Digital Publishing: Is Your Software Compatible?

Above, the ad banner that appeared at the Classic Horror Film Board.

Over at Amazon's Kindle Store, one guy posted a complaint about the ebook edition of The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan.  

He wrote:

I don't know if there was a problem with my download or if this guy just needs an editor/proofreader in the worst way. This book was pretty unreadable. Paragraphs end abruptly or meld into others without any rhyme or reason. Sentences end with no punctuation. They just stop. Sections of the book just seem to be dropped into chapters that have no relevancy.

I checked it and I found no such problems and I suspected it had to do with the program or software he was viewing it with.

Recently, the issue of digital publishing (including Kindle) came up at the Classic Horror Film Board in connection with a planned ebook edition of Famous Monsters of Filmland.  It explains the situation with digital publishing.

David Colton of USA Today wrote in response to the discussion:

I know nothing about the FM situation, but will say that digital publishing is an extremely complex endeavour. Even at USA TODAY, where we have great minds and resources, getting a product to render correctly on all platforms is maddeningly difficult. 

An app that plays fine on the latest iPad sometimes crashes on an original iPad. Apps for Android devices similarly need to be tailored for each OS (Jelly Bean or Ice Cream Sandwich -- yup, that's what they are called). On desktops, which browser you use can cause problems -- what displays on Firefox sometimes won't play as well on Safari; what's good on Chrome freezes on IE.

Videos that use Flash won't play at all on Apple iPads and iPhones, which don't use Flash and instead need HTML5 language. Plus, the screen resolution people use on their computer can make a huge difference in how displays of a magazine page can look. 

It is the craziest tech world ever, with so many things open source and not standardized it is as if a car battery will work fine in a Buick but not in a Chrysler, or a Sunbeam toaster won't work with rye bread. It is amazing anything works, truth be told. 

Anyhow, I don't know if anything I just said has anything to do with FM's digital magazine or YUDU, but sadly, one digital size does not fit all.

My response at the CHFB:

I am glad the Kindle subject came up. I had The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan converted to a Kindle ebook at Amazon a few months ago. One guy complained about it. Everyone else who has seen it had no complaints. I suspect that whatever program software he was viewing it on wasn't compatible with the Kindle program.  

While checking around for ebook conversions beforehand, I found that conversions are as very complex as [Colton] stated. Issues like uniform sizes and font embedding, etc. came up (many of which I never even heard of). It was a hassle. I was about to abort the idea of an ebook until I went to Amazon.

I guess the bottom line in all this is to make sure you have the correct software, app or programs compatible with the various ebooks so that they render correctly for you.  As David Colton stated, one digital size does not fit all.