Category: eBook Creation

The Costs of Creating eBooks

Post author By Michael Rohani
Post date May 3, 2016

What it costs to create an ebook depends on what type of file you are starting with, and what type of result you are seeking. Ebooks can start out as a printed book or be created only as an ebook. Some strategies include converting the file for use only on tablets and other strategies aim for all devices—desktops, tablets and mobile phones. For complex books, such as textbooks, these different approaches require different strategies for how tables, sidebars and other features are preserved and presented. In most cases, the goal is to preserve the graphic features and style elements in the print edition, which may require recreating them in a way that looks similar in the ebook editions.

For many books, especially complex books, file preparation is the main costs—not the stage known as conversion. Conversion is relatively easy and mostly automated when a file is very simple or prepared correctly. However, even after a file is converted to ePub, it is normal that some file editing and preview tests and adjustments are necessary to eliminate export code errors.

Creating Effective eBook Meta Data

Post author By Michael Rohani
Post date April 24, 2016

The ePub, Mobi, and ePDF formats can include embedded meta data (information about the book) for e-readers and search engines. This data is often displayed in the e-reader device allowing readers to know what a book is about before they select it.

ebook meta data — Embedding meta data in your ebook will help readers find your book and understand what it is about.

Meta data categories

The meta data doesn’t happen on its own. It must be put there. Ebook conversion software doesn’t add it. Only a knowledgeable designer or producer of the ebook file will know to enter the information. The data is collected from whatever sources are available—usually the information on the publisher page and the book’s backcover. The main meta data categories are as follows:

eBook Creation ebooks Publishing

How eBooks are Created

Post author By Michael Rohani
Post date April 17, 2016

Most authors today write their books using text editing software. Book designers and publishers import the final edited texts into professional page layout software. The book is then designed and exported as an ebook. This export process has a number of limitations, so the file (which is actually a folder containing many html files) is then unpacked so that the code can be edited by a person skilled in code editing (html and css). Once the digital files are adjusted the book is ready for testing and publication.

man reading ebook — ebooks are often popular with people who travel.

In 2012, Apple introduced iBook2 and the free iBook Author software. This software offered ways to add enhanced features to ebooks without the need to edit the code. This looked very promising for textbook publishers. However, after the new iBooks software was introduced, users noticed and began to complain about the required license agreement that clearly warned users that they could only sell the .ibooks ebooks through Apple.