Ebook Design and Formatting Services
High-quality ebook design and formatting
We’ll take your manuscript and turn it into a beautiful, professional-quality ebook.
All our ebooks are designed and formatted meticulously by hand. You’ll get error-free files that are a pleasure to read on all devices—laptops, e-readers, smartphones, and tablets.
If you want an ebook that mirrors the design of an existing print book, we can do it.
If you want us to design a matching print and ebook set, we can do it.
If you want a beautiful, stand-alone ebook, we can do it.
After custom designing and coding your ebook, we’ll QA test the files on all major devices—Kindle Fire, Kindle PaperWhite, Kindle Voyage, iPad, iPhone, Nook, and more. (When we code books, we include instructions for how to render on different devices.) Once we’ve confirmed that your ebook file looks flawless across all devices and on screens of all sizes you’ll receive the final files.
Your ebook files are also guaranteed to pass EPUB validation checks and upload smoothly to all major ebook marketplaces including
- Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing
- IngramSpark
- iBooks
- Barnes & Noble Nook
- Overdrive
- Google Play
- Kobo and more.
If you want help uploading your files to Amazon or anywhere else, no problem, we can do it for it you.
Our clients include self-published authors (fiction and non-fiction), book designers with complex print designs, entrepreneurs, businesses, universities, and small publishers. Anyone who doesn’t want to risk getting a poor-quality ebook.
We offer both reflowable and fixed-layout conversions for all languages and genres, including complex, heavily-formatted material like cookbooks, textbooks, and photography books.
If you’re new to publishing, please don’t worry. We’ve been at this for decades and will walk you through the entire process. All clients—whether publishing veterans or first-timers—will leave with professional quality ebooks.
Useful Resources
How to Prepare Your Manuscript for Production (These tips will speed up production and reduce your costs.)
Copyediting and Proofreading Services (Bring your manuscript to a professional level with a polish for language, grammar, punctuation and consistency.)
Here's What to Expect with eBook DesignWorks
No stress. We’ll guide you through the entire ebook design process and steer you around common pitfalls.
Skilled formatting of complex content like footnotes, foreign characters, images, tables and graphs, bullet lists, and pull quotes
Manuscript editing, a striking ebook cover, and file upload assistance (optional)
The industry’s best ebook quality at a reasonable price
Prompt, friendly service
Answers to all your publishing questions (ISBNs, copyright, ebook formats, distribution, and more)
Thorough quality testing. Your ebook files will upload smoothly to all major publishing sites.
A custom ebook design that matches your company branding and meets any other requirements
You keep all rights and royalties to your book
Peace of mind—we’re organized, experienced, and all work is guaranteed
“My ebook is getting GREAT reviews. In one week I’ve sold enough copies to make back the entire design and formatting cost!” — Justine Moore, fitness coach & cookbook author
What to Expect
Getting Started
Once you’ve sent your deposit, you can upload your manuscript and artwork to our project management app. We’ll edit your manuscript (if you’ve requested editing).
Sample Design
We’ll call you to discuss your design preferences, target market, branding, and design preferences.
Designing & Formatting Your eBook
We’ll style and format your edited manuscript carefully by hand. Afterward, we’ll check your ebook on various devices to make sure it looks professional on all screen sizes. Then you’ll get a proof to review.
Your eBook is Ready
Once you approve the proof, you’ll pay your invoice and receive your final ebook files. If you’d like, we can upload your files to Amazon or iTunes.
Ebook Conversion FAQ
What is an EPUB file?
EPUB is the industry-standard ebook format and the most widely accepted ebook file type. If you want to sell your ebook anywhere other than Amazon—iTunes, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, or Google—you’ll need an EPUB file. It’s a flexible format that supports many features including embedded video, audio, pop-ups, embedded fonts, multi-column formats, and more.
What is a MOBI file?
MOBI is Amazon’s proprietary file format, so if you want to sell you ebook on Amazon, you’ll need a MOBI file. Keep in mind that Amazon’s eInk e-readers only have greyscale displays. (The Fires are color tablets). You can only upload a single MOBI file per title, so it needs to be designed to look good in both b/w and color.
Does it help if I pre-design my Word file?
Actually, no. We’d have to remove all your formatting anyway. Just give us a clean Word file with no images or formatting other than bold or italics where needed. (Images are submitted separately, we’ll show you how). Before we begin formatting, we’ll talk to you about your design preferences and target audience.
How much will it cost?
It depends on the length and complexity of your manuscript. Professional ebook design and formatting for simple novels is usually $300. Design and formatting for cookbooks, textbooks, or other heavily formatted material requires a custom quote.
Do I need an ISBN to sell my ebook on Amazon?
No, an ISBN (International Standard Book Number) is not required to publish content with Kindle Direct Publishing. Once your content is published on the KDP website, Amazon.com will assign it a 10-digit ASIN (Amazon Standard Identification Number), which is unique to the eBook, and is an identification number for the Kindle Book on Amazon.com. If you so want an ISBN, you’ll need one for each version of your book…print, EPUB, MOBI.
Do you do conversions for other book designers?
Yes! We frequently convert InDesign files for other book designers and small publishers, not a problem.
Do you do conversions for foreign language books?
Yes! We’ve done ebooks in English, Spanish, French, German, Bahasa Indonesian, and more.
How should I prepare my manuscript?
Great question! Preparing your ebook manuscript correctly will help us turn your project around faster and even save you money.
What is ebook formatting anyway?
Formatting is what’s under the hood of your ebook. Ebook formatting (or conversion) is the process of taking your raw manuscript and using HTML code to make everything display artfully in e-readers, smart phones, tablets, and laptops. Every design feature (layout, white space, pull quotes, chapter titles, tables, page numbers, images and captions, footnotes, foreign-language characters, and more) is created using this code. Designing or formatting an ebook is like designing a mini-website.
What is a fixed-layout (or fixed-format) conversion?
Fixed-layout (or fixed-format) ebooks have pages and can have the same page layout and design as print books. (Though they are HTML files, not PDFs.) Everyone reading your book will see the same page content and layout, no matter what kind of device (tablet, phone, e-reader, laptop) they are using.
Fixed-layout conversions are visually striking and best suited for non-fiction books with illustration- or design-heavy page layouts. Fixed-layout ebooks can be viewed on all screens except eInk Kindles (original, PaperWhite, Voyage).
Genres that lend themselves to fixed-format conversion include:
- Cookbooks
- Illustrated children’s books
- Travel guides
- Photography books
- Health & fitness books
- Art books
- Comic books
- Some textbooks
- Some business books
What is a reflowable ebook conversion?
Reflowable ebooks have no fixed pages. Unlike fixed-layout ebooks, content is fluid and paginates automatically according to device and reader settings (like a website does). Reflowable ebooks are versatile and can be viewed on all tablets and e-readers, including Amazon eInk Kindles.
Genres usually done as reflowable ebooks include:
- Novels
- Short stories & other fiction
- Dictionaries
- Non-fiction books with simple formatting and few graphic elements (memoirs, business books, etc)
What kind of manuscript file do you need from me?
Most clients give us Word or, in the case of other book designers, InDesign files. Your manuscript should be submitted as a single file.
How long does it take?
Novels and other text-only ebooks take a week or two. More complex projects will take longer…up to three months if you need editing, cover design, and print files. Our calendar is quite busy, so if you’d like us to design and format your ebook, please let us know in advance if possible. In fact it’s best to schedule production (editing, print design, cover design, and/or ebook formatting) while you’re still writing your manuscript. However if your schedule is tight, let us know, and we’ll do our best to accommodate.
Will my ebook look professional? Many don't.
Absolutely! Most ebook conversion companies auto-convert files or make you go through an auto-submission process. That’s when you get garbled text, misplaced images, and other bizarre formatting. Not here. We’ll review your materials to make sure we have what we need for a great result. Then we create clean EPUB and MOBI files by hand–coding, using more semantic mark-up, following industry best practices, and doing extensive QA afterward. Because everything is done manually by skilled developers, your ebook will look like a book and be a pleasure to read.
I know I need an ebook but don't know what kind or how to get started.
No problem. We’ll guide you through the entire process. We’ll help you decide what ebook formats make sense for your project, make design recommendations, wrangle artwork, answer any questions, and make sure you get an ebook you love. Many of our clients are new to publishing and appreciate a little extra hand holding.