What are the different types of eBooks available?No Commentscomments

There are two types of

eBooks available in the market: reflowable and fixed format. Reflowable eBooks were first made available and commercialized by Amazon’s Kindle. Reflowable books generally contain a large amount of text and not many images. “Reflowable” means the text and images of the book will adjust based on screen size. Novels are the most popular form of reflowable eBooks.

Fixed format eBooks are primarily pictures. Unlike reflowable books, fixed format books are set and configured for a device at a specific size. Children’s books, cookbooks, and magazines are some examples of fixed format eBooks. A fixed format eBooks is a mirror image of the printed format on an electronic reading device (eReaders). Barnes & Noble’s Nook and Apple’s iPad are devices that supports fixed format eBooks. As of September 2011, Amazon’s Kindle does not support this feature. Hence you do not see many children’s books on the Kindle.

The chart below illustrates each eBook type and the features available with each eReader:

The second generation of eReaders provides support for enhanced eBooks. Enhanced eBooks contain additional features such as audio and video in addition to text. Publishers have been adding audio and video clips throughout eBooks to provide a different reading experience for eBook readers. By providing enhanced features, publishers sometimes charge more for the enhanced eBook.

Another enhanced eBook feature is “Read Along Audio.” “Read Along Audio” synchronizes an audio file with each word inside the eBook. When activated, the eReader automatically highlights words as they are read aloud by a narrator.

Most recently, publishers have added “Interactivity” to eBooks as another set of enhanced features. Newer eReaders, such as the Apple iPad 2, can render HTML5, CSS3 and Javascript. Publishers have used this opportunity to further engage readers with the book.

The most commonly-used interactive features include animation, sound effects, games, etc., that tie into the story.

Invogen has been advising major and independent publishers on eBook conversions since 2009. We have developed a streamlined and cost-efficient approach to converting print-ready books to eBooks. For more information,

please contact Garren Du or Paul Lee.