Tag Archives: nook

What if Walmart bought Nook & Smashwords?

Skilled Workman Posted on by

Yes, this is a totally unfounded rumor just started by me. But what if? Would this give Amazon some competition for Kindle? The iBookstore may be the best quality, but there is no indication that it will ever take off like the iPod did. It goes along with this other unfounded rumor. Why doesn’t Smashwords buy Nook? Other people are obviously having similar thoughts. God forbid that dying Microsoft would do it, or Google. So, what are … Continue reading →

Questions from authors about publishing their book

Skilled Workman Posted on by

I received this email a couple days ago. It is typical of the type of questions I get from every author for whom I either publish their book or produce the digital artwork for their book so they can publish it. The only proviso is that I only publish books for authors I know, for books that I like. I’m a fairly radical Christian, so I expect any books I publish will promote the Gospel, be a … Continue reading →

Cover Design: The seduction of type effects

Skilled Workman Posted on by

Amateur covers are obvious! The number one mistake is made by adding all kinds of fancy trimmings to your type. Not only does it make the type much harder to read, but all trained designers have been strongly told that NO ONE EVER does that. As a result, there are very few professional covers with type stylized like that. If it is, the type is carefully embossed, maybe beveled. Using the minimal amount necessary to get the … Continue reading →

New Release: InDesign Ebooks Conversions, 2nd Edition

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Updating the ebook conversions techniques to InDesign CC Your book is ready to print How do I produce my ebooks? Here’s a set of workable techniques: InDesign Ebook Conversions for $2.99 If you had enough sense to fully format your book in InDesign, the answer to how to make ebooks is “easily, though not simply”. The largest problem most graphic designers have is that this whole “ebook thing” is a confusing mishmash of options and possibilities. This book … Continue reading →

The changes to self-publishing are just beginning

Skilled Workman Posted on by

This has been a day for it. All my sources are talking about nothing else. Here’s an excellent article about where indie and self-publishing may go There’s some good stuff here. The real problem is two-fold: The transitional future of the dedicated ereader Getting book discovery out of the hands of Amazon The ereader is going Some of this may be wishful thinking on my part. But the sales stats are proving my assumptions to be true. … Continue reading →

Multiple linked TOCs in ePUBs for CC

Skilled Workman Posted on by

One of the new changes to InDesign CC is an innocuous checkbox at the bottom of the Table of Contents dialog box for: Make text anchor in source paragraph. What this does is make sure that any TOC has functional links in the exported ePUB. As Ron Bilodeau commented, “You can now have multiple ID-generated TOCs within your document(s) and they will all exist with correct links within your exported ePub file.” Now you can have custom … Continue reading →

Does quality matter in the new publishing paradigm?

Skilled Workman Posted on by

As I have been experiencing, learning, teaching, and writing about on-demand self publishing over the past decade or two [I actually started self publishing ebooks in 1993 or 4], one area of book design has slid right past most of the new authors. This is quality. We won’t even discuss how quality dropped in the slide from letterpress to offset. That’s back in the dark ages, pre-digital. Silly person! That doesn’t matter any more. The one that … Continue reading →

Nook dying? B&N could go DRM-free and hook up with the iPad

Skilled Workman Posted on by

Now I admit, I’m going on the words of others. I personally bailed on the Nook app and B&N a while ago. I am saddened by the troubles of the local B&N—it’s the only bookstore in town. I was hoping for viable competition to Amazon, but it is just not there. As they are stuck in a supposedly poor version of proprietary DRM, the smelly ears syndrome has got them in its clutches. I’m slightly hopeful that Riggio … Continue reading →

Smashwords now takes ePUBs!

Skilled Workman Posted on by

This is really big news. This is especially true for someone who writes and works in InDesign. Up ’til now, I’d finish a book and spend a full day to: export the PDFs, export the KF8 file for Kindle, and export the various ePUBs for the iBookstore, Nook, and Kobo—then  uploading to Createspace for print, Kindle KDP for the Kindle version, and Lulu, PubIt, and Kobo Writing Life. Then if I wanted to release at Smashwords, I’d spend … Continue reading →

Using embedded fonts in ePUBs for free: DIY Publishing wins!

Skilled Workman Posted on by

I just tried something and was surprised by the result. After learning this morning that I don’t actually buy books from Kindle, but lease them, I wanted to see what my options are if I actually buy an ePUB. More than that, as a font designer, I wanted to try an ePUB with embedded fonts. So, I simply exported an ePUB with embedded font from my KF8 version of the book and emailed it to myself. Then … Continue reading →