Quote:
Originally Posted by DiapDealer
But surely it would be supported on the majority of the readers of those for whom imagery is important, no? In my opinion, the problem usually takes care of itself. Those who primarily read text-only novels or text-only non-fiction favor eink (or not; I read novels on a tablet for instance). Those who want to see full-color imagery and/or multi-media favor tablets with various reading apps installed--where pan & zoom is fairly instinctual (or they get a larger tablet so they don't have to zoom as much). Those who do a little of both, have multiple devices.
I think too much time is wasted on trying to present images in exactly the way that the book's creator wants them to be seen. It makes more sense to me to trust that the user to whom those images will be important will already be looking at them on an appropriate device, with an app that fulfills their image-viewing needs. The rest will be clicking/tapping to the next page regardless of how big and glorious an image's presentation might be. Just make sure an image of sufficient quality is present for them to manipulate. They'll have figured out the rest already themselves.
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^ This.
Exactly this.
If the author, er, publisher is so intent on insisting that the reader see his graphic the way it's "meant to be seen," then s/he can make the book FXL. And, yes, that will cause other ramifications. But thus it ever is, in publishing. The more color pages you have, in print, the greater your printing cost, the more you have to charge for the book, each increase further
reducing the potential ROI (return on investment).
ALL of publishing is a compromise.
ALL of it. It is no different now, and honestly, with 3500 eBooks under our belts, I don't recall the last time that I even noticed that "OMG, there's a margin here!" To me, it's a grossly--
grossly--overemphasized "issue."
I'd further point out that if the book is reflowable, most images are flowing,
in the text. They're coming along, beneath paragraph X and above paragraph Y. Sure, you could put page breaks, before, to ensure that the image shows up, full-screen (so to speak), but then what? Then you typically have fugly gaps, on the bottom of page x. As I said--it's all compromise, whether you are doing print or digital, and..that's just
how it is.
You want to see a book that doesn't sell? That loses money? I'll show you book after book where the author or author/illustrator insisted on "full creative control." THOSE books
invariably and inevitably lose money--because the Creative overrides the publisher's sense of what people WANT, what they'll pay for. And yes, maybe I'm too focused on the commercial aspects (if there is such a thing)--but again, that's what publishing IS.
It's a business. It's not a happy-happy-joy-joy place where all the creatives get to dance in the moonlight with the effing fairies. It's a
business, and whether we're talking print or digital, compromises will always be with us. In this instance, Kindles have margins. That's the reality.
Hitch