Category Archives: News

Kindle books still require InDesign CS6 and the Amazon plug-in

Skilled Workman Posted on by

I sent my new book (see the cover to the left) to Kindle KDP. I exported it as ePUB2 with embedded fonts and so on. I converted it with Kindle Previewer.My first reader complained that all the graphics were destroyed. (A graphic 600 px wide by 35 px tall was displaying 600 px wide by 500 px tall.) Plus, the embedded fonts were gone. Plus, nested styles were gone. The custom dingbat bullets were gone from the lists. … Continue reading →

New Release: Writing In InDesign CC 2014 Producing Books, more than an update

Skilled Workman Posted on by

CC 2014 virtually redid ePUB export—adding fixed layout & radically improving reflowable ePUBs Indesign has always been the best software for publishing: print & ebook. I have already posted quite a bit about the new software. Most of the improvements seemed to be focused on we self-publishers. But my book is also redone— in places quite radically. A review by Mary Campagna Findley for the CS6 version “David Bergland has challenged me to think beyond the writing, editing, and cover design … Continue reading →

InDesign CC 2014 offers excellent fixed layout ePUBs

Skilled Workman Posted on by

This is probably the big news for InDesign CC 2014. Although there have been many improvements to Reflowable ePUBs, they are incremental. The ePUB FXL has the possibility of being almost revolutionary. So, how big is this change? It is very hard to show the differences because the layouts are so different. But, let’s look at two examples where I did the best I could to get the same content side by side. In this small-sized screen … Continue reading →

Why InDesign is even less optional than it was

Skilled Workman Posted on by

Click to enlarge As you know, I am convinced that you are hurting your chances with your book if you do not use InDesign in the production process. This is even more true now that InDesign CC 2014 has added the direct export of fixed layout ePUBs. Plus, no one exports the quality of PDF produced by InDesign for print and downloadable PDFs. InDesign now has five ebook export options Actually, with all the options, there are even … Continue reading →

Why Mark Coker’s wrong about the iBooks Store

Skilled Workman Posted on by

Mark wrote another strong article calling iOS8 a game-changer because iBooks will now be installed as part of the basic operating system. I doubt it—for a very simple reason. The iBooks Store is a lousy interface Let me just give you one example. My preferred genre is Christian epic fantasy. It’s not listed in iBooks genre so I try to search for books tagged like this. I get a list of heathen authors whose name is Christian [like … Continue reading →

Font Design Webinar, tomorrow June 10 Noon Eastern

Skilled Workman Posted on by

I’ll be sharing tips and techniques on letterspacing. This important task is relatively easy in FontLab and I’ll show you how. Here’s FontLab’s invite: Advanced Font Creation Tips, Made Accessible David Bergsland’s first webinar on troubleshooting font creation got a standing ovation from the attendees! David’s no-nonsense designer-friendly approach is accessible to all. Now he is following it up with “Advanced Font Creation” in FontLab Studio Tuesday June 10 at 9:00 am Pacific / noon Eastern / 18:00 CEST. Register … Continue reading →

The digital wave continues…

Skilled Workman Posted on by

A quote from Publishing Executive magazine: Entertainment & Media Outlook Highlights Underlying Trends of Digital Shift June 4, 2014 By Denis Wilson BooksConsumer books electronic revenue will reach US$8.7 billion in 2018, up from US$4.5 billion in 2013, a CAGR of 14 percent. Digital revenue will overtake consumer books print/audio revenue in 2018 with growth in tablets encouraging digital consumption of books. No surprises. But the trend appears to be accelerating. Advertising is shifting largely to mobile. It’s … Continue reading →

The state of publishing is becoming a bit more predictable

Skilled Workman Posted on by

        Shatzin has an excellent post today. He still sees the development of larger and larger publishers resulting in a global dominance of someone. Online book sales are inevitably going to increase their percentage. There will be a larger separation between books of text and books with graphics. Much more: you should read the article.  

Continue reading →

Practical Font Design video course is up on Udemy

Skilled Workman Posted on by

I’ve finally gotten my practical font design video course up online and available for you. This is just practical stuff without any fancy theory or stuffy rules. This is just basic procedures to make a font with minimal effort. I let you watch as I design several fonts. I provide sample fonts. My goal is to help you get some fonts produced so that you can make your own designs with confidence. You’ll find many of my opinions, but … Continue reading →

Where have I been? Learning video production

Skilled Workman Posted on by

 This is what we expect in the next week I’m sorry I haven’t been around for awhile. I’m producing a Practical Font Design video coourse for Udemy. First issue, the old computer couldn’t handle it. New computer. get everything set up. Oh hi! Haven’t seen you in a while. The course should be up next week. I’ll be back.

Continue reading →