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Ebook formats

Ebooks are produced in many formats, each with their own pros and cons. We believe the best formats to work in are PDF and Epub.

PDF (Portable Document Format) remains one of the most useful and common file formats for documents in the world. It was the first reliable format to enable people with very different computers to look at the same file and see the same thing. Most people use it for sending each other documents that mustn't change from one computer to another, like contracts or logos. We like it because it's a familiar format that anyone can open, without any nasty surprises. PDFs can include a surprising number of special features, including hyperlinks, embedded sound and video, and interactive forms. Most people read PDF ebooks in Adobe Acrobat Reader or Adobe Digital Editions (ADE), a great ebook reading program available free from Adobe. ADE is quick, smooth and simple, and opens both PDF and Epub ebooks.

Epub is an open standard developed by the IDPF, with significant input from Adobe. Simply put, epub is a way of delivering styled, reflowable content to ebook readers. In the format wars of ebooks, epub is fast emerging as the winner. The text in an epub ebook can reflow to suit the reading device or reading software (for example, to suit screen size or a user's own preferences), but still allows a designer to specify a range of aesthetic and navigational features, including fonts, a clickable table of contents, and embedded sound and video. Most customers who buy epub ebooks will read them in software readers like Adobe Digital Editions, Stanza, and Bookworm, or on dedicated reading devices like the Sony Reader. Epub can also be converted easily into other formats, such as those used in the Amazon Kindle and Mobipocket Reader.

 

Buying ebooks

Ebooks are available for purchase through international ebook retailers online. Their prices usually range from a third to two-thirds of the price of a print equivalent. Many customers may buy both an ebook and a print edition of a book to suit different reading circumstances.

 

DRM (Digital Rights Management)

DRM (Digital Rights Management) refers to any system for controlling what users can do with their ebook, and usually restricts copying, printing or sharing ebook files in some way. We work closely with our clients on their DRM options, since these have many short- and long-term implications, and must be carefully chosen.

In principle, we encourage publishers not to use DRM. We believe the costs of heavy-handed DRM to the publisher, distributor and end-user ultimately exceed the value of sales 'lost' to piracy. For a good overview of the issues from a leader in the ebook field, see this article by Jon Noring, written some years ago, and still as relevant as ever.

 

Ebook design

Since any content delivered electronically can be called an ebook, ebooks inhabit a large grey area from text on a CD to websites to novels on paper-like handheld readers. Some ebooks are no more than unformatted text in HTML, or PDFs of a printed book's pages. And others are more than that, and include video, audio and interactive features, where the revenue model warrants the expense of their development.

The design of an ebook depends on three things:

  • The file format in which the ebook is delivered, and what that file format is capable of doing.
  • How much the ebook's publisher invested in time and money in making the most of that particular file format.
  • The software that is used to display the ebook. Often that software will override the original design, especially on small-screen devices (e.g. mobile phones and small ereaders).

 

Ebook distribution

Ebooks can take a variety of forms, and each form can be distributed in particular ways.

Distribution mechanisms can include:

  • PDF and Epub ebook distribution through major aggregators (like Ingram Digital and Overdrive) to large and small ebook retailers around the world;
  • Ebook distribution to mobile phones, especially the iPhone;
  • Free or paid ebook downloads from your own website;
  • Distribution on free and paid web services like Scribd, Issuu, Exact Editions, Wattpad, BookGlutton and Smashwords;
  • Mobipocket ebooks distributed through Mobipocket;
  • Distribution on the Amazon Kindle, Amazon's popular ebook device (currently US-only);
  • HTML/web: book content repurposed as content for a website-version of a book, or added to your existing website;
  • and many others.

We help our clients choose the methods that suit them best, from small, free services to large-scale commercial solutions.