Published
9 September 2020
What digital formats can my open access book be in?
Various digital formats are available. It is important to be clear about what you would like, and to know if the publisher offers this output as not all publishers offer all formats and there may be additional costs depending on the business model.
| PDF (Portable Document Format) | Most publishers will offer the book in this format. It is widely used and accessible though will have a limited search function. |
| HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) | You may want your book to have website integration, in which case you will require an HTML output to be produced. Some publishers will offer this but it may also be possible to have this on certain OA hosting sites |
| EPUB | By far the most searchable format and compatible with eReaders, this format allows greater accessibility to visually impaired readers and the ability to read the book offline. |
| Kindle file format | The format used by Amazon, which allows the same functionality of an EPUB |
The following toolkit article(s) address(es) this question: