EPUB e-books: what layout means for e-readers
It usually goes like this: the book is at the printer or already on the shelf, and someone asks whether there will be an e-book as well. The first instinct is to send the print PDF and call it an e-book. Unfortunately, it isn't one.
A print PDF is made for paper. The page has a fixed size, every line sits in a fixed place and the font is locked. On a phone or an e-reader that means the reader has to zoom into every page and scroll sideways. Most e-book stores will not even accept a PDF as an e-book — they expect an EPUB file.
What EPUB is and why it behaves differently
An EPUB is essentially a packaged web page: text, images, styles and descriptive metadata in a single file. The key difference from print is that there are no pages. Text flows to fit the width of the screen, and the reader chooses the font size — sometimes also the typeface, line spacing and background colour.
So in an e-book I am not designing pages but rules: how a heading, a paragraph, a quotation or a caption should look, whatever the screen size and whatever font size the reader picks.
Reflowable text or fixed layout
EPUB comes in two main forms, and the right one depends on the book.
Reflowable EPUB suits fiction, non-fiction, memoirs and most academic texts. The text adapts to the screen and the reader can enlarge it. It is the default choice and the one e-book stores support best.
Fixed-layout EPUB keeps the page design intact, much like an image. It is used for children's picture books, comics, cookbooks and photo books, where the position of text and pictures is part of the content. The price is that such a book is awkward to read on a phone and not every reader supports it the same way.
If the book is mostly text, I always recommend reflowable EPUB — even when the print edition is richly designed.
What changes compared to print
This is where it becomes clear why EPUB is a separate job rather than an export button.
- There are no page numbers. The table of contents and cross-references ("see p. 54") have to become links, otherwise they point to something that doesn't exist on an e-reader.
- The table of contents exists twice: once as a page inside the book and once in the reader's navigation menu. Both need to work.
- The reader chooses fonts and sizes. The design has to stay readable even when someone doubles the text size.
- Footnotes usually become endnotes or pop-up notes that you reach and return from via a link.
- Images need preparing for screens: sensible resolution, RGB colour and a descriptive alt text. Print CMYK files are too heavy and their colours shift.
- Tables are the biggest headache. A wide table does not fit on a phone screen. It often has to be redesigned, split, or as a last resort shown as an image.
- The cover is a separate image file, not the print cover spread with spine and back. In an e-book store it is a thumbnail that must still be legible at small size.
- Metadata — title, author, language, publisher, ISBN, description — lives inside the file, and stores and reading apps display the book based on it.
The most common mistakes
These are the ones I see most often in e-books:
- Empty lines used for spacing. Manual line breaks added for print create random gaps or blank pages on an e-reader.
- Headings drawn as images. If a chapter title is a picture, the reader cannot enlarge it, search can't find it and the navigation stays empty.
- Hard-coded font sizes that stop the reader from changing the text size.
- A missing language tag. Without it, the reading app hyphenates and pronounces the text by the wrong language's rules.
- Broken links in the table of contents and notes that lead to the wrong place or nowhere.
Checking before publication
I check a finished EPUB in two ways. First technically, with a validation tool (EPUBCheck) that catches structural and formatting errors — many stores reject a faulty file straight away. Then by hand, in several different reading apps and on a phone: do chapters start in the right place, do the notes work, are images and tables readable, and does the layout survive a larger font size.
Where e-books are sold, and the ISBN
E-books are sold through e-book stores and the large international platforms, and libraries lend them through their e-lending services. Every channel has its own requirements for the file and the metadata, so it pays to know in advance where the book is going.
ISBN: each format normally gets its own ISBN. The printed book has one, the EPUB another; if you also produce an audiobook, that gets a third. The overall order of publishing, from ISBN to printer, is covered in how to publish a book step by step.
How I work on it
An e-book is a separate job from print layout, and we agree on it separately. If I know from the start that an EPUB is coming, I build the layout so that its styles and structure work for both — the e-book then goes smoothly and the two editions don't drift apart. I can also make an EPUB from a finished book that someone else typeset; in that case I start by reviewing the structure of the content.
What print layout actually involves and what drives its price is set out separately: book layout — what a typesetter does and what it costs.
If you have a manuscript or a finished print file and want a proper e-book from it, describe your situation in a couple of sentences here — what the book is, whether the print edition already exists and where you want to sell the e-book. I reply within one working day and tell you honestly whether and how I can help. If you prefer a general message, use the contact page.
Can I sell a PDF as an e-book?
In some places, yes, but most e-book stores and reading apps expect EPUB. A PDF is uncomfortable to read on a phone because the text doesn't adapt to the screen.
Does an e-book need its own ISBN?
Usually yes — each format (print, EPUB, audiobook) gets its own ISBN.
Can an EPUB be made from a finished print file?
It can, but converting automatically from a print PDF carries page-based errors over. The result is better when the starting point is the manuscript or a layout file with its structure intact.
