MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Need advice on converting books that are photograph intensive

rhek · 07-28-2011, 04:14 PM

We are considering converting our currently published books into eBooks and now have some questions before getting started.

All our books are photo intensive.

1. We have a 3 book series that have a combined page count of just over 1000 pages with about 980 photographs. Layout is landscape. Digital format in QuarkXpress 8.1.

2. We have an autobiography that is 291 pages with 480 photographs. Layout is currently portrait, but we are considering landscape for the next printing. Digital format in QuarkXpress 8.1.

3. We have an instructional book with over 600 pages and 1200 instructional drawings. The layout for this book is in portrait. This book is not in digital format so we are currently scanning, converting the scans using OCR, and cleaning up the drawing.

We have some other books, but I think you get the idea, lots of photographs and drawings.

I am a web designer by day (and many nights) so I know HTML, an amateur book designer by night using QuarkXPress.

I am looking for some advice to get me headed down the right path before starting these projects.

I would like to publish these books on Kindle, Nook, and IPad. We thought PDF would be the correct format for the IPad so we could preserve the landscape layout of a couple of our books. But then, some people might want to read the books in portrait mode so we are not sure. I have read a little on ePub fixed layouts and that sounds interesting, but does it work on the Kindle and Nook and other eReaders that do not rotate to landscape? We have an IPad, but still need to pick up a Kindle and Nook so your comments would be appreciated.

We are getting ready to look at the new version of QuarkXPress which has digital publishing. Can anyone provide some reviews on the latest QuarkXPress? Recommend some other tools?

At this point I think it would really be helpful to get some names of other photo intensive books so I can get copies to view. These projects are just starting up so the more layout examples the better. That way I can get some ideas what can and cannot be done and in which format I can and cannot do things.

One final question regards copy-protection, not that we want to include copy-protection, but how easy is it to make copies of books once they are on the Kindle, Nook, IPad, or other devices?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Rhek

07-28-2011, 04:14 PM	#1
rhek Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2011 Device: none	Need advice on converting books that are photograph intensive We are considering converting our currently published books into eBooks and now have some questions before getting started. All our books are photo intensive. 1. We have a 3 book series that have a combined page count of just over 1000 pages with about 980 photographs. Layout is landscape. Digital format in QuarkXpress 8.1. 2. We have an autobiography that is 291 pages with 480 photographs. Layout is currently portrait, but we are considering landscape for the next printing. Digital format in QuarkXpress 8.1. 3. We have an instructional book with over 600 pages and 1200 instructional drawings. The layout for this book is in portrait. This book is not in digital format so we are currently scanning, converting the scans using OCR, and cleaning up the drawing. We have some other books, but I think you get the idea, lots of photographs and drawings. I am a web designer by day (and many nights) so I know HTML, an amateur book designer by night using QuarkXPress. I am looking for some advice to get me headed down the right path before starting these projects. I would like to publish these books on Kindle, Nook, and IPad. We thought PDF would be the correct format for the IPad so we could preserve the landscape layout of a couple of our books. But then, some people might want to read the books in portrait mode so we are not sure. I have read a little on ePub fixed layouts and that sounds interesting, but does it work on the Kindle and Nook and other eReaders that do not rotate to landscape? We have an IPad, but still need to pick up a Kindle and Nook so your comments would be appreciated. We are getting ready to look at the new version of QuarkXPress which has digital publishing. Can anyone provide some reviews on the latest QuarkXPress? Recommend some other tools? At this point I think it would really be helpful to get some names of other photo intensive books so I can get copies to view. These projects are just starting up so the more layout examples the better. That way I can get some ideas what can and cannot be done and in which format I can and cannot do things. One final question regards copy-protection, not that we want to include copy-protection, but how easy is it to make copies of books once they are on the Kindle, Nook, IPad, or other devices? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks, Rhek