Part III—The World of eBooks
In this final part I’d like to make a few quick observations concerning the eBook format, which I plan to use for A Question of Attachment. Question will not be as much work as my first book Bowlby’s Battle for Round Earth, which was a “real” self-published book weighing in at 340 pages with reference list, index, and all the usual book trappings. In contrast, my plan is to keep A Question of Attachment to about 100 pages, something that could be easily read over a weekend. As mentioned in part I, Question will be published using Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). KDP allows you to in essence publish directly to the Amazon Kindle platform. Kindle is Amazon’s eBook reader. Using KDP will simplify things considerably. Allow me to explain.
When you read a book on a Kindle (and on most eBook readers), you choose the font and the font size. As a result, there are no page numbers per se because the text must be able to float (e.g., conform to the formatting tastes of the reader). Gone are the days of Reader’s Digest and their large print books. With eBooks, if you want large text, you just select it. There are, however, location numbers that help facilitate navigation. Because there are no page numbers, there is no way to create an index. In lieu of an index, authors are encouraged to provide a key word list (which I will do). Readers are then able to search on those key words to find topics of interest. You are still able to have footnotes and references (which I plan to include). The big advantage of the eBook format is the ability to include links to information elsewhere on the web, say, a Wikipedia definition. Many eBook readers have web browser software that makes surfing the web possible. As examples, iPhones and iPads are able to run the Kindle app. Each mobile device comes with an iOS version of the Safari web browser. Used sparingly, hyperlinks could enhance the eBook experience. So, Question will be a Kindle only eBook available through Amazon.
In parts I and II of this series, I clearly hinted at possible book chapters. In my next blog post I’ll go beyond hints and give you a concrete sense for the types of chapters I imagine for Question. See you then.
