Welcome! It's nice to meet you. We're Booknook.biz, and what we do is convert your source materials--manuscripts, PDFs, books, you-name-it, into eBooks and POD (Print-on-Demand) interior layouts.
We can convert almost anything:
Text
Word
PDFs
Open Office Writer
Libre Office
Pages (Mac)
WordPerfect
InDesign Files
Print
--into:
MOBI (For Amazon Kindle)
ePUB (for iPad, iBooks, Barnes & Noble Nook, Sony eReader) and KoboBooks, and,
ePUB, Smashwords-specific
We can also provide specialty services, including
KF8 (Advanced Kindle Formatting) Comic Books for the Kindle Fire with pop-up Panels,
KF8 Fixed-Format Children's books optimized for Kindle8 (pop-up text),
ePIB format for the Barnes & Noble NookKids' reading platform; (See warnings about this, below);
Kobo (with audio-read along), and
iBooks (with text read-along highlighting as well as voice narration and sound effects).
Want to see what you get? Check out our Samples Showcase at the Main Showcase Entrance for a quick look at just some of the books we've done over the past 7 years. We're not only on the Amazon Professional Converter's List, but we're an Inscribe Preferred Conversion Partner as well (a wholly-owned subsidiary of InGrooves). We quote a fixed price from final manuscripts, so you won't have any surprises.
Every job we do comes with our Bulletproof Guarantee:when you leave us, you'll be happy. Period. We mean it. Read our Testimonials and Our Feefo Reviews and Ratings, and search the web for what other folks have said about us.
We're a 2015 top-5 finalist in Digital Book World's Digital Book Excellence Awards, for publisher BooksBnimble's novel, Diamonds in the Sky, by author M.A. Harper.
Contact us for a no-obligation quote on your project.
FROM WORD OR OTHER WORD PROCESSING FILES: For converting manuscripts from any word-processing format, we used a tiered pricing structure, based upon word count, not pages. Our prices are based upon receipt of a clean, final manuscript, in a word-processing format (Word, Wordperfect, Open Office, RTF, Pages, etc.). We can quote WIP (Works-in-progress), so you don't have to have a final book when you obtain a quote, but you'll want a final manuscript when you finally "push the button" to move into production. (Returning customers receive discounted pricing for ebooks). If you're looking for pricing for this type of conversion, please refer to our Conversion Pricing from Word page. However, the average fiction book will run between $150-$250.00, depending on length, complexity, fonts, etc. (Please refer to the pricing page, thanks, for more details).
Every single book is a custom conversion--and a custom quote.
We assess every single manuscript that comes in for a quote. Repeat clients receive a "fast track discount" to the prior year's pricing, as they've been through the process previously. We offer publisher discounts and multi-manuscript discounts.
What Adds Complexity and Price?
What will add to the cost of your book?
Significant numbers of internal documents like emails, notes, letters, text-messages, emails, IM chats; numbered or bulleted lists or footnotes; maps or illustrations; embedded fonts.
Images are charged an additional fee ($20 for every block of 10 images, excluding your cover, which is included in the base price.)
Books that have been scanned are charged at a higher rate (unless they've been manually proofed, cleaned up and edited first), as they tend to have significant odd characters, broken paragraphs, section breaks, etc., embedded in the output.
If we have to clean up your manuscript you have broken paragraphs, sentences, didn't use styles, used tabs for indents, lots of empty paragraphs, we charge for that, so the cleaner your manuscript is, the lower your price
Using images as fleurons will also add to the price.
What Do You Get With Your Conversion?
All titles are created in the two main ebook formats: MOBI (Amazon) and ePUB (for all other eBook retailers, including Nook, Kobo, iBooks, Diesel, Sony, etc.) You receive finished, readable eBooks that you can review on your own devices, or with reading software on your computer that we tell you how to download. You receive review copies during the process. There aren't any surprises.
PDF Files: If you have a fiction manuscript/book in PDF, it will be priced higher than shown here, as conversion from PDF requires additional steps not needed in manuscripts received in a native word-processing format. "Word files" created from PDF's, using online-converters, Adobe Acrobat, etc. will not be given Word pricing, so it's best to simply give us the PDF if that's what you have. Please see our other category, Conversion from PDF, for prices for those books.
Check out some screenshots from books we've converted, on different devices, below (click to zoom), or See our Gallery
From PDF: This category entails all conversions from PDF, regardless of the type of content (fiction or non-fiction). If you have a PDF from a print layout house, ask us about our Indesign Professional Discounts, before you get your quote.
Moderate and Complex formatted titles, regardless of length, run more, due to numbered or bulleted lists, indices, appendices, photographs, illustrations, tables, footnotes, etc. Significant formatting, like found in many self-help books or DIY titles, will also add to costs. Moderate- and Complexly-formatted titles have a minimum price of $150.00 and go up from there, with prices ranging from $1.45/page to $2.25 for the average book. Some extremely-complex titles can go as high as $4.00/page, if the title warrants it (for example medical textbooks, scientific books, very heavily formatted self-help books with myriad tables, columnar data, or books that come to us in spreads with multiple columns of text per page). Again, publisher discounts and multi-title discounts are available. Poetry will almost always run upwards of $3.00/page, due to the extensive hand-formatting that has to be done to ensure proper line-wrapping for each line of a given stanza.
Examples to Help You Visualize:
As this book has simple text, like most fiction titles, this would be "simple" for quoting purposes.
As this book has heavy formatting, but only on the Chapter pages, this would be "moderately" formatted for quoting purposes.
This book has images, colored fonts, columns, and lists (the ingredients). This would be a COMPLEX book.
Remember: EVERY book is a custom conversion job. Every single one, as your book is totally different than John Doe's book.
ESTIMATING PRICING, GENERALLY: As complexly-formatted books are impossible to categorize, we can't give you a ballpark idea without seeing the actual book, although we wish we could. To assist you in estimating your more-complex title (non-fiction, bulleted lists, charts, graphics, equations, background colors, inline images, etc.): assume that if
your title is fiction, or fiction-like in layout (see above example image), your book will run $1.45/page for conversion from PDF.
If your title has design elements on up to 20% of the pages, it has "moderate" formatting and will run $1.65/page for conversion to both formats.
If your book has up to 40% of the pages with design elements, assume that the price will come in at about $1.95/page. Books that are more complex than this will have custom pricing.
All images in all books (excepting the author photo and cover image, which are included in base prices) are charged at $20 for every block of 10 images, so if you have 35 images, that would be an additional charge of $80.00, above and beyond the base price.
Conversion from print or PDF are the most expensive methods of conversion, so if you have your source word-processing file, send that to us for your best possible price! When we say this, as we mention in the fiction section, we mean the original Word file, and not a "faux-Word" file made from an online conversion service or Adobe Acrobat from your PDF, please.
InDesign?
If you or your print layout person have your source print-layout Adobe InDesign files, don't hesitate to let us know. We do accept InDesign files for conversion. If we review yours, and they're usable, we'll knock off up to $0.30/page from the conversion quote. This can be a real money-saver, so make sure you tell us about them.
Check out some screenshots from books we've converted, on different devices by visiting our Main Showcase Entrance.
POD LAYOUT: We do offer POD ("print on demand") layout services. We offer this for fiction titles and any title that is similar to fiction in layout, like memoirs which have paragraphical layout and some images, or even books with some tables. We do not offer print layout formatting for complex or "coffee table" books. If you are contemplating a print book, you are likely considering an option that will need a Print-on-Demand layout PDF.
Unsure what a POD is, or whether you need one? Check out our FAQ article: What is a POD PDF?
Our POD Pricing:
Generally, our pricing is comparable to Createspace's pricing. Our base price, for print layout alone, for 75K words, starts at $350.00. (This pricing is for under 75K words, and does not include eBooks, Cover design services, embedded fonts, etc.) *pricing information updated 6-25-2019, due to constant misunderstandings about what that included.
We do offer "POD Packages" that have Print POD (a PDF you can use at Createspace, Lightning Source, etc.) coupled with two ebooks, one in ePUB and MOBI format. Our prices are extremely competitive. (Compare these to other Formatting houses that start POD layout pricing at $1.50 for every 250 words: that's $600.00 for 100K words, without any ebooks. Our prices for POD packages, for under 75K words, including one print layout PDF plus two ebooks, one in MOBI, one in ePUB, start at $480.00.)
Our print layout for movie star Terence Stamps' "Rare Stamps."
Our print layout for the charming "Saving Mim," by author Nan McAdam
We highly recommend, for package pricing, that if you expect to need a PDF or print book for reviewers or other reasons that you consider contracting for print layout at the same time as you do the eBooks. Yes, it's more money upfront, but it saves you quite a lot of money overall.
POD LAYOUT AVAILABILITY: Our POD layout services are limited and are provided to clients upon request on a first-come, first-served basis. If you have any interest, please drop in and visit our Print Formatting Showcase.
Whether you're a DIY'er or a professional print layout house, we can help. We offer substantial discounts for InDesign files, if they meet our intake criteria. If you plan to inquire about an InDesign-based file, please note that we'll need to see the entire InDesign folder for the book--files, images, links, fonts, everything. Please tell us that you need an Upload link when you contact us, or use our corporate Hightail Account to send us these files for assessment and quoting.
Professional Layout Houses: Ask us about professional discounts.
KID'S BOOK AND COMICS: We specialize in providing fixed-format books, for Children's illustrated titles as well as Comic books and other "fixed-layout" books (books that emulate the look of print books, with spreads or other advanced aspects). Make sure you visit our Showcase for some examples of fixed-format books that we've made. (I know that there's a lot of confusing information out there; please try to read everything available on our site, thanks, to assist you and to help us help you.)
Fixed-Layout books are unique, in that their text does not "reflow." In regular ebooks, the reader can determine the size of the font, and in many cases the margin-settings, which causes the pages in the book to "reflow" to suit the reader's wishes. (Please see our Knowledgebase articles on reflow: Is it true that readers can change how my book looks?, and Text reflows--or wraps. ) Fixed layout books, on the other hand, create a layout that is almost identical to the original print layout, allowing non-reflowable text that can be placed atop graphics, like text on an illustration for a children's book. Fixed-layout also allows "two-page spreads," which cannot be done in traditional ebooks. Fixed layout is a great solution for fully-illustrated children's books, comic books, some coffee-table books, and cookbooks that are complex in layout.
Important note: Amazon fixed-format books, of any type, and iBooks iAuthor eBooks cannot be pinch-zoomed. Keep this in mind when you are debating on whether or not fixed-format is right for your book.
Sample Kids' Books, in Fixed-Format:
"Edgar and Me," in Kindle MOBI Fixed-Format, regular page.
"Edgar and Me," now displaying RM (Region Magnification)," or POP-UP text to facilitate reading on small screens..
FIXED FORMAT BOOKS GENERALLY: However, fixed-layout books are very expensive to create, and are both device-limited and device unique. At this time, (January, 2013), fixed-layout books are only viewable on the Kindle Fire devices and Kindle for Droid readers, iBooks on the iPad, Kobo, and, (for children's books only), NookKids' on the Barnes & Noble Nook. B&N Fixed-Format Alert!. Each device requires a book to be made for it. Unlike traditional ebooks, like ePUB, which works on multiple readers, every device--Kindle, iBooks, Kobo and Nook--must have a separate and unique book made to work in accordance with that manufacturer's and retailer's specifications. We are capable of providing books for all of these readers, including the NookKids layout (as well as animated NookKids' books). We can also provide audio-file embedding for "read-along" (iBooks and Nook Kids' only) and of course, region magnification (text pop-up) for Kindle fixed-format. iBooks' fixed-format books can have not only voice narration, for text-highlighted read-along, but background sound effects, as well. On Nook, only NookKids' can have audio embeds.
Distribution Note: To publish a NookKids' book to Nook, you must be an approved NookKids' book publisher, or be using an Aggregator/Distributor to put your book on the NookKids' platform. You cannot upload a fixed-format NookKids' book via the PubIt! Nook platform, so please be certain that you have a distribution mechanism before you pay us to create a book that you then cannot sell.
COMICS PRICING: at this time, only the Kindle fixed-format offers a unique comic-book format, which allows for panel magnification for each panel within a page. Some types of comics--those with full-page format--maybe be better served by simply using region magnification for text-pop-ups, rather than panel magnification. Comics have to be assessed individually for pricing, based on the number of pages, and the pop-up panels per page that will be needed. There are page discounts for longer books, of course.
KIDS' BOOKS PRICING, GENERALLY: UPDATE: Please ask us about pricing on these types of books. The old prices, from 2011-2015, are no longer relevant, as many things have changed. These types of books are extremely time-consuming and expensive to make, particularly those with embedded audio. There are page discounts available a) above 60 pages and b) for multiple titles.
OTHER FIXED-FORMAT BOOKS: (Cookbooks, Art books, experimental fixed-format fiction): Custom Quotes.
Samples of Fixed-Format Books, other than Kids' Books:
"Strings Attached," in Fixed-Format, on the iBooks reader
"Strings Attached," two-page spread, fixed-fomat, on an iPad
Audio Embedding: For iBooks, with read-along highlighting (required by Apple): $150.00 flat fee plus $0.35/word. For NookKids', $150.00, for books smaller than 34 pages, $200 for books larger than 34 pages. Amazon: Currently not available for self-publishers.
1Distribution Note: To publish a NookKids' book to Nook, you must be an approved NookKids' book publisher, or be using an Aggregator/Distributor to put your book on the NookKids' platform. You cannot upload a fixed-format NookKids' book via the PubIt! Nook platform, so please be certain that you have a distribution mechanism before you pay us to create a book that you then cannot sell.
Are You a Publisher, Imprint, or Print-Layout House?
If you're a publisher:
Publishers have been taking a lot of heat, the past 6-8 years, for the lack of quality in their ebook conversions, both from their existing-print backlists and new(er) titles. While everyone, even a big publishing company, has to live with a publishing budget, there's no need to compromise your quality, just to save a few pennies. Ask us about our white-label publisher rates, to keep your pricing low and your quality high.
Are You a New Imprint Seeking Conversion Services?:
For new imprints, it's even more important to put your best foot forward in capturing new readers. The last thing that you or your authors want to have to deal with are KQN's--Kindle Quality Notices--for reader complaints, for lousy formatting. (And yes: be assured, KQN's are not imaginary! They exist, and are sent out with great regularity).
Make sure that you set out the way that you intend to continue--by using an eBook Formatting House that's recognized for its excellence and proven track record.
Print Layout Houses, Don't Miss This Opportunity!
If you're a traditional print layout house, you have enormous demands on you! You have the time investment needed to work with your clients through the extensive initial layout process. All the hand-holding, the work of prepping the material...helping obtain CIPs, ISBN's, copyright registration; those demands on your time and expertise are significant. Adding in the costs and expertise of preparing perfectly-formatted, ready-for-upload eBooks can simply make that burden too much for you to shoulder alone.
We specialize in providing White Label services for print layout houses, taking in your final INDD files and returning to you, under your credit line, eBooks that are stunning and ready to go, for prices that allow you to earn appropriate compensation therefor.
We are a 2015 Top-Five Finalist for eBook Excellence, in the Digital Book World's Digital Book Awards Adult Fiction, Reflowable category! You can have the same quality of book for your publishing house, imprint or print-layout clients.
If you're a first-time publisher, the number of choices can be overwhelming. You need to start out with some basic questions, and work your way up and out of the morass of options from there. Want to start?
What Is Your Desired Outcome?
Do you think you want a print book? A book in Ebook format? Both? It helps us to assist you, if you already know what you want. If you're not familiar with the choices, you may wish to start with our articles about ....
How Much Do You Already Know About Publishing?
We recommend that you download our much-loved FAQ ATTACK. The FAQ ATTACK! is a simple, 2-page PDF, packed with our answers to the six areas of questions we receive the most often. If you know the answers to what's in the FAQ ATTACK, then you're an experienced publisher, or you've done your homework (and good on you!). You can find the FAQ ATTACK by clicking here: The FAQ ATTACK!
If you don't, and these questions are unfamiliar to you, then you may need some additional help from us, as you go through your publishing process. That's not a problem! We're always happy to assist. Our base book layout pricing assumes that you're an experienced publisher, or that you'll have done a fair amount of research into how publishing happens (things like, how to register your copyright, how to obtain an ISBN, or if you even need one, how to find a cover designer, uploading your files at the KDP or Createspace, etc.). If you haven't, or don't want to invest that time, let us know, and we'll include some of our Author's Concierge or Publisher's Assistant consulting time for you, in our quote.
Alternatively, you may wish to avail yourself of the pretty extensive resources available here, on this site. You can visit the Awesome FAQ; check out our RESOURCES section; download the Handbook, or, for those of you who are big on research, try out our site-wide SEARCH feature. On every page, on the right-hand side of the menu, look for this icon: and click it. Type your inquiry to the RIGHT of the icon. You can then narrow the search results from that point, choosing only to see articles, categories, resources, weblinks, and the like.
Are You Ready to Self-Publish?
What is Your Current Format?
Is your source file, your manuscript, in Word format? RTF? Pages? PDF? Did you create your file using another type of word-processor or book-writing program, like Scrivener, LSB, YWriter? When you send us a file for a quote, you'll need to know how to attach that file to an email, or send it to us via Hightail. No matter what, as every single book is a custom job, we'll need to see your entire book in order to give you a quote. We quote books at a fixed-rate price--$XXX.00 for this or that. We don't have open-ended hourly formatting, so we have to know what we're getting into, before we can all go further. Please don't ask us to quote from a "sample" file. We quote from WIP (Works-in-progress) all the time, so that's not an issue. We can always update a quote, later, if needed, but most quotes don't need to be changed.
ISBNs, Copyright Protection, CIP, and Other Matters
If you've downloaded the FAQ ATTACK!, then you'll already know if you need an ISBN for your book(s) or not. If you do, type "ISBN" into the search bar, and click the article that comes up. If you haven't downloaded the FAQ ATTACK!, you can do so now. If you haven't registered your copyright, type "copyright" into the search bar, and click the Copyright article that comes up. You'll be taken right to the US Government's online copyright registration page.
The 13 Most-Asked Questions at the Kindle Digital Publishing forum:
Read this article on the 13 Most-Asked Questions, by newbies, at the KDP forum: 13 Things You'll Ask at Amazon's KDP Program, Part 1, and then, between this article, and the one I just linked to, you'll be able to start getting your arms around what it takes to be a self-publisher.
From Left to Right, The Crew (in the old days): Hitch, Barb, Aaron, Steve on Sax; Rick on the lower-left and Leonard at lower-right on the iPad (checking Hitch's work!)
Booknook.biz is all about the eBooks. Kindle eBooks and ePUB books for all major retailers.
Ebooks for every shape and size of reader. Publishing superstars, first-time authors, Pulitzer-winners, published writers, people with rights-reverted books.
We craft ebooks for both .mobi format (Kindle) and .epub format (Nook, iPad, Sony e-reader, Kobo and virtually every smartphone reading software platform). Every client—except when requested otherwise—receives two files, one of each format, to facilitate the writer’s or publisher’s ability to disseminate the book widely and utilize different selling platforms for promotional opportunities.
An avid reader for a lifetime, I got into this business by accident. A random Christmas gift of a Kindle to my husband—which he didn’t use—gave me the opportunity to start downloading public domain books from Project Gutenberg, a worthwhile enterprise if ever there was one. (I donate time at Distributed Proofreaders, and if you treasure the Classics, you should too). Dissatisfied with the formatting of the publicly-available texts, I started reformatting the books with the help of MobiPocket Creator, a program for making .prc files that was acquired by Amazon in the early ebook days.
Then a local Book Shepherd, Penny Callmeyer, got me involved with creating a Kindle-compatible file for one of her clients, Charles Irion, for Irion Publishing.
And, as they say, that’s how the legend started.
All kidding (about the legend) aside: we do great books at reasonable prices. We have good relationships with Amazon and with Apple, amongst others. We won’t hose you, there are no hidden fees, no long waits. We can find you cover designers and if needed, proofreaders. We have a solid list of authors.
So send us your book. Ask us for a quote by finding the red button that says "Email Us" either in the footer of each webpage, or on the top-right-hand-side of the FAQ page. You won’t regret it. (All colored paintings copyright 2011, Jenn St-Onge, exclusively commissioned by and licensed to Booknook.biz; the caricature of Hitch was created by one of our clients, the incredibly-talented Michael Tisdale, and we thank him for it. Mr. Zep the Cat says thanks, too! He thinks that he looks Pawwww-some).
Barb E. Team Leader
Although it took some mighty persuasion on our parts, we were fortunate enough to land Barb--our Canadian representative--to head up the Toronto team of Booknook.biz. Not only is Barb busy handling her own eBook clients, but she pitches in for us as well, using "Her Girl PERL" to generate top-notch books for many of our fiction clients. Barb just completed her 1200th book, or thereabouts--so you know that she knows her stuff!
She's developed our POD methodology, to streamline a combo POD->ePUB-->MOBI book-making method that delivers stunning books at a super-competitive rate to our clients. On top of all that, she's become our most in-demand line editors. (Who'da thunk?)
Barb brings yet another level of international diversity to us and is no doubt one of the finest of our Steely-Eyed EPUB Pilots.
(All colored paintings copyright 2011, Jenn St-Onge, exclusively commissioned by and licensed to Booknook.biz)
(She's also a horse-breeder of no mean accomplishment, and, truth be told, taught Hitch almost everything she knows about HTML--including how to spell it.)
So send us your book, and ask for Barb's team. You'll love her work. (All colored paintings copyright 2011, Jenn St-Onge, exclusively commissioned by and licensed to Booknook.biz)
Indy C.M., Our Glamorous Queen o'Quotes
Indira ("Indy") is the person who keeps the lights a-burning, the quotes a-churning and font's a-kerning here at Booknook.biz. Faster than a speeding bullet on font hunts, more powerful than a locomotive when it comes to answering client emails, and able to leap tall questions with a single bound, Indy keeps us all sane, which is no small task.
No, we don't ask what she was doing with those snails...who look really, really frightened. For those of you who've asked: Yes, that's really her; no, you can't have her number, and yes, she's really taken already. Sorry!
