What to Know About eBooks

By Nad Rosenberg | Associate Fellow

Most people reading this have probably read at least one eBook or are considering doing so in the near future. What gives this assumption validity? The fact that adults in the United States who own an eBook reader doubled from 6% in November 2010 to 12% in May 2011 (according to the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project).

Here are a few other factoids that manifest the rapid spread of eBooks in all walks of life:

• The venerable New York Times Best Sellers List now has a separate list for eBooks.
• The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has authorized some commercial and charter carriers to use tablets to replace the 40 lbs. of reference materials (operating manuals, safety checklists, logbooks, etc.) that pilots carry in their flight bags.
• The government of South Korea has said it will replace paper textbooks with electronic tablets in all state-run schools by 2015.

Until recently, eBooks have been published mainly for the commercial market, and the majority of these eBooks have been works of fiction. Obviously, this has to do with publishers' profits, but it's also related to the fact that most fiction books contain straight running text with few formatting intricacies. And this simple formatting lends itself to an automated conversion to the eBook format. However, as you can see from the list above, eBooks are now being developed for all types of content. And this growing tsunami has significant ramifications for us as technical communicators.

What exactly are eBooks?

eBooks are book-length digital publications that can be read on dedicated e-reading devices (Kindle, Nook, etc.), on tablets (iPad, Xoom, etc.), smartphones (iPhone, Android, etc.), and even on PCs or MACs. The dedicated reading devices come with built-in e-reader software, but for some of the other devices, you may need to download free or nearly free e-reader apps.

The most commonly used file formats for eBooks include:

• EPUB—an open-source format, usable with almost all e-readers and the most popular format.
• AZW—a proprietary format developed for the Kindle.
• MOBI—a format usable with MobiPocket reader and installable on Windows, Palm OS devices, and several dedicated eBook readers, including the Kindle.
• LIT—a format that works on Microsoft Windows and Windows CE devices.
• PDF—an open-source format but somewhat different from the others in that it is based on the printed page. PDFs are typically read via PDF-reader software; however, most e-readers will support them, but with some significant differences.

The beauty of reflowable text, or why eBooks are good

The best thing about most eBooks is their reflowable text. This means that the text will reflow appropriately on your device, no matter what its size. And if you make the type larger or smaller, it will reflow appropriately. Text will not be cut off at the right margin, and you will not have to scroll horizontally on your mobile device to read the remainder of each line. This reflow capability is what gives eBooks their hardware independence and makes it possible for people to read normally on these various devices.

Other eBook goodies

The library management tools that come with most e-readers provide many other great reading enhancements, including:

• The ability to change font selection and size—a nice way to accommodate different reading preferences.
• Night or low-light reading—which lets you change the book's background color to black and the type to white, a perfect feature for a road warrior stuck on an airplane in the middle of the night.
• Search, annotate, and bookmark features—all handy tools if you need to find and collect information for future reference.

Now for the nitty-gritty: creating eBooks

So here's the interesting point about eBooks: you can “DIY” and create eBooks for your company or for yourself! While most of us create electronic books using PDF, we now have another alternative (EPUB) that takes full advantage of the eBook features described above. Using the open-source EPUB standard, we now can create eBooks that people can easily read on their smartphones, tablets, and e-readers.

What's an EPUB?

EPUB is short for electronic publication, and it's really just a .zip file that contains the XHTML/HTML files and other files needed to display the book on an e-reader. EPUBs are based on the open-source standard endorsed by the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) in 2007 (http://idpf.org/epub). EPUB is now in the process of being standardized, with completion expected in 2011.

What you need to create an EPUB

To create an EPUB, all you need is some software, a formatted document, and some time (more time if the document's formatting isn't simple). The bottom line is that once you're done, you (or anyone else) can read the document on a smartphone, tablet, e-reader, or even a PC or MAC.

About your document

You can create an EPUB from many different types of documents. HTML is the easiest format to convert from, but if you're starting with Microsoft Word, you can convert to HTML first and then convert to EPUB. You can also convert from PDF, FrameMaker, RTF, TXT, and others.

The one major problem with EPUBs is that complicated formatting (especially complex tables) will undoubtedly need tweaking following the conversion. You can avoid some of this by simplifying your document's structure before you begin, but if this is impossible, you can try to fix formatting issues in the EPUB's HTML following the conversion.

Another problem area with EPUBs is graphics. Even though users can enlarge the EPUB's text significantly, the size of the graphics won't change. So it's important to size your graphics appropriately. For example, if you need to include screenshots, and you want users to read the text within the screenshot, you may need to show only the relevant portions of the screen.

And finally, here's a little tip about referencing page numbers. Because EPUB users can change the font of a publication to whatever size they want, the book's page numbering loses some validity. For example, page 5 could easily go on for 10 EPUB pages if the user bumps up the font to its largest size. That's why it's important not to reference page numbers when you create an EPUB.

About the conversion software

Calibre is the most popular free EPUB conversion software (http://calibre-eBook.com/).

If you want to use Calibre and are starting with a formatted Word document, you first need to save the document using the Web Page “Filtered” option. This option removes some of Word's custom style elements and saves the document as an HTM file. But there's often a lot of junk code still left behind in your document, and you'll still need to use some kind of editor to clean it up before going any further. Once you've cleaned up your HTML version of your book, you can proceed with the conversion.

When you import your HTM files into Calibre, you can set parameters that control many aspects of the document. When you click Calibre's “Convert” button, it will quickly produce your EPUB. Often, however, for even moderately formatted documents, you will need to clean up the EPUB further to get the formatting the way you want it. This is particularly true if you didn't clean up your coding before you imported your HTM files into Calibre. For this round of cleanup, you can use Sigil (http://code.google.com/p/sigil/), which is a free WYSIWYG eBook editor. Additionally, Sigil provides a code view, so if you're familiar with HTML, you can dive in and change the code to get the desired results.

The other alternative is to use a commercial product to convert to EPUB, and one of the most popular is Adobe's InDesign CS5.5. Basically, the InDesign process works somewhat more smoothly than the Calibre/Sigil option, but you will pay a significant price for this software, and you still may have to use Sigil to clean up formatting issues in the finished EPUB.

If you want to use InDesign and you are starting with a formatted Word document, you can import (Place) your document into InDesign. During this process, InDesign will convert your Word styles into its own styles. When you are ready, you can then convert the InDesign document into an EPUB via the Export command. (Note: If the document has tables with borders, you need to reapply the borders within InDesign.) If you notice any problems following the conversion, you can always pull out Sigil and start modifying the code.

Testing

It's extremely important to test your EPUB on a number of mobile devices prior to uploading and distribution. For example, an EPUB (converted using InDesign CS5.5) looked great in iBooks on the iPhone but not so great in Aldiko on the Android. Here again, Sigil may be the answer. In other words, you may need to tweak the file so that it displays reasonably well on the majority of systems.

Uploading and distribution

When you're satisfied, you can upload your book to a directory on a website and create a link for it on a Web page. (Hint: Be sure to use the full URL in the link, or you can load the EPUB directly to your smartphone, tablet, or e-reader.)

As another alternative, if you want to publish your own book, you can send your file (in a wide variety of formats) to Barnes & Noble, Amazon/Kindle, iTunes, etc., and they will create the eBook plus handle sales and distribution for a percentage of the selling price.

One thing you need to be aware of, however, is digital rights management (DRM). Publishers use DRM to control the devices on which their eBooks can be read. Some DRMs limit eBooks to a single device; others allow multiple devices. DRM is typically applied as an option when your book is uploaded to the online bookstore's server. So you should determine whether this is important to you.

EPUB vs. PDF

So the question for technical communicators is, how does the EPUB format stack up against PDF, the digital file format predominantly used for technical documents? See the table above for a comparison of some features.

In the field of technical communication, it's unlikely that EPUBs will replace PDFs anytime soon. However, given the popularity of e-reader apps and devices, it's probable that the EPUB format will be added to the list of document types we'll need to produce in the not-too-distant future.

The bottom line

As with most mobile technologies, EPUBs (plus other forms of eBooks) are rapidly evolving. Many of the EPUB issues that require HTML tweaking are sure to be fixed in future versions of the standard and the software on which it's based. Further, as the proliferation of EPUBs continues, the software used for EPUB creation is bound to improve in terms of options, usability, and power. So stay tuned for the latest developments because you may be creating eBooks sooner than you think.

Nad Rosenberg (twnad@techw.com) is president and founder of TechWRITE, Inc. (www.techw.com). Before starting TechWRITE, Nad managed documentation departments for several large corporations. She is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, on the Board of Directors of the Plain Language Association International, and a past president of the STC Philadelphia Metro Chapter. Nad is also a member of the American Society for Training and Development. She was recently awarded the Associate Fellow honor from the Society for Technical Communication.