Format best for images/spreads
 

I am an artist trying to create an e-book of my work. It is image heavy and uses a lot of full spreads, so ideally I would like it to be in landscape format. What format options are best for me so the book can be viewed on the greatest number of devices?

Welcome to MR forums!

Very quickly - because there is a TON of info to get into the details of your answer - you should be aware that ebooks in general are intended to be re-flowable. ie. they are supposed to adapt their display to however the user turns their device (landscape or portrait), what font-size they have, what size screen they are displaying it on, etc. One persons landscape mode on their phone might be only half as wide as another persons portrait mode.

Also, many (most?) reading devices/apps have the ability to zoom and pan an image. Just realize that is a device function, not a function of the format.

So, I wouldn't waste too much time trying to lock down exactly how the user is going to view your book. My best advice is to make sure you have good quality images and good quality coding to display your images to their best effect no matter the device. This usually takes a professional ebook maker - or sometimes an amateur with a lot of patience. ;) You CAN force a specific format/view...this is called "fixed-format" (pretty original huh!) but this is much more involved and professionals typically charge likewise...amateurs tend to avoid it.

Your specific question about what type of format...pretty much ePub for any store except the Amazon Kindle...and then the Kindle format for Amazon. In North America Amazon has a very large portion of the customer base, while overseas my impression is that ePub is bigger.


Cheers,

edit: I also didn't mention the pdf format. Yes books are published in pdf, so technically they can be considered an ebook, but they don't take advantage of all of the advanced functionality of what "ebooks" are supposed to do. It is an option, but I would be hard pressed to actual recommend to someone to intentionally publish in that format.

In this specific case I would not recommend an ePUB of Kindle e-book to be honest, but to stick with PDF.

For a book that you envision, a fixed-layout would be best. However, not only are they more difficult to make, they are also strongly restricted to the device for which they were designed and the support for fixed-layout is mediocre at best. Only a few devices support fixed layout.

Now, most devices support PDF in a sort of way (some better than others) and it will allow you to form it as you see fit. Although I am not a big fan of PDF for e-books, for this particular format I would recommend it.

What on Earth are you talking about? We're discussing ebook formats here.

Which means that you really really don't want to use a real ebook format which would reflow, changing layout based on screen orientation, user font choices, etc.

What you describe is something that will function more like a slide show. If you want it to be viewable on common portable devices then I would suggest either PDF or one of the comic book formats, CBZ and CBR.

I need a fixed format book to work on a Windows phone. None of the readers I have tries are any use. Has anyone got any suggestions?

Convert to PDF?

I haven't found a single reading app I liked on Windows or Windows Phone.

I haven't found a single Windows Phone I liked.

Now that is not surprising...

PDF as a solution to Windows phone image problem
 

yes, PDF looks like the best (and possibly only) possibility at the moment. Google Books makes a great job on Android phones and Apple devices (including iphone) seem to work fine with the epub file. But Windows phone seems impossible. The book is very heavy on images which must be placed correctly with the text.

My concern is that PDF files are too easy to copy and the book will spread around the world free. Maybe that is becoming true of all formats though. Any thoughts or advice on how to sell as a PDF?

Nick

PDF doesn't sell well overall.

@Eugenious - AFAIK an EPUB can be copied just as easily as a PDF, and a PDF can be furnished with encryption just as easily as an ePUB.

I just looked at a Light Net site that somehow gets away with offering boatloads of pirated stuff. For fiction, biographies etc all I see EPUB and MOBI. For Magazines all I see is PDF. And for comics I see a mixture of CBR, CBZ and PDF.

The real question is why bother targeting Windows Phone, according to NetMarketShare it has slid from ~4% a year ago to about 1.5% now.

BR