# Images in ebooks?



## Chilari (Jan 4, 2013)

Does anyone know what the situation is regarding images in ebooks? Presumably it is possible - I've heard of illustrated children's ebooks - but I've not come across any. The other day I mentioned to a colleague that I was enjoying a book about ancient Britain, the author for which also presents history documentaries on the TV and she said she'd rather see it on TV than read about it because of the visual aspect - it's hard to imagine what certain things, like, say, Skara Brae look like when there's only words on the screen, but seeing the presenter on TV standing in the middle of it, seeing the things he's talking about, is much more interesting. Given that, as well as trying to write fiction, I'm also planning on writing a history book this year, I'm starting to think it would be a good idea for me to include photos.

So has anyone got any experience on including images within ebooks? Can you do colour images or does it mess up ereaders than don't have colour? I know the Kindle Fire and iPads etc can handle colour perfectly fine but have no idea how older ereaders would deal with it. Do you publish two versions - one with colour photos, one with greyscale - for the different types of ereaders available? Or do you just go colour and let the black and white ereaders work it out for themselves?

Finally, can anyone suggest any books that have included images successfully that I could look at on my Kindle Fire?


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## Ankari (Jan 4, 2013)

Images are possible.  Depending on the e-book read (ex. Kindle Fire HD vs Kindle Paper White) you'll view varying degrees of quality.  With black abd white readers, you only see black and white images.

Plan for the majority, though.  More people read books on tablets (and phones) than black and white e-book readers


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## Steerpike (Jan 4, 2013)

Last study I saw over the summer showed the black and white e-ink Kindle as the most used reader (data from iPad and Kindle Fire were included). Has that changed? I still prefer the e-ink display.


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## BWFoster78 (Jan 4, 2013)

I haven't investigated this yet, so I'm unsure: didn't I read something about having to pay some kind of fee to Amazon per sale based on the size of your file?  If so, a lot of color pictures may generate enough of a burden to become a factor in this consideration.


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## Steerpike (Jan 4, 2013)

Brian:

I think the "delivery cost" for Amazon is around 15 cents per MB. Most eBooks I've seen are only a fraction of that, but if you have tons of images you should definitely figure the delivery cost into your pricing.


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## Ankari (Jan 4, 2013)

Steerpike said:


> Last study I saw over the summer showed the black and white e-ink Kindle as the most used reader (data from iPad and Kindle Fire were included). Has that changed? I still prefer the e-ink display.



I read an article (I really need to start filing such things) that highlighted the e-ink display manufacturers.  It reported that e-ink readers are in such decline, the company reported an unbelievable 83 or 87% decline in business.  This company (I forgot the name, but they are overseas) is the largest manufacturers of such things.

You have to remember, Nook and Amazon apps can be downloaded and viewed on all tablets (Android, Apple and Microsoft Surface) and all mobile phone devices (Android, Apple, Microsoft Windows 8 and Blackberry).  They far outweigh e-ink readers.


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## Steerpike (Jan 4, 2013)

Ankari said:


> I read an article (I really need to start filing such things) that highlighted the e-ink display manufacturers.  It reported that e-ink readers are in such decline, the company reported an unbelievable 83 or 87% decline in business.  This company (I forgot the name, but they are overseas) is the largest manufacturers of such things.
> 
> You have to remember, Nook and Amazon apps can be downloaded and viewed on all tablets (Android, Apple and Microsoft Surface) and all mobile phone devices (Android, Apple, Microsoft Windows 8 and Blackberry).  They far outweigh e-ink readers.



True, they can be read on a variety of devices. But the report I read last summer took that into account and actually looked at what devices people were using the most for reader, including things like tablets, and black-and-white eReaders were still at the top of the list, though they weren't the fastest growing segment. I didn't keep a copy of that either.

I still think the black and white readers are the best, for a variety of reasons. I may get a Kobo reader before long, I'm not sure.


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## Kevin O. McLaughlin (Jan 5, 2013)

Basically, to add an image to an ebook, you add the image into your DOC or ODT file the way you normally would, then import into your conversion program. Assuming the conversion software is any good, it drops the image in without any trouble. (I use Jutoh; no issues at all with placing images). You can also do full screen images, by using a page break after each image. If you do, make sure your image is big enough to look good when viewed on an iPad, as tablets are the primary device for reading picture books in digital form.

Here's a good example:
If I Were Your Monster: Scott Nicholson, Lee Davis: 9781453860526: Amazon.com: Books

Readable on my DroidX2 cell phone, looks great on the iPad, too. My kids liked this book.


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## Chilari (Jan 5, 2013)

It won't be a picture book, just a book with a few pictures in it. A history book, in fact. But thanks.


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## djutmose (Jan 8, 2013)

For my novel Shadewright, I put the world maps in the front of my Kindle book by just pasting the jpeg images into the .rtf file in MS Word, which I then ran through Calibre (free conversion software) to make the Kindle .mobi file. It was the first time I tried anything like that, but it seemed to work.


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