Does Your eBook Design Stand Up or Fall Flat?
Ebook design has evolved so much beyond just the content that ebooks are now like little portable websites. Unfortunately, there’s very little written about ebook design trends out there – beyond a ton of sites touting ebook design skills or ebooks with great content.
When it comes to defining what makes an ebook design look great, there’s nothing. Until now, of course.
Today’s post is about ebook design trends, what works and what doesn’t. Keep in mind that this post has nothing to do with the content inside an ebook – we’ve seen plenty an ebook that has a kick-ass design, but the content just sucks.
In the past, ebooks were no more than digital versions of physical books. They had the same look and feel, too, with the usual portrait layout, text wrapped around static images and very little interactivity. Unfortunately, many ebooks still follow that boring format today, having only a plainish cover and nothing but text afterwards.
It’s a shame. Today’s ebook design leaves passive reading and boring pages behind. Ebook designers now add video, music, stunning graphics and animation, making an ebook a fun, interactive and informative work of art.
Portrait or Landscape
Page orientation is the beginning point of any ebook. When taking something physical, like a book, and transforming it to digital format, like an ebook, most developers and designers go with the formats used in the physical world.
Old-style ebooks used portrait format, laying out pages vertically like a book. That meant readers had to reduce the size of page to fit a computer screen or scroll as they read to catch the end of the page.
What ebook designers discovered was that landscape orientation worked much, much better for screen reading. The horizontal format lets a page fit nicely within computer screens, and readers can see a whole page without scrolling.
Interactive Ebook Design
Gone are the days of static ebook pages where the only way to get to a specific page was through a bookmark in the side panel of the PDF – or worse, by trying to remember the page number and which section held that inspiring quote.
Many ebook designs today have live tables of content, where each title is a live link anchored to its corresponding chapter. Many more also have navigation bars built right into each page, showing you exactly which page you’re on and where to go next.
Sticking with the concept that ebooks are portable mini-websites, there’s nothing you can’t do with ebook design that you wouldn’t be able to use designing a full website. You can add Flash animation, video clips, live links to other sites or downloads, music and more.
If you want an idea of how far you can take PDFs and interactive ebook design, check out what’s new with Adobe Acrobat Pro . You just may be surprised.
Mixing Fonts
When I was in art school, one design rule that stuck was never to mix fonts. Well, ebook designers toss this one out the window.
The technique of mixing fonts isn’t for amateurs, though. Mixed fonts do work, but you have to know which families of fonts get along well and which don’t. Sometimes, it’s as tricky as deciding who’s going to sit next to whom at a wedding reception.
When mixed properly, the results are stunning. When fonts are just mixed up, it doesn’t take a pro to see that something’s off.
Text Size and Writing Style
Large fonts were typically reserved for an older audience in the past, but more people are realizing that eyesight starts to go somewhere in our late 30s and early 40s. When you’re reading online often, too, you don’t need to be elderly to appreciate a font size that doesn’t leave you straining.
With screen reading rapidly taking over reading physical books, ebook designers find that increasing font size for the content makes the ebook easier for everyone to read, no matter what age the reader.
Physical books also use a different style of writing – typically, readers are relaxed and taking their time to absorb information. Large chunks of text and longer paragraphs are just fine.
Online, everything happens fast, and readers skim and scan content. That means breaking up paragraphs, using shorter sentences and sticking in headlines helps them stay focused and read more easily.
Many ebook designers suggest one section or chapter per page, using a large font and broken-up paragraphs. That’s plenty to keep our interest without getting bored.
It Ain’t Nothing Without the Bling
At Men with Pens, we’re all about the bling. We spend so much time online that we know how much difference visual impression and impact can make – and that goes for ebook design, too.
Bling is all the pretty on each page of an ebook. Every ebook should have an overall theme surrounding the content – call it content branding, if you will. Add a nice textured accent or integrate relevant images, get a custom border and fancy lettering – just make the whole presentation pop.
Blinging up an ebook takes as much consideration as designing a website. Too little, and an ebook looks empty. Too much, and it’s just visual chaos. Effects and designs should be subtle, with just enough interest to enhance pages and not interfere with the content.
One trend is the use of muted colors and images in backgrounds, headers and other accents. Capturing someone’s visual attention doesn’t always mean bright, flashy colors or tacky pictures. The most professional ebook designs garner plenty of respect from readers, and they’re always well done and subtle. The visual break is just enough to say, “Look here!”
Want an example of great ebook design? Download the Outsourcing Conspiracy. That’s just a taste of what can be done today.
What’s Next For Ebook Design?
The sky’s the limit. Seriously. My prediction is that ebook design will evolve further and become more interactive as stand-alone sites versus viral downloads. All it takes is some time, while web designers take the work they do and incorporate it further into distributable, downloadable PDF format.
What ebooks have you seen that really knocked your socks off? What would you like to see in an ebook that you haven’t seen already? Which ebooks turn you on and which turn you off?
38 Responses to “Does Your eBook Design Stand Up or Fall Flat?”
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I completely agree with you. I always add to my ebooks a right hand margin of 2 inches where I put big huge “KEY POINT!” to direct the reader’s attention.
Another that was brought up to me was that if you add header graphics on every page, make sure they don’t eat up black ink if someone prints them out. It makes me want to produce two ebooks, one for reading online and one for printing out.
Data points, Barbara
I have to say that I am never disappointed in your blogs and I am again blown away. The timing rocks. We( my fab writer and I) are just finishing an e-book and when he mentioned a landscape format I though he was nuts!!! Not really nuts but I was not sure where he was gong with it… it was something that I had never seen in an e-book but it made sense. I am bookmarking this post and when the editing begins we have some great tips to get the ball rolling.
Flash…video….a variety of fonts…all the shiny objects, I am soooo excited to create something that has depth and is more organic and lifelike.
Thanks again MWP
Cheers
You know Harry, e-book design was always something that hovered in the back of my mind. Never really garnered a second thought to be honest.
Until I opened the Outsourcing Conspiracy and my first thought was “What an awesome design.”
E-Book design does make a difference I suppose. Makes it easy and worth reading if done right. I really like what @reese did with ChrisG’s 279 days ebook.
See? This is why I hand off such things to you guys to do… You make me shine without me having to learn all this stuff – and that is worth every penny!
The vertical orientation is definitely a pet peeve of mine — so many ebook ‘designers’ just print a PDF from Microsoft Word and follow its defaults. There’s so much potential to go beyond 8 1/2 x 11, even beyond the landscape orientation!
And pictures! So many ebooks have no images — it’s so worthwhile to add images to illustrate a point.
Thursday Bram´s last blog post…The Business of Freelance Writing Carnival, Edition 65
The most important element to me is whether I can read it on my Kindle or my eBookwise Reader. If I have to read it on the computer, it doesn’t matter how pretty or how good it is, chances are I’ll never read it.
Lillie Ammann´s last blog post…Memoir and Family History: Part 5—Writing
I know this is slightly off topic but I listened to a fantastic pod cast by Erin McKean recently on book shaped objects. She uses the example of a dictionary to argue that many things that have traditionally come in book style packing aren’t books at all and need other forms. She goes on to challenge her listener to try to identify other book shaped objects that would be better served by a fresh thinking on format.
http://itc.conversationsnetwork.org/shows/detail3342.html
I’ve been paying close attention to the design of every e-book I read. Design and structure is important to me, and even though I still have a lot to learn, I believe it’s an area I can excel in. The Outsourcing Conspiracy was simply fantastic.
Writer Dad´s last blog post…Rolling Through the Rough Draft
I recently created my first ebook on my particular freelance writing specialty.
I left it in the standard 8.5″ x 11″ format because I think many purchasers will actually print it out since it is a how-to manual and they will likely want to refer to it frequently and perhaps make notes in the margins.
But you’ve definitely given me great ideas for future ebooks.
Great info! My first eBook, “How to Harness a Hobgoblin,” was laid out largely like a print book (’cause that’s what I used to do as a graphic designer/production artist 10 years ago) but I’m definitely thinking of doing something different for subsequent eBooks. I want to have something that works on screen and can look okay printed out. This will take some thinking…
Catherine Cantieri, Sorted´s last blog post…Electric April: Managing your email
Good stuff, here. Makes me feel guilty about what I’ve done to my poor e-book readers in the past.
I like the analogy of putting e-books together like portable mini websites. It makes a lot of sense to keep the reader engaged.
But how big of a file is it going to be if you have a million graphics in it or has a video? It’ll take a week for someone with a dial-up connection to download it. I know sooner or later everyone will have a high speed connection and a terabyte of storage, but we’re not there yet.
I know you guys have near super human design ability, but how to do you decide which of them to use while technology catches up?
Henry Bingaman´s last blog post…Social Media Marketing And Picking Up Strangers In Bars
Wonderful! I just turned a 140-page 3-ring binder at my day job into a 140-page ebook (finally bringing that into the 21st century), and one of the first things I did was turn the whole thing on its side to Landscape. And added “tabs” along the bottom as if it were still physically a 3-ring binder, to make flipping from section to section easier. (Not to mention adding 3 faux binder rings at the top for nostalgia for the paper.)
One thing that I did think of, though–some things LOOK great on your screen but print badly. I turned my tabs and my fake binder rings into non-printing elements so you can see them on the PDF, use them as hyperlinks, but if you try to print the page, they stay off … giving me the chance to go all the way to the edge of the page for the screen shots, without worrying about printer bleed zones.
–Deb´s last blog post…Four Reasons to Turn Off Your Computer
Hi All! Thanks for the great comments!
@Barbara: That’s a very good point. Doing so much online it’s easy to forget that people still do print out ebooks to read. I like the idea of producing two ebooks, kind of like the flash/no flash option on some sites, it makes sense, but I think it’s just easier to design it printer friendly right from the start instead of doing double the work.
@Elaine: You’re welcome! They’re great ideas, yes, but don’t get too carried away! Use the suggestions sparingly or the ebook will become as busy as the Vegas Strip on a Saturday night!
Hmmm…a thought has occurred to me – ebook drivebys?
@Marc: Bore dda! And thanks for the compliment! That book was a lot of fun to do and the first time we used the landscape format ourselves. In fact, it took us in a lot of new directions because it had to break the mold. Jon was great because he provided me with excellent feedback every step of the way.
@Nathan: I saw the 279 Days and it’s beautiful in its simplicity. Our Pen Man Charlie does some kick ass stuff too. That’s what I love about looking at other people’s work, it’s a constant flow of back and forth, and helps everyone deliver better designs all around.
@Alex: And this is why we like making people shine! Thanks Alex!
@Thursday: D’uh! How could I have missed that point? Producing ebooks straight from Word to PDF is my BIGGEST pet peeve! Word was not designed to function as a layout/typsetting program. The quirks that happen on export are frustrating as all get out. if you have straight text, it’s fine, but who wants straight text? If you’re serious about producing ebooks, get a layout program like InDesign or Quark and do it right.
@Lillie: That’s another point to consider; mobile devices. With all the portable technology going on it’s hard for designers to keep up with all of it. We do our best, though!
@Writer Dad: Thanks! If you think of each ebook as a website, it helps. The same principles apply. Keep that in mind and you can’t go wrong.
@John: Very smart of you to keep your audience in mind and how the end result will be used. If you think that the traditional portrait orientation will work, there’s no reason why you can’t go with that.
@Henry: Compression is very important. First, make sure all of your images are compressed as low as they can go without losing resolution. Then, when you go to export to PDF, run through the Print to PDF settings and check the compression options there. There’s one in there that compresses the images on export down to zip file sizes and it works like a charm to bring down the size of the book.
@Deb: Yes, what looks great on the screen doesn’t always translate into print. Takes some forethought to make the ebook look good in both formats. Sounds like this project kept you busy!
What a refreshing blog – let’s get the FULL functionality into ebooks rather than regurgitating word docs/PDF [URGH]. The more we shout about it the more publishers will have to enhance their digital offering.
@Jeanette: We already do, we’re changing the industry as we speak
It’s certainly exciting to see ebooks evolving. I was very impressed by Random House’s recent launch of http://www.bookandbeyond.com/ — they’re reissuing books from big names you know as special interactive ebooks, complete with video, audio, puzzles and more.
Great time to be an indie publisher too. Up, up, and e-way!
Nick Cernis´s last blog post…Give Up and Buy an iPhone
Great article Harry and I think design is greatly important.
One thing I don’t think many sites / people are doing which sort of makes sense to me is to design an ebook around the design of their website. Make it feel like an extension – like an arm or a leg.
As for the future of ebooks, I see them becoming more of an executable file rather than a .pdf file. Like you said, they are becoming more and more like mini sites. Since SEO isn’t an issue, why not use frames, javascript, etc. to make the user’s experience very easy to work with.
John Hoff – WpBlogHost´s last blog post…Landing Page Optimization: Make Your Links Stand Out To Get More Clicks
@Nick: Dude! Haven’t seen you in forever! I’m excited about the way ebooks are evolving too – and in such a short time when you really look at it. Thanks for the link, I’ll have to check it out.
@John: We’re already doing it
I’ve taken websites before and translated them into PDF format and it works quite nicely as a promotional item. Not crazy about the frames suggestion though. Frames faded out a long time ago.
Not sure how java would work either. One thing we do have to keep in mind, as someone mentioned earlier, is the overall size of the document. Start adding too much and it’ll be way more trouble than it’s worth.
If you think about it though, aren’t ebooks essentially using a form of frames as they are now? You can open that sidebar on the left to quickly navigate through. The question is, is there a new way to use frames or do we really let them die out? Just brainstorming…
Java, the programing language, might make the files size a bit large, but javascript is pretty condensed. What I like about that idea is you can do some pretty cool stuff with it you normally can’t do with html and embedding.
John Hoff – WpBlogHost´s last blog post…Landing Page Optimization: Make Your Links Stand Out To Get More Clicks
Thank you Harry,
This post came just at the right time for me.
I am starting on an ebook for one of my sites and I really hadn’t given that much attention to the layout. I see what you mean about adding all the multimedia parts. It could really increase the reader interest and thus get my point across much easier.
Acrobat PDF format seems to be the standard for ebooks I have seen in the past, does that still hold true and do you think this will continue to be case? I wonder if there is another product that allows better integration of multimedia.
And thus a better reader experience.
Andy@hairplugs´s last blog post…The Best Thinning Hair Treatment Is Hair Restoration
Your blogs never disappoint; you just gave me an idea for my next ebook. The one I have is sober, written word…I’ll be much more creative with the next! Thanks! By that way, can you suggest what tools to use to spiff up an ebook?
Kaushik´s last blog post…Rely on Direct Experience only – “Cease to cherish Opinionâ€
@John: Flash works better in cases like this, it’s designed to be uber compact right from the start.
Still not convinced about the frames. What you’re going to end up with is boxes in boxes. I’m not saying it can’t be done, but the visual in my head is just…ick.
@Andy: As far as I know, Adobe has cornered the market on the PDF format. I’m sure there are others out there, but so many people use Acrobat you may be asking for trouble using something else. We’ve also tried our hand at some of the programs that claim to be made just for ebooks that don’t use PDF as the end result. Many of these (and they may have changed since we last tried them) require additional software to view and they’re really a PITA to work with on both the back end and for the user.
If you’ve seen anything worth looking into, let me know, I’ll check it out and tell you want I think.
@Kaushik: Thanks! The tools used in creating an ebook are a post unto itself. The ones I use are Quark and Adobe Acrobat Pro 9. Quark is a typsetting/layout graphics program and makes it easy to manipulate your text and images. Adobe Acrobat offers you all the multi-media options I mentioned in the post that you won’t get in the free Adobe Acrobat Reader. You’ll also need a program like Photoshop to create your images, especially if you’re using digital photos.
These programs are a serious investment, but if you’re serious about your ebooks, it’s worth it.
You knucklehead!
I’m writing an ebook right now on how to format it in a killer fashion. It will be ready to roll in a couple-three days.
Everything you’re saying in this post is spot-on with my own observations and experience, except for one thing: portrait orientation works better. The Outsourcing Conspiracy (and my own How to Start a Business Blog) are exceptions.
The reason why most ebooks should be portrait is precisely because they’re easier to read: they’re easier to scroll through and you can have a narrower line width at a comfortable zoom level that’s easy to read. Also, people expect it. It’s normal. It’s comfortable. And as soon as you start messing with that, people start to feel uneasy. And uneasy doesn’t convert well.
Like I’ve already noted, there are exceptions. Outsourcing Conspiracy is a damn fine piece of ebook design.
Michael Martine´s last blog post…How to Write an Ebook that Doesn’t Suck
@ Michael – It’s an exception because we’re exceptional
We did an ebook for Alex Fayle as well, recently – same thing. Landscape format – with really well considered page breaks – and it rocks.
I think that’s the thing, honestly. Where you break a page to move to the next makes all the diff in the world.
Oh, and you’ll be sending us a copy of that ebook, oui?
@Michael: People have always said we were psychic over here. You must’ve been thinking too hard and I picked up the vibes.
As far as orientation goes, I will say that there’s a tool for every job, and not every job will work with that kind of formatting. I also think change is something people have to get used to, and really, what this comes down to. At first, I turned my nose up at the landscape layout and my first response was “WtF is that?” Then, after seeing it often enough, I liked it and it made perfect sense. Working on rather large monitors, I’m rarely affected by scrolling, so when I saw how well a single page fit in a smaller screen, I thought it was sheer genius.
People are very resistant to change (just look at what happened when we changed out our theme), especially if it’s something groundbreaking and shakes them up.
@Michael
When I saw my ebook in landscape, I thought “Oh my god how frickin’ awesome is that?” Because the information I wrote was contained, the landscape makes each piece feel even more succinct and concise than before.
I’m writing a book for a client right now which is more story/conversational and I was worried that the pages would look odd, but instead it makes the paragraphs look shorter, which is easier to read on the screen. I can keep my thoughts together in proper paragraphs, but people won’t feel overwhelmed by text on the screen.
Alex Fayle | Someday Syndrome´s last blog post…Grieving What We Can’t Have: WAHM Biz Builder Interview
Based on your comments, it’s clear that a graphic designer can do a lot to elevate the professionalism of an e-book. Roughly, what does it cost to turn over a manuscript to a designer for say a cover design and formatting?
Also, should the design of the e-book be consistent with the design of the website or blog on which it’s being sold?
I’m almost done writing my first e-book and am considering my options with regard to layout. Thanks for this informative post and your follow-up comments as well.
@ Susan – Costs highly depend on who you’re dealing with and asking, as different designers carry different prices. Complexity of the document in formatting, difficulty of design, level of interactivity, number of pages… plenty affects pricing in general as well.
As far as design consistency, that depends. Personally, I prefer branding designs based on theme of the book itself versus the full site, though some secondary level of site-to-ebook branded design is good, as it helps maintain the consistency of image overall for both site and products.
That help? Or… just made it more confusing?
This was a great post. I’m new to your blog and will definitely keep reading after this. I just finished the second edition of my ebook Dominant Health last month, so it was good to see what was done right (or wrong) according to your advice. Thanks guys.
@RawMatt: Thanks for stopping by, it’s always good to see new faces and even better to hear they want to stick around.
Good luck with the new book too. The more you do them, the more you’ll learn what works and what doesn’t. To learn even more, get your hands on as many ebooks as you can just to compare the different styles.
Yeah these books are usually downloaded from the Internet and this is why they are easy and fast to access, and accessible from any part of the world.
First, I love the new website design — bold and graffiti-like.
Your review of contemporary e-book design is very insightful. I’ve been creating and utilizing PDF technology since it became available decades-ago. I found it to be a valuable method of review/transmission of documents I was designing.
On a very minimalistic level, I agree with your suggestions about designing an e-book. However, from a creative perspective you’ve totally left out the inclusion of images, charts, graphics to enhance the content and overall visual experience.
I would like to purchase a Kindle but it only has a B&W screen and its ability to display graphic-intensive e-books/e-magazines is extremely limited.
LOVE this post – it really made me think about the e-book I’m about to release.
One question that immediately jumped front-and-center as I started doing the layout adjustments to make the book landscape instead of portrait was – what about font size? If the book displays at page-size on the screen and I have a laptop monitor, then I’m talking something like 72.5% of the page, which means that a “normal” 11-point Times font is going to be pretty freakin’ tiny. On the other hand, if I make it a 13-point or 14-point font to show at a reasonable size on my small laptop screen, then someone with a BIG flatscreen monitor is going to have my typeface SCREAMING at them.
Thoughts?
And thanks for great, thought-provoking posts!
Grace´s last blog post…What’s important?
Great stuff! Thoughts on interactive PDF’s (Adobe Presenter) vs. something like Camtasia?