Q. How long will it take to produce an e-book?
A. That depends on a couple things: How many projects wait in the queue, and how complex a project is. Small projects can take as little as an hour to fully produce and test. More complex productions can take considerably longer. Proofreading services can add a lot of time to a project.
Q. Can The Bindery produce 'enhanced' e-books?
A. Not at this time. Though capable, the amount of product support needed due to factors completely beyond our control is too prohibitive.
Right now, enhanced e-books are supported by only a limited amount of devices and retailers. The resulting frustration and headaches for clients have placed a stop-sign on those services. If that changes in the future, we will certainly provide this service to authors and publishers.
Q. Can The Bindery format for CreateSpace?
A. In future, we will offer this service.
Q. Can The Bindery make cover art?
A. In future, we will offer this service. We are actively hunting for reliable subcontractors.
Q. Can The Bindery create custom interiors?
A. Absolutely. We work with authors to craft custom title pages, custom chapter headers, custom fleurons and custom CSS.
We strive to help authors create a positive reader experience... but Meg is also honest and forthcoming about the capabilities a/o limitations of the digital format. Rest assured the Bindery will never suggest anything that places fees or profit over the reader's enjoyment. We'll help authors make informed decisions on design and e-book features to ensure projects stay away from bells and whistles that would require constant updating, or wouldn't work on common e-reader devices.
Q. I need help formatting my own e-book. Any advice?
A. Probably more than you ever wanted, yes.
Q. What filetypes can be used as source files?
A. The Bindery can accept .doc, .docx, .txt, .rtf and .odf as sourcefiles. We will not accept .pdf, .xml or .html files as source files.
Q. Is there anything special I should do to my sourcefile before sending it in?
A. While the Bindery can cope with pretty much anything we receive, there are a number of things authors can do to help cut down on the amount of proofing and testing necessary during the review process:
- Be sure to include ALL front and backmatter in the sourcefile, including licensing/copyright information. Conversely, you can skip the table of contents.
- If track changes (or similar function) was used in the source file during the editing phase, please make sure all changes are accepted or otherwise resolved in the file.
- If hyphenation was used in the file, turn them off before submitting the file.
- Make sure special fonts like italics or bold are applied ONLY to the desired text.
Q. QUOTES: What should I send or include with my quote request?
A. To create a quote, The Bindery needs ALL the content required to create the ebook. That means we need all the front and back matter, and all the formatting features like pagebreaks and images. It is also incredibly helpful if we're told whether there are tables, additional graphics or any other special handling required.
In order to view your content and create a quote, we accept .doc, .docx, .pdf, .rtf, .odf filetypes.
The absolute best source of quoting information for us is a complete .pdf file with all the desired formatting, images, blockquotes, insets, pagebreaks &etc. included.
Q. QUOTES: Why do I have to send all the content in order to receive a quote? What's to say you won't steal my book and publish it yourself?
A. Potential clients who believe there's even the slightest possibility of this happening are encouraged to seek the services of another formatting company.
