When Apple presented iBooks on the iPad on January 27, 2010, my very first question was how that beautiful copy of Winnie the Pooh must have been laid out, and how they made it look so lovely on that gorgeous iPad. It seemed like the perfect topic to write a book about.
Almost six months later, that book is now reality: EPUB Straight to the Point: Creating ebooks for the Apple iPad and other ereaders, published by Peachpit Press in both print and electronic editions.
EPUB Straight to the Point starts by looking at tools you may already be familiar with: Microsoft Word and Adobe InDesign, and how to use either one (not to mention the documents you may already have in those formats) to generate the files necessary for creating an EPUB ebook. But because neither of those programs creates a fully valid EPUB file, the book also takes a closer look at the inner workings of an EPUB file, and shows you how to use a text editor to complete the EPUB file, including the creation of a cover and navigational table of contents.
In the last chapter, the book explains how to take full advantage of the formatting strengths of EPUB, while taking into account the quirks of the iBooks ereader app on the iPad. You'll learn how to specify fonts and text-alignment, wrap text around images, add drop caps to the beginning of a paragraph, format short lines like poetry, and much more.
You can preorder printed copies of the book from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Peachpit Press.
You can buy the EPUB version of the book right here, right now! (or by clicking the Buy Now link in the left navigation). This is the first time I've ever sold my own books from my own website, so please let me know if you have any trouble, or any suggestions that would make the process easier.
And, of course, follow the navigation links at left to see an excerpt, the table of contents, or the index.