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What are some of the best e-book lay-outs you've seen?

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Paul Keith:
I'm thinking of quitting blog and forum posting and just isolating myself to e-books (free amateur written ones) and I was wondering since many of you here read e-books beyond the desktop, maybe you could share some of the best lay-outs you've seen when reading through your collection.

Something that can be done through free software like Scribus and exported to pdf and hopefully nothing involving new fonts because I really don't understand typography and I also have a hard time backing up and re-adding fonts to an operating system.

erikts:
I read many e-books from changethis.com and right now I am reading The Bootstrapper's Bible by Seth Godin.

Ath:
and just isolating myself
-Paul Keith (March 03, 2011, 09:15 AM)
--- End quote ---
Doesn't it feel like you are actually isolating yourself? A blog is a non-restrictions entrypoint for any reader, but restricting your output to e-books (although free) is going to scare away a lot of your current readers, IMHO

mahesh2k:
+1 ath.

By the way why not try smashwords ebook publisher if you're feeling like publishing ebook ?(smashwords release your book to bn, apple, kindle as well).

40hz:
IMO much depends on the subject matter of the e-book.

Books have personalities.

And the visual design should reflect that.

You would not want to use the same dimensions/fonts/layouts for everything. Because a book of poetry, or a collection of essays, would greatly benefit from a design quite different from one which might otherwise be perfect for a technical handbook.

(Note: this is considered very old-fashioned in some circles.  :-\ )

One challenge will be to anticipate which hardware platform the e-book will be read on. Because hardware will not only have a huge impact on the aesthetics of the design - it will also, to a large degree, dictate what's possible. An e-book that looks good (and is doable) on an iPad won't be the same as one destined for a Kindle or standard computer monitor. Especially when it comes to font metrics, geometry, and the treatment of whitespace.

Despite arguments (and wishful thinking) to the contrary - one size does not fit all when it comes to e-books. So you'll also need some idea of which platform you're most likely to be read on. If I were to hedge, I'd go with designing for the iPad and Kindle at this point in time.

But to address your original question, right now I'd have to say my answer is: None.

I have not seen any e-book layout that I thought was 'good' as in "visually pleasing" or "pleasant to read."
But that's a fairly typical occurrence whenever a new presentation format gets introduced.

The 'best' of the lot were merely readable. The remainder ranged from mildly annoying to completely unbearable. There was nothing in the experience to make me feel the print book is threatened by anything other than the book industry's desire to go "totally electronic" as soon as possible.

Eventually, we'll discover what works and see format standardization set in. Once  that happens, book designers will finally have something static enough to design around.

---

So...

What sort of subject matter will you be e-authoring?

 :)

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