InDesign to ePUB: Converting Print Books to eBooks

This InDesign to EPUB, Kindle, and iPad course shows pub­lish­ers, design­ers, and pro­duc­tion staff how to use the soft­ware they already use to cre­ate print books—InDesign—for the emerg­ing ebook mar­ket. Beginning with an overview of dig­i­tal pub­lish­ing for the ebook mar­ket­place, the course demon­strates how to pre­pare exist­ing InDesign files for opti­mal EPUB and Kindle con­ver­sion. The course cov­ers apply­ing pro­fes­sion­al text for­mat­ting, val­i­dat­ing EPUBs, and incor­po­rat­ing search-engine friend­ly meta­da­ta, as well as set­ting up pub­lish­er accounts at the major ebook dis­tri­b­u­tion chan­nels and sell­ing ebooks direct­ly to read­ers through an e‑commerce site.

What You Will Learn

  • Understanding ebooks and ebook publishing
  • Examining the EPUB format
  • Using lay­out order, the Articles pan­el, and XML tags to man­age con­tent flow
  • Formatting with para­graph and char­ac­ter styles
  • Creating a cov­er image
  • Optimizing images
  • Exporting InDesign con­tent to an EPUB
  • Including drop caps, pull quotes, and text wraps
  • Acquiring an ISBN for ebooks
  • Converting an EPUB to Kindle, iBookstore, and Nook formats
  • Distributing ebooks with resellers and aggregators

Lesson Outline

The fol­low­ing is a list of pos­si­ble top­ics for you to use as a guide. Your course will be ful­ly cus­tomized to your unique goals, work­flow, and learn­ing pace. Because every course we teach is ful­ly cus­tomized to each group, the fol­low­ing list of top­ics to be learned should be con­sid­ered a guide­line, one that will be expand­ed or altered as required to fit your needs.

The Landscape of eBooks

  • What You Can and Cannot Do in eBooks
  • eBooks Versus Fixed-Layout eBooks
  • eBook Versus PDF
  • eBook Versus Digital Replica Format
  • eBooks Versus Interactive Tablet Publications
  • The Business of eBooks
  • EPUB, MOBI, Kindle Format 8, and Other eBook Formats
  • eBook-Reading Devices and Their Market Shares
  • eJournals, eNewspapers, and Other EPUB Periodicals

Creating a Basic eBook

Creating an eBook from Scratch

  • Beginning the Layout
  • Writing in InCopy
  • Importing from InCopy
  • Importing from a Text Document
  • Importing from Microsoft Word

Testing Your EPUB

  • On the Desktop
  • On eReaders
  • On Tablets
  • On Smartphones

Styling Your eBook

  • Paragraph Styles
  • Vertical Spacing

Converting a Print Publication to en eBook

  • What Doesn’t Work
  • Master-Page Items in eBooks
  • Removing Fixed-Layout References
  • Content Ordering by Placement
  • Content Ordering with the Articles Panel
  • Content Ordering by Anchoring Objects
  • Content Ordering by Tagging

Working with Images and Multimedia in eBooks

Exporting Images to eBooks

  • eBook Image Formats
  • Automatic Conversion to EPUB Image Formats
  • Asserting Control Over Bulk Image Conversion
  • Asserting Control Over Individual Image Conversion

Preparing Images for eBooks

  • Adding ALT Tag Alternate Text
  • Sizing Images for eBooks
  • Using Cover Images
  • Including Native InDesign Artwork
  • Captioning Images

Adding Audio and Video to eBooks

  • eBook Audio and Video Formats
  • Inserting Audio
  • Including Video
  • Making Good Video Posters

Adding Vector Graphics to eBooks

  • Creating SVG Graphics
  • Using SVG in InDesign

Fine-Tuning EPUB

Getting Inside the EPUB

  • Unzipping and Zipping an EPUB on Mac
  • Unzipping and Zipping an EPUB on Windows
  • Editing EPUBs with­out Unzipping Them

Editing Files Inside an EPUB

  • MIME Type
  • Container.xml
  • Encryption.xml
  • XHTML Files
  • CSS Files
  • NCX Files
  • OPF Files
  • Image, Audio, Video, and Fonts
  • File Naming

Editing eBook Metadata

  • Editing Metadata in the OPF
  • Required Metadata
  • Optional and Special-Case Metadata
  • Editing Metadata in InDesign
  • Editing Metadata in Calibre
  • Editing Metadata in Sigil

Creating Multiple-Chapter eBooks

  • Using Multiple InDesign Documents
  • Breaking by Paragraph Style
  • Breaking by Tags

Creating Tables of Contents

  • Building an On-the-Page TOC
  • Styling the Table of Contents
  • Generating the On-Demand TOC
  • Editing the TOC.NCX

Advanced eBook Design

The Role of CSS in eBook Design

  • Supported CSS2 Attributes
  • Supported CSS3 Attributes
  • Utilizing a CSS Reset
  • Creating and Using CSS Templates
  • Using Media Queries

Advanced Text Formatting

  • Basic CSS Text Styling
  • Effecting Page Breaks
  • TOC <nav­point> Styling

Advanced Image and Multimedia Formatting

  • Wrapping Text Around Images
  • Adding Captions and Photo Credits to Images
  • Adding Sidebars and Callouts

Publishing Your eBook

Preparing Your EPUB for Distribution

  • Fixing InDesign’s EPUB Export Errors
  • A Checklist for Final Preparation
  • Converting an EPUB for Kindle
  • Using the Kindle InDesign Plugin
  • Preparing an EPUB for Apple iBook Store

The eBook Stores

  • The Pros and Cons of the Amazon Kindle Store
  • The Pros and Cons of the Barnes & Noble NOOK Store
  • The Pros and Cons of the Barnes & Noble NOOKKids Store
  • The Pros and Cons of the Apple iBook Store
  • The Pros and Cons of the Rest of the Market (Kobo, Sony, etc.)
  • eBook Distribution Services

How to Publish to the eBook Stores

  • How to Publish to the Amazon Kindle Store
  • How to Publish to the Barnes & Noble NOOK Stores
  • How to Publish to the Apple iBook Store
  • How to Publish to the Rest of the eBook Stores (Kobo, Sony, etc.)

Selling Your eBook on Your Own Website

  • Techniques and Systems for Sales
  • Payment Processor Gateways
  • Fulfillment Services
  • Security Concerns
  • Do You Need Digital Rights Management?

Selling Your eBook in Print

  • The Pros and Cons of Print Publication
  • Vanity Press
  • Licensing Print Rights
  • Using Print-on-Demand
  • Comparing Print-on-Demand Services