[David Gaughran]

Hi Alex,

Thank you for your comments.

I fully agree that mobi is a poor format with extreme limitations. There have been a lot of rumors that Amazon will finally put mobi to bed by allowing their devices to use epub files. I hope this is the case because the limitations of mobi are very frustrating, especially non-fiction where the text is usually broken up with various solutions such as typography, break-away boxes, graphics, pictures, charts and so on, all of which are either impossible to do, or can render poorly due to the limitations of both the readers and the formats.

I don't think it really makes sense for most publishers (especially small ones like me) to design separate mobi and epub editions to take advantage of the minor improvements afforded by the epub format. This may become an imperative in the future as epub develops (and the plans for the format are exciting) - but it looks like we might see the back of mobi anyway, which will make everything simpler. In any event, developing two editions would probably lead to an increase in price - something I would like to avoid.

I'm not sure how I ignored 40% of readers. The book talks a lot about Kindle and Amazon because self-publishers tend to make 80% to 90% of their sales there. Personally, I don't think this is a healthy situation, and I encourage self-publishers to at least try and diversify a little so that they are not so dependent on one source for most of their revenue. However, I also understand that there are logical reasons for this - Amazon is by far the easiest place for self-publishers to make a sale (for all sorts of reasons).

That target audience for this book isn't the average reader, it's aimed at writers, self-publishers, and readers who are interested in the changes ocurring in the publishing industry. The core audience is self-publishers. As 80% to 90% of their sales are on Amazon, the content needs to be focused on selling on Amazon. I do talk about all the other major retailers (Barnes & Noble, Apple, Sony, Kobo, Diesel, Smashwords, Omnilit) more than most books of this type, and I certainly have a greater international focus than any book of this type.

However, devoting more than, say, a paragraph to the Sony e-bookstore when the average self-publisher makes less than 0.01% of their sales their would be a waste of time.

With regard to testing, I have a pretty rigorous and exhaustive process. I doesn't make sense for me to go out and buy every single brand of e-reader, tablet, and smartphone (and believe me, there can be issues native to each). What I do is this.

I hand-code the HTML for the e-book file. As I write the code, I continually preview it in a browser. This will catch most issues. When it looks clean there, I compile the epub and mobi files in Caliber.

I don't convert the mobi from the epub (or vice versa) as this can create issues like you have mentioned. I actually compile each file individually.

Next, I test those in Kindle-for-Pc, Nook-for-PC, Kindle Previewer and Adobe Digital Editions. This will usually highlight a couple of issues. Once those are resolved, and it all looks fine in a browser, I test them again.

Once it's all clean and rendering perfectly, I farm it out to 20 testers/proofers (who are all working off different devices). Often a couple of typos here and there will be spotted at this point, but rarely a formatting issue. If there are any, then the testing cycle begins again (but it's usually quite quick at this point).

When that is done, it's ready for upload. Once the file goes live on Smashwords and Amazon, I immediately download it for extra testing. The Amazon file is normally fine, but the Smashwords one can have issues because of their system.

This part of the process takes a day or two, and once I am confident that there are no more bugs, I announce the release of the book.

I think you will agree that this a pretty rigorous testing process. Now, even with a process like this, stuff can still slip through; it happens. One reader caught a minor typo that had slipped past me (multiple times), my editor (twice), and all 20 of my proofers. No system is perfect.

Dave