Why E-Books Look So Ugly

[ahi]

Might one say that professional publishers, even reputable ones, do not at present seem to have a consistently professional work-flow in place for producing eBooks?

- Ahi

[Hellmark]

I don't think anyone would disagree with you there.

[AnemicOak]

It's hard to blame it all on the publishers. Some of it definitely depending on what complaints one has, but it's usually the distributor who makes the individual formats. But yes, I'm sure none of the publishers have what one would call an optimal work-flow in place yet.

Take Hachette (Orbit, etc.) for example. They send out an ePub to distributors (not sure if it's generated from InDesign or what). It's then up to distributors to make whatever formats they plan to offer from that. So if it's a certain format that has a problem it's likely whatever conversion the distro made (and probably didn't proof well). Of course it's the publisher's "fault" for doing things this way I suppose.

[ahi]

Good points, AnemicOak!

Though, as you say...

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Of course it's the publisher's "fault" for doing things this way I suppose.

Particularly ones large enough that they could with (for them) minimal funds start direct eBook-selling websites that would make most of Mobileread's membership's mouths water.

- Ahi

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by ahi

Particularly ones large enough that they could with (for them) minimal funds start direct eBook-selling websites that would make most of Mobileread's membership's mouths water.

I'm not sure how minimal the funds needed would be. Especially while they still insist on DRM.

With ebook sales being so small a part of the overall market I doubt you'll see them selling direct, without using a 3rd party distro, for a long time. If ever. They may feel that going into real competition with retailers would be ultimately a bad thing.

[ahi]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

I'm not sure how minimal the funds needed would be. Especially while they still insist on DRM.

With ebook sales being so small a part of the overall market I doubt you'll see them selling direct, without using a 3rd party distro, for a long time. If ever. They may feel that going into real competition with retailers would be ultimately a bad thing.

I think even with Adobe's DRM licensing, it would be a drop in the bucket for a publisher the size of Penguin for example to start offering professionally prooferad and prepared eBooks direct to the customers.

I agree with you that corporate nonsense might make such an approach ultimately unlikely. But it would be getting into a game that they'll have to enter sooner or later with an early advantage... and that hardly seems foolhardy.

- Ahi

[Kali Yuga]

FYI Penguin is apparently selling some of their titles direct in various formats, including eReader, ePub, MS and Adobe. And a big publisher -- Harper Collins? -- is doing something big with Scribd.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

FYI Penguin is apparently selling some of their titles direct in various formats, including eReader, ePub, MS and Adobe. And a big publisher -- Harper Collins? -- is doing something big with Scribd.

They're selling direct, kind of. What they're doing is selling using the same distributors (Lightning Source, Over Drive) places like Fictionwise and Books On Board use, and generally charging full retail to boot. Simon & Schuster used to be good. They sold using a distro (Lightning Source IIRC) but gave a good discount. It was often cheaper to buy direct than from FW or BoB.

[Kostas]

Originally Posted by ahi

Might one say that professional publishers, even reputable ones, do not at present seem to have a consistently professional work-flow in place for producing eBooks?

- Ahi

Here is a video with the workflow of french ebook publisher Numilog (sorry, it's in french), reported by MR member guiom in the French forum.
imho, it sucks...
Bodyguards are supposed to represent DRM!