1. Ebook Boot Camp
Tom McCluskey, 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 an ebook?
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 main ebook 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 is Amazon’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 are the 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 main kinds 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
• Finer control 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 varied reading 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 variety of reading systems
• Full audio/video capability
• The Taleist survey showed the PC to be the
second most common ebook reading device

14. Metadata

15. What is metadata?
• Information about your content:
– Title
– Author name
– Copyright date
– Language
– Most recent modification time
– ISBN

16. How is metadata used?
• 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 ebooks used?

20. Ebooks are used by
•All ages
•All income levels
•All genres

21. Getting books onto the device
• Purchase through the associated bookstore

22. Getting books onto the 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 onto the 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 onto the 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 onto the 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 to read 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 use PDFs?
1. Reflowability

28. What can authors do 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 seven years 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 famously used 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
• Anything you 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 make good ebooks?

35. Are there books that 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 ebook onto 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 Standard Book 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
• Book Industry 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 I set 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 I set 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 sell an 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 conversion process
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 Bindery approach
• 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.

48. Before and after

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 look for
• 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 to look 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 for ebooks
• 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

53. DIY EPUB

58. Limits of technology & devices

59. Readability and Legibility

60. We read differently in print and on screen—or do we?

61. General Best Practices

62. Page Layout: Page Spread
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 an idea 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
Adding Margins 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

95. Creating a Mobi/KF8 file

96. Creating iBooks
• Can only 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 to Master Pages
in InDesign
• Allow you to set a
default layout for a
chapter or section

104. 10 tabs for Inspector:
• Document
• Layout
• Wrap
• Text
• Graphic
• Metrics
• Table
• Chart
• Link
• Widget

106. Thanks!
Questions?
tom@digitalbindery.com
@TomMcCluskey
www.DigitalBindery.com