Also has built-in widgets for things like image galleries, and you can create your own widgets. Has an option to enable the reader to switch between reflowable and fixed layout. Note that Kindle’s fixed layout implementation is designed primarily for text books and children’s books.Ĭreates fixed layout eBooks only for the iPad. eBook reader compatibility with the fixed layout features of EPUB 3 is minimal, so it is a big question whether it is even worthwhile to attempt it.įor creating eBooks for Amazon Kindle, including KF8 format fixed layout eBooks. Expect to do substantial testing and editing. Fixed Layout eBook Creation ToolsĮxports to a fixed-layout EPUB 3.0 file. The great tool Calibre will convert from EPUB to Kindle as always, you’ll have to actually test the file on a Kindle once you convert it and you will likely have to tweak the EPUB so that it converts well to Kindle. When we make eBooks, we test them on each of the major devices, using an XML editor called Oxygen to modify the files so that they work properly.Īlso, be aware there are two major reflowable eBook formats: Kindle (Amazon) and EPUB (everybody else). Here are tools that can be used to create reflowable eBooks:īe aware that none of these tools create a finished eBook! Even using Adobe InDesign, the resulting files must be tweaked and tuned to actually work with the various eBook resellers’ reading software. If you have the time and inclination, you can create your own eBook. You can have a service like Bookmobile create your eBook, whether it is reflowable or fixed layout. Based on what we see in the marketplace, that’s the conclusion many publishers of illustrated books come to: if you’re going to do it at all, do it for the premier viewing platform, the iPad. That publisher only had us do the Apple version, judging that the small screen sizes of the Amazon and Barnes & Noble eReaders didn’t justify the expense of the conversion. We get many inquiries about creating fixed layout eBooks, but only one publisher has actually had us create a fixed layout eBook for them. We’ve probably been involved one way or another with almost 1,000 eBooks. We create eBooks for publishers as well as distribute them to all the major resellers. Therefore even more expense will be incurred compared to a reflowable eBook.Īt Bookmobile, we’ve been involved with eBooks since 2001.

To reach the whole eBook market, three versions must be created, because each of the major eBook sellers-Amazon, Apple, and Barnes & Noble-has a different fixed layout file format.

Time consuming and expensive to create because each page has to be individually laid out, just like a printed book.

Image display on appropriate devices can be excellent.Pages can be fully designed, like a print book.On monochrome eBook reading devices, image quality is atrocious.The design of the book is totally lost.On the appropriate device-i.e., the iPad with Retina screen-image reproduction can be excellent.Less time-consuming and therefore less expensive to create than fixed-layout formats.Will display on many more devices than fixed layout eBooks.Reflowable eBooksįor illustrated books, here are the pluses and minuses of reflowable eBooks: In many cases, fixed layout eBooks mirror the design of the print edition of the book exactly.Īrt and fine art photography books can be converted into either reflowable or fixed layout eBooks.

Indeed, that is one of the benefits of reading an eBook! With fixed layout, eBooks type sizes and other aspects of page layout cannot be altered by the reader: pages are displayed as they were designed by whoever created the eBook file. eBooks comprised primarily of text are almost always reflowable, meaning that the reader can change the size and style of the type. Two Kinds of eBooksĮBooks come in two flavors: reflowable and fixed layout. But there are also barriers to publishing illustrated eBooks that don’t exist for books that are primarily text. Part of this is surely due to the fact that while the experience of reading fiction on a device is not that different than reading on paper, the experience of browsing a beautifully printed and bound picture book is of a different order than flipping through pictures on a screen. The catch-all category that includes illustrated books-as well as graphic novels, science/nature, food & drink, children’s nonfiction, and others-comprises less than 10% of sales. In the UK, for example, over 45% of eBook sales consist of crime, fantasy, and romance titles. However, eBooks don’t sell equally well in all categories, but are concentrated in fiction-especially genre fiction. EBooks have grown from less than 1% of book sales in 2007 to about 20% in 2014.

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