We’vet just finished the e-book guide 4 Perfect Days in Buenos Aires. It was a process full of questioning many things that are, should or could be different from printed books. (Another post will address why PDF and not some other format for this e-book.)
Here I’ll share some of the topics that we came across while working:

ORIENTATION: portrait or landscape?

By thinking that we are designing a ‘book’ the impulse is always to go with a known book format (portrait), but since the screen is landscape, it’d be useful to follow that format if the e-book is intended to be read on screen.
However, when we read a print book we are always looking at a landscape format from the moment we open the book: the double page. So finally, I decided to go landscape, but as double page to keep the book familiarity and avoid the feel of a PowerPoint presentation.

Should we use COLOR or B&W?

Should we do it full color? We can! So why not?

A full color e-book can be done for the same price and will be more attractive since it’s full of graphics… ok, let’s think about the audience: what if the people want to actually print it and take it with them? Remember this is a tourist guide!
WHAT TO DO? We decided to work on 2 versions: a screen version with images & full color for people to enjoy, read and look at while planning the trip; and a print version that is B&W with a simpler layout. So by printing 11 letter-size pages of the print version then the reader can have the complete text to go.
Here an example of the screen version and the print version:

One complicated part we encountered was a double page with an architectural walking tour that included buildings photos: in this case we just left the map in the print version with references (so people could find the buidings) without images and included the text of that section:

To keep the feel of the book, the print version has the same text orientation (landscape), so by slightly modifying the original grid it was ready:

TYPOGRAPHY: screen font or book font?

I wanted a font family that could be used for the whole project, including the print version. The Rotis family was the choice because of the maximum readability and many options to combine the different levels of hierarchies of headings and text. The main text is set in Rotis Sans Serif and the headings are Rotis Serif & Rotis Semi Serif.

With or without LINKS?

I find it useful when a multi-page document (e-book in this case) has anchors from the Table of Contents linking to the corresponding pages in the e-book. Also since this is an e-book all Web sites mentioned in the e-book are actual links embedded in the document.

COVER

To be consistent with the landscape look of the whole project, the cover was done in the same style, so when opening the document all the pages are the same size, including the cover.

Successful self publishing is a lot more than just converting a MS Word document to PDF.

Respected Web designer Mark Boulton of the UK has a great post on why he chose to self publish his new Web design book rather than going with a traditional publisher.

He makes a very important point about self publishing:

Luckily, I’ve got a good team around me - a designer, a project manager, a proof-reader, and an editor to shape the book (that was particularly helpful early on).

You can’t do this on your own…if you want to have any chance of producing a book that anyone wants to buy and read. The part about having an editor is especially important. Of course, we also think that having a good book designer is particularly important, too. And that part about having a project manager? It should come as no surprise that most authors are not very good at managing projects and deadlines. Editing, project management, proofreading, and book design are all functions normally provided by a publisher (along with distribution & marketing). If you’re going to self publish successfully, then you have to take on those tasks. And you have to be willing to absorb the costs of those functions.

About the financial aspects, Mark says

the financial potential of just one PDF book far outweighs the traditional process (if you have an audience that is).

The key to that statement is the audience. I’ve been following Mark’s blog for a number of years and he always has good insights. He has established authority in his niche. A problem that many authors have is that they wait to establish their Web presence until after their book is published, or at least not until they have a book contract. It takes a long time and a lot of effort to build an audience online. Authors need to start on that long before they start writing that book, particularly in non-fiction.

Everybody knows by now that authors have to take responsibility for promoting their books. You can’t just leave that task to the publisher. Of course, every author wants people talking about their book. Many of our clients mention that they want a viral marketing campaign. A lot of blogs out there talk about Internet marketing but one of the sites I enjoy the most is Web Ink Now by David Meerman Scott.

David has several books and some great free e-books on the topics of PR and viral marketing. His latest book is World Wide Rave:

A World Wide Rave is when people around the world are talking about you, your company, and your products. Whether you’re located in San Francisco, Dubai, or Reykjavík, it’s when global communities eagerly link to your stuff on the Web. It’s when online buzz drives buyers to your virtual doorstep. And it’s when tons of fans visit your Web site and your blog because they genuinely want to be there.

He’s come across a really great method for getting people on the Web to talk about his book. According to David, “Your challenge: Creating triggers that get millions of people to spread your ideas and share your stories.” ….and, so here’s me promoting the poster of David’s book in Buenos Aires.

Regular readers will not that I continue to push back against the dire warnings that e-books will replace print books. My resistance comes not because I’m a bookman (which I’m not) but because sweeping, generalized statement leave out so much.

Everyone points to how cars replaced horse-drawn carriages, but there are so many examples where a new technology did not replace previous methods. Yes, e-books will shift print books, publishing, and booksellers in new directions but that doesn’t mean the eradication of print.

In the 1800s the public lecture was a popular and effective way to convey information. Radio did not entirely replace the gathering of individuals to hear someone speak. Cinema did not replace theater. DVD replaced VHS but not movie theaters. MP3s replaced CDs, cassettes, 8-tracks, & vinyl but none of that replace live concerts.

Moving-going, attending concerts and lectures: those are all communal activities but reading is not. In that way, reading is more akin to the solitary viewing of a movie at home or listening to music on an iPod. Yet, when we go to the movies, or sit through the performance of an opera, we process that experience in solitary ways, as individuals. Part of our sensory experience may feed from the audience (particularly at a rock concert) but much of our pleasure at enjoying movies in a theater or a classical concert stems from the environment of the theater and other perceptions. Who is not annoyed at that guy talking two rows over? (And, honestly, I do have to say that I can think of very few lectures that I have enjoyed in person. For that, please, please just give me the lecture on YouTube.)

There are ways that we interact with books through typography, design, and the format of print itself that are so successful that it’s practically transparent to most. For many books - and I don’t say all - print will remain the most effective medium because the book itself has a form that suits our senses.

In a decade or two from now, with advances in digital displays, this will certainly change but I still doubt that even by 2025 we will have seen the complete absence of print books. I know I must sound like a Luddite to all those who are convinced that everyone - right now - should be reading books on their iPhones.

What I do expect is that digital media will create new forms of interacting with a large body of textual and image-based material (the common ingredients of books), ways that go far beyond what we see with the current generation of e-book reading devices. Yet, the capabilities of rich Internet-based digital media have been with us for more than a decade now and, honestly, we’ve not seen a very significant shift towards utilizing this new media in creative and impactful ways. For that, I do blame academia and publishing. There’s a lot more that needs to be done and it will probably come about with the generation that was born into a world where digital media is not considered “new”.

We need to learn what it means to write with digital media.
We need to learn what it means to read a digital text that is not an e-facsimile of a book.

I spent most days between 1990 and 2005 thinking about the future of libraries. My career then focused on the planning, development, and management of digital libraries. A major topic for librarians throughout the 1990s was understanding the future role of libraries, partly by attempting to understanding what business were libraries really in. Much of the current discussion regarding e-books and publishing parallels these same concerns for libraries.

Indeed, many may think that libraries are in even more perilous condition than publishing and booksellers. But, at least at the academic library level with which I am most familiar, that is far from true. Academic librarianship - which has the clear purpose of serving the research and educational mission of its parent college or university - benefited from strong professional leadership that shared a common concern for shaping a strategic response to the emerging digital landscape.

Why are academic libraries not endangered? While not everyone is onboard, it’s safe to say that the overwhelming majority of the leadership in academic libraries share a common understanding:
* Libraries are not buildings.
* Libraries are not warehouses of books.
* Libraries provide a service to the academic community, which includes the provision of books (print as well as digital resources) but also includes other services (e.g., training in information literacy and digital media).
* Libraries have long known that no library can afford a book collection that meets the needs of everyone, which led to resource sharing agreements such as interlibrary loan and cooperative collection development among institutions.

Libraries realized that they serve the information needs of students and faculty regardless of media. An essential part of that service is “library as place”, providing a space for students to study, work collaboratively, and - yes - even socialize.

I could go on and on about strategic issues for academic libraries, but that’s not the purpose here.

Publishers - unlike academic librarians - don’t share a common vision or even goal. The variety of publishers mean that there’s no solution that fits the entire industry. Some publishers will determine that they are, indeed, in the information industry. Other publishers rightly will decide that they are, indeed, in the book business. Yes, the publishing of print books will survive throughout our lifetimes, but - of course - it’s will be very different for certain classes of publishers.