E-Book Production
What is production when it comes to books, you say? Well, I'm glad you asked. Please let me explain.
In short, book production is the process of taking the finished manuscript, layout, and artwork and putting it all together into what we recognize as a book. Easy, right? Eh...not so much.
There are two kinds of production when it comes to books---print, and digital. If you'd like more information about what we can do to make you a library quality print book that looks equivalent to those on the shelf of Barnes and Noble, please see the "Design" page. But...what if you want to produce an e-book that you can sell on your website without having to go through Amazon? Or what if you own a business and you want to produce a digital pamphlet that potential customers can browse without having to purchase it? Though I'll happily help you upload your book onto Amazon should you so choose, production of independent and validated digital books is what I'm talking about here.
Understanding HTML and CSS coding is a bit...well, it's very logical, actually, but it's not for everyone. Putting together an electronic book from scratch is no small process. Yes, that's right, I said "from scratch." Here at Move to the Write, we use no software to make a computer generated epub. We write the code, insert the fonts and images, type by hand the metadata, compile it into an .epub, ensure the file validates, scan it tweak it agonize over it until it is absolutely perfect. Then we give it to you. That right there---Grandma's homemade cookies versus a box from the shelf of a petrol station--- is the main difference between digital book production at Move to the Write versus many other places that offer digital book production services.
Would you like to see a picture or two? Awesome. Below are renderings of a handmade e-book that I made as it appears on Chrome through iBooks.
In short, book production is the process of taking the finished manuscript, layout, and artwork and putting it all together into what we recognize as a book. Easy, right? Eh...not so much.
There are two kinds of production when it comes to books---print, and digital. If you'd like more information about what we can do to make you a library quality print book that looks equivalent to those on the shelf of Barnes and Noble, please see the "Design" page. But...what if you want to produce an e-book that you can sell on your website without having to go through Amazon? Or what if you own a business and you want to produce a digital pamphlet that potential customers can browse without having to purchase it? Though I'll happily help you upload your book onto Amazon should you so choose, production of independent and validated digital books is what I'm talking about here.
Understanding HTML and CSS coding is a bit...well, it's very logical, actually, but it's not for everyone. Putting together an electronic book from scratch is no small process. Yes, that's right, I said "from scratch." Here at Move to the Write, we use no software to make a computer generated epub. We write the code, insert the fonts and images, type by hand the metadata, compile it into an .epub, ensure the file validates, scan it tweak it agonize over it until it is absolutely perfect. Then we give it to you. That right there---Grandma's homemade cookies versus a box from the shelf of a petrol station--- is the main difference between digital book production at Move to the Write versus many other places that offer digital book production services.
Would you like to see a picture or two? Awesome. Below are renderings of a handmade e-book that I made as it appears on Chrome through iBooks.
Cool, right? We think so too.
Colour and embedded fonts in epubs will render like this on some browsers and devices and not others. The above is how our books appear on a computer, iPad, tablet e-reader (like the Kobo Arc 7), or android device such as your smartphone. Unfortunately, some devices that are strictly e-readers (such as the Kindle or Kobo Glow) will not render colour and embedded fonts, so readers will not get the handwritten letter and chapter head boarder effects. Eventually this may change, but such is the situation at this time.
In addition to including tapable hot links to things like your author website or Facebook page, we can also include enhanced elements such as audio files, images, or video. We live in an exciting time, folks, where these enhancements can complement the reading experience...on devices that will allow it.
Move to the Write now offers digital book production services to those who want to create electronic documents available for download from places other than Amazon (well, and Amazon too, of course, as well as just about any other distribution company you can think of). The difference between our handmade e-books and computer generated ones is easy to see.
