Although you are using the same manuscript for your print and eBook files, the two will not look the same.
A dynamic eBook in ePub format employs real-time flowable text that allows you to read it on any eReader and adjust the font size and style to fit your reading preferences. There is no set pagination with a dynamic eBook because the number of words displayed per page can change based on user settings and the screen size of the device.
There are several elements that do not translate properly into a dynamic eBook:
- Drop Caps: While they look beautiful in print books, the fact is they won’t necessarily look as nice in eBooks. When converting your files to eBook, your drop caps must be converted to images to ensure that they remain the correct size and font. Once this is done, we cannot guarantee that these images will align in the proper location on all devices.
- Emojis: While certain platforms, such as Apple Books, can display emojis, there are many eReaders that can not display them and will omit them altogether. We recommend excluding them from your manuscript.
- Fonts: No matter what font you use when creating your manuscript, your readers are still limited to the fonts in their eReader’s font library. These libraries are typically very basic and may not be able to display the same font as your print book. For example. the Century Gothic you used for your print book may be substituted with Arial on your eReader.
- Justification: Using full justification in your manuscript may cause irregular spacing in between words, as the eReading device adjusts the word spacing so that the text can fall flush with both the right and left margins.
- Text wrapping: Most eReading devices can not accommodate text wrapping and will separate the image from its corresponding text. This can result in your image falling somewhere out of context.
- Image captions: Due to the reflowable nature of the eBook, we cannot guarantee that the captions will stay with the images on every device. Though we can attempt to apply code to your eBook file to discourage the caption from separating, the end result ultimately lies with the eReading device. Some will simply separate the image and caption in order to maintain the reflowable nature.
- Back cover: eBooks do not typically include a back cover. The purpose of the back cover is to entice readers to purchase your book. With eBooks, the readers will not see the back cover until after they have already purchased it.