Read Lovely Books
Although print will likely forever be the king, many still read ebooks
I don’t have a preference when it comes to reading formats, but I do love ebooks’
I love the customization and the flexibility, and the ability to take ebooks wherever I go — and
Ever wondered how a paperback turns to a Kindle ebook? Have you ever been curious who makes
Though I’m pursuing my writerly dreams now, I still get booked with ebook gigs on a
I said variation because it’s slightly different from full-fledged HTML and CSS
Since these coding languages are too technical, I personally use the open-source ePub editor Sigil to write
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Each type of book — whether it be a novel, a children’s book, a nonfiction book peppered
For most books — mostly novels — many publishing houses rely on software packages like Adobe InDesign to automatically “
On the flipside, there’s an easier way to turn a book into an ebook
For readers or authors who don’t want to dabble with the mess that is HTML and
The downside is that the designs there are pre-formatted, so there’s a chance that some Vellum-created
They’re indispensable if the book is full of graphics, images, or columns that programs such as
Most people don’t understand that formatting an ebook is a design-related job
Those who engage in this profession basically make a digital facsimile (or even a completely original design),
Worse yet, HTML and CSS are limited in replicating these, so sometimes it’s a challenge to
An Epub Validator is the tool that does these validation checks
Then, after making sure that everything’s error-free underneath, the file needs to be tested and previewed
The rest needs to be tested manually on each device — iPhone, iPad, major Android devices, and other
I find it more convenient if there’s a PDF file lying around, as the text can
For those, I would need to run an Optical Character Recognition, a process in which text is
But since the technology is far from perfect, the text also needs to be proofread for accuracy
As for the fixed-layout ebook, it’s mostly done manually and is much more technical than the
Making a fixed-layout Amazon ebook, on the other hand, is another story
The usual pay is $2–4 per page for ebook conversion, which depends on the complexity, really
If the book’s design looks complex, the fees naturally climb up as it’s more difficult
The typical turnaround time for a book of around 300 pages is two weeks; add another week if
Most large publishers hire in-house developers, while others outsource the service in conversion houses
Despite the scarcity of opportunities, I like what I do because it blends my love for books
Though writing codes sometimes causes headaches, it’s generally a rewarding job
I feel a sense of accomplishment after the ebooks I produced find their way to readers’ hands