Epub and RTF versions failed to look good

[briensz]

I designed a photography book in InDesign. The paperback came out wonderfully. However, formatting in both Epub and RTF were horrible when I looked at on the Kindle previewer. The book has 8.5 X 11 dimensions. There are a couple of simple columns I created but the whole thing fails to look correct.  There is no flow - it really a mish-mosh.  Was wondering if I needed to just redo the book in a different dimension to make it work for either format?

[BobLevine]

How did you create those other versions? What version of ID are you using?

[briensz]

I am currently using version 13.0.1 x64. I created the Epub via the directions given by the Help in the Adobe InDesign tutorials. I created the RTF through Abobe Acrobat by first making it a PDF as instructed.

[Derek Cross]

FXL ePub or Reflowable ePub?

[briensz]

I created both versions of the Epub and they were both equally bad

[Derek Cross]

Producing Reflowable ePubs is not intuitive. For example, there are no page dimensions, all text must be styled, all images must be anchored, Master page content is not recognised, multi-columns are not advised, there are no folios, Kindle uses the mobi format.

Did you know those things?

[briensz]

I did not. Not even sure what 'text must be styled, images anchored,' means. I just downloaded the program because my idea wouldn't work in word and started creating.

What should my next step be?

[Derek Cross]

You need to decide if you want to put the time and effort into learning InDesign. It's a professional publishing application with a steep learning curve.

If you do, you need to undertake training. The best and often the most expensive is personal training at commercial training firms and at colleges. There are also some very good books, such as the Classroom in a Book series and online video training from companies such as Lynda.com (you can get a 30-days feel trial).

And you can come back to this forum with specific questions.

[briensz]

Not sure if I want to spend hours and hours on that in all honesty. Like I said, the paperback looks great and prints well. As much as I would like to create an e-book, I'm not sure I want to spend that time. Rather, I would see what estimates I could get for someone else to do it.  Maybe I will check out Lynda.com.  This was a pet project specific thing, not a career goal.  I do appreciate the advice.

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

Also understand that reflowable EPUB is not recommended for highly-designed publications because it doesn't retain the visual layout of your pages. It scrolls everything into one long column of text that flows from screenful to screenful. Plus, most (if not all) of your font choices and sizes are ignored by EPUB readers and changed to their defaults.

If you know HTML and CSS and are willing to tweak the reflowable EPUB file, you can improve its appearance, but it will still be ugly.

Exporting to PDF might give you what you want because it retains the visual page layout. It will open on Kindles and other mobile devices. Try File | Export | PDF (Interactive) and see if that's better for you.

[Derek Cross]

I suggest the OP shouldn't try and produce Reflowable ePubs until he's competent with producing conventional publications. Epubs are very tricky.

[briensz]

PDF Interactive - I will give that a shot.

[Derek Cross]

Try out InDesign's Publish Online, it's easy to produce an interesting digital document from your InDesign artwork with animations etc and it can be viewed on any device with an HTML5 browser – computer, tablet or smart phone. The  thing is though, you can't monetise it or copy protect it (though now-one could access it unless they were given the URL).

[briensz]

I will investigate the DIY way but if it becomes to cumbersome, I may look to outsource it and have someone else format it for me. I am very appreciative of all the advice and continue to welcome more insight.

[briensz]

Interactive PDF proved to be the best result of the ones I have tried but it still falls short of acceptable.

[Derek Cross]

In which way is your Interactive PDF unacceptable?

[briensz]

Headers are gone for the pages - it would crash a few simple columns. Where a picture should be there wasn't but the text wrapped around the empty space - picture next page. If I had a picture on the left - text in middle - picture on right - that wouldn't translate.  Then, some pages looked almost acceptable like the conversion tried really hard to get it right.

[BobLevine]

That sounds like EPUB, not PDF.

Honestly, you're in way over your head here. Either spend the time to learn all of this or hire a pro.

[briensz]

Like I said, the book came out looking very nice and the print in paperback worked out very well.  But, it does seem this conversion to an ebook is a bit beyond me. I am already looking for people who can tackle this aspect of the project.