Wednesday afternoon I'll be delivering a session at Adobe MAX 2009 about using InDesign to layout and design ebooks. The session will cover some ebook basics including readers and then will cover how to use InDesign to effectively layout and style a document for both print output and reflowing design for ebooks. Then I'll cover how to use the file for a number of hardware and software readers and finally converting for use on the Amazon Kindle.
The overall workflow hinges on a strong use of styles to create structured flow of text through your document. When working with graphics in a layout this means converting them to inline or anchored objects so that they're part of the flow of your story. This is the important technique when designing for ebook output. Once I get an export to Digital Editions (ePub format) I can convert the file pretty easily into a number of formats including mobi-and this is what works on Kindle.
The "slides" for the session were built using InDesign then exported to epub for use in Digital Editions or on many Sony eReaders; then the epub was converted to mobi for use on Kindle. You'll find links below for downloading these files for reference or experimentation. There are a number of links inside the files to additional resources from many resources, they're well worth taking a look at.
I'm told my session will be recorded and the recording will be available for viewing soon.
Hope this is of interest.
Here are the files:
The InDesign document-
eBooks_ID_file.zip
The PDF version:
Building_eBooks_MAX2009_CFleming.pdf
The ePub version for Digital Editions of Sony eReader:
Building_eBooks_MAX2009_CFleming.epub
The mobi version for Kindle:
Building_eBooks_MAX2009_CFleming.mobi
Leave a comment