Examples of Well Designed PDFs and eBooks

[Joshua Uebergang]

Most ebooks look awful. What are some examples, preferably freely viewable, that are well-designed?

I remember Eben Pagan's report on alchemy where he discussed copywriting is one good example.

I suppose also, feel free to share must-have design tips!

[tomcam]

These inspired me greatly, especially BlueEnglish. As a bonus they're for OpenOffice, which includes a free word processor and also creates PDF output. Ebook Templates

[indigo]

And don't forget about cool covers. Realistic virtual representation of a physical object is very important when selling informational products. Actually, e-cover is the only part of a product that visitor can see before order. So, it directly affects buyers decision.

[Chris_Willow]

I think War Room psd's are pretty sweet too, might want to check them out. I've seen many great ones, just can't remember at the moment.

Chris

[rbthanders]

Personally I think some (but not every one) of Rich Schefren's free "reports" look really great!

[TheGodfather]

There are certain design "rules" that make up a good design. The right font, colors, pictures and layout make a good ebook functional and good on the eyes.

There are some software out there that can take some time to learn, or you can get a designer to do it for you. This can sometimes be very expensive, it all depends on your expectations and demands, the time frame it has to be done in etc.

experts in the field charge from $299 to about $899 depending on the amount of the work needed but usually only the basic template (that usually comes at a price of $299, unless you can get it done for less) is enough and all you need is to be able to edit the template.

If you have Adobe InDesign then you can make your own ebook templates, you can edit the templates and you can have them prepared for actual print, should you decide to make an actual book. InDesign usually exports the file so that you can send it to a printing company and they can use it right away.
If you want, I do some graphic design in my spare time, I can find my way around InDesign just fine and can probably make some templates for you. If you are interested contact me at:
barashakushu.design@gmail.com and we can work something out.

[cyberchick]

Originally Posted by Joshua Uebergang

Most ebooks look awful. What are some examples, preferably freely viewable, that are well-designed?

I remember Eben Pagan's report on alchemy where he discussed copywriting is one good example.

I suppose also, feel free to share must-have design tips!

Personally I think there is no such thing as a great design for all eBooks. The look and feel of a book strongly depends on the niche and the images used within. I prefer to use images myself because they are easy on the eye and help to break up the content.

Depending on the niche the eBook is written for, certain color schemes work really well. When I design my own eBooks I always pay a lot of attention to the look because I believe this is important as well. A good graphic for the ecover also helps to attracts eyeballs - but having said this, in the end if the eBook is crap then the best look won't hide that fact.