Photo-heavy ebook?

[Stephanie Golden]

My collaborator wants to create a series of short ebooks she can sell off her website and elsewhere. The difficulty is that they would include step-by-step exercise instructions illustrated by photos, which means the formatting has to be able to put photos reliably on the same screen with the steps they illustrate in all platforms.

I was able to format my own straight-text book for Amazon and Smashwords, but this level of formatting is beyond my skills--if it's even possible. Could anyone tell me whether it is? Would we need a differently formatted file for each platform? If so, there must be people out there whom I can hire to do it, yes?

Maybe a PDF would be better, formatted for a small page?

[veinglory]

Photo ebooks are a nightmare outside of pdf unless you are pretty skilled. If pictures have to appear any way other than serial order, full width... I would suggest a professional formatter or sticking with pdf.

[Stephanie Golden]

Thanks--you've pretty much confirmed what I suspected.

[merrihiatt]

Another option is to modify the images by adding the instructions at the bottom, top or side (preferably top or bottom since the width is more limited). Then, when you insert the image, the text and image are all together.

[ABinBoston]

Have a look at this template. I used it for an all photo based book for the newer Kindle devices.

http://codecanyon.net/item/kf8fixed-...author=U-DO-IT

AB

[merrihiatt]

Originally Posted by ABinBoston

Have a look at this template. I used it for an all photo based book for the newer Kindle devices.

http://codecanyon.net/item/kf8fixed-...author=U-DO-IT

AB

Were you able to re-use the template or did you need to pay $20 for each e-book you created?

[sunandshadow]

Another option is to put the text into images, locking it's relationship to the illustrations. This can interfere with searching within the document & etc. though.

[Laer Carroll]

You can do it. The following Amazon guide shows you exactly how.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?docId=1000729511

Also from that page you can download some examples. You can then modify them to suit your particular project - an option which can make the instructions in the guide more understandable.

There is also a free ebook which you can get at the following link for the more general task of creating any ebook for the Kindle.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007URVZJ6

Good luck!

[Stephanie Golden]

Wow! things have changed since I did my own ebook. And that wasn't so very long ago. Thanks for this info.

[veinglory]

Having bought Kindle books with illustration... well. I would suggest that it doesn't tend to work out as planned. The kindle book I am reading writing now is meant to simply have occasional full screen illustrations but in fact the text is trying to wrap and it is a mess.

[Medievalist]

The Absolute Visions Anthology of spec fic stories and illustrations by Absolute Write members has black and white illustrations, but I had to hand-code the HTML for Kindle, and even then, I'm not really satisfied with the way the same book behaves on earlier Kindles.

My publisher produces attractive versions of the print books with many color illustrations but they're targeting iBooks customers.

[Laer Carroll]

Originally Posted by Medievalist

I'm not really satisfied with the way the same book behaves on earlier Kindles.

The earlier Kindles support a fairly limited subset of HTML, so this is not surprising.

Originally Posted by veinglory

The kindle book I am reading writing now is meant to simply have occasional full screen illustrations but in fact the text is trying to wrap and it is a mess.

The fault is likely that of the one who created the ebook. There is an art to it, and some people do it better than others. You can master all the technical aspects of creating an ebook and still do a bad job.

The old advice to Keep it Simple is great advice. People who try elaborate effects need to keep in mind that as complexity increases, the difficulty of doing something well increase EXPONENTIALLY.

[Medievalist]

Originally Posted by Laer Carroll

The earlier Kindles support a fairly limited subset of HTML, so this is not surprising.

It's not that limited; the problem isn't in the book engine, it's in the display.

It sucks.

It's not even as good as a 16 shades of gray Mac PowerBook 170 from 1992

[HistorySleuth]

Thanks for the links everyone. I was looking for answers to this as well. I have a book that is mostly text except for 8 pages in the middle with B & W photos.

[veinglory]

For an ebook might it not make more sense to put the illustrated instructions at the beginning or end where they are easiest to find?

[Stephanie Golden]

Can't do it for an exercise book. The illustrations need to be next to the steps of the exercise that they illustrate.

[veinglory]

It seems to me that if they are all clumped in one section they will be away from the relevant text regardless of where you put them. But maybe I am missing something.