InDesign to Ebook: Resources

By Colleen Cunningham, Senior Book Designer, Adams Media

Digital book design may be a fairly new skill to most print book designers and production managers, but those who want to learn how to create an ePub eBook are in luck: there’s a wealth of resources on the web.

Of the three primary eBook formats — ePub, Kindle, and PDF — there’s no question of which ones present the bigger challenge to a print designer. While a PDF file is an exact replica of the print document, ePub and Kindle files are basically downloadable, zipped websites that use CSS and HTML to format content. Every print designer thinking about digital publishing has probably asked, “How much code do I really need to learn?”

The answer, for now, is at least enough to make your ePub file validate so it can be sold online via the most popular eBookstores. For instance, while InDesign does a good job of automating tedious coding during export, there remains a lot to do in the ePub file, including adding date metadata and cleaning up formatting errors.

Special thanks to @anthonylevings, @cdcasey, @eBookNoir, @lizcastro, @rcgordon, @neustudio, and @tinahender on Twitter for their input. Any errors or omissions are my own.

Websites

Adobe

• Digital Publishing
• InDesign Docs

Jedisaber

• ePub eBooks Tutorial: Step-by-step guide to building an ePub file. Useful for troubleshooting any validation issues.

Electric Book Works

• EBW Knowledge Base: Reference material and tips for digital publishing (both ePub and PDF).

eBook Architects

• Enhanced Ebooks: Examples of how to do some ePub enhancements.

International Digital Publishing Forum

• Openebook.org: The IDPF develops and maintains the EPUB content publication standard. This site has a Press Room that features current topics of interest to those in digital publishing.

InDesign Secrets

• EPUB: General InDesign tips, plus information on ePub best practices.
• From InDesign to iPad: for ePub vs PDF

Liz Castro

• pigsgourdsandwikis.com: This blog complements Castro’s book, EPUB Straight to the Point.
  • “Why I Crack Open InDesign ePubs”
  • “Making Pages EPUBs readable in BBEdit with GREP“

ThreePress Consulting, Inc.

• threepress.org: In-depth information on digital books and reading devices.
  • “Designing ebooks for ePub reading engines“

WebKit

• webkit.org: Webkit is an open source web browser “engine” that is the basis for Mac OS browsers, including Safari, the iPad and the iPhone.

Podcasts, Tutorials, Webinars

• Build a Digital Book with EPUB
  • A tutorial by Liza Daly hosted on IBM’s Developerworks. It is somewhat advanced for print designers, but useful for those who are ready to dig deep into how to create an ePub file from the ground up.
• eBook Ninjas
  • Podcasts on every aspect of digital book production and reading devices.
• InDesign to ePub with Liz Castro
  • Hosted by InDesignSecrets.com, this webinar demonstrates the steps outlined in Castro’s book. Part 1 focuses on InDesign and Part 2 focuses on opening the ePub files and editing code.
• Instant InDesign video tutorials by Gabriel Powell
  • These two video tutorials demonstrate best practices in setting up an InDesign file for ePub export.
• w3schools.com
  • Free tutorials in CSS and HTML, the building blocks of ePub and Kindle files. But it’s important to realize that not all code is supported in those formats and on all eReading devices yet. Use ePub- and Kindle-specific resources for learning what can and cannot be supported at this time.
• Learn GREP from The InDesigner on Lynda.com
  • Video tutorial on using GREP specifically in InDesign. GREP is a powerful way to edit code in ePubs. Lis Castro shows how to use GREP in her video tutorials (see the previous section).
• Ebook 202: Design/Production Intensive WEBcasts
  • eBook Architects’ Joshua Tallent covers the post-iPad ebook landscape, and drills down into the Kindle and ePUB formats.

Books

ePub Straight to the Point: Creating eBooks for the Apple iPad and other ereaders by Elizabeth Castro

• Project-based book that demonstrates how to make an ePub file (from Microsoft Word or InDesign) and edit the CSS and XHTML, with emphasis on creating an ePub for iBooks.

GREP in InDesign CS3/CS4 By Peter Kahrel

• Use GREP for a powerful way to edit code in ePubs.

How to Create an eBook with Adobe InDesign by Rufus Deuchler

• How to format content in InDesign, export it as ePub, and tweak it (NOTE: available only as a Kindle eBook).

Kindle Formatting by Joshua Tallent

• Top resource for authors, publishers, and anyone else who is interested in publishing content on the Kindle.

Community

Digital Book World

• Real-world, practical digital publishing news and information.

MobileRead Forums

• Forums on creating digital files and the mobile readers and devices they are read on.

Twitter

• Join us for the #ePrdctn chat on Wednesdays at 11:00 am EST. Also, using the #ePrdctn hashtag for pertinent tweets will direct those tweets to an active and knowledgeable community who answers questions and discusses the latest developments in digital publication work.

TOOLS

After getting familiar with the basics of a print-to-digital workflow, the trick is to figure out the best tools for your particular publication and current skill set. For instance, when we wanted to incorporate digital books into our in-house print workflow, we started with tools we already had and added a couple to fill in the blanks and ended up with InDesign CS4, Terminal, Springy, Dreamweaver CS4, and ePub validation at threepress.org. Joshua Tallent, a veteran eBook creator, uses Perl, TextPad, ePub Check, ePub Preflight, and KindleGen.

The steps in the ePub and Kindle workflow are the following:

1. creating
2. unzipping (if not using an editor that allows you to work in the ePub without unzipping)
3. editing
4. zipping
5. validating
6. conversion from ePub to Kindle format (if necessary)
7. testing

At our DBW 2011 Workshop, InDesign to Ebook – Optimizing Your Workflow, we’ll demonstrate step-by-step how we use our preferred tools on a sample ePub file. However, there are many to choose from depending on your comfort level and budget. Here are popular tools that a print designer or author who is learning how to edit code will find useful.

(NOTE: $ = not freeware)

Creating

Adobe InDesign CS4 or CS5 ($)

• Pro: Most popular print layout software, exports to ePub.
• Con: Export does not produce an ePub that will validate, formatting frequently needs tweaking.

Microsoft Word ($)

• Pro: Most popular word processing software, exports to HTML.
• Con: Not commonly used by book publishers for print version of book, only saves in HTML so must edit the files for the ePub format.

Pages ($)

• Pro: Word processing software for iWork on the Mac, exports to ePub.
• Con: Not commonly used by book publishers for print version of book, MAC only.

Storyist ($)

• Pro: Story development software popular with novelists and screenwriters, exports to ePub.
• Con: Not commonly used by book publishers for print version of book, MAC only.

Unzipping and zipping

AppleScripts

• Pro: Free script that automates the ePub zipping and unzipping process.
• Con: MAC only.

Springy ($)

• Pro: Automates the ePub zipping and unzipping process.
• Con: Can introduce errors in the ePub file.

Terminal (Use Liz Castro’s instructions in her book)

• Pro: Utility included with MAC OS, does not introduce coding glitches.
• Con: Command-line instructions can seem complicated at first, MAC only.

Zip

• Pro: Utility included with the Windows operating system.
• Con: Windows only.

Editing

BBEdit ($)

• Pro: Text editor that can be used to edit CSS and HTML in ePub files.
• Con: MAC only.

Coda ($)

• Pro: Website editor that can be used to edit CSS and HTML in ePub files. Features a Webkit-based preview and a direct connection to Terminal.
• Con: MAC only.

Dreamweaver ($)

• Pro: Website editor that can be used to edit CSS and HTML in ePub files. May have been already packaged with InDesign depending on the design suite that was purchased.
• Con: WYSIWYG can introduce coding errors so use in code view only.

oXygen XML editor ($)

• Pro: XML Editor that allows the editing of ePub files without unzipping them. oXygen Author is a version especially suited for authors.
• Con: More suited for those who are already familiar with coding.

Sigil

• Pro: Open source WYSIWYG ePub editor that allows the editing of ePub files without unzipping them.
• Con: Cannot edit date metadata or the .ncx and .opf files in the current version; removes code it doesn’t support like <video> and <audio> tags; WYSIWYG can introduce errors.

TextEdit

• Pro: Text editor included with the Mac operating system.
• Con: All coding must be done by hand but this creates a very clean file, MAC only.

TextPad ($)

• Pro: Popular text editor for Windows.
• Con: All coding must be done by hand but this creates a very clean file, Windows only.

Note: WYSIWYG = what you see is what you get. While this can make editing an easier process because you can visualize the changes you’re making right away, WYSIWYG tends to introduce coding changes that may not always validate. Use with caution.

Validating

ePub Check and ePub Preflight

• A command-line tool to validate ePub files for every vendor, which you download onto your computer. Also, check out these instructions from threepress.org.

threepress.org ePub validator

• ePub Check hosted on their site.

Kindle Previewer

• Upload books to the Previewer to check for Kindle validation errors.
• Note: Download Amazon’s Kindle Publishing Guidelines for specific instructions on their preferred format and coding for covers.

Conversion

Calibre

• Open source e-book management tool that organizes and manages eBooks, in and between a variety of formats (for instance, you can convert between ePub, PDF, and Amazon’s Kindle format. However, after conversion, editing and testing must still be practiced. To edit in the files, use dedicated editing software).

Creating for Kindle

Amazon Kindle’s Publishing Program

• Information on creating and uploading eBooks for the Kindle. Scroll to the bottom for KindleGen, Kindle Plugin for InDesign, the Kindle Previewer, and Amazon’s Kindle Publishing Guidelines.

KindleGen

• Software used to build eBooks that can be sold through Amazon’s Kindle platform (.azw and .mobi are Amazon’s proprietary eBook file formats).

Mobipocket Creator

• Amazon bought Mobipocket Creator in 2005 but has since launched KindleGen. Mobipocket Creator may be phased out at some point. Does not support audio and video.

Testing

The final step in the ePub workflow is testing for quality control. This gets complicated, as a distinction must be made between eReader devices, eReader software, and apps. For instance, you can sell an eBook on Amazon which can then be read on the Kindle (e-ink device) or on the iPad (iPad Kindle app on a color tablet). Or you can sell an eBook through Sony which can then be read on a Sony eReader (e-ink device) or on Adobe Digital Editions (software on a computer with a color screen).

If creating one ePub, the best tactic for now is to keep the file simple and test on a few popular eReader devices, eReader software, and apps (or at least the ones that you are targeting to sell your eBooks on). Technological advances can only make ePub creation easier and more robust in the future.

To get started, here’s freeware to preview ePub and Kindle books on your computer:

• Adobe Digital Editions (for .epub)
• Kindle Previewer
• Kindle for Mac
• Kindle for PC

At DBW 2011, Colleen and her colleague, Matthew LeBlanc, will compare and contrast the ePUB and PDF formats, discussing the pros and cons of each. They’ll dig deep into modifying your InDesign print workflows to accommodate the development and creation of quality ebooks.

Colleen Cunningham is the Senior Book Designer for Adams Media, a division of F+W Media.

About Colleen Cunningham

Colleen Cunningham is the Senior Book Designer for Adams Media, a division of F+W Media.

View all posts by Colleen Cunningham →

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• Designing Better Ebooks (Roundtable 6/30/11)
• Digital Reading: A Designer Deploys His Left Brain
• What Happens When an Ebook Gets Updated?
• Ebook 202: Design/Production Intensive WEBcasts