Self-Publishing

Ebook Formatting Answers: How is Ebook Development Different from Web Development?

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Ebook

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If you’re creating an ebook manually, you need an ebook developer, not just a Web developer. Why is that, and how is ebook development different than Web development?

A Web developer knows how to develop Web sites that will look good in a browser.

Ebook reading software is specialized and doesn’t behave the same way as Web software does. It behaves differently, and often in surprising ways.

So if you’re going to hire someone to convert your ebook, you’re going to want to hire someone who is familiar with the specifics of designing for ebook reader technology.

Ebook development is a less-than-fun process that can involve lots of suffering. There is a lot of manual styling and cleanup involved in ebook conversion, even if you’re using a specialized software. That’s why you need an ebook developer instead of a Web developer if you’re going to hire someone to manually create your ebook.

At Pressbooks, we’ve done a lot of work to make our theme styling specific to ebook readers and automatically render beautifully across them so you don’t need to hire a professional with this specialized skill.