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3.
Converting ebooks: Practically, how are print books converted
into ebooks? This is a quick primer of the basics.
4.
Practical typesetting: W hen you get to your office, you should
be able to start prepping files (mainly in InDesign) in
ebook-friendly ways. This is the crux of what you need to do.
My priority is to equip you to design books in a way that is not
print-centric. As books are read more and more on screens, the
designer’s job – and the job of those briefing and managing designers
and typesetters – changes in important ways. The best, most valuable
designers will soon be those who future-proof their content, making it
easily reusable for distribution to laptops, ereaders, mobile phones, and
a range of apps and devices we haven’t heard of yet.
In short, you need to be able to work towards much more than good old
PDF. In particular, you need to know how HTML works, because it has
become the most important computer language in publishing.
I’m going to assume that you like working in something like InDesign.
You want eventually to create print books and ebooks at the same time,
and where you can, to make those ebooks look good. I don’t try to give
you aesthetic design guidance; I simply aim to give you the knowledge
you need to prepare your print-oriented work for on-screen reading,
particularly as ebooks.
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