Quote:
Originally Posted by Hitch
Well, in response to your last sentence---apparently not. K8 simply does not support "everything" that is supported in print--for example, vertical and horizontal alignment, which is used extensively in INDD (InDesign).
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I never said KF8 supported everything in a print book. I said "A publisher can produce the printed book in InDesign, and then also have the Kindle edition as well with no additional work whatsoever." Well it is true, if you accept that some features will be resticted. But as I said, the vast majority of the work is carried over into the Kindle edition. For example footnotes work brilliantly.
I can imagine a set of guidelines for designers using InDesign, telling them what to watch out for when making the print book, so that the Kindle conversion will work beautifully, without effort.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hitch
tomsem is asking you his question because dropping a clean ePUB onto Kindlegen or Previewer gives you the "master mobi" you are talking about--a K7 and K8 file. What you're running is some add-on that runs between INDD and KG, as you're getting a master mobi. I can guarantee you that your "tool" is running Kindlegen. And there's nothing that K8 has (not discussing fixed-formats here) that ePUB does not; it's the other way around.
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Calling Amazon's plugin "some addon" is not fair to it. They have been making it better and better and with luck it will continue to improve. And why not?
I am well aware that it runs Kindlegen, why shouldn't it?
I seem to have upset you. I suppose this is because you have a business that depends on what I'm suggesting could happen, not happening. But I am just the messenger, it isn't my fault!
To sum up:
I can see that ePub is better than Amazon's KF8, but KF8 does an awful lot.
I think you will still have a job because traditional publishers don't have a clue about technology and expect perfection, so they will be happy to pay you to sort out their messes and make them beautiful.
I think a variety of tools will develop to help new publishers and writers do the whole job without understanding the underlying technology. In 5 years it will seem ridiculous to have to know about css and html to publish a book. For example the same things were true in the early days of word processors, one had to know all about the underlying technology. I can remember configuring WordStar to handle various printers to get proportional fonts, which required lots of hacking around.
PS. You mentioned getting an RTF out of InDesign. Please reveal how to do that? I can see how to make a PDF, HTML, or an ePub, but not an RTF. (It is easy to put an RTF into InDesign - it takes just one click.)