By David Hoobler David Hoobler is both the author and illustrator of the Zonk the Dreaming Tortoise series. In the post below he shares his experience creating read aloud ebook versions of his children's books. Recording studios and mixing boards meant nothing to me a year ago. To me these are the realm of Rock and Rollers and Super Stars. That was then, before I decided to … [Read more...] about Guest Post: One Author’s Experience Creating Children’s Read Aloud Ebooks
epub3
Enriching Ebooks with Semantic Vocabulary
Metadata is very important when it comes to categorizing and even marketing and finding readers for a book. Now that EPUB3 is around, authors/publishers can add really granular data to ebooks, which can help define target audiences, among other things. The concept of structuring data using markup is not new. Schema.org “ provides a collection of schemas that webmasters can … [Read more...] about Enriching Ebooks with Semantic Vocabulary
An Explanation of E-Book Formats
If you are a self-published author or someone looking to do e-book conversions, it can feel daunting at first because there are so many different formats to worry about. The two main formats, however, are EPUB and Kindle's proprietary format. EPUB can be used and read on Apple, Nook, Kobo, Sony, Google, and more devices, and Kindle's format can only be read on Kindle … [Read more...] about An Explanation of E-Book Formats
E-Book Review: Cinderella, an interactive EPUB3 book
Yay for EPUB3! Stanislav Ustymenko recently emailed me to let me know about his EPUB3 children’s book, Cinderella, with text by the original author Charles Perrault. Cinderella is one of the books available in the Fairy Tales for Clever Kids app, available on iTunes and developed by Teamich Inc. Currently the app only has two books, but they are some of the few books that … [Read more...] about E-Book Review: Cinderella, an interactive EPUB3 book
EPUB3 Read Aloud Code
Per request, I'm posting snippets of code to use to enable read aloud functionality on an iPad. You usually do this for children's books in EPUB3. Above is a sample of the SMIL file you will need to include. Remember to make a SMIL file for each "page." And don't forget to add it to your OPF! Below is a sample of the extra code to include in the HTML file. You will also need … [Read more...] about EPUB3 Read Aloud Code
EPUB3 v. Amazon KF8
Great post by Peter Brantley on Publisher's Weekly about the effect of the popularity of the new Google tablet, Nexus 7. Basically, he points out that Google is a company that endorses EPUB3 and open standards for e-books, such as with metadata, and if the Nexus 7 becomes a bigger player in the e-reading market, this would mean publishers could change their strategies regarding … [Read more...] about EPUB3 v. Amazon KF8
The New Kindle Format 8 (KF8)
Part 3 of the Understanding EPUB 3.0 webcast series was called An Alternative to EPUB 3.0: Inside the New Kindle Format 8 (KF8). The presenter was Joshua Tallent, president of eBook Architects. (To read my other posts on this series, see EPUB 3 and EPUB 3.0 Workflow). … [Read more...] about The New Kindle Format 8 (KF8)
EPUB 3.0 Workflow
Today I attended part two of the Understanding EPUB 3 webcast series, called Working with EPUB 3 : How EPUB 3.0 Will Affect Your Workflow. Read about the first webcast here. Ron Severdia, the CTO of Metrodigi, was the guest speaker. Metrodigi is a conversion house that has been around for two years, located in the San Francisco Bay Area. The company focuses on … [Read more...] about EPUB 3.0 Workflow
