The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible.—Vladimir Nabokov
Welcome to Compass Rose Horizons.
We offer expert proofreading, editing, book design, eBook formatting, and transcription services.
eBook Conversion, Formatting, Editing, and Design
Blanche Walsh as Juliet, with her NOOK color eReader. Arist: Mike Licht, shared through CC 2.0.
eBook Conversion
In May 2011 the inevitable happened — Amazon.com announced that eBook sales had officially overtaken print book sales. More customers were buying eBooks for their Kindles or other devices than printed paperbacks and hardcovers. Authors now realize that to remain competitive in the marketplace, they need to have eBook versions available for all titles. If you already have a print version of your book, we can help you convert the original Microsoft Word, InDesign, or PDF document to an eBook for publication on the Kindle, Nook, and other popular eReaders. We can also format a Microsoft Word document for Smashwords — this is our most popular option.
With the explosion in ePublishing, the book market has been flooded with low-quality, inferior products and shoddy eBook conversions. Most budget conversion services simply use automated conversion software, with little care for how the final eBook looks to the consumer. Unlike such companies, we believe that eBooks deserve the same care and attention we give our print publications. With that goal in mind, we hand code each eBook individually instead of relying on conversion software to do the job. Each eBook is then tested on the very devices that will be used to read it, and we adjust the code as necessary until it is perfect, giving you an eBook that will properly validate. Your eBook will even include a table of contents with click-through links and a copy of your book cover!
eBook Conversion Pricing
The prices listed below are meant as a general guideline. Please Contact Us with the particulars of your project for a free quote.
Books without Interior Illustrations (Most Novels, Novellas, or Short Story Collections)
Your book falls into this category if it does not have any illustrations, graphics, tables, bullet lists, or charts. We charge a flat fee for the conversion. For this price, you will receive an .epub file suitable for just about any eReader, including Nook, Sony Reader, iPad/iPhone, Android systems, Windows and Mac computers using Adobe Digitial Editions, and online readers such as Bookworm, Firefox’s EPUBReader, and Ibis Reader. You will also receive a .mobi file for use on the Kindle or any device that uses a Kindle App (PC, Android, Blackberry, Mac, etc.).
“I checked the book out on my Kindle and it looks great... Thanks for the wonderful job and all the extra effort... you put into this project. I do appreciate it.”—Harry Bryer
- $100.00 up to 15,000 words
- $150.00 up to 75,000 words
- $200.00 up to 125,000 words
- $250.00 for more than 125,000 words
Books with Illustrations, Graphics, or Charts (Most Non-Fiction Titles)
By its very nature, a non-fiction title often takes longer to code and format properly due to the complexity of the text. We offer several conversion pricing levels, based on the features found within the book. Regardless of which level you choose, you will receive both an .epub and a .mobi file. Prices are based on page count; a page is defined as a page from the original layout of your print publication.
Mrs. Duffee Reading Her Kindle, after Mary Cassatt. Arist: Mike Licht.
- Basic Conversion includes manuscripts without footnotes, bulleted or numbered lists, tables, and charts. The base price does include up to five photographs or illustrations (additional illustrations are $3 each). $1.25 per page.
- Premium Conversion includes footnotes, bulleted or numbered lists, tables, charts, graphics, complex paragraphs (indented quotes, etc.), photographs, and illustrations. Your tables / charts will be inserted as graphics, scanned from your original print publication; any footnotes will be converted to endnotes. $1.75 per page.
At this time, we do not offer conversion services for very complex formats, such as cookbooks, technical manuals, dictionaries, or anything that has extensive formatting on every page.
If you are in doubt as to which category your particular manuscript falls under, please Contact Us for a free quote.
Converting a Microsoft Word Document for Smashwords
Smashwords bills itself as the world’s largest indie eBook distributor. Their “meatgrinder” can automatically convert a properly formatted Microsoft Word document into a variety of different formats for distribution to Apple iBookstore, Barnes and Noble, Sony Reader Store, Kobo, the Diesel eBook Store, Baker & Taylor, and more. We can help you prepare your MS Word document (up to 100,000 words) for $75.00, ensuring that the format will be accepted by Smashwords. Please e-mail for more information.
Converting a Book without a Digital File
Don’t have a digital copy of your text? No problem! We can take one of your in-print or out-of-print titles and type it into manuscript format before converting it into an eBook. Standard typesetting fees apply. See Typesetting & Book Design for our current rates.
