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Help URGENT help with Ebook created in InDesign

New Here ,
Jul 08, 2020 Jul 08, 2020

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I've recently created a document in inDesign and inadvertently selected the document type as "IPAD." I want to turn this document, which has tons of photos and hyperlinks to videos, into an ebook, which I plan on selling on my website.  I have a few questions though because I am NEW to using and doing this:

1.  Should I have used the "letter" template to create the document?  I anticipate that most people will view the document on their phones.  Now, when I change the document type to letter or Iphone, etc, the format is completely different. I don't know what to do at this point.

 

2. Is there a standard font size which I should have written this in?  I have 24 for the titles and 18 for the body of the document. 

 

3. If I want to sell this document on my website as an ebook, should I use the "publish Online feature?" And what is the best format?  How would I then store that format on my website so that when it is purchased, the customer gets the ebook.

 

Thank you for any assistance!

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EPUB , How to , Publish online

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correct answers 2 Correct answers

Community Expert , Jul 08, 2020 Jul 08, 2020

You can put a (single pages) PDF on a website to be downloaded and it can be read on any device.

Alternatively, consider the InDesign plug-in, at extra cost in5, that produces HTML5 documents.  https://ajarproductions.com

Do not include personal contact information on this public forum.

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Community Expert , Jul 09, 2020 Jul 09, 2020

Re HTML5 books produced with the in5 InDesign plug-in, you don't have to be online to access them once they've been downloaded to your device(s), as the earlier forum poster has stated. Such documents can be read on any device with an HTML5 browser, including Macs and PC computers, tablets and smart phones.

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Community Expert ,
Jul 08, 2020 Jul 08, 2020

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Which digital format(s) do you want your eBook to be available in?

e.g. Reflowable ePub, FXL ePub, Publish Online, PDF, HTML5 from in5

Each format has advantages (features) and disadvantages.

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New Here ,
Jul 08, 2020 Jul 08, 2020

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Hi Derek,

 

I also need help with that question.  It needs to be in a format that can be read clearly on all mobile devices (phones, tablets, etc). It is photo image heavy and has hyperlinks to my you tube channel. Any suggestions on that as well?

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Community Expert ,
Jul 08, 2020 Jul 08, 2020

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PDF will do that if you choose a smallish page size.

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New Here ,
Jul 08, 2020 Jul 08, 2020

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The document is 129 pages and I need to be able to have it on my website so
that when someone purchases it, they can get it from the website. As such,
I am not sure which format is the best for that and so that it is readable
on any mobile device.
*Natalia Pence, Esq.*
*HeBold SheBold, CEO & **Founder *
*Tel: 757-348-5637*
*Email: heboldshebold@gmail.com *
*Website: heboldshebold.com *

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Mentor ,
Jul 09, 2020 Jul 09, 2020

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What kind of content does the book have? Is it reflowable or fixed in layout? "Fixed" means that the layout should remain exactly as you designed it (important for picture books, design-rich layouts, etc.), while on the other end of the spectrum books such as novels will automatically adjust their text layout according to the device it is read on (and may be affected by a device's reader preferences as well).

 

Is it important that your images stay "put" or can they be flowed automatically with the text flow?

 

In any case, AVOID the Adobe online publishing option. You will have no control whatsoever over who can or cannot view the book. It cannot be easily monetized either, or secured from viewing. The book resides on Adobe's servers, and again you have no control in that regard.

 

The ipad document format you selected is actually not a bad one at all and meant for mobile devices (letter is for regular printed letter formats) - as long as you export a reflowable epub, anyone should be able to read it on any device with just about any epub reader. Fixed layout epub is still much, MUCH more problematic. Only iOS can deal with those properly without installing a third-party epub reader.

 

Hyperlinks work without issues in an epub. Your books does consist of many images, and only you can decide whether a flowable epub is possible (a flowable epub with images behaves a bit like Word and images: not much layout control, and the images are put between paragraphs.  (There are ways around this for a slightly better layout, but it takes too much to explain here.)

 

And epub can be uploaded to your website space, and the link secured behind a paywall. I noticed that your website runs on Squarespace, which has an eCommerce option: this should make it very simple to offer your book for purchase on your site.

 

If the layout of your book is important to maintain, then a PDF (ensure to secure it by disallowing printing and copying content) will probably work better, but unfortunately PDFs more often than not prove to be a horrific reading experience on mobile devices.

 

It is of course not an issue at all to provide your customers with multiple options, because a PDF works very well on desktop machines and larger tablets, while reflowable epubs read well on smaller devices.

 

As Derek points out, it is also possible to export your books as HTML, and put those pages online (behind a paywall and a user login protected space). The trouble with that is that users will have to be online to read the book, and users with a traditional ebook reader will not be able to access it. It could, however, be a third option. With HTML the layout either flows or is fixed (with the same caveats as epub mentioned above).

 

Aside from these considerations, you must also keep the size of your book under control. This mainly means that the images must be exported at the correct resolution, and this is quite important to keep in mind when publishing ebooks with many images. The last thing you want your users to deal with is a monstrously file-sized ebook that takes ages to open/download, or, in the worst case scenarios, will not evey load correctly (or at all).

 

If this sound complicated, check out some of the ebook publishing courses on Lynda.com.

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New Here ,
Jul 09, 2020 Jul 09, 2020

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Hi Rayek,

Thank you for the comprehensive reply. The document has a lot of
photographs along with text. The majority of photographs are the background
for each page on which the text is placed. They are arranged "send to
back." So, based on that, do I require a fixed or reflowable layout? And is
epub the best method for the document? I'm just not sure and this is the
first time I've done this. I need to ensure that the reader has a great
reading experience on mobile devices. Based on the fact that it's a
fitness trainer, they will likely be reading it on their phones. Right now,
the trainer is 129 pages because it's ten weeks of fitness programming.



*Natalia Pence, Esq.*
*HeBold SheBold, CEO & **Founder *
*Tel: 757-348-5637*
*Email: heboldshebold@gmail.com *
*Website: heboldshebold.com *

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Community Expert ,
Jul 08, 2020 Jul 08, 2020

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You can put a (single pages) PDF on a website to be downloaded and it can be read on any device.

Alternatively, consider the InDesign plug-in, at extra cost in5, that produces HTML5 documents.  https://ajarproductions.com

Do not include personal contact information on this public forum.

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Community Expert ,
Jul 09, 2020 Jul 09, 2020

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Re HTML5 books produced with the in5 InDesign plug-in, you don't have to be online to access them once they've been downloaded to your device(s), as the earlier forum poster has stated. Such documents can be read on any device with an HTML5 browser, including Macs and PC computers, tablets and smart phones.

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New Here ,
Jul 09, 2020 Jul 09, 2020

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Thank you for the replay nd suggestion Derek.
*Natalia Pence, Esq.*
*HeBold SheBold, CEO & **Founder *
*Tel: 757-348-5637*
*Email: heboldshebold@gmail.com *
*Website: heboldshebold.com *

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