ePub or MOBI - Which is a better eBook Publishing Platform?

Are you going to self-publish your content online? Then here are some eBook formats to be considered.

Ebooks are growing popular nowadays. There are many eBook formats available like EPUB, AZW, MOBI, PDF eBooks, etc. In such a situation, it is difficult to choose the one for your publication.  EPUB and MOBI are considered to be widely used in eBook formats. So knowing which would be the best is essential.

EPUB or MOBI- Which is the best?

1. What is EPUB and MOBI?

EPUB, Electronic Publication is an open standard, HTML, and CSS based format for eBooks.  This is supported by International Digital Publishing Forum.  It is compatible with all types of eReader devices like Apple iBooks, Google Play, Sony eReaders, etc.

MOBI, known as Mobipocket is under Digital Rights Management  (DRM) protection.  They use XHTML standard and later versions of AZW.

2. Automatic Reflowable Text

Both EPUB and MOBI has automatic reflowable texts.  These texts allow users to read comfortably by adjusting the screen size of your reader device. Despite its advantages, it has limitations in EPUB and MOBI.

Some of them are:

• Display problems while dealing with tables, illustrations, and columns.
• The appearance of the eBook changes when the font is being changed by the user. (In EPUBs you could embed the font with the books coding).
• Footnotes may not stay on the page.

3. EPUBs come with better graphics and multimedia & MOBI with plain text and low file size

Since EPUB conversion is HTML based, they could be included with image, audio, hypertext, and video files.  Thus changing your eBook to a multimedia eBook. Including graphics is also possible. But, the incorporation of these would cause an increased file size and poor HTML layouts.

MOBI would be the best option if you are not incorporating graphics a lot.  They have included a premium option for textual content and limits the size of the images. So, MOBI utilizes small size files compared with EPUBs. Also, they could be read on low end reading devices like Kindle.

MOBI is found less flexible than EPUBs.  This problem is solved by upgrading MOBI to AZW.

4. EPUBs are not dependent on vendors while MOBI is Amazon exclusive?

EPUBs could be readable on most eBook readers. But MOBI is readable on Kindle. Ebooks sold out at Amazon must be in MOBI or AZW format.

EPUB is considered to be the best choice for a wider audience. But they could not make use of Kindle and could never be sold out at Amazon bookstore.

5. EPUB conversion is free and accessible while MOBI is safe and DRM protected

EPUB based eBooks are free to the public.  This makes them open to plagiarism and piracy. While ebooks published as MOBI files are safe and DRM protected.  A third party could not steal your MOBI files. With DRM protection copyright could be minimized and the authors could get the desired profit.

EPUB vs MOBI

 The choice of EPUB or MOBI depends upon the purpose, audience, and market space.

1. Purpose

• Do you want your book to be freely accessible? Then choose EPUB.
• Do you want to get success in the market with price benefits? Then choose MOBI.

2. Audience

If your eBook is written for different people, selecting EPUB is good. While MOBI is good for targeted audiences like professionals, specific groups, online shoppers, etc who make use of Kindle.

3. Marketspace

MOBI files could be published on Amazon bookstore while EPUBs on other market spaces like Google Play, Apple, etc.

Conclusion

 The above points help to select the best ebook conversion format. Today, many companies outsource EPUB conversion required files.  EPUB  conversion allows converting pdf to epub, ms word to epub, HTML to epub, .mobi to epub, XHTML to epub, and InDesign to epub.

Allianze BPO International is an outsourcing service provider in India. It provides you with ebook conversion services, BPO services, marketing, and market research services.  For  your ebook conversion, you could contact us at [email protected]