ebook

[kimg549109]

I am trying to make an ebook with an existing mechanical in InDesign. It creates one, but is adding a white page before the first page (cover) and after the last page (backcover) Not sure why? Can you direct me to how to fix this? Is this normal? I want to upload it to Amazon. Thank You. Kim Gatto See attached.

Kim@desingsbygatto.com

[Mike Witherell]

What are you previewing it in?

[Derek Cross]

It's because you've got facing pages, so page 1, the cover, is a right-hand page.

[kimg549109]

Ok. So if I don't have facing pages, it will just be the cover? But wouldn't a picture book be set up as facing pages?

Would you know how to add a page turn in InDesign? I have been searching and searching and can't figure it out. I do not have the flash swf setting in page transitions.

[kimg549109]

I am reading it in my ebook reader on my mac. 

[Derek Cross]

Page turning (flip) doesn't come with InDesign and Flash is an obsolete format.

Have a look at CircularFLO https://www.circularflo.com

To change from facing pages to single pages: File > Document Setup – untick Facing Pages. OK

Test your ePub on all the devices and readers you can access.

Have you validated your FXLePub?

(IMO the text is a bit on the small size to read on some devices.)

[rayek.elfin]

Fixed layout epub export will export facing pages as they are organized in your pages panel. When you turn on "Allow document pages to shuffle" in that panel, pages can be rearranged in facing page pairs and exported as single double-faced pages in an epub.

However, this is generally not a good idea for the type of picture book that you are converting. The pages in that book are mostly single pages, in portrait proportions.

1. In InDesign, create a new document based on an iPad page template if that is your target platform (found under "Mobile" when a new document is created). If you are solely designing for Kindle (Amazon), select the Kindle Fire/Nook template. TURN OFF FACING PAGES.
   
   Side note! If you intend to publish on Kindles, be aware that the iPad screen proportions differ from Kindle devices and vice versa. Meaning: the fixed layout pages may not cover the entire screen area.
   
   To resolve this, you must create at least two versions: one for the iPad reader market, and one for Kindles and other devices. It also means that drawings may need to be cropped or adjusted when placed on the page.
   
   Before proceeding you now have to decide to work with either a portrait or a landscape page format. This affects how the reader will (predominantly) read your pages (rotation of the device in the reader's hands).
   
   If the book page layouts comprise of mostly portrait single page designs, portrait mode is probably your best approach. If the original book's layout are mostly spreads then a landscape orientation makes more sense. But often I find books consist of a combination of both, in which case I rely on the content and whether I am allowed to rearrange the content to decide on which orientation would work best.
   
   In your book there are two full-spread layouts, while the rest (25 pages) are single portrait layouts. These layouts have quite sharp visual boundaries in a lot of instances.
   
   With this conversion I would typically choose to go for a singular portrait-oriented page approach in InDesign. It just works better for the turtle book as a whole and is less work.
   
   
2. To deal with the full-spread layouts, you have a couple of options:
   a) (completely) redesign those pages to accommodate the portrait layout (NOT an option in this case: these are full-size painted drawings!)
   
   b) cut these in half, and position on respective portrait pages. Not always the cleanest or nicest looking solution, and it would destroy the visual intent of those two pages (somewhat in this case). But it works out-of-the-box without real usability  or technical issues.
   
   c) solve it with some interactions: allow the reader to read the left side first, then with a button action animate the drawing to the left (simulating an animated pan of the camera view) which exposes the right side of the page. This would work quite well with the first "I'm a solo rider" spread: I would cut out the turtle on the bike, restore the background, place the biking turtle graphic on its own layer, add a button or some other indication that the reader can continue reading by clicking/tapping something, and animate the background panning from right to left, and have the bike turtle animate along a path to ride off the screen on the right. This would create a nice visual continuity.
   
   Do be aware that including this type of animated interactivity does not work well in most e-readers (excepting the Apple iReader and Thorium), and will probably completely break for most readers that read on Android, Windows, Linux, etc.).
   BTW Publishing on the Amazon/Kindle market doesn't support animation or complex interactions either.
   
   d) the simplest solution: don't change anything, and allow for these two pages to work as landscape oriented pages. If your target audience is mobile device users, they will just rotate the device naturally when they encounter such a page. Not so nice for desktop users, though, of course. Works fine on Kindle devices.
   
   In your case (seeing that you intend to publish on Kindle) options (b) and (d) would work.

Hope this helps a bit. And keep testing, testing, testing.

[kimg549109]

Wow! Thanks so much for all this information. This is very helpful.

I guess the best thing, is to relayout as an ipad and adjust sizes if I can?

Single page version would be ok with some minor adjustment. Do you find picture books are ok as single page or mostly done as spreads?

Do you know if there are full tutorials on creating an ebooks from indesign?

I would much rather do it right than get it out not at the best format.  

[Derek Cross]

Linkedin Learning have online video tutorials on creating FXL ePubs and Reflowable ePubs – you can get a 30-day free trial.

You might find this site useful: http://epubsecrets.com

[rayek.elfin]

Yes, ideally you would create a version for the iBook market (ipad) and one for Kindle. The screen proportions are different, and KIndle books offer less options for interactive features. Fitting existing art on a screen with different proportions sometimes means sacrificing either space or cropping part of the art. Or a solution whereby you think outside the box (as in the use of animation to pan the view while reading, and so on).

When deciding on a either landscape or portrait proportions for picture (children's) books, it really depends on the original's layout and art. Unless the book is designed from scratch specifically as an ebook, of course: in that case you decide.

But whatever you do: avoid creating spreads in InDesign. If you need a "spread", create a landscape page, and treat that as a spread. With ebooks it is more of a hassle than it's worth to deal with actual spreads - if you can avoid it, please do.

Also keep in mind that resolutions differ from device to device, and this affects the resolution (pixel dimensions) of the placed art. It is not set in stone either: some art just does not need a high resolution to still look great. An extreme example are fluffy looking clouds: there is just no sense in placing/exporting those at a high resolution. Even at a low resolution these will look great, and save much memory and improve the overall performance of a book. And don't forget that your royalties may be impacted by file size as well (depends on the royalties scheme), so it may be important to keep book file size down. (InDesign is terrible with epub optimization and graphics assets, by the way: it requires manual intervention after publishing your final epub from InDesign to optimize it properly.)