Embed Fonts into eBooks?

[cjseasyaspie]

Can someone help me figure this out?

I want to use a "child friendly" font such as Comic Sans MS in a Kindle eBook.

Using Atlantis, I can embed Comic Sans MS into my eBook, and Amazon Kindle software does not strip it out:

Comic Sans MS does appear in my final Kindle eBook.

Comic Sans MS properties says the font is "free to use"... but that it is distributed by Monotype, and I haven't had an answer from Monotype, so I'm afraid it's not legal to use it.

I found a similar font at Fontsquirrel, Comic Relief, and I THOUGHT Atlantis had embedded it into my DOCX file, but when I put it through Amazon Kindle Publish, the Comic Relief font does not appear in the final Kindle eBook.

Can anyone advise me what to do?

[Robert]

Hi,
First, be aware that not all eReaders support embedded fonts. And even then, they will often offer a choice of fonts to display the current eBook with.
Next, fonts need to be free for commercial use, and redistributable. It is the case with “Comic Relief”, which has a SIL Open Font License (http://www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/comic-relief?q%5Bterm%5D=Comic+Relief&q%5Bsearch_check%5D=Y).
Attached is a sample RTF document created in Atlantis. it uses “Comic Relief” as its main font. Created in Atlantis, the corresponding EPUB and MOBI files display with the “Comic Relief” font.
Note that you need to activate the “Save & Embed” option before saving a document as eBook:



By the way, we’d be delighted if you’d care to put in a good word for Atlantis on your site… Thanks in advance!
Cheers,
Robert

[cjseasyaspie]

Thanks very much, Robert!

And, yes, I most certainly will give you a good word.

That's what this little eBook is about... it's a kid's picture book, plus "How these images were formatted and inserted", and I'll plan a page for "How this font was embedded".

I THOUGHT I did everything just as you outlined, but obviously I did something wrong.

I'll try your sample MOBI and be back shortly to report my results.

[cjseasyaspie]

Robert,

I tried over and over... to be sure I wasn't making a mistake somewhere... and tried all three versions of the sample you sent me...

But no luck... the fonts would show in the eBook created by Atlantis, but when I uploaded the ePub, or MOBI, or Docx file to Amazon KDP, the result was that the embedded fonts were gone.

Finally, I decided to try another font, so I went back to Fontsquirrel, and found:

http://www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/abeezee

It turns out to be EXACTLY what I wanted... a child-friendly font... and it works!

Do you have any guess as to why?

I would think it was the change to "open type fonts" (is that what it means?)... but it also works with Microsoft Comic Sans MS.

I'll attach a screen shot -- a page from Matt the Cat Finds his Person, with font Abeezee embedded with Atlantis Word Processor.

[Robert]

Ultimately, this is something you should ask the Amazon KDP support.
The reason might be that OpenType fonts are cross-platform compatible and on average 20% to 50% smaller than comparable TrueType fonts.
Microsoft Comic Sans MS could be an exception because it is rather universally supported.
You might want to have a look at the following pages:
What is the difference between TrueType®, PostScript® and OpenType™ fonts?
The Benefits Of OpenType/CFF Over TrueType
What is the Difference Between OTF and TTF Fonts?
Cheers,
Robert

[cjseasyaspie]

Thanks very much, Robert!

I'll study the references you provided.

And thanks for your help... without which I would have given up on the whole idea of embedding fonts into a Kindle eBook.