Beautiful eBooks

[Tanzaku]

As a publisher, I can understand the frustration people have with the unattractive formatting of most eBooks. Yes, there are: inflexible typefaces, awkward end-of-line breaks in justified text, nonexistent hyphenation, misplaced graphics, cumbersome table of contents and index implementations, confusion about "locations“ rather than pages, simplistic designs that limit the creative use of graphics and other design elements — a complete list would be quite lengthy.

There is an easy solution to all of this: the PDF. "But," you say, "PDFs look horrible on my Kindle/Sony/Nook! How am I supposed to read that tiny type? PDFs suck!" The refrain grates on me because it places the blame on the PDF format rather than on the true culprit — lazy publishers.

There is nothing wrong with PDFs as a wonderful publishing platform for eReaders. I know, I've done it. The problem is not one of format (PDF), but rather one of size, i.e., the wrong size originating document that creates the PDF. When people complain about PDFs on their eReader, almost without exception they are trying to read a letter-sized or A4 sized PDF on a screen that is not. Of course the type is too small!

The solution to solve all the problems in my first paragraph is to simply create the PDF for the 6“ screen size of the typical eReader. I've found that an InDesign document size of 3.47" wide by 4.82“ tall is just right for my Kindle 3 and Sony PRS-600. By designing a book to that physical dimension, I can create a PDF that fits these eReaders perfectly with type that appears the size one would expect. My InDesign original solves every problem:

• I can use any typeface I want in my design. Because the typeface is embedded in the PDF, it looks as it should in the eReader.
• I have all of InDesign's typographic controls at my disposal including hyphenation and no-break controls
• I can insert graphics anywhere I want and they look as good as e-ink can make them
• I know my graphics will appear on the page in the correct locations, including text wraps and even layered graphics
• I can easily create a table of contents and index
• Footnotes, end notes, page headers, page numbers — no problem. Even master page elements can be used.
• The resulting book is page-based, not "location" based
• Anything I can design in InDesign shows up in the final layout, including photos, graphs, graphics, special font treatments, etc. Even drop shadows render well.

What is missing in a properly designed-for-eReaders PDF?

• Font sizes cannot be changed on the fly (by the way, nor can they in a physical paper book)
• Leading (space between lines) cannot be changed on the fly (ditto, nor can it in a physical paper book)
• File sizes for PDFs are much larger than for the equivalent ePub or prc/mobi versions. Fewer books can be loaded into the same memory space. For example, I can only fit 1,000 books on my Kindle 3 rather than 3,000. Is this a crisis?

That's about it.

So why aren't all eBooks simply done as PDFs formatted for eReaders?

• Perhaps publishers are just too lazy to redesign their print layouts for eReader-sized PDFs.
• There would need to be various "sizes“ for various readers — e.g., Kindle DX versus Sony Pocket. Marketing laziness.
• People want to be able to change the font size to better fit their vision or fatigue. I think this is a big issue and one lots of consumers would be loathe to sacrifice — although we do so every time we purchase a paper book.

So, we can either put up with lousy eBook formats but have their advantages, or we can have beautiful eBooks with the less flexible, memory intensive PDF format. Apparently having cake and eating it are not yet simultaneous options.

By the way, if you want to see one for yourself, I've uploaded a rendition of Our Mutual Friend. I created this using Warnock Pro typeface, 13 point basic size on a 14.7-point leading grid —a size comfortable for reading with my aging eyes. It uses a bit of styling for chapter titles and a master page header for every page. I started with the Gutenberg text and replaced all the single quotes (British) to double quotes (American). I also converted to typographer's curly quotes and apostrophes. This was just an proof-of-concept experiment, but you can see the potential. All that's needed is a publisher who's willing to put in the time and effort! I flirted with the idea myself, but it's better left to someone with more time than I can devote to it. Too bad this couldn't be a group effort like Librivox or even MobileRead. We could have beautifully formatted eBooks rather than the visually jarring efforts we've seen so frequently so far.

I've also attached my InDesign template for those of you adventurous spirits.

(Originally posted on my technology blog.)

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I'm already doing something like what you talked about with reference materials I generate for use on my JetBook Lite, such as my phone/address book, book list, etc. The big difference is I use Excel, Word, and Adobe Acrobat Standard to build them.

[L.J. Sellers]

Thanks for sharing all that information. I've been sending my Word docs to a professional to create e-books, but it's great to know how to format a PDF for readers who can't open mobi or epub files.

L.J.
The Sex Club: now $.99 on Kindle

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by Tanzaku

The solution to solve all the problems in my first paragraph is to simply create the PDF for the 6“ screen size of the typical eReader.

What if they have a 5" screen, or smaller (PDA, phone, etc)? You would need to do lots of different PDF versions for every permutation that might exist now or in the future. It makes a lot more sense to use a format that will adjust itself to any size screen.

[ardeegee]

I have to agree with you-- a PDF well formatted to fit my reader beats the living heck out of any epub. I recognize the utility of having a book format that scales to all sizes of reader screens, but for myself, I almost always take the time to reformat a book into a nice clean, fully justified PDF before I read it.

[Under the Covers]

The main reason for my purchase of a reader is to allow me to increase the font size due to the ravages of aging -- my eyesight is declining, and I have to really struggle to read physical books. So I need to be able to increase the font size. Thus your solution would seem to work well only for those who don't need larger font sizes.

[toddos]

Eww, no. PDF is not a valid ebook format. Ever.

All of the bullet points you called out in favor of PDF apply to other, better formats like epub. What you completely missed, however, is that ebooks need to be scalable. The PDF you create targetting your Kindle may look great to you. What about someone who wants to read with a smaller or larger font size? What about someone with a smaller or larger screen?

PDF is a print tool. It's great for pixel-perfect layouts at a designated size. AKA, a printed piece of paper. Ebooks must be more fluid.

You remind me of "web designers" who have come from the world of print. They always want pixel-perfect pages designed for a browser running at 1024x768. Deviate from that in the slightest of ways (increase your font size, change the size of your browser, change the size of your screen, turn off images, apply a user style sheet, etc) and the whole experience degrades into a huge steaming pile.

Ebooks are to paper books as the web is to magazines. What works for one does not and cannot work for the other. The web is resizable and flowable, and a good designer takes that into account with fluid designs that adjust gracefully to the user's preferences. Ebooks must also be resizable and flowable, and PDF is the wrong format to support that.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by toddos

...The PDF you create targetting your Kindle may look great to you...

The key hinges around this line. Creating a PDF document for your own use is actually ideal since it will work best for YOUR device. If you want to make sure you will be able to read your document at it's best on any future device you may own, keep the original. However, you are right that PDFs are too inflexible for use on a variety of devices. I'm not sure creating PDFs from existing e-books would be practical (but then, I haven't tried it) but for new documents created by yourself in Word or Excel (or both), PDFs formatted to your device would be best.

[khalleron]

Sorry, if I wanted to read beautifully formatted, unchangeable documents, I would have stuck to paper books in the first place.

The entire reason I have an ereader is so I can reformat my reading to suit myself. Same for most owners of ereaders - there's a reason ebook readers are such a big hit with the over-40 crowd.

Yeah, we give up something for the convenience and versatility of ebooks, but it's a fair trade to most of us. If you try to lock me in to one-size-fits-all, I won't buy your ebook. Simple.

No matter how pretty it is.

But I doubt you can make anything prettier than this anyway.

[K-Thom]

There is an easy solution to all of this: the PDF.

Sorry, I stopped reading after that line. And I am both an eBook publisher and offering services for creating eBooks.

Tanzaku, you just didn't get it about eBooks. eBooks are not the digital version of a printed book. If publishers treat them that way, their misconception. But neither that of the readers nor a flaw of the devices. Or of those formats designed for eBooks.

[Logseman]

• The resulting book is page-based, not "location" based
• Font sizes cannot be changed on the fly (by the way, nor can they in a physical paper book)
• Leading (space between lines) cannot be changed on the fly (ditto, nor can it in a physical paper book)
• People want to be able to change the font size to better fit their vision or fatigue. I think this is a big issue and one lots of consumers would be loathe to sacrifice — although we do so every time we purchase a paper book.

You're defending PDFs as an ebook format, wasn't it? If you do, do not put paper books in the discussion. We're not talking of paper books versus paper book ersatz thingies, but about electronic books.

• File sizes for PDFs are much larger than for the equivalent ePub or prc/mobi versions. Fewer books can be loaded into the same memory space. For example, I can only fit 1,000 books on my Kindle 3 rather than 3,000. Is this a crisis?

Suppose I have a Cybook Gen 1. It has a slow processor and not much RAM. Not being able to maximize the quantity of readable words per page + slooooooow paging = no reading fun. And we're not considering the greater battery consumption that rendering bigger files does cause, and which would make one of the core virtues of eInk moot.

Beware of "easy solutions".

[Timoleon]

A beautifully formatted pdf built for a particular reader is a joy to look at. Fancy drop caps, the absence of flowing rivers through the text, wonderful and varied fonts, widows and orphans gracefully dealt with, graphics perfectly placed. Not that dreadfully difficult to construct, either.

For general release, a pdf as an ebook may not be practical, but as a static work of art for one's own particular ereader it can be a little piece of perfection that can be legitimately enjoyed!

[emellaich]

Ditto on what they said: the two major factors being large fonts for my aging eyes and the ability to keep my books when I change devices.

Solving this 'problem; (not looking enough like paper books) is like solving the 'problem' that requires books to have color, graphics, and enhanced capabilities. If I want that stuff, I'll get a video game or movie. I buy books to read. If I want them to be like paper, then I'll buy a paper book.

My ebooks? I want resizable fonts so I can change sizes as my eyes tire. I want easy to read, high-contrast text. And, I want them to be transferable from my Kindle to my iPad (and back) and on to my next device.

My intent is not to pile-on. To the extent that you intend this as market research, I wanted to add my vote to the people who are turned off by the pdf approach.

[toddos]

Originally Posted by Timoleon

For general release, a pdf as an ebook may not be practical, but as a static work of art for one's own particular ereader it can be a little piece of perfection that can be legitimately enjoyed!

Just hope you never need to change the font size, or you'll have to regenerate your PDF.

[khalleron]

Originally Posted by Timoleon

A beautifully formatted pdf built for a particular reader is a joy to look at. Fancy drop caps, the absence of flowing rivers through the text, wonderful and varied fonts, widows and orphans gracefully dealt with, graphics perfectly placed. Not that dreadfully difficult to construct, either.

For general release, a pdf as an ebook may not be practical, but as a static work of art for one's own particular ereader it can be a little piece of perfection that can be legitimately enjoyed!

And it still won't be more beautiful than this!