Libor Kubín Can a person with zero experience with e-books create a proper ePub using only Apple tools? Typographer and typesetter Jakub Krč tried it and he will share the result with you.
Some time ago you could read it here on Jablíčkář instruction how with help Caliber create custom books for iBooks. At the same time, a cultural revue turned to me Context, that she would like to try to distribute part of the new issue as an ePub. I have never made an e-book, I only understand (well) the world of printed books, so I thought this was a personal challenge.
I had typesetting in InDesign CS5, a few unsuccessful attempts with Caliber (the Czech coding was very angry) and a minimum of time. So I thought I'd play the "obedient sheep" and make an e-book only with the tools that Apple graciously gives me - i.e. Pages.
Basic steps
I exported selected articles of the current issue from the rate to RTF. I put them behind me in one Pages document (version 4.0.5). I gave them uniform formatting at the font and paragraph level, set zero margins (white area around the text). To do this, one does not need more than to know the shortcut Command+A and work with the icon Inspector.
The hint hints
I read two important pieces of information in the help: the first page of a document can be used as an e-book cover when converting Pages>ePub; automatically generated content is transferred to the e-book as interactive content. So I formatted the article headings using preset styles (Heading, Heading 1) and inserted a full-page JPG of the magazine cover on the first page. (I've left a tiny white border on the off-spine pages for effect and distinction.) I've had the table of contents generated (Insert>Table of Contents) and edited its formatting manually.
We export
Furthermore, it was necessary... And actually, no, that's almost all. I exported the document (File>Export>ePub), filled in the basic bibliographic data and placed the resulting file in his Dropbox and from there downloaded it to iBooks and Stanza on iPhone and iPad.
How does it work?
It seems good. The cover is as it should be, the content is navigable and the text can be edited as standard while reading (changing the type of font, size).
Maybe the whole thing could have been done even more elegantly, maybe it's missing a number of essential things - I'll just be happy if someone in the discussion teaches and educates me. However, I as a user am satisfied with this form, it has fulfilled its purpose.
Gift
If you are interested, you can review free download. Although it is a difficult read (The context deals with literature, criticism, philosophy, visual arts...), but such a short story by one of the most famous modern Chinese writers, Mo Yan The land of alcohol is quite a blast… So a nice read.
Jakub Krč, typographer and typesetter of the studio Lacerta and editor of an international review Typo.
My uncle also used to be a typographer and typesetter, but it was still all done by hand. Nice chore.
And I see that it will also work today :)
Will the review be published as an ebook? Or is it just an attempt?
Otherwise, the ebook was successful. And the content is also readable.
Thanks for the tip, it works! And under Android, the iBooks clone is called Starbooks, it looks and works the same.