Looseleaf Editorial & Production

Book Editing & Design

ebook formatting

New: Comic Book Ebook Design for Kindle

by Leave a Comment

Cover for comic book ebook design for KindleLooseleaf now offers comic book ebook design for Kindle! The first two projects we’ve helped produce are Book 1 and Book 2 of Children of Eldair, a full-color portal fantasy comic by Jemma M. Young. (Looseleaf also copyedited and proofread Book 2.) You can buy both the ebooks and the gorgeously printed paperbacks on Amazon (Book 1 is available now; Book 2 is forthcoming), and when you’ve finished those off, you can see the latest pages on a regular basis at Eldair.com.

File Formats for Comic Book Ebook Design

Ebooks aren’t usually the first option for comics. Most ebooks are reflowable, which means the text can shift around to let readers adjust the size and other aspects to suit their reading choices. Comics, with their rich, dense illustration and specifically placed text, don’t do well in a reflowable book. But if you want to publish a portable, electronic version of your ebook, don’t settle for a static PDF. The Kindle format is your best bet. Amazon has created a platform that readily integrates panel magnification in a way that keeps file sizes low while making it easy for readers to zoom in on intricate artwork, dialogue text, and more. EPUB format (which Nooks, iBooks, Kobo devices, and more use) can do similar things, but the code is more complex, and the files can become large, especially with detailed or lush artwork (like Jemma’s work with Children of Eldair). EPUB files need to be compatible with many different platforms and devices, while Kindle files wrangle only with different devices.

But even with a ready-to-run format, the time spent building an ebook is time you aren’t writing, drawing, inking, lettering, and/or coloring your comic. If you want a Kindle-ready version of your comic, trust Looseleaf with your story. We’ll get it reader ready. Need more information? Get a quote on your comic book ebook design.

Not a comic book writer? We’ve got you covered with standard print and ebook design pricing.

Weekly Roundup: 10/29–11/4

by Leave a Comment

Locus Online: World Fantasy 2011 Winners

Locus Online has posted the results of the World Fantasy awards, which were awarded at the World Fantasy Convention last weekend. I haven’t read the best novel (though I’ve read or will soon have read much of the short list), or any of the shorter fiction, but I am in the middle of reading the winner for best anthology, My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me, edited by Kate Bernheimer. Thus far I’ve found it excellent. My review will come out after I actually finish reading all the stories.

Nathan Bransford: Are You Participating in NaNoWriMo?

In case you writers didn’t already know, National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) started earlier this week. If you’re up for the challenge, commit to writing 50,000 words in a novel this month. If you want to get in on the biggest online party the writing community has, jump on the NaNo bandwagon. If you haven’t started already though, you’re going to need a boost to make up this week’s word count. So look to Nathan Bransford’s compilation of NaNoWriMo-related advice.

Publishers Weekly: Survey Says Library Users Are Your Best Customers

This week PW put out an article describing a new research survey that illuminates the contribution libraries make to the publishing industry. Many readers report buying books of authors they have read in the library, and there are a host of other findings.

Liz Castro: Where Should an Ebook Begin?

Ebook wiz Liz Castro explains how to make your ePub file guide a reader to the first chapter of your book when a reader opens it (instead of, say, the cover). I disagree with Liz—I like to see the cover first—but I do agree that the frontmatter of ebooks can get painfully excessive. Outside of the table of contents, I’m a fan of putting what is traditionally frontmatter (like copyright pages, etc.) at the back of the file.

David Carnoy: Amazon Launches Free E-book Borrowing for Prime Members

Now as a part of Amazon’s $79.99/year prime membership, Kindle owners can borrow one ebook at a time, free of charge, with no due date. Kind of like Netflix, but for books, and the prime membership also includes Amazon’s video service. Not all books are a part of the program, as it depends on publisher consent.