Episode 10: Creating an eBook with InDesign (Part 1)

November 11, 2009

eBook publishing is becoming increasingly popular. More and more publishers are providing content in the eBook format. Major bookstores such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Borders are selling thousands of eBooks every day. And as more people become savvy with eBook readers, eBooks will become even more popular. This new and different way of distributing and accessing book content expands the opportunities for reading, just as the MP3 file did with digital music.

Adobe InDesign lets you create eBooks in the EPUB (electronic publication) format, which is an open eBook standard that was designed to enable content to adapt to different screen sizes and resolutions. With more publishers, bookstores, and developers supporting the EPUB format, there is no better time to start exploring the world of eBook publishing. In this episode, I start by introducing you to the EPUB file format. Then I show you some best practices for setting up an InDesign file that can be accurately converted to an EPUB file.

You'll learn how important it is to apply paragraph and character styles to all the text in your document and you'll learn a trick for speeding up that process. Then you'll discover how to control the position of all the text and graphics in an EPUB file. I also talk about master page elements and how they are handled when a document is converted to an EPUB file.

In Episode 11, I'll continue from where I left off and finish preparing the document for export. I'll also show you how to export the final EPUB file.

If you would like even more in-depth information on creating EPUB files, check out my article in the October/November 2009 issue of InDesign Magazine.


Watch the Episode

Bookmark and Share

Posted in eBook Publishing, Layout, Video Podcasts

6 comment(s) to "Episode 10: Creating an eBook with InDesign (Part 1)"

#1

November 16, 2009

Zorba

Thank you, Gabriel, for a clear and interesting tutorial. I'm looking forward to more in part two. ... Michael Pastore == 50 Benefits of Ebooks ==

#2

November 16, 2009

dianabog

Looking forward to part 2 and more--very interested in the basic how-to's on ePub. What about setting up chapters using the Book option? or is it still best to go back and anchor images and captions and have one continuous flow? What about tables? so much to learn!

#3

November 17, 2009

Gabriel Powell

I don't talk about tables in Part 1 or 2 of this series. InDesign will export them as XHTML tables in the EPUB file, but all the table formatting is lost. I've experimented with using CSS styles to format tables, but have had little success. In fact, in my testing I’ve discovered that not all eBook readers even support formatted tables. I'm looking forward to the future of eBooks. It can only get better.

#4

June 05, 2010

robbiesparks

Hi Gabriel, Is there a definitive list of fonts which are technically suitable available (without embedding). There have been many posts regarding personal preferences for readability. I know that in one of the pods you said that fonts should be Opentype or TrueType. I looked at the iPad promo which shows its native 5 fonts. Robbie

#5

July 12, 2010

ryandavis

Hi, Gabriel. How do you create a drop cap in an EPUB? I can't seem to figure this one out. Thank you.

#6

July 18, 2010

MR

I was very excited to find your Podcast on eBooks. BUT just as I get to the good part, it starts over! I'm already about to pull my hair out over this stuff. The streaming problem has put me over the edge. MR

Please sign in or become a member to comment on this post.