Tag Archives: epub

Guest post: The future of ebooks by Michael W. Perry at inklingbooks.com

Skilled Workman Posted on by

Michael’s comments are worth reading I didn’t ask his permission this time, but this is an excellent comment by Michael in reply to my posting about the probable need to go back to using Amazon’s Kindle Export plug-in in InDesign CS6. Michael’s comments are again right on target as far as I can tell. My only hope is that someone at Amazon reads them. Many thanks for such a detailed explanation. My main take-way is that Amazon … Continue reading →

Guest Post: Amazon has put itself in trouble proprietarily

Skilled Workman Posted on by

This posting is a slight expansion of a comment made by Michael Perry of Inkling Books on my “Designing ePUBs With InDesign” New Release posting this morning Michael has been a long-time friend of The Skilled Workman, and his comments have made this a much better blog. He is much closer to a traditional publisher than I. His opinions are worth analyzing and I agree entirely. As you can see in his comment, Amazon is not interested in … Continue reading →

New release: Designing ePUBs With InDesign by David Bergsland

Skilled Workman Posted on by

Ebooks have been a mess until now. Actually, they still are in many ways. However, InDesign CC 2014 has truly solved most of the problems. It always did export the best PDFs. Now it exports very good ePUB FXL (fixed layout), reflowable ePUBs, and because Kindle will upload the reflowables converting easily, the Kindle problem is solved also. Wonderful that all our problems are solved, right? Well, you know better than that. Each format requires a redesign … 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 Reflowable ePUBs are even better

Skilled Workman Posted on by

Although the large changes in ePUB export are seen in the fixed layout variety, what they now call reflowable ePUBs are also improved. They have their own dialog box and they are a separate choice when you export. You now add the metadata in the export reflowable ePUB dialog box. This saves time and hassle. Our control over placed graphics is much better, as long as you stay within the rules. Inline graphics are all rasterized or … 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 →

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 →

New Release: Writing In InDesign CC Producing Books

Skilled Workman Posted on by

Released, January 15, 2014 for InDesign CC9.2 By now many of the sites have listed the book. As usual, we are still waiting for iBooks approval. But it’s up at Amazon in print and Kindle. Kobo has it listed. The rest are all in process. The best option for ebooks is the link below where you can get an archive with a downlaodable PDF plus a DRM-free ePUB with fonts embedded. This will enable you to load … Continue reading →

Why does list quality matter in your ePUB?

Skilled Workman Posted on by

Yea, I know, here goes David off on another of his “professional quality” rants again…. But this one’s important! Lists are #3 in reading importance The studies I’ve seen [and please prove me wrong if you know better] show that, after picture captions and headlines, lists are third in reader importance. Many readers look for lists as they start skimming when they get bored. They assume that a list will give them a synopsis and let them … Continue reading →

Walmart looking to best Amazon, with B&N?

Skilled Workman Posted on by

Maybe you saw my unfounded rumor posting the other day. I simply seemed to me that Wal-Mart could do well to buy B&N and Smashwords. Since then I have seen two other mentions of the possibility of buying B&N. The most recent one was this morning from DBW. In a post entitled “Amazon: A Cheetah Hunting Gazelles (Publishers)” we read this Real Competition From Barnes & Noble?  Industry consultant Joseph Esposito has also been studying Amazon and … Continue reading →