How to split up a Trilogy

[Mickser_52]

Hi,

I recently bought my wife an ebook for her Bebook. It downloaded and then uploaded to the Bebook, but it will not open. The book is a trilogy and each of the three stories showed up separately in ADE but does not on the Bebook.

The ebook is now available to edit in Sigil. Could anyone explain how I can separate the Trilogy into each of its separate titles or provide a link to such an explanation?

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Mickser_52

Hi,

I recently bought my wife an ebook for her Bebook. It downloaded and then uploaded to the Bebook, but it will not open. The book is a trilogy and each of the three stories showed up separately in ADE but does not on the Bebook.

The ebook is now available to edit in Sigil. Could anyone explain how I can separate the Trilogy into each of its separate titles or provide a link to such an explanation?

The problem may be that the segments (individual files) that make up the book may be too big. Each piece needs to be less than 260K to be read on many portable readers (like my PEz).
Sigil will show (in the book browser) how many pieces make up the book.
If it is a long book and only a few segments, a EPUB to EPUB conversion in Calibre or chapter splitting in Sigil, will take care of the Too Big issue

Splitting in Sigil is slightly tedious (no multi file delete: There is a code Logic reason for this.)

Note: I am doing Step 1 in the safest (to the book) manner, not the most efficient of your time.
0)Use Sigil to verify and 'Chapter Break' (if needed) Before a Next Part of the Trilogy. Rename the 'New part', just for clarity.
(Do not, do any additional splitting other than 'parts' at this time to save later tedium )

1) Save the book 3 Times. Each with the Name you wish it to have.

2) Now the tedious part .
2a) Open book 1, delete Part 2 and Part 3 files using the book browser
Save
2b) Open book 2, delete Part 1 and Part 3 files using the book browser
Save
2c) Open book 3, delete Part 1 and Part 2 files using the book browser
Save

3)Now 'clean-up' each new book by running the Validate tool to find and correct 'leftover' files and references (usually images, extra entries in the 'inline TOC').
Regenerate/edit the EPUB TOC (technique depends on if it was Header based or not). Save . If you started step 1 with a 'Header based TOC, this will be easier to do. I vote for getting that done first

[Serena]

I actually find this easier to do by changing the .epub file to .zip. Then you can open the zip file, find the text, and delete the files much quicker. Most "bundles" I've seen, it is very easy to figure out which files belong together as a book.

Then I change the name back to .epub, import into Calibre, and do a convert, just to clean it up.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Serena

I actually find this easier to do by changing the .epub file to .zip. Then you can open the zip file, find the text, and delete the files much quicker. Most "bundles" I've seen, it is very easy to figure out which files belong together as a book.

Then I change the name back to .epub, import into Calibre, and do a convert, just to clean it up.

If you are already using Calibre, Type 'T' on the selected Book, then 'explode...'. Do your stuff, then re-build.

The only advantage to 'my way' is it tends to do most of the clean-up auto-magically as you go.

[Mickser_52]

Many thanks for your replies. There is plenty there for me to try out and learn how to use Sigil and Caliblre. I will be back to let you know of progress or to ask further questions if you don't mind.

[Mickser_52]

I spent a long time deleting chapters etc. and ran into problems after validating. I tried to open saved file with Calibre and could read it with Calibre viewer but when I sent it to the ebook it again would not open.

Frustration was setting in so I tried another method. I converted the file to mobi, deleted the epub file and converted the mobi file back to epub with the "split files larger than 260 kb" (I had tried converting from epub to epub but got nowhere).

To make a long story (very long) short I transferred the new epub file to the Bebook and it opened.

Many thanks for your advice and I must spend some time learning about Sigil for the next problem that arises