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Ebook bootcamp
- 1. Ebook Boot Camp TomMcCluskey, Digital Bindery @TomMcCluskey tom@digitalbindery.com
- 2. About Tom McCluskey •Co-founder of Portland-based Digital Bindery • Founder of the Ooligan Press Digital Content Department • General purpose tech geek
- 3. 1. What is an ebook? 2. How are ebooks used? 3. How safe are ebooks? 4. What books make the best ebooks? 5. Distribution 6. Sales and Marketing of ebooks 7. The ebook conversion process
- 4. What is anebook? The basics: • Self-contained package that includes all the content for a book—text, images, metadata, and more! • Similar to a mini-webpage • Allows readers to control the reading experience (typeface, font size, etc.) • Reflowable text
- 5. Ebook formats Two mainebook formats make up the bulk of the ebook market: • Epub: open standard developed by the IDPF • Mobi: Bought by Amazon in 2005, and is the basis for the .azw Kindle format
- 6. Epub format Epub 2.0.1 •Open, non-proprietary ebook format • Read by the largest number of devices • Fairly basic Epub 3.0 • New version, as of October 2011 • Lots of bells & whistles • Fixed layout is a sub-format – Intended for graphically complex layouts
- 7. • mobi/azw isAmazon’s format for the older Kindle devices • Newer devices like the Kindle Fire support KF8, which has more bells and whistles • KF8 can be used to create fixed layout files for the Kindle Fire
- 8. Reading Systems These arethe software that interprets the ebook format for the device you’re reading the ebook on. • Adobe Digital Editions (ADE) • iBooks • Readium • Azardi
- 9. Devices • Four mainkinds of devices: 1. Eink screens 2. Tablets 3. Smartphones 4. Computers
- 10. Eink devices • At this point, greyscale only • Slow page refresh rate • Very low power consumption • Not backlit • Many use ADE
- 11. Tablet computers • Finercontrol of layout (eg fixed layout) is supported • Vibrant full color • Full video and audio is possible • More varied reading systems available, especially if apps are supported
- 12. Smartphones • Very variedreading systems • Audio and video content available • Serious screen size limitations make fixed layout books less viable • A recent Mintel survey shows 22% of respondents read on their cell phones
- 13. Computers • Wide varietyof reading systems • Full audio/video capability • The Taleist survey showed the PC to be the second most common ebook reading device
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- 15. What is metadata? •Information about your content: – Title – Author name – Copyright date – Language – Most recent modification time – ISBN
- 16. How is metadataused? • Reading systems can use it to organize your library (eg, sort by author/title) • Retailers use it to make sure that they’re selling the correct book
- 17. Ebooks and piracy •Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology makes it harder for people to copy ebooks • Most major retailers will by default use DRM on your books • Privately licensing DRM on your own is extraordinarily expensive
- 18. How are ebooksused?
- 20. Ebooks are usedby •All ages •All income levels •All genres
- 21. Getting books ontothe device • Purchase through the associated bookstore
- 22. Getting books ontothe device • Side load the content – iPad/iPhone • Plug the iPad into the computer • Open iTunes • Drag the book into the Books library • If you do not have a Books library download a newer version of iTunes. • Sync the iPad • The book will appear in the iBooks library
- 23. Getting books ontothe device • Side load the content – Kindle for iPad • Plug the iPad into the computer • Open iTunes • Select your device • Choose Apps from the top nav bar • Scroll down and select the Kindle App • Drag books into Kindle Documents • Sync the device • These books will appear in the Kindle for iPad app
- 24. Getting books ontothe device • Side load the content – Kindle/Nook/Smartphone • Plug the device into the computer • The device will appear as an external drive • Open the device to view the files • Drag the book into the correct folder – Kindle/Kindle Touch/Kindle Fire: Documents – Nook: My Documents – Nook color: My Files > Books – Smartphones are variable. Look for eBooks or Digital Editions. • No syncing is necessary • Eject the device
- 25. Getting books ontothe device • Side load the content – Sony Reader • Remove the SD card from the reader • Plug the SD card into your computer – Note: if your computer does not have an SD card reader, USB SD card readers are an inexpensive solution • Open the SD card folder to view the files • Drag the book into the folder • Eject the SD card • Reinsert it into the reader
- 26. Other ways toread ebooks • EPUB – Adobe Digital Editions (Adobe) – Nook for PC/Mac (Barnes & Noble) – Reader for PC/Mac (Sony) – Readium (Google Chrome Plugin) – Azardi (Infogrid Pacific) • MOBI (Kindle format) – Kindle for PC/Mac/Kindle Previewer (Amazon) – Calibre (calibre-ebook.com)
- 27. Why not usePDFs? 1. Reflowability
- 28. What can authorsdo to make things more accessible for those with print disabilities? • Provide alternate text for all images • Do not rely on color to communicate information • Avoid blocks of text that are difficult to read (italics, underlining, bold, all-caps)
- 29. Readability Fourscore and sevenyears Fourscore and seven years Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought ago our fathers brought ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a forth on this continent a forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in new nation, conceived in new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the liberty and dedicated to the liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are proposition that all men are proposition that all men are created equal. created equal. created equal. Fourscore and seven Fourscore and seven years FOURSCORE AND SEVEN years ago our fathers ago our fathers brought YEARS AGO OUR FATHERS forth on this continent a BROUGHT FORTH ON THIS brought forth on this new nation, conceived in CONTINENT A NEW continent a new liberty and dedicated to the NATION, CONCEIVED IN nation, conceived in proposition that all men LIBERTY AND DEDICATED TO liberty and dedicated to are created equal. THE PROPOSITION THAT ALL the proposition that all MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL. men are created equal.
- 30. Does DRM work? •By all reports, ebook DRM is trivial to break • Inconveniences paying customers • Not proven to have an effect on piracy • Keeps people from sharing favorite authors with friends • Studies on music and game piracy have shown pirates to also be the top buying demographic • “The problem for authors is not piracy; it’s obscurity”
- 31. Watermarking • Most famouslyused by Pottermore for the Harry Potter ebooks • Embeds a code in the ebook identifying the buyer of the book • Also called “social DRM” because it only uses social pressure to enforce copyright • The IDPF is considering writing official specifications for watermarking epubs
- 32. Copyright issues • Anythingyou write is copyrighted as soon as you write it—don’t bother mailing it to yourself • Copyright lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years • Registering your copyright can entitle you to statutory damages, and also serves to enter your copyright into the public record
- 33. Copyright alternatives (“Copyleft”) •Licenses to your work that allow for freer use of your creation • Creative Commons is the most widely known • Various kinds of licenses depending on what you want to allow • Creative Commons licenses have been treated by the courts as valid licenses
- 34. What books makegood ebooks?
- 35. Are there booksthat don’t really work as ebooks? • Large format books – Atlases and Star charts – Giant coffee table books • Typographically complex books • Workbooks • Design limitations – Artisan Checklist
- 36. Distribution Getting your ebookonto the market
- 37. Distribution Pricing Models Most Favored Agency Wholesale Nation Status
- 38. Distribution Traditional Distribution: Wholesale Model Publisher Submits the electronic file and all the metadata to the Markets the book distributor Distributor Stores the file, delivers metadata and files to the Pays the publisher a royalty of 50-60% (on average) of retailer recommended retail price (RRP) per download Retailer Sells the book at whatever price they want Pays the distributor 60-75% of the RRP per download There are a few online retailers (most notably the Sony Reader store) that require this traditional model.
- 39. Distribution Distributing directly to retailers 35% Royalties Kindle Direct Publishing 70% Amazon Royalties KDP Select 65% Royalties B&N B&N Pubit!* 40% Royalties iTunes 70% DIY Apple Connect Royalties 45% Royalties Google Google Play 52% Royalties Kobo Writing Kobo Life Other Smashwords
- 40. ISBNs • International StandardBook Number • 13-digit number unique for each book sold • In the US, they are sold by R.R. Bowker • $125 for one, heavy discounts for bulk purchases (10 for $250, 1000 for $1000) • Bowker says: one for each format sold • Some retailers will sell without an ISBN and use their own number to track sales
- 41. BISAC Codes • BookIndustry Standards And Communications Code • Created and maintained by Book Industry Study Group (BISG) • Some retailers will not accept a title without at least one BISAC code—some accept several • Codes can be generic (cooking) or very specific (Cooking / Methods / Baking) • The codes look like this: CKB004000 COOKING / Methods / Baking FIC022060 FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Historical • They can be found online (google bisac codes)
- 42. Sales and Marketing •Ebook retailers and distributors are not marketers—if you’re self publishing, marketing your book will be your responsibility • An online presence will help you market your books successfully. Don’t leave this for the last minute, as it takes time to build! • According to the recent Taleist survey, email campaigns and newsletters are the biggest contributor of sales • Established publishers like authors with an online following, too!
- 43. How do Iset a price for my ebook? • Royalty issues $0.00 $0.99 $2.99 $9.99 $14.99 $199.99 $200.00 Amazon X* 35% 70% 70% 35% 35% 35% Apple 70% 70% 70% 70% X X B&N Pubit X 40% 65% 65% 40% 40% X Google 52% 52% 52% 52% 52% 52% *Available as a temporary promotional tool for KDP select members.
- 44. How do Iset a price for my ebook? • Marketing issues – Comparable titles • Author/Publisher type/reputation • Genre • Size • Target audience – Use price adjustments to attract audience • JA Konrath The List Experiment
- 45. Can I sellan ebook from my own website? • Yes! • Pros: you will receive 100% of the sale price • Cons: discoverability— without a bookstore you’ll be unable to grab those casual browsers
- 46. The ebook conversionprocess There are two extremes for ebook conversion: • Automatic: Your ebook is converted from its initial format to epub or mobi by a series of scripts or a program (meatgrinder) • Manual: The conversion is done by hand, with a human personally making all the changes and writing every bit of code
- 47. The Digital Binderyapproach • We have the knowledge and experience to do any conversion completely manually • We have tools that speed up the task, allowing us to work smarter, not harder • Our tools are one-step-at-a-time, not meatgrinders, so there is constant designer input • Multiple rounds of both internal and client proofing ensures that the end product is exactly what the client wants.
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- 49. Proofing an ebook •Proofing is the final stage of production—at this point, all the editing and design work is done. • Proofing is to ensure that there were no problems in conversion. • In addition to textual and formatting errors, we look for problems in various reading systems and display types • Make sure to proof on the devices you want to target!
- 50. What to lookfor • Text changes: these are most likely to appear where formatting has changed, but can be anywhere. – Special characters, like é or ß, should definitely be double checked • Formatting changes: Ensure that the layout of the text is easy to read, and talk to your converter about any changes from the print version that you don’t understand.
- 51. What else tolook for • If you have tables or sidebars in your book, ensure that they work well in a variety of orientations and font sizes • Ensure that italics, bold, different typefaces, and so on are properly applied • Make sure that punctuation stays with the words it’s supposed to
- 52. Converting images forebooks • Many readers use eInk screens, so images that look good in grayscale are very important. • Ensure that references to important colors are clarified for grayscale devices (“red bar” on a chart, for example) • Images containing text are not advised • Covers may have to be modified, as they should be recognizable as thumbnails
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- 58. Limits of technology& devices
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- 60. We read differentlyin print and on screen—or do we?
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- 62. Page Layout: PageSpread Print Digital Two-page spread Single-page layout Fixed length and Ereader Dependent Standard eInk: 600 800 width iBooks: 600 860 Kindle Fire/Nook Color: 600 1024
- 63. Practical Advice Getting anidea of how it will look File > Document Setup
- 64. Practical Advice Chapter Breaks In EPUBs, each chapter or equivalent section should be its own XHTML file Choose one paragraph style to indicate where these breaks will occur This will force all chapters to be their own file and start each chapter on a new page
- 65. Page Layout: Margins Print Digital Fixed margins The Great Margin Traditional page Controversy proportions
- 66. Practical Advice AddingMargins to EPUB export If you decide to use margins: • Keep them smallish • Use explicit measurements (Pixels)
- 67. Page Layout: Columns & Grids Print Digital Multi-column layout Consider Screen size for wide formats For full control over Economize space multi-column Dynamic layout layout, consider Fixed Layout
- 68. Practical Advice Target large devices
- 69. Practical Advice Re-Imagineering
- 70. Practical Advice Use an existing stylesheet •CSS exported for the pullquote from InDesign is empty: •div.pullquote { •}
- 71. Practical Advice Use an existing stylesheet
- 72. Page Layout: Tables Print Digital Format information Three solutions. in an easily visible way 1. Keep the data as a table Control placement 2. Create an image Flow with text from the table Fixed on page 3. Re-Imagineering!
- 73. Practical Advice Keep it as a table Adobe Digital Editions: Sigil:
- 74. Practical Advice Create an image Object menu > Object Export Options Adobe Digital Editions:
- 75. Practical Advice Re-Imagineer! Average Elevation: Less than 100 Percent of total area: 10 Area in square miles: 300 Depth: 400 Percent of a mile (depth): 7.5 Cubic miles: 22.50 Average Elevation: 100-200 Percent of total area: 25 Area in square miles: 750 Depth: 300 Percent of a mile (depth): 5.7 Cubic miles: 56.25
- 76. Typefaces and Settings: Onscreen Reading Issues Digitally native typefaces Typefaces designed for screen use Georgia, Verdana Some old favorites don't work on screen Garamond icky on screen, but lovely in print.
- 77. Typefaces and Settings: Licensing Issues Print Digital Embedding fonts with InDesign can Font files don't live 1. invalidate the epub with book 2. Embedded fonts are not widely usable (Fixed Layout is the exception) 3. License must allow embedding or distribution 4. Some fonts require the license to be in the epub file (which may cause the file to be invalid—make it an XHTML file instead)
- 78. Practical Advice Embedding Fonts 1. Embeds the font 1. Font folder in the OEBPS directory 2. Encrypts the font 1. In the META-INF folder 3. Adds @font-face to the CSS
- 79. Typefaces and Settings: Typeface Availability Print Digital Text needs Device-specific Production methods availability Designer's choice Do not rely on fonts Wide range of to deliver OpenType faces information available
- 80. Practical Advice Use font-stacks and generic font-families Font-stacks: p.body { font-family: Helvetica, “Helvetica Neue”, Arial, sans-serif; } H1 { font-family: Times, “Times New Roman”, Georgia, serif; } p.codeSection { font-family: courier, “Courier New”, “Lucida Console”, monospace; } Generic Font-Families: serif, sans-serif, monospace, cursive, fantasy
- 81. Typefaces and Settings: Size and Leading Print Digital Fixed size and leading Font-size: settings Use relative sizing for the best accessibility 10/12, 11/14 1.00em = 16px (usually) Based on one design Use the proper tag for when the ereader completely ignores your iteration css Leading Line-height Margins
- 82. Practical Advice Understanding vertical space Padding Border Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nunc eleifend gravida adipiscing. Sed sit amet augue id nunc pulvinar scelerisque id quis felis. Margin Vivamus quis felis eu tellus interdum ultricies. In mattis felis lacus. Nullam } adipiscing ultricies lacinia. Curabitur imperdiet varius mauris, id bibendum quam convallis eget. line-height Nullam ac nunc ut quam posuere posuere in nec nulla. Nunc mattis dolor quis neque molestie mollis. Sed at tortor sapien, eu aliquet eros.
- 83. Practical Advice Understanding vertical space Padding Border Margin } line-height
- 84. Practical Advice Exporting from InDesign • Margins will be set by paragraph style • Leading will become line-height Space Before: Top Margin • No borders Space After: Bottom Margin • No padding Right Indent: Right Margin Left Indent: Left Margin Margin } line-height
- 85. Typefaces and Settings: Hyphenation and Line Breaks Print Digital Sophisticated Bad-ish hyphenation hyphenation dictionaries dictionaries No control of widow Easy control of and orphans widow and orphans Soft what now? Soft returns
- 86. Practical Advice Remove Extras Remove • soft returns • discretionary hyphens • double spaces • double paragraph returns • thin/hair/quarter/etc spaces Why? They will be ignored or show up as ugly little boxes. FindChangeByList Modify the FindChangeList.txt file to add things you end up doing often Anne Marie Concepcion’s FindChangeByList-epub script http://www.epubsecrets.com/downloads/AMsFindChangeForEPUB.zip
- 87. Typefaces and Settings: Justification Print Digital Saves space Space shmace Traditional alignment Looks sub-optimal at Comfortable reading larger font sizes Solid text block Causes eye strain, frustration and a severe case of the uglies
- 89. Color Print Digital CMYK RGB Pantone Matching I see your Pantone and System raise you a #700b2a;
- 92. Images Print Digital High-res (300dpi) Getting higher Orientation of iPad 3 is 264ppi images determines iPhone 4 is 326 ppi page layout Text wrap
- 93. Practical Advice Image Settings Object Menu > Object Export Options
- 94. Practical Advice Alt Text Bridge: Object Menu > Object Export Options
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- 96. Creating iBooks • Canonly be created using iBooks Author • Can only be viewed on the iPad (not iPhone, etc.) • Any .ibook files created with iBooks Author can only be sold through Apple
- 99. • Add pages/section/chapter • List of pages with thumbnails • Styles button (blue) • View and Orientation buttons
- 101. • Thumbnails/Outline is either/or • Glossary toolbar is a new toolbar for glossary terms • Styles drawer is next! • Layout boundaries, rulers, & invisibles are like InDesign
- 103. • Similar toMaster Pages in InDesign • Allow you to set a default layout for a chapter or section
- 104. 10 tabs forInspector: • Document • Layout • Wrap • Text • Graphic • Metrics • Table • Chart • Link • Widget
- 106. Thanks! Questions? tom@digitalbindery.com @TomMcCluskey www.DigitalBindery.com
Editor's Notes
- #35 Just about anything can be reimagined to be a really great ebook. The better question might be, what books DON’T make good ebooks.
- #41 ISBN International Standard Book NumberBuy from BowkerRetailer numbers issue: can’t tell if the book is the same product (sales numbers)
- #42 For over 30 years, BISG has provided a forum for all industry professionals to come together and efficiently address issues and concerns to advance the book community. The members of BISG has established a list Subject Codes used as industry standards. These codes are used in ONIX files that are exported to accounts. Many accounts won't load a book into their system unless a BISAC is assigned.
- #64 To get a hang of how your book is going to look on an ereader in InDesign, you can adjust page size to approximate an ereader screen and change to a single page spread. More importantly though, you’re going to need to let go of the idea that you’ll be able to know or control exactly how it will look. Absolute control of the layout requires fixed layout. Unfortunately, InDesign does not support exporting to Fixed Layout at this time.
- #67 TechKeep them smallish.Accessibility emsvs explicit measurements (px)
- #69 It may be that you know your readers very well and that they are never reading your books on phones or small screens. If that’s the case, we can make sophisticated layouts look pretty good. The left is the InDesign file, the right is an EPUB in Adobe Digital Editions.
- #70 When floated divs run off the screen they go away…let’s say they go to a farm where they can run and play and never have to feel pain again. Consider ‘re-imagineering’ floated items so they will not disappear and still be readable for everyone.
- #71 If you decide to go with this solution, there is one problem. When trying to go directly from InDesign to EPUB, InDesign loses all of the styling for the gray text box. The text boxes become full width and show up wherever the text box is anchored. The div is given the name of the object style, but in the CSS the div styles are empty. An easy fix is to use an existing style sheet when you export.
- #72 During the EPUB export, you can choose an existing CSS file. This will be super helpful if you’re producing a book from a series. This is a very good argument for having a strong naming convention culture.
- #74 When checking how your table exported in EPUB, ADE probably isn’t the greatest example of how it looks. Here is what happens without cracking open the code at all.
- #76 You don’t lose any information, all of the content remains searchable and accessible. With good organization the loss of the table structure can be minimized.The author or editorial team can be called in to help with this process.