

34. 34

35. Ebook workflow
◎Build every ebook the same way.
◎Edit source files, not outputs.
◎Save high-quality assets.
◎Follow standards.*
35

36. 36

37. 4.
Link Rot,
in Particular
wherein we revisit a perpetual
problem, with (spoiler alert) a
hopeful twist
37

38. 38

39. 39

40. 40
https://blog.archive.org/2017/01/25/
see-something-save-something/

41. 41

42. 42

43. 43

44. 44

45. 45
Or just add
http://web.archive.org/web/

46. 46
Nemo bis [CC BY-SA
3.0]
via Wikimedia
Commons:
https://commons.
wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:2015-06-11_
Internet_Archive_11
.jpg

47. 5.
Digital Archiving
wherein we all begin to wish we’d
followed our hearts to library school
47

48. 48
O. Von Corven [Public domain]
via Wikimedia Commons:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/
wiki/File:Ancientlibraryalex.jpg

49. Publishers should
hire more library
science graduates.
49

50. 50
via Wikimedia Commons:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CA_State_Archives_Boxes.jpg
Are your ebooks
archive-ready?

51. 51

52. website guideline ...
● Follow web standards and accessibility
guidelines.
● Be careful with robots.txt exclusions.
● Use a site map, transparent links, and
contiguous navigation.
● Maintain stable URIs and redirect when
necessary.
● Consider using a Creative Commons
license.
● Use sustainable data formats.
● Embed metadata, especially the
character encoding.
● Use archiving-friendly platform
providers and content management
systems.
... ebook equivalent
● Follow web standards and accessibility
guidelines.
● Be careful with DRM.
● Use a full epub navigation document
that includes all parts of the epub.
● Link to archived versions of web pages
or otherwise combat link rot.
● Consider permanent ownership models
rather than licensing.
● Don’t use proprietary ebook standards.
● Embed metadata, especially ... well,
everything.
● Get your ebooks into archiving-friendly
platforms, libraries, collections, and
content management systems.
52

53. “[E]Book technologies ... are creating
pressures on memory institutions to
handle complex new content, with
multiple technical and legal
complications, at very large
scales, well in advance of any
stabilization of standards for
formats, for workflows, for tools,
or for best practices in contracting
with producers of this content.”
53
https://www.dpconline.org/docs/technology-watch-reports/1230-dpctw14-01/file

54. Other considerations for
digital archives
◎ Data or art?
◎ Necessity of context
◎ Stability of access
◎ Stability of content — “intellectual status” of
ebooks
◎ Technical infrastructure
54

55. 6.
In Conclusion
good ebooks are ebooks that last
55

56. Building ebooks that last
◎ Why it matters
◎ What gets books suppressed
◎ Workflow tips
◎ Link rot
◎ Digital archiving
56

57. How do we make
ebooks that last?
57

58. How do we make
good ebooks?
58

59. Questions?
Teresa Elsey
@teresaelsey
teresa.elsey@gmail.com
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