Comments on: Landscape format for an ebook is better

By: Tom Evans

Tom Evans — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 08:23:23 +0000

You may find Powerpoint’s better for that type of material …. or bite the bullet & get InDesign

By: Tom Colvin

Tom Colvin — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 01:42:09 +0000

Tom, of course Word in landscape view works just fine — for SINGLE COLUMN material. However, if you want a separate sidebar column for “call-outs” and other related material, Word seems not up to the task. The only way I was able to accomplish that was by creating a table for every single page — and even then the principal text would not flow from page to page. I give up that approach with great disappointment.

By: Tom Evans

Tom Evans — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 07:42:03 +0000

The easy way to do this is just so go to Page Set up in MS Word & select Landscape – prepare your doc in Landscape & save as PDF ….

That said – check out http://www.smashwords.com & http://www.myebook.com (& BookBuzzr & Scribd) – & watch this space for the Apple Tablet in Autumn

By: Tom Colvin

Tom Colvin — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 05:51:13 +0000

I’m back to your post of landscape for e-books to see if anyone offered more info about how to do it most easily. Glad to see the Pulbisher suggestion. Other people have suggested I buy the expensive software InDesign. Publsher is a much less expensive option that will probably do the trick.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 17:00:55 +0000

I have to admit, I broke my own request in creating my two free ebooks, The Ultimate Guides, available on this site. I created them in portrait, without much thinking. The first was created in that format, because it suited the two page at once design I wanted, and a columnar listing of products and sites. The second followed suit because – it simply used the same template.

There are a lot of template designs available for the e-book writer, but most if not all come in the portrait format. A few are available in Word, others in Oo Writer formats, often as downloads and bonuses within internet marketing packages. But I haven’t come across many proper templates in landscape.

The biggest suggestion I have is to not use Word. Why? Because I had my own troubles trying to set out columns and spacings, inserting graphics exactly where I wanted them. I setup a template, therefore in MS Publisher which I happened to have with my Office license.

With Publisher, you have complete control over the design of the template – creating master pages for the background elements, and design elements. And with the save to PDF / XPS plugin, you can publish into a PDF format. Next time, I may well try designing a more simplistic template within Publisher – and in the landscape format.

By: Tom Evans

Tom Evans — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 17:00:49 +0000

Yes I use a programme called Articulate which is a plug in for Powerpoint – it generates Flash, podcasts & CD’s and a navigation tree on the left hand side – I used it to build my online writing course (and Ermintrude) – http://thebookwright.com/home-study/ – see http://www.articulate.com/products/presenter-features.php for more details & let me know if you’d like a sample of my course so you can see it in action

By: Tom Colvin

Tom Colvin — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 16:40:42 +0000

I too recently came across an ebook beautifully designed in landscape format. The writer had gone to the trouble to hire a designer to put it together.

I was so impressed with it that I decided to do some experimenting. I have material for an ebook just waiting for me to pull it all together.

Well, I discovered that it was easier said than done. I wanted main text in a large column on the right side, with pull quotes and such in a smaller column on the left. To my dismay, Word has difficulty with that. It appears that to accomplish this, one must create a table for every single page, cutting and pasting in the flowing text.

Have you come across some design solution that makes 2-column landscape layout easy to accomplish?

By: Tom Evans

Tom Evans — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 14:56:58 +0000

I agree – here’s one I did earlier – http://www.tinyurl.com/ermintrude

By: Cam Ly

Cam Ly — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 09:31:31 +0000

Thanks for sharing. It is helpful