Tips for Quality E-Book Production: Creation, Conversion, Distribution

By Jim Sturdivant

E-Book Survey Finds Publishers Put Quality First

Publishers have embraced e-book publishing, yet are focused on quality over quantity when considering how best to implement a strategy for digital books, a recent Book Business survey has found.

Half (51%) of all publishers responding to the August 2011 survey have converted or are in the process of converting at least some backlist titles to e-books. A third (33%) are converting all frontlist titles. Nineteen percent said they had not yet published e-books, but are planning to do so, while 24% said they are “dabbling or experimenting.” Only 1% of respondents said they had no plans to publish e-books. Just 5% said they are “rushing to just have e-books out there, but not focusing on quality/output formats yet.”

The biggest challenge publishers said they face (47%) involves understanding formats, conversion processes and options. The next biggest concern is streamlining workflows (36%) and deciding on which platforms/hardware to output content (34%). Twenty-six percent perceive determining business strategy and pricing as major challenges, and 17% consider the question of whether to outsource conversion or handle it in-house a major challenge.

Other challenges mentioned include ensuring accessiblilty for visually impaired readers, handling global distribution, selling e-books directly to consumers, training staff and integrating with existing systems.

Outsourcing is generally seen by respondents as a sensible plan for those looking to get their feet wet in digital publishing. “Outsource conversions first, then look to see if you can bring it back in-house,” one respondent wrote. “This will get you moving down the e-book path.”

Another respondent suggested, “My advice is to start small, and use outside resources until a complete strategy is determined.”

A third respondent stressed: “Don’t wait until you have all the answers. Jump in. Start with one format and one vendor. Broaden your reach when you figure that process out.”

A few respondents advised small to mid-sized publishers to try in-house conversion. “If it’s just a few … [books], it’s worth the time to learn the process and do it in-house. It’s not as difficult as it may seem.”

The single biggest concern noted by survey respondents is quality control. “Do not compromise quality. Make sure quality assurance is built into the contract,” said one. “Really invest the time (and money) to proofread and vet your newly converted e-books,” suggested another. More than one publisher advised hands-on testing of e-books on several different readers to ensure proper formatting.

About the Survey

At press time, the survey had received 281 responses, half of which were from trade publishers (adult and children’s fiction and non-fiction, self help and religious). The rest were divided among academic, STM (scientific, technical, medical), professional and reference publishers. Half of the respondents were from small houses (publishing less than 20 titles a year); 22% publish up to 50 titles annually, 17% up to 200 titles a year, and 11% publish more than 200 a year.

Regardless of format, platform or pricing model, e-books have secured a permanent place in the publishing landscape. The growth of other digital/mobile platforms, in which some see shortcomings of digital book apps, serves to highlight e-books' and e-reading devices' unique value proposition.

"We did a … bunch of apps 18 months ago or so, but have largely stopped," says the head of the publishing arm of a major information technology and software company. "App stores are still difficult places in which to locate things. The various resellers of e-books (and our own website) make it a … lot easier, so we see many more sales via those channels."

"One thing we particularly like about e-books," he continues, "is the ability to include color. For our time-sensitive publications, overseas print production is impractical, and on-shore [four-color] printing too expensive. With e-books, we can offer color to enhance our titles at almost no increase in cost."

Time and cost savings, sophisticated graphics, visibility and ease of distribution on a variety of platforms—all qualities that make e-books great products, but also a challenge to produce. The challenges are forcing publishers to rethink workflows and reallocate resources to handle creation, conversion and distribution.

"There's two pieces of this," says Ken Brooks, senior vice president of global production and manufacturing services at Cengage Learning. "One is the front list, and the other is the backlist. [For] the front list … we were getting requests at different times for different formats, and finding we were paying for the conversion to those formats multiple times. So we implemented a consolidated and pre-planned conversion program."

E-book conversion is a challenge that requires each publisher to map out a strategic plan, often in partnership with an outside vendor. For Cengage, this meant focusing on three "families" of formats: PDF-based, EPUB and XML. A DocBook-based XML schema, Brooks says, best accommodates the various complex elements that go into textbooks—charts, graphs, images that span pages and so forth. EPUB 3, also XML based, has the potential to work as well as DocBook for technical titles. "We are looking at taking some of our more complex titles with MathML embedded in it and turning it into EPUB 3 just to see what it looks like," Brooks says.

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