Kindle eBook Formatting & ePub Formatting Services
With the dramatic increase in the number of people using portable computers—whether they be iPhones, iPads, Amazon Kindles, Barnes & Noble Nooks, Android tablets, net books, “clunky” laptops, or other devices which read ePub, Mobi, and other eBook formats, there has been a press on publishers to produce their publications in a format that is easily readable by these varied technologies.
The most accepted method for producing consistent formatting on mobile readers is the same as the best method for producing consistent web formatting—by hand-coding the material at a text-only level, just like HTML. Automated software applications just don’t provide the same level of quality as work done by a careful, meticulous human.
eBook Publication & Conversion Services
I offer eBook formatting and conversion services for a wide variety of formats. I endeavor to format all publications in such a way that they will be not only compatible with, but look right on, the most platforms possible. Generally, this involves creating the file in HTML format first, which is my specialty—I’ve been hand-coding HTML since 1994.
It is important to be aware that portable reader-compatible publications may not look exactly like your original book or website—especially in the case of graphic-heavy originals. The reason for this is that early generation (and we’re still in the early generations!) readers have just as much trouble with graphics as the first web browsers—color support is limited to a few shades of gray, formatting is extremely limited, etc. However, as with the first web browsers, there is a difference between “thrown together” and “well done,” and I aim to get as close as possible!
It is also critical to keep the limitations of the various readers in mind when converting a document to digital reader format. I check the books I format on several platforms, including Kindle (black-and-white versions), Kindle Fire and Kindle Tablet, Nook Color, Nook Touch, iPads, and phone-based applications. It is important for anyone doing development to do this, and especially important for you, as a publisher, to check your developer’s work.