Quote:
Originally Posted by WFT
My problem is: which e-book format should I select?
While I have considerable computer experience, I do not own an e-book reader and I have never investigated e-book formats. I know there are a bunch of them, including ebup, pdf, and Kindle among others, but I know almost nothing else about them.
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Strongly suggested: Mobi (which is the Kindle format) and ePub; that makes them accessible to almost all the dedicated ebook readers & mobile devices. And many devices read one, but not the other. (Kindle reads Mobi. The Sony Reader reads ePub. The iPhone will read either, with the right app.) Other formats are somewhat optional, but tend to be easy--if you get a well-designed HTML/XML file of your book, converting it to eight ebook formats is only a tiny bit more work than converting it to two.
PDF, as you've noticed, is problematic. One way around that is to design PDFs for the six-inch ebook screen, but 3.5x4.5" (90x120mm) pages are difficult to work with, if you're not used to them. And people used to doing layouts for print forget that ebooks don't need such large margins; there's no reason to leave room for fingers on the actual pages. (However, some people prefer margins.)
After the basic page size issue, there are font size issues--I like small fonts (9pt, most of the time), but many people prefer 12 pt, even on the small pages. I'll give up on books with fonts that are too large for my reading comfort; I love Feedbooks' philosophy and formatting, but I can barely tolerate their books. Other people will skip books designed with small fonts, even if they have zoom or reflow ability; both of those are annoying in practice.
PDF is good if you know your target readership and can tailor to their preferences. If you want a wide range of readers, the scrolling/flowable formats allow them to read ebooks with their own customized settings.
An additional problem with PDFs is that experienced ebook devotees don't trust them--there are so many badly-made ebooks that we shy away from paying for them, especially from an unknown author. (Badly made: uncompressed, not tagged for reflow, no/bad metadata, no bookmarks/table of contents, print-resolution images, letter-sized pages made with Word's default settings, etc.)