Uploading an EPUB on Apple Books

[Hosun]

Hi,

l am uploading an EPUB on Apple Books. 
On Apple Books, Cover Art is uploaded separately from EPUB, as seen in Screenshot 1.

When I export EPUB from InDesign, which one should I choose in Cover, None or Rasterize First Page in Screenshot 2?

Hosun

Screenshot 1

 

Screenshot 2

 

[James Gifford—NitroPress · Accepted solution]

None is probably the right solution, however —

On KDP, I always upload EPUBs with a cover image file included, but experimentation showed it is discarded as part of the Kindle conversion process, with the separately uploaded cover used instead. (There are opinions that including a cover image and uploading one results in double cover images in the final result, but I concluded to my satisfaction this was more or less user error.)

If there's no information in the Apple help system or instructions, I'd include a cover file image along with the separate one, since that's standard EPUB practice, then verify that there's no duplication. Since EPUB supports only one designated cover image, I'd see this as backup to ensure a cover is included and let the system sort out the structure.

Never use the "Rasterize First Page" option. That's a shortcut for things like reports and journals, not for commercial books.

[Hosun]

Thank you very much for your reply.

Apple Books said that there should be in-book cover.

And I have another question.

In Screenshot 1, there is a guideline for viewport units for image adaptability.

I tried:

img {height: 50vh}

img {height: 10vh}

But it isn't good (Screenshots 2, 3, 4).

My approach is to set width for each container (Screenshot 5) and check the images in 6 screen sizes:

6.5-inch screen

1024*768

1261*768

1261*823

1261*874

1440*874

It looks better in Screenshots 6 and 7.

Do you have any comment on it?

Hosun

Screenshot 1Screenshot 2Screenshot 3 (50vh)Screenshot 4 (10vh)Screenshot 5Screenshot 6 (1024*768)Screenshot 7 (1440*874)

 

[James Gifford—NitroPress · Accepted solution]

I agree with the recommendation to use relative units, and EPUB typically recognizes all four units (vh, vw, vmin, vmax). (Kindle, on the other hand, recognizes no "vertical" units and all relative dimensions have to be based on viewport width.)

Since you don't have any control over the device used to read an EPUB, even under Apple, my rules of thumb for images are—

• Use fixed units only on small images, icons to thumbnails, up to about 100-150 pixels oe equivalent. It's usually safe to combine this with text flow around the image if you specify float-left or -right as well, and define the text wrap distances.
• Use relative units based on width for most images, around 50-80% width or 50-80vw. It's usually best to center such images and not try and flow text around them.
• Use the None size setting for images you want to be as large as possible on each screen.

Haven't found many exceptions to that set of rules as long as you apply them consistently.

[Hosun]

Thank you very much for your comment.

I have another question.

In uploading EPUB on Apple Books, I should fill in Book Description.

I want to present unordered list in Screenshot 1.

I used some tags in Edit Metadata in Screenshot 2.

But it's not presented in Screenshot 3.

There is a guideline in Screenshot 4.

But I see no difference betweem .txt and .rtf.

Do you have any comment on it?

Hosun

Screenshot 1

Screenshot 2

Screenshot 3

[James Gifford—NitroPress · Accepted solution]

I've never used Apple as a sales portal, so I can't say. I do know that writing a listing with even simple formatting on KDP/Amazon is very frustrating, because their guidelines and formatting rules are haphazard. I usually have to enter a listing and then correct it by guesswork two or three times, at 24-48 hours per correction to see the results, even though I am experienced at judging their formatting system.

I am not sure why this should be; I know Amazon once permitted a wide range of HTML/CSS code but it was abused greatly so they successively reduced the effective commands, but that those commands are unpredictable and have oddities such as zero spacing above heading tags make no sense.

[Hosun]

Apple Books and Amazon share that thing in common. 

I sent an inquiry email to Apple Books and posted a question on Apple Comminuities. But I didn't get the answer. It was difficult to ask the same quedtion again. So, I asked some comment to you. 

Thank you very much. 

Hosun