Knowledge archive
The Electric Book Works knowledge-base archive contains reference material on digital publishing that we developed some time ago, but can’t currently maintain or update. Much of it is still useful. Do note that it’s not comprehensive, may be out of date, and we don’t claim it’s best practice today.
ABCs
If you’re new to digital publishing, here are a few useful things to start with. … Read more
Building and maintaining websites
Some tips and guidance for beginners on building and maintaining websites. … Read more
Creating PDF ebooks
Most designers create PDFs for printing. These PDFs contain high-res images and printer’s marks (for cropping, bleed, registration, colour, and page info). … Read more
Creating epub from InDesign
There are many ways to create epub files. One of these is via InDesign. Since most books move through InDesign at some stage, this is likely to be a popular route for many designers and production teams. Unfortunately, this isn’t yet a simple process. I hope that one day these notes will stand as a testament to how hard this used to be. … Read more
Designing for Digital: What print-book designers should know about ebooks
This short book is for designers, editors and production managers in book-publishing companies. Most publishers are looking to use their content in ebooks or on websites, and this practical introduction helps production teams understand how to work in ebook-friendly ways, even when their books are destined for print. … Read more
Digital decisions: What book publishers should know about ebooks
‘Digital decisions’ is a day-long course for publishing staff. We paint a picture of the digital publishing landscape, and take the unfamiliarity out of key digital-publishing concepts. We range from big concepts to workflow nitty-gritty. … Read more
Embracing digital: Changes and opportunities in educational publishing
This is the ebook version of our full-day workshop for publishers, editors and production managers in educational publishing we ran in 2010. … Read more
Epub production tips
We’ve got a lot of info on making epubs in our section on creating epubs from InDesign. We also post tips and guidelines for epub production here. … Read more
InDesign best practice for print and ebooks
This course is for editors and designers who work in InDesign and need to set up documents for reliable export to epub. It is included in condensed form in ‘Making ebooks with Sigil, HTML and CSS’. … Read more
Making ebooks with Sigil, HTML and CSS
‘Making ebooks with Sigil, HTML and CSS’ is an in-depth, practical crash course in ebook production, ideal for editorial and production staff familiar with InDesign. The aim is to provide your organisation with in-house technical expertise for quality assurance and production-process decisions. We teach basic HTML and CSS (stylesheets) to enable participants to create, evaluate and fix basic epubs, and to know how to tackle problems when they arise. Participants work mostly in Sigil and a little InDesign, learning how best to edit content and control layout. … Read more
Multi-format editing: Preparing content for a print-and-digital world
This is a one-day course for publishing and editorial staff, and curious authors, on how to edit content for multi-format output. Increasingly, we’re producing content that will be read on paper and on devices large and small, fast and slow, online and offline. How do we make sure our content makes sense in these different contexts? … Read more
Other resources
This is a constantly evolving list of digital-publishing links and resources we find useful and/or interesting. … Read more
Self-publishing
Tips and guidance on self-publishing for beginners. … Read more
Simple-ebook operational issues
Selected guidelines for specific operational issues when making and selling simple ebooks. … Read more