Book Design and KDP Conversion
Modern-day book design has become a lot of fun with digital tools (like Adobe InDesign). What is even more fun is designing long documents to be converted for Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) eBooks and print on demand (POD) paperbacks. I started with Ventura Publisher and “graduated” to become proficient with Adobe FrameMaker (when it was a Frame Technology product).
Long document book design
“Ken quickly got up to speed on the technical aspects of the project and assisted other technical writers with their issues. The project ran very smoothly with Ken driving it forward. Ken has a bias toward action and results with an eye for detail.”
— Greg K.
Interactive books
There are better ways to design paperless manuscripts in thought-provoking formats. For example, our own Spresso iVersionIt app has a colorful, non-boring user guide that looks like a magazine: an interactive PDF.
Key features:
Notebook tabs (on the side) and next/previous buttons for easy navigation
Form field fill-ins (text, checkboxes, radio buttons, and so on)
Cross-references to key articles
Button animation and video clips
We’re so confident in how we create interactive documents (iPDFs), you can view exactly how to do it:
“He saved the day with his extensive experience with Amazon publishing, attention to detail, and client-centered approach.”
“My experience working with Ken was amazing! He was able to edit our 390-page book in just a week. It passed the KDP review quickly.”
— Alan P.
— Ashley S.
Traditional books
For workbooks, textbooks, and user guides, there is nothing better than a visually stunning, “inviting” manuscript. If designed correctly and the usage is understood, long documents can be designed for flexibility:
Language independence (not everyone reads English)
Online viewing or print (view with hyperlinks vs print with page bleeds and CMYK color model)
Single-source, multiple uses (student vs instructor content) in a single document
A hierarchy design of text styles that enables simple body text, headings, and other attributes in one place
“… as long as we get the same ‘Ken Quality’ that we had before.”
— Ashley S. [in response to my availability to fit in an upcoming book layout project]
“Communicative. Helpful. Reliable. Another successful project!”
— Kristen F.
“I cannot express how happy and satisfied I am with Ken's work. He was able to fix everything in one try; he is really an expert with InDesign and KDP. I will definitely work with him in the future.”
— Katriel S.
How-To instructions
Once a project has been completed, a how-to set of instructions is usually delivered to the client.
For information on InDesign document layout, KDP manuscript flowable text eBook/print-on-demand (POD) paperback conversion services: