MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Why publishers format ebooks differently than paper books?

greenapple · 01-10-2014, 12:31 AM

I have bought a number of ebooks from both kindle and kobo stores over time. I've found that over 80% (at least) of ebooks aren't formatted the way paper books are usually formatted. On ebooks, the frequent issues are:

1) redundant blank lines between paragraphs,
2) very, very small indentations, or very, very wide indentations for first sentences of paragrahs,
3) totally no indentations for paragraphs, which makes the ebook read like an online document.

Does anyone find these poor ebook formatting decisions greatly affect his enjoyment of books the way I do? Why don't publishers agree on a standard?

01-10-2014, 12:31 AM	#1
greenapple Evangelist Posts: 404 Karma: 664 Join Date: Dec 2009 Device: Kindle Paperwhite, Kindle DX, Kobo Aura HD	Why publishers format ebooks differently than paper books? I have bought a number of ebooks from both kindle and kobo stores over time. I've found that over 80% (at least) of ebooks aren't formatted the way paper books are usually formatted. On ebooks, the frequent issues are: 1) redundant blank lines between paragraphs, 2) very, very small indentations, or very, very wide indentations for first sentences of paragrahs, 3) totally no indentations for paragraphs, which makes the ebook read like an online document. Does anyone find these poor ebook formatting decisions greatly affect his enjoyment of books the way I do? Why don't publishers agree on a standard?