I’m really excited about the explosion of digital media and ebook publications. I still love to open a real book or magazine — feel the paper, smell the ink — but there are some advantages to digital media.
Perhaps the most significant of the advantages is the ability to reach a world-wide audience on a modest budget. Hard copies require paper, ink, presses and distribution, which can be costly. And of course, printing and distribution have a large carbon footprint.
There are several formats for digital publication: dedicated websites, online magazine pageflip software (i.e., ISSUU, Flipdoo), embedded PDF documents, and ebooks.
Screenshots of a Field Guide published on ISSUU.
Perhaps the most significant of the advantages is the ability to reach a world-wide audience on a modest budget. Hard copies require paper, ink, presses and distribution, which can be costly. And of course, printing and distribution have a large carbon footprint.
There are several formats for digital publication: dedicated websites, online magazine pageflip software (i.e., ISSUU, Flipdoo), embedded PDF documents, and ebooks.
Screenshots of a Field Guide published on ISSUU.
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Ebooks come in a variety of formats: Kindle, Nook, Mobi, ePub, and iBook Author to name a few. Of these, I think iBook Author is the best choice for the publication of non-fiction articles and books. In fact, to demonstrate the high utility of iBook Author, Apple celebrated the software’s release with a free downloadable textbook, E.O. Wilson’s Life on Earth. This textbook is a beautiful example of what can be done with the software. It’s rich with interactive media, movies, photo galleries, 3D animations, interactive maps, and review quizzes. And this wealth of assets can be incorporated into other non-fiction manuscripts.
The Benefits of iBook Author Format
While designing Field Guides for Capital Institute, I've experimented with digital publishing formats. The most recent Field Guide, The Next (Regenerative) Industrial Age, I designed and published in iBook Author. There are several reasons why I prefer iBook Author to any of the other formats. The first is the ability to incorporate rich media to support the stories of the Field Guides: filmed interviews, an abundance of photographs, related websites, and white papers accessible online. The second is my ability to control what each page looks like: the placement of graphics and images, the text style, font size and flow. The third reason I love iBook Author is that is has the added option of becoming a “re-flowable” ebook. All the visual material (assets) are moved to a margin as thumbnails to be opened on demand, with a clean river of text dominating the “page.” As the reader increases or decreases the font size, the overall look remains clean and consistent and the visual assets hold a position relative to the text they accompany. So the reader has the choice of reading the story on a page formatted by the designer with visuals dominant, or in a clean and simple running river of text. And the designer can still determine the font style (if not size) of the river of text.
The Benefits of iBook Author Format
While designing Field Guides for Capital Institute, I've experimented with digital publishing formats. The most recent Field Guide, The Next (Regenerative) Industrial Age, I designed and published in iBook Author. There are several reasons why I prefer iBook Author to any of the other formats. The first is the ability to incorporate rich media to support the stories of the Field Guides: filmed interviews, an abundance of photographs, related websites, and white papers accessible online. The second is my ability to control what each page looks like: the placement of graphics and images, the text style, font size and flow. The third reason I love iBook Author is that is has the added option of becoming a “re-flowable” ebook. All the visual material (assets) are moved to a margin as thumbnails to be opened on demand, with a clean river of text dominating the “page.” As the reader increases or decreases the font size, the overall look remains clean and consistent and the visual assets hold a position relative to the text they accompany. So the reader has the choice of reading the story on a page formatted by the designer with visuals dominant, or in a clean and simple running river of text. And the designer can still determine the font style (if not size) of the river of text.
iBook Author cover | 
designed layout above, "reflow-able" river of text to the right. | 
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All iBook Author books are created from a template supplied by Apple. At first I bristled at this restriction, but I quickly learned how to adapt the template to my own plan and finally came to appreciate why Apple created the restriction. Apple has made this software available, for free, to anyone who owns a Mac. And as I have witnessed over the past few decades, knowing how to use publishing software isn’t the same as knowing how to design. Apple is protecting the integrity of the iBook Author look by forcing the user to start from a clean design.
On the iTunes bookstore homepage, there is a category called “Made with iBooks Author.” I recommend sampling a few of the books that you’ll find there. Many can be downloaded for free.
The Other Ebook Formats for non-iPad readers
Not every reader owns an iPad, so the (only) downside of the iBook author format is that the format is not supported by Kindle or Nook. Although you can download Kindle and Nook for iPad, there is no reciprocity. To create versions of The Next (Regenerative) Industrial Age in other formats Capital Institute engaged the services of Vook, which did an excellent job of converting the iBook content to ebook formats for all levels of Kindle and Nook, as well as publishing to their own site. The more advanced versions of Kindle and Nook support enhancements such as images and movies, but versions for earlier models do not. All Kindle and Nook ebooks are re-flowable copy, and the ability to let the reader size the font inhibits the designer from truly designing the page. The good news is that the iPad mini is selling so well, that a lot more readers will be able to view iBook Author books soon.
Free ebooks
Amazon, Barnes and Noble and iTunes bookstore permit self-publishing. But only iTunes will allow immediate publication of free books. As musicians have demonstrated, giving away the very product that you sweated blood to produce can kickstart a wave of demand. To publish a free book on Amazon Kindle, or Barnes and Noble, you must: 1) publish your book with a set price; 2) republish your book on Smashwords and set the price to zero; 3) alert the first publisher to the lower price, which they then have to match. This seems complicated and can take time. However, iTunes has an entire category of free books which anyone’s title can join.
iTunes Publishing Delays
I had read many complaints on the internet that iTunes can hold up publication for days, weeks or even months while they vet the material. When I published my iBook, I accepted that it would be “a while” before it appeared in the bookstore. I published the day after Hurricane Sandy, borrowing wifi from the client to do so. Then I returned home to wait for the email announcing my successful publication. Because I was out of touch with the internet for several days, and wasn’t expecting this result, I didn’t realize the book had published instantly. A week later I submitted a revised version to fix some broken hyperlinks and add a new paragraph of updated material. This version was held up for several weeks. However, when I complained via iTunes Connect, I had a response within 24 hours and was re-published within 48. So don’t wait too long if iTunes needs to be poked.
Coming soon: E-publishing for Children’s Picture Books
Comments Lori (lori@goldenpaints.com) 12/26/2012 6:00am I'm looking forward to your post on e-books for children!!! Thank you for your blog!
Delete Reply
On the iTunes bookstore homepage, there is a category called “Made with iBooks Author.” I recommend sampling a few of the books that you’ll find there. Many can be downloaded for free.
The Other Ebook Formats for non-iPad readers
Not every reader owns an iPad, so the (only) downside of the iBook author format is that the format is not supported by Kindle or Nook. Although you can download Kindle and Nook for iPad, there is no reciprocity. To create versions of The Next (Regenerative) Industrial Age in other formats Capital Institute engaged the services of Vook, which did an excellent job of converting the iBook content to ebook formats for all levels of Kindle and Nook, as well as publishing to their own site. The more advanced versions of Kindle and Nook support enhancements such as images and movies, but versions for earlier models do not. All Kindle and Nook ebooks are re-flowable copy, and the ability to let the reader size the font inhibits the designer from truly designing the page. The good news is that the iPad mini is selling so well, that a lot more readers will be able to view iBook Author books soon.
Free ebooks
Amazon, Barnes and Noble and iTunes bookstore permit self-publishing. But only iTunes will allow immediate publication of free books. As musicians have demonstrated, giving away the very product that you sweated blood to produce can kickstart a wave of demand. To publish a free book on Amazon Kindle, or Barnes and Noble, you must: 1) publish your book with a set price; 2) republish your book on Smashwords and set the price to zero; 3) alert the first publisher to the lower price, which they then have to match. This seems complicated and can take time. However, iTunes has an entire category of free books which anyone’s title can join.
iTunes Publishing Delays
I had read many complaints on the internet that iTunes can hold up publication for days, weeks or even months while they vet the material. When I published my iBook, I accepted that it would be “a while” before it appeared in the bookstore. I published the day after Hurricane Sandy, borrowing wifi from the client to do so. Then I returned home to wait for the email announcing my successful publication. Because I was out of touch with the internet for several days, and wasn’t expecting this result, I didn’t realize the book had published instantly. A week later I submitted a revised version to fix some broken hyperlinks and add a new paragraph of updated material. This version was held up for several weeks. However, when I complained via iTunes Connect, I had a response within 24 hours and was re-published within 48. So don’t wait too long if iTunes needs to be poked.
Coming soon: E-publishing for Children’s Picture Books
Comments Lori (lori@goldenpaints.com) 12/26/2012 6:00am I'm looking forward to your post on e-books for children!!! Thank you for your blog!
Delete Reply
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