KENYA · GUIDE 0550 · EDITION 4.2
Ebook formatting in Kenya: Customers and Market Demand
The buyer and the buying decision
Authors publishing an authorized manuscript. The offer to test is: Format a supplied manuscript for an agreed ebook platform.
Format an approved manuscript for its intended reading platforms, defining heading structure, navigation, image treatment, linked notes, and what editorial corrections remain the author's responsibility before release.
Separate interest from an accepted order
Format a sample chapter and test navigation on target readers.
The purpose of this test is to establish whether the buyer accepts the specified result, delivery arrangement and payment terms. An encouraging interview does not establish repeat demand. Ask what the buyer currently uses, what would make them change supplier and who has authority to approve the first order. Record a refusal as carefully as an enquiry so that unsuccessful offers do not disappear from the evidence.
Collect evidence specific to this offer
Record manuscript version, structural edits, image handling choices, reader-app tests, broken links, conversion warnings, author corrections, and the final file approved for each intended distribution format.
| Question to resolve | Evidence to retain |
|---|---|
| What exactly will the buyer accept? | Test the ebook on representative reading applications, varying text size and orientation while checking the contents links, image captions, chapter starts, notes, and special characters throughout. |
| What is included in the first trial? | Format an approved manuscript for its intended reading platforms, defining heading structure, navigation, image treatment, linked notes, and what editorial corrections remain the author's responsibility before release. |
| How will a prospect see the offer? | Offer a sample-chapter conversion using the authors approved material. |
| What must happen before repeating the trial? | Contents and links work and text is not silently omitted or rewritten. |
Decide whether to continue
Review the specification with the buyer before committing to tools or stock. A trial is commercially useful only if actual costs, rejected work, time spent and cash collected can be reconciled. An ebook fails when readers enlarge text and tables become unreadable, chapter navigation breaks, or formatting choices imitate fixed print pages rather than supporting actual reading needs.
If a buyer changes the required output, record a new scope and re-cost the test. Do not count a request for a different product as proof of demand for the original one. Keep personal contact details in your private records and use customer statements publicly only with permission.
Turn the example into a buyer test
Fictional ebook formatting EBK-50 converts a 20,000-word, ten-chapter text manuscript with five footnotes into a reflowable EPUB and a navigation/test report. Sample chapter navigation is Chapter 1 through Chapter 10, with each footnote linked from its reference and back. A PDF replica is not sold as equivalent reflowable output. Copyediting, original illustration, retailer upload, distribution and a guarantee of every device's rendering are excluded.
| Buyer discussion | Evidence to retain |
|---|---|
| Specification to confirm | All ten chapters and five notes exist in the source before conversion. |
| Output to inspect | Check all chapter starts and notes; record actual tested readers and unresolved warnings without claiming universal approval. |
| Failure that can defeat acceptance | Paragraphs overlap at larger type |
Ask the buyer to describe one acceptable and one unacceptable result. Record the decision maker, price basis, quantity, handover point and payment date privately. A sample request, an encouraging conversation and an accepted order are different evidence. Keep the first commitment within your demonstrated capacity; no customer interview or successful trial is asserted here.
What a failed test should change
Inspect fixed heights/positions and embedded layout styling.. If the offer cannot meet that check, revise the specification or process before promising a repeat. Keep rejected offers and reasons in the same register as positive replies so that your record does not exaggerate demand.