Let's talk about
true digital editions…
“In Greece, most publishing houses present pdf files as ebooks, which is undeniably wrong. The reason they do it? A book in pdf format (a format ideal for printed editions) is much easier to set up, while finding a graphic designer to undertake it is much "cheaper". The end result, however, is amateur publications that do not exploit the potential of digital books at all, thus "dooming" to commercial failure...
Ebook is serious business for the creative team at iWrite, which in practice means it takes experience and in-depth knowledge of the world of digital reading and digital publishing around the world. A graphic designer is not enough to prepare a proper eBook, since it is basically a technical work…”
Co-Founder & General Manager, iWrite Publications
There are many points that a creative team must pay attention to when working on the publication of an ebook. And in this case, we're not just talking about… details. First of all, a book designer with experience in ebooks knows very well that if a printed book is 90% graphic work, an ebook is 90% proper programming!
In short, a proper ebook designer must be a graphic designer and a programmer at the same time, a combination quite rare in Greece today. The reason this happens? Because the design philosophy of a printed book and an ebook is completely different! That is, where in a print book you design what the reader will see and read (distances, page dimensions, type and size of letters, etc.), in a digital edition you must prepare the book to give 100% freedom to the reader for you to configure it as he wishes... from the type of font, the size of the letters, whether it will read in black letters on a white or chamois background or whether it will read white letters on a black background and much more...
Below we mention only a small part of the features that a professional digital edition (eBook) should have, but it is enough to get a pretty important taste of what goes on inside successful ebook design ateliers worldwide...
Therefore,
quality digital edition means…
... absolute freedom for the reader!
"In a digital ebook version, many of the aesthetic and practical points that in a printed book the designer (and by extension the author) is asked to choose, must be in the free choice of the reader. And when we say "a lot", we really mean a lot.
From which font makes it easier for him to read, what size of letters he wants to have (here the age of the reader, his eyesight, etc. plays a role), to what screen dimensions he will read the book on (on an eReader or tablet of 6 , 7 or 8 inches, on a 3, 4 or 5 inch smartphone, on a 17, 19 or 21 inch computer monitor).
Apart from that, they can also choose the coloring of the background and the letters: for example, black letters on a white or chamois (yellowish) background, white letters on a black background, etc.
And that's not all...so you understand the completely different experience and knowledge that an eBook designer must have than a traditional graphic designer. Experience with printed books here helps only to a small extent…”
Chief Designer, iWrite Publications Atelier
possibility of use
bookmarks and search!
"Beyond the complete formatting of the book by the reader himself, the technology of ebooks (always combined with the device each of us uses) gives a series of additional "revolutionary" (at least for the traditional edition) possibilities.
What do we mean? For example, he can at any time "mark" certain pieces of text, color them and add comments to them. Also, he can see points that have been commented on by many readers worldwide, and at all times he must be able to refer to these points from any page he is on!
In addition, it must be possible with a simple search to find where specific words or phrases are mentioned, while special "third-party" features must be able to be used by ebook readers, such as using a dictionary to explain specific words or phrases !
In fact, a proper eBook should be set up in such a way that in the future it can make full use of all the features that are going to appear in the future. In practice, this means that every careful ebook has to follow specific specifications that have been defined by international conventions in the publishing industry worldwide. How many today really know these small, but so important details?"
Senior Designer, iWrite Publishing Atelier
"Among the impressive "pluses" of a digital ebook edition is its potential offer, immediately, to millions of readers worldwide (in the case of foreign language books, the number reaches dizzying levels)! On the other hand, the overexposure of a digital book involves huge risks, since no author wants to see within 2-3 days of the release of his work being distributed for free on the internet...
As always, in this case too, the distribution of an ebook must be balanced between two situations. On the one hand, to be available immediately (with 1-2 clicks, within a few seconds) to as large a readership as possible. On the other hand, to be sufficiently protected to reduce as much as possible the risk of its free illegal disposal.
For this reason, the creative team of iWrite chose to work with the giants – pioneers of ebook distribution inside and outside of Greece, such as e.g. Amazon Inc. (with 10 online stores in 10 languages), Apple Inc. (with the most popular iBooks store), etc. Thanks to such high-level partnerships, a potential readership of tens of millions of readers is ensured on all possible reading devices (smartphones, eReaders, tablets, PCs, Macs, etc.), while at the same time the author benefits from the strongest protection mechanism for his intellectual property (Adobe DRM Protection). In fact, we use the same mechanism for the ebooks that we have on our sites, a mechanism that was made by the same company that made photoshop among others.
We are therefore talking about world-class distribution services, from a purely Greek creative team!”
Senior Designers, iWrite Publications Atelier
…distribution of the eBook worldwide,
but safely!
