EPUB Straight to the Point

by Elizabeth Castro

Almost overnight, EPUB has become the favored standard for displaying digital text on ereaders. The EPUB specification is a powerful method for creating gorgeous ebooks for EPUB-capable readers such as the iPad, Nook, and Kindle. Alas, it is far from perfect, with frustrating limitations, sketchy documentation, and incomplete creation tools. This extensively researched guide to creating EPUB files by best-selling author Elizabeth Castro shows you how to prepare EPUB files, make the files look great on the screen, work around EPUB weaknesses, and fix common errors. In this essential book, Liz shares her hard-earned experience for how to:

Create EPUB files from existing Microsoft Word or Adobe InDesign files, or from scratch.
Tweak EPUB files to take full advantage of the power of EPUB in each respective ereader.
Control spacing, indents, and margins.
Insert images and sidebars and wrap text around them.
Create links to external sources and cross-references to internal ones.
Add video to ebooks for the iPad.

Genres: Software, Writing, Technology, Ebooks, Nonfiction

191 pages, Paperback

First published July 28, 2010

About the author

Studied Spanish, Catalan, and Basque at University of Pennsylvania and University of California at Berkeley. Moved to Barcelona in 1987, found job in computer company translating documentation and software. Started Página Uno in 1990: publisher of Mac related books in Spanish. Moved back to US in 1993 to edit 5th edition of The Macintosh Bible. Wrote first edition of HTML Visual QuickStart Guide in 1995, now worldwide bestseller with more than 1 million copies sold in many languages. Also written books on Perl/CGI, XML, Blogger, iPhoto.

Most recently, wrote EPUB Straight to the Point, and accompanying miniguides, to help people publish ebook versions of their books.

Reviews

[Elisabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the detailed instructions in this book.

[Alessandro Pellizzari · Rating 1 out of 5]

Potevano intitolarlo "Making eBooks for iBooks with InDesign on the Mac".

A parte un inutile capitolo che accenna a come fare con Word (con 20 pagine di screenshot delle impostazioni di Word), l'80% del resto dice semplicemente "fatelo con InDesign, poi potete correggerlo col mio libro "XHTML vattelapesca". Ricordate che per vederlo su iBooks su iPad questi sono i css supportati, queste le dimensioni delle immagini e che avete tot pixel a disposizione".

Tenta di salvarsi con l'ultimo capitolo che almeno accenna un po' la struttura di un file ePub e come creare gli xml necessari, ma continua a ricadere nel "ma tanto lo fa InDesign per voi".

Un libro quasi inutile.

[Ken · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about only one thing: formatting EPUB files. It assumes you have already finished your manuscript and are ready to export it from Microsoft Word or Adobe InDesign (CS4 or CS5), then walks you through all the edits and changes necessary to produce an EPUB file. It is a very practical guide, but also very narrow in its focus. It also predates the release of the iBooks Author program, though this book's author promises updates on her Web site.

[Cara · Rating 3 out of 5]

101 kludges to make ebooks look pretty on the iPad, which is apparently riddled with maddening stupid quirks in its ereader. Ugh. Don't think I'll be doing this, but if I ever have to, this book is very clear and detailed.

p. 96 xhtml header
p. 110 the manifest, the spine
p. 114 document for cover
p. 156 controlling header position
p. 164 indents, short lines

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Someone helpful but not a beginner's book. Her follow-up book is not complete without having read this first, and even then I had some questions. But such is the way with technology that keeps progressing. I at least appreciated some real-world help for those of us who want to figure eBook publication out.

[Bob Hole · Rating 4 out of 5]

A highly useful book. Well written in a straightforward style. Well indexed too, I use it regularly as a reference.

It's not in depth, but it gets you up and running in no time. Easily translates to multiple platforms too.

[Kait · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this is a bit out of date now, Castro's book gives an excellent grounding in e-production. It's also a great reference guide to draw on when practicing, and Castro has published it DRM-free, allowing readers to unzip the file and examine the ePUB.

[Nicole]

Unrated because I did not actually make an EPUB file successfully; instructions are geared almost exclusively to users of Word and InDesign creating ebooks for iPad/iPhone apps.

[Rob McB · Rating 5 out of 5]

Liz Castro is the best for ebook creation. See her blog "Pigs, Gourds, and Wikis".

[Patti Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Studied this how-to manual, but not ready to actually use the information. But looks solid.

[Wayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

another excellent work by Elizabeth Castro. She has long been one of my favorite authors of technical books. I highly recommend this to anyone writing, or planning to write, and eBook.