Who am I to speak to the length of paragraphs and the style in which e-books are or should be written? I come with a background in traditional publishing. But I’m also a tech and e-book geek who has taught tech writing, and I’ve written many thousands of words online. So here’s my humble opinion.

I’ve been trying to slog through several e-books online or through PDF files, and I’m finding it very difficult. When I say e-books I mean books written for the Internet, not books that were written for print and then turned over to e-books because there was or is a demand for them and thus they were converted. Such books may still be harder to read online or by a pocket reader or PDA, but they are useful, available for research and much more portable than carrying the book around. Moreover, the authors likely intended the book as paper books, so we can’t really come down on them for paragraph length and so on.

Here instead I speak of the throngs of authors who have decided to go the e-book route, or, who tried the p-book route and got nowhere and so decided to publish their novel as an e-book. What they failed to do before doing this was to tailor the book for the Internet. Make the paragraphs shorter and thus easier on the eye, and the sentences shorter and snappier– again, easier on the eye and easier to read.

Recently, I read what would have made a great p-book–and I’ll leave out the author’s name–which was terrific in print, but failed utterly when I tried to read it in PDF format. In fact, the paragraphs were so long and ran into each other in such long and curious ways that I found my eyes heavy and the self drifting off to sleep even as I tried my hardest to find the enthusiasm I was sure the book warranted.

No question, writing for the Web is different; and authors would do well to remember this when converting what they had planned as a p-book and when that didn’t work out, converted it to a p-book or even vice-versa for that matter. In fact, the only author I can think of who could cross both genres is Marguerite Duras, whose paragraphs are just short enough and whose writing comes in and draws back like the sea lapping the shoreline–an ease of flow.

This is, ideally, what we want when writing for the Internet, an easy sort of read so that our eyes don’t cross as we try to get into a book. After all, what use is the Internet or an e-book if you have to print it out to read it? In the final account we come full circle, converting our e-books finally into p-books, the very thing we had said we were trying to get away from in the first place.

One thing, one of the few books that had originally been a print book that really worked as an e-book was the first version of Alice in Wonderland; and that was Alice’s Adventures Underground (Lewis Carroll) which worked perfectly on my pocket PC or PDA.

Perhaps this was because it is a children’s book, though really, it is a transitional book with great meaning for adults as well as children and if you’ve-read it then you know exactly what I mean. Some books just translate well as both e- and p-book, though this is rare. As I said, Duras would do well as both, but not many can. Poetry too seems perfect for the e-book market and I greatly enjoyed reading Whitman on my PDA

In making my next point, I’ll once again acknowledge that my own writing can be lengthy, though I try hard to keep the sentences brief and the paragraphs brief. And here’s the message:

Keep paragraphs to three to four sentences, or you may risk losing your reader. Really consider why you’re writing the book and be honest with yourself–did you write this intending it as a p-book and then gave up? Or did you write this intended as an e-book?

Whatever the case, the rules are different and you’d do well to note the key differences between the two styles of books: the sentence length, paragraph length, whether or not someone will have to print out your work in order to read it. If so, then in this editor’s view, you have failed, not as an author, but as an author of e-books.

If one has to print an e-book to read a p-book to read it, then it seems to me this utterly defeats the purpose. Just grist for the mill.

/////////////////

Moderator’s note: Sadi Ranson-Polizzotti is a former publicity director and editor for David R. Godine, Publisher and has worked at Conde Nast Publications, The Atlantic Monthly and others. She has been widely published and now writes regularly for several publications including the famous Cleveland Blogcritics, Geek2Geek, Boston Globe Arts Section, and she has also written for Publisher’s Weekly, Independent Publisher and others. Visit her Web site.

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21 COMMENTS

  1. Sadie I liked your analysis of what an ebook should be. We are a speech technology company who have set up a publishing company and to that end have specifically adapted the latest speech technology to the reading of books. You may ask why would anyone want to do this surely it is robotic. Well its actually very easy to listen to the latest speech technology its getting better every day and you may be surprised how well it is received by customers. After initial trials it was found that the subject matter must grab the attention of the listener and after that any delivery issue is immediately overcome becuase as humas we are programmed to listen to such a wide variety of accents that after a while we become familiar and comfortable with a voice. It should not be to distracting but thats where we have put in most work. The other advantafge is consistency as it becomes mmore like the way we silently read to ourselves there is no need for “performance ” or quaint accents which after a while can be annoying and lose the original interpretation of the author. One listens to the words and our imagination paints the picture of the charachters and situation more like reading in the conventional way. We would welcome your experienced judgement of this method of delivery as we are able to deliver files in MP3 format of excellent quality in very small size suitable for iPods and MP3 players so it has all those advantages. There are some free samples on our site at http://www.s3books.com but we can also give you a token to “purchase” for free to try out.

    Thank you for your kind attention.

    Gordon Renton

  2. it’s a dangerous trap to start asserting that
    p-books and e-books are different animals.

    yes, agreed, readers _currently_ approach
    the two media in a fairly different manner,
    but that’s accidental, it’s not _inevitable_.

    and yes, attention-spans are getting shorter,
    but that’s not a trend we need to encourage,
    by dumbing down our writing and our reading;
    accommodate to it if you can, but if not, fine.

    i do think many writers would do well to
    shorten up their _paragraphs_, because
    that gives readers some breathing room.

    you’ll note that even in this short little note,
    most paragraphs are just one sentence long.

    but shorter _sentences_? i can’t agree.
    a writer should make a sentence as long
    as it needs to be, and not one bit shorter.

    i think if you really take a close look at it,
    you will see _line-length_ is a key variable.

    since the typical .pdf is often laid out using
    a pagesize of 8.5*11 — i.e., portrait mode —
    the line-length is almost always _too_long_.

    reading in a browser has the same problem.

    but the solution to this problem is quite simple,
    even with nearly-universal landscape monitors:
    use an interface that displays 2-up facing-pages.

    many e-book viewer-programs allow this view,
    like the one the o.c.a. unveiled the other day.

    even acrobat will let you display facing pages,
    and if the creator of the .pdf was smart enough
    to make the fontsize big enough to be legible
    when you use that view, with a pagesize that
    lets you see all of both pages, the e-book will be
    astonishingly easy to read — and pleasing too!

    i also believe that people who say it is difficult
    to read e-books on-screen almost always have
    their fontsize set too small. just make it bigger
    until you find that it has become easy to read,
    and you’ll see your stamina will increase greatly.

    to sum up, it’s not about “sentence length” at all,
    but rather about the typography of the screen…

    -bowerbird

  4. Gee, you’d think you people had never looked at the differences in writing imposed by newspaper and magazine columns compared to book pages.

    Yes, sentence length is affected by line length, and yes, paragraph length is affected by line length. And no, these are not linear relations, because you may get longer sentences and shorter paragraphs as the column width decreases.

    To say that the optimal sentence-length and paragraph-length for ease of reading and comprehension in a hard-cover or trade-paperback book is the same as in a magazine is nonsense. And to say that it’s the same as in an e-book with a different line-width and page-depth is also nonsense.

    Pace Bill Hill, you may say that anything other than print book parameters are sub-optimal for understanding. I won’t argue that.

  5. roger said:
    > Gee, you’d think you people had never looked at
    > the differences in writing imposed by newspaper
    > and magazine columns compared to book pages.

    are you saying the size of the columns makes the difference?
    i don’t think so. it’s the nature of the content in the vehicle…

    and besides, since users can adjust the size of the “columns”,
    at will, any time they want, how is a writer even supposed to
    know what column-width to write for?

    we’re talking about _books_ here. we’re not contrasting them
    with magazines and newspapers. and where those books get
    read makes little difference. i’m with richard. let the content
    and the author determine style, not the presentation vehicle.

    and finally, the idea that _any_ presentation style is “optimal”
    for all readers is one that we need to throw out the window…

    -bowerbird

  6. I’m saying that I used to work on a newspaper and on different magazines as an editor and I’ve written for newspapers and magazines as a freelancer. The “nature of the content” does not account for all differences.

    The medium does impact the style.

    And as for that, I don’t believe you can separate a book from its physical presentation.

    I have in my possession some of the original editions of the Babar books — 14-inch-tall volumes with handwriting for text. With one book I was able to compare it with a current still-big (11-inch-tall?) hardcover edition with nice bright white paper and typeset text. But there’s no comparison: the original is vastly, overwhelmingly more successful than the current edition, which to put it mildly stinks. So my response to these two versions of the same book is identical to Sadi’s with the print/e-book versions: one works, the other doesn’t.

    The book is not the content. The book is the content and the presentation.

  8. Bowerbird ~ yes, it is all about typography. i quite agree with that, having studied type at Godine and before that, type is key. I’m also somewhat visually impaired and so a larger type format makes a huge difference but that said, i do believe that dense paragraphs make things difficult for the reader and prevent the reader or some readers anyway from slogging through.

    My concern is that they will just give up; throw their hands up.

    I like your idea of a double screen that opens like an actual book instead of a one page 8.5 by 11 type of thing. That would work much better i think and i’m surprised i haven’t seen this yet… is anybody doing this and if not, then you’ve really stumbled onto something here or thought of something truly innovative that you should make haste and get to some of the e-book people. I think it’s a super-idea.

    Perhaps my next column will be What Can We Do to Make EBooks More Readable On Screen and surely that would be attributed to you (if you wish to reveal your name or we can do it anonymously) but it’s a terrific idea.

    Perhaps someone is doing it though i’ve yet to see it.

    I’ve recently started reading on my Tungsten E with Mobireader and it’s working terifically well… David helped me get it back up and running and now i can download books til my heart’s content. A wonderful evolution for me.

    Thanks all for weighing in… Sorry i didn’t get to comments until later in the day. It’s been one of those but i will get to more, i promise.

    Sorry to interupt the thread here… do keep it going if you wish.

    Cheers all,

    Sadi

  9. yes, the book is the content and the presentation, no question about it Roger…i too have been around the block: newspapers, magazines and eventually, starting and managing my own print-book publishing house (Lumen Editions – books are still available on Amazon, if you want to see what i published (not myself, but other authors.)

    The medium does affect how the content should be presented, i think and that was and remains my point. I thought Bowerbird has some excellent solutions for content.

    For the visually impaired, it’s not just a question of making the type larger – as Bower noted, it might work better as a double-page spread instead of the recto/verso we have now – the single page which is all i’ve seen anyway; perhaps there are readers out there with this double spread, and if so, send one along because i’d love to review it.

    I might do a piece on Solutions to the EBook Readability Issue, which could be an interesting piece and spark lively discussion. I think many of you here have contributed to that and i’ll give credit where credit is due, of course.

    You and i have a similar background so we can see eye-to-eye, though a similar background is not necessary for that really…

    i have some VERY large books as you do: one by Taschen of Shadow Box Art and Curiousity Cabinets (which i too make, hence i have the book) an the bok has to be about 25 tall by 13″ across. An off size and huge. The illustrations of course work very well and the text is clever ~~ It DOES run across the page which one would think would be too long, but the leading is wide, so there is much space between the lines that lets some air in and thus makes for a much better presentation.

    You and i, i think, agree. Our mutual experience has taught us the same thing, it would seem.

    Be well & thanks ~ hope you’ll keep reading/listening in and commenting.

    sadi

  10. sadie said:
    > i do believe that dense paragraphs make things
    > difficult for the reader and prevent the reader
    > or some readers anyway from slogging through.

    dense _content_ makes things difficult for the reader. :+)

    i’m all in favor of shorter sentences and paragraphs.

    especially since, in the world of electronic publications —
    physical space isn’t an expensive commodity, like it is
    in the world of printed matter. so yes, space things out!
    use large margins! give the reader some breathing room!

    but that is a manipulation of typographical-type variables.
    in terms of the _writing_ itself, let the content dictate it.

    ***

    roger said:
    > I’m saying that I used to work on a newspaper
    > and on different magazines as an editor and
    > I’ve written for newspapers and magazines
    > as a freelancer. The “nature of the content”
    > does not account for all differences.
    > The medium does impact the style.

    you’re talking about two different things here.
    both of them are valid. and both are irrelevant. :+)

    first, you are talking from the standpoint of
    a professional writer for print. those creatures
    _do_ indeed alter their writing as required.
    “assignments” are provided — “give me
    1200 words on how d.r.m. is hassling users,
    with a humorous slant” — and they proceed.

    the other perspective from which you speak
    pertains to the _vehicle_of_delivery_. i grant
    that writing for a newspaper is different from
    writing for a magazine is different from a book.
    people bring different _expectations_ to the
    _experience_ of reading different _vehicles_,
    and the writer must bend to those expectations.

    the two perspectives have intersecting demands;
    the assignment is often a function of the vehicle.
    desired word-count will depend on space available,
    and the very nature of the topics is usually affected.

    but look closely at the mode of electronic publications,
    and you’ll see both of these perspectives lose strength.

    first, i believe the content of tomorrow will increasingly be
    _self-motivated_, rather than written _on_assignment_.
    the wonder of the web is that it allows individual people
    to give voice to their hearts and brains and imaginations.

    the content in newspapers and magazines, especially,
    has an unstated, but pervasive, raison d’etre — which is
    to draw attention to the ads, and thereby move product.

    tomorrow’s writers don’t have to serve that ulterior motive.
    they can write _whatever_they_want_, and put it online.
    they can reach an audience without “selling out to ads”.

    this kind of self-expression does not — and _should_not_ —
    let its form be dictated by word-count or delivery-vehicle.
    it would compromise itself, badly and unnecessarily, if it did.
    the message is the important thing here, not the medium.

    and it is precisely because of its specialness as _message_
    that this content — even though written by amateurs — will
    eclipse that of professional writers doing “assigned” pieces.
    people don’t want “slick” anymore. we are sick of slick.
    we want “real”, “honest”, and “heartfelt”. sure we want it
    _well-written_. but plenty of “amateurs” can write well,
    especially when they channel it directly from their heart.

    as for the second perspective, the demands of the vehicle,
    if we examine cyberspace, distinctions between “newspaper”
    and “magazine” and “book” bleed away into a nothingness.

    specifically, it’s all being read _on-screen_, and word-count
    has no physical meaning in a universe of unlimited space.
    indeed, you come to learn that _the_reader’s_attention_
    has now become the chief constraining/channeling vehicle.

    the reader will not be bringing a “newspaper mindset” to
    your piece, or a “magazine” one, or a “book” one, so you
    don’t have to write with the expectation of such a mindset.

    indeed, if you _want_ the reader to _have_ such a mindset,
    you’re going to have to _create_ it, inside of your content…

    what all of this means is that tomorrow’s writers have been
    largely freed from the “vehicular constraints” of the past,
    and can instead concentrate on the flow of their content.

    and now you are telling them they should alter that flow,
    to wear leashes created by yesterday’s dead-tree mentality?
    wrong. way wrong. dead wrong. wrong wrong wrong.

    is a blog more like a newspaper, or a magazine, or a book?
    the truth of the matter is that it doesn’t matter, and the
    blog-writer therefore does not (and should not) care…

    if the piece you are writing _should_ be written like a book,
    because that’s the approach that will do its content justice,
    then write it like a book. if it should be written as if it were
    being printed in a magazine, because that’s what the content
    itself calls for, then write it that way. and if your content is
    best presented as a newspaper article, then write it that way.

    -bowerbird

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  21. Now isn’t this one great topic? My former boss would always request for e-book reviews. Since I couldn’t resist reading a book through the glare of my PC, I had them printed and converted them into a hard-copied book. The derogation is that I find them useless whenever I need to carry lots of stuff to work.

    If e-books are better than printed out books because of their lasting status, do you think all books in any library should be converted into this form? Otherwise, should we let out children develop scoliosis caused by carrying too heavy books to and fro school?

    John

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