Publishing
Content Transformation
A book can look perfect in print and still become a difficult ebook to produce. A complex layout, poor source file, missing structure, or accessibility requirement can all create problems once the content needs to work across different screens and reading systems.
Ebook conversion is more than changing a file from one format to another. The original file may need changes before it can become a working ebook. Text, images, tables, and other elements all need to display and behave properly across different devices and reading systems.
This blog looks at the ebook conversion challenges publishers commonly face, from difficult source files and complex layouts to accessibility, large-scale production, quality assurance, and EPUB validation.
The problems can start before the conversion itself. An old source file, messy formatting, or a file that is difficult to work with can create issues that carry through to the finished ebook.
Older or scanned PDFs are a different story. The text may not come through cleanly, and blurry pages, handwritten notes, damaged sections, or inconsistent formatting can create problems when the content is pulled out.
OCR helps turn scanned pages into machine-readable text, but errors can occur. Characters may be misread, punctuation may change, and page numbers, headers, footers, or formatting may be incorrectly captured. Characters can be read incorrectly, punctuation can change, and page numbers or formatting can end up in the wrong place. When these errors appear across a long title, checking and correcting them can take considerable time.
For publishers, checking the source file first can reveal these problems before they become part of the conversion work. It also helps determine whether the file needs OCR, cleanup, or other preparation before conversion.
Print layouts have a lot more room to stay exactly where the designer put them. An ebook does not. Tables, columns, footnotes, sidebars, illustrations, and carefully chosen typography can all behave differently once the content needs to adapt to different screen sizes.
This is one reason PDF to EPUB conversion can be tricky. A PDF primarily preserves the visual layout and positioning of content on a page, while a reflowable ebook needs content to adapt to different screen sizes and reading environments while preserving its structure and relationships.
The choice between a reflowable EPUB and a fixed-layout EPUB matters here. Reflowable EPUBs allow content to adapt to different screen sizes and user settings, making them well suited to novels and many text-heavy books. Fixed-layout EPUBs preserve a more defined visual arrangement and can be useful for highly visual publications where the relationship between text and images is important.
Design choices made for print may therefore need to be reconsidered during conversion. A table that works across a wide printed page, for example, may become difficult to read on a phone. The goal is not to reproduce every page exactly, but to make sure the content still works in its new format.
Accessibility needs to be considered during ebook conversion, not checked as an afterthought. An accessible EPUB needs more than readable text. Its semantic structure, reading order, navigation, alternative text, and other accessibility features need to support people using screen readers and other assistive technologies.
This becomes harder when a book contains content that does not translate neatly into standard text. Tables, diagrams, equations, and other STEM content can lose meaning if they are simply carried over without considering how they will be read and navigated. Accessible ebook conversion means accounting for these elements while the EPUB is being built, rather than trying to fix them after the conversion is finished.
Equations are a good example. A mathematical expression that looks correct on screen may not be meaningful to someone using a screen reader. MathML can provide structured markup for mathematical content and can support accessibility, but it needs to be implemented and tested correctly during conversion. Tables and diagrams require similar attention to structure, relationships, and alternative descriptions.
The same principle applies across the book: accessibility needs to be part of the conversion plan from the start, not another round of fixes before publication.
Converting one ebook is one thing. Converting a backlist of hundreds or thousands of titles is another. Publishers may be working with files created years apart, using different templates, software, and production standards. The workflow that works smoothly for one title may need quite a bit of adjustment for the next.
This is where automation can take some of the repetitive work off the production team. It can help process large batches, apply consistent conversion rules, and flag certain types of recurring issues for review. . That takes care of much of the repetitive work, but the finished ebook still needs a human eye. Human review can help identify broken structure, formatting problems, accessibility issues, or title-specific exceptions that automated checks may not reliably identify.
Quality can also drift when large batches are handled without consistent checks. Missing content, broken formatting, incorrect links, image problems, and accessibility issues can slip through and multiply across a backlist. For publishers, scaling conversion is therefore less about processing titles faster and more about having a workflow that keeps quality consistent from the first title to the thousandth.
Getting an EPUB to pass validation is an important step, but it is not the end of the job. EPUB validation tools such as EPUBCheck can identify many specification and structural issues, including missing resources, invalid markup, and broken references. However, validation is only one part of ebook quality assurance.
The converted file should be checked with an EPUB validation tool such as EPUBCheck before distribution, followed by accessibility, rendering, and quality checks in relevant reading systems and devices. A file can pass validation and still have a heading that looks wrong, an image that does not display properly, or content that shifts unexpectedly on another device.
An ebook can also render differently across devices and reading systems. A layout that looks fine on a tablet may behave differently on a phone or another e-reader because of differences in screen size, software, fonts, settings, and reading-system capabilities.
When ebook conversion issues appear, the fix is not always obvious. The source file, EPUB code, styles, images, or device rendering may need to be checked to find where the problem started. A final round of testing helps catch these issues before the ebook reaches readers.
A good conversion workflow starts well before the file is converted and continues until the ebook has been tested and is ready for distribution. For publishers, the following practices can help keep production work consistent and reduce avoidable corrections:
Ebook conversion rarely goes wrong for just one reason. A difficult source file can create problems with the content, a complex layout can fall apart when it needs to reflow, and accessibility or validation issues can surface late if they are not considered from the start. For publishers working across large backlists, keeping that quality consistent adds another layer to the job.
The good news is that these ebook conversion challenges can be managed with the right workflow. Start with the source, choose the format carefully, build accessibility into the conversion, use automation where it makes sense, and keep human QA and testing in the process.
If you’re looking to manage complex titles or a large ebook backlist, Apex CoVantage can help with professional ebook conversion, accessibility, and quality assurance. Get in touch with our team to discuss your ebook production requirements.
