Converting publications to electronic formats. Reflowable layout for novels, fixed-layout for albums, interactive flipbooks for catalogues. I also prepare interactive PDFs with a clickable contents list, cross-references and links.
| Criterion | EPUB Reflowable | EPUB Fixed Layout | Flipbook HTML5 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Fiction, running text, monographs | Albums, children's books, textbooks | Catalogues, newspapers, brochures |
| Readers / devices | Kindle, Kobo, phones, tablets, dedicated readers | iPad (Apple Books), Kindle Fire, tablets | Any browser, no installation |
| Layout behaviour | Text "flows", adapts to the screen | Page = image, identical everywhere | Identical, with a page-turn effect |
| Multimedia | Limited (links, basic video) | Yes (audio, video, animations) | Yes (best multimedia support) |
| Turnaround time | 1-2 weeks | 1-2 weeks | minimum 2 weeks |
| Distribution | Empik, Legimi, Amazon, Apple Books | Apple Books, own website | Self-hosted / client website |
A page does not begin with the text but with the emptiness around it. A margin is not wasted space, it is where the eye rests before returning to the next line.
Too narrow and the page loses air, too wide and the spread falls apart into two separate leaves. The classic proportions come from manuscripts and are not a whim.
The inner margin is usually the narrowest, because its twin on the facing page completes it. The top one is a little larger, the outer wider, and the bottom widest of all.
The bottom margin optically carries the whole column. A few millimetres short and the text begins to slide towards the edge, as if the page had been trimmed badly.
A reader will never measure them, but will feel at once when they are wrong.
The same block of text moved two millimetres towards the spine can change the impression of the whole book, although nobody can point to what exactly happened.
That is why the margins are set at the very start of the typesetting, before the text is poured in. Every later change re-breaks all the pages from scratch.
The grid beside it is the same division into a column and four margins, in the proportion I reach for most often.
The classic proportions come from manuscripts: the inner margin narrowest, the top a little larger, the outer wider, the bottom widest of all.
This is not decoration. The thumb holds the book at the outer edge, so room is needed there, and the bottom margin optically carries the whole column.
A fixed layout keeps those distances to the point, whatever the book is opened on.
The column need not sit in the middle of the page. The optical centre lies higher than the geometric one, so the top margin comes out smaller than the bottom.
The rule is old and simple: the paper has to be visible. A page written to the edges tires the reader before the end of the first paragraph.
The inner margin reads differently from the rest, because its twin on the facing page completes it.
A thicker block needs a few millimetres more, otherwise the lines start escaping into the spine.
The outer margin is wider than many people expect. That is where the thumb rests and where the eye finds the edge each new line hooks onto.
The bottom stays the largest. The column then has something to stand on, and the page does not feel as if it were sliding downwards.
On a phone screen the same rule works even harder: the line is short, so every mistake in the spacing shows immediately.
On a small screen the margins are the only thing that tells a book page apart from an ordinary web page.
A flipbook keeps them together with the whole layout, so the leaf looks exactly as it does in print.
Only the turning changes: instead of a finger on paper, a finger across glass.
That is why typesetting for a phone starts with checking how the longest word in the text behaves.
One such word in a narrow column can tear a whole paragraph apart with holes between the words.
E-book typesetting starts at PLN 125 net per publishing sheet, roughly 40,000 characters with spaces. You can work out an approximate cost with the calculator on the Contact page, and I will prepare a free, exact quote once I have seen the materials. All rates are listed on the price list.
Yes. An EPUB e-book works on Kindle and Kobo readers and in apps on phones and tablets. Before delivery, every file is checked with a validator and tested on e-readers.
No. A print PDF is a fixed page layout that does not make a good e-book with reflowable text. I need the source text, for example in Word, or the typesetting files. If I typeset the book, I will prepare the e-book version for an additional fee.
EPUB, MOBI or PDF? I explain the differences between formats, the changes at Amazon KDP and the Polish accessibility rules in force since June 2025.
I describe the steps from an organised manuscript to typesetting, a cover, ISBN, proof review, printing and an electronic edition.
How to obtain a free Polish ISBN, what belongs on the publication information page and how many legal deposit copies to send.
Tell me briefly what it is about: type of publication, intended platforms (Empik, Legimi, Kindle), deadline. I will reply with a quote within 1-2 days.