With ePub here, do you still need RTF?

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

As a busy author/self-publisher, I want to please most of my customers by providing multiple e-book formats. I also provide RTF, in order that consumers can convert their own if they don't like the ones I supply. But with the ePub files I now offer, consumers now have access to HTML that can be used for conversion.

So: Is there a need for RTF availability any longer? Should I abandon this format on my books site? Or is there something about it that still makes RTF more useful/desirable than ePub?

[Moejoe]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

As a busy author/self-publisher, I want to please most of my customers by providing multiple e-book formats. I also provide RTF, in order that consumers can convert their own if they don't like the ones I supply. But with the ePub files I now offer, consumers now have access to HTML that can be used for conversion.

So: Is there a need for RTF availability any longer? Should I abandon this format on my books site? Or is there something about it that still makes RTF more useful/desirable than ePub?

It's an interesting question, Steve. I think for some people there's a comfort-factor with RTF. It's a word processing document and nearlly everyone is familiar with those. HTML/exploded ePub isn't that difficult to understand if you want to at a code level, and can be just as simple as an RTF document if you don't go under the hood. I know I'd prefer the ePub as I'm getting familiar with it at the moment.

On a side note, how are you preparing your novels? What's your workflow for the process? I've been experimenting with different tools and there always seems to be some little glitch or annoyance with the final output. Inquiring minds want to know

[Kokomo Lee]

Hi Steve,

My choice would be "Both ePub and RTF please!", which is not an option on your poll. I have multiple devices, and need the flexibility of both formats.

For my eBookwise, I like the RTF version as it converts easily to IMP.

For my Sony, I have experimented with converting the RTF using Calibre, and reading the ePub. Either version works well.

Sherri

[Jack Tingle]

Someday, ePub may be all we need. For now, RTF is a valuable least common denominator. ePub tools are still limited in number and distribution. Both, please, for the next few years.

Regards,
Jack Tingle

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by Moejoe

On a side note, how are you preparing your novels? What's your workflow for the process? I've been experimenting with different tools and there always seems to be some little glitch or annoyance with the final output. Inquiring minds want to know

It's one of the reasons I asked... to see how soon I can cut back on my workflow! To answer your question, I create a tagged PDF of the original Word doc (written in Word2007). Then I convert the document to a Word2000 doc for some of my older conversion apps. Then I use the 2000 DOC file to create the PRC, PDB, LRF, LIT and RTF formats, using a separate conversion app for each. Then I create an HTML file out of the original doc, parcel it into multiple pages (one per chapter) and use that to manually assemble an ePub file.

Then I go get a drink... by then, I need one!

Originally Posted by SLMines

My choice would be "Both ePub and RTF please!", which is not an option on your poll. I have multiple devices, and need the flexibility of both formats.

For my eBookwise, I like the RTF version as it converts easily to IMP.

For my Sony, I have experimented with converting the RTF using Calibre, and reading the ePub. Either version works well.

Sherri

The poll is multiple choice, so if you like both, you can just go with options 2 and 5. (or 3 and 4, as the case may be).

[Moejoe]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

It's one of the reasons I asked... to see how soon I can cut back on my workflow! To answer your question, I create a tagged PDF of the original Word doc (written in Word2007). Then I convert the document to a Word2000 doc for some of my older conversion apps. Then I use the 2000 DOC file to create the PRC, PDB, LRF, LIT and RTF formats, using a separate conversion app for each. Then I create an HTML file out of the original doc, parcel it into multiple pages (one per chapter) and use that to manually assemble an ePub file.

Then I go get a drink... by then, I need one!



The poll is multiple choice, so if you like both, you can just go with options 2 and 5. (or 3 and 4, as the case may be).

I think you might need 2 drinks after all that, Steve Thanks for letting us in on how you get things done.

[Greg Anos]

All I know is I want my e-books in some format that I can edit with simple word processing tools. (I.E. Notepad or Wordpad) I hate typos and will fix them when I come across them. I don't like mobi (.prc) because it is often in compressed format that i can't easily edit. (And I don't consider an explode, edit, rebuild software to be an easy edit.) I haven't played with Epub because I don't want to do another coversion of 1000+ books (and learn another formatting language) to convert to the lastest whiz-bang. Does Epub allow easy, simple word processor, fixing?

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

All I know is I want my e-books in some format that I can edit with simple word processing tools. (I.E. Notepad or Wordpad) I hate typos and will fix them when I come across them. I don't like mobi (.prc) because it is often in compressed format that i can't easily edit. (And I don't consider an explode, edit, rebuild software to be an easy edit.) I haven't played with Epub because I don't want to do another coversion of 1000+ books (and learn another formatting language) to convert to the lastest whiz-bang. Does Epub allow easy, simple word processor, fixing?

EPubs are zipped html, not hard to unzip and work with. You can copy and paste them into your app of choice.

[Moejoe]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

All I know is I want my e-books in some format that I can edit with simple word processing tools. (I.E. Notepad or Wordpad) I hate typos and will fix them when I come across them. I don't like mobi (.prc) because it is often in compressed format that i can't easily edit. (And I don't consider an explode, edit, rebuild software to be an easy edit.) I haven't played with Epub because I don't want to do another coversion of 1000+ books (and learn another formatting language) to convert to the lastest whiz-bang. Does Epub allow easy, simple word processor, fixing?

In my experience (and I don't have much at the moment) creating my own works I've been using this stepthrough method.

Scrivener > HTML segments (chapters etc) > Textmate (cleanup add TOC) > Calibre (css overide for any effects etc)> ePub

Once the ePub is created you can explode it by renaming the extension to .zip, inside you'll find individual HTML files (in the OPS folder?) corresponding to chapters and the like which can be edited as you would any other HTML. Now, all I've got to master is the re-zipping part

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

EPubs are zipped html, not hard to unzip and work with. You can copy and paste them into your app of choice.

Isn't ePub XML? Perhaps it is XHTML?

BOb

[Moejoe]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Isn't ePub XML? Perhaps it is XHTML?

BOb

Made a typo in my original post. Fixed.. Scrivener outputs HTML (god-awful and clunky HTML at that) and I think multi-markdown too but I haven't tried that yet. So far I've imported HTML (cleaned up) and XHTML docs into Calbre and done the conversion process from them (XHTML from a clean Textmate implementation) and they seem to work out fine.

Actually, the quickest way I've found, and with good results, is just to use the Feedbooks online creator and save the preview. No good if you want images, but if you're using text its way easier than all the messing with the steps I've had to peform.

[delphidb96]

To the best of my knowledge, neither my Dell Axim x51v, Netronix EB100, Bookeen Cybook Gen3 (either the 64MB or 512MB version) nor my Sony PRS-500 can handle ePub. Thus, I prefer getting HTML, Word DOC or RTF files so I can create the proper ebook for my devices. So yes, RTF still has a life, in my most humble opinion.

Derek

[wayrad]

I don't think there's any ePub reader for PalmOS yet either. Currently my reader app is PalmFiction, which handles .rtf fairly well. I know how to convert HTML files to RTF, but if ePub is putting chapters in separate files (as I understand from the earlier posts), that would make conversion quite a bit more tedious. So count me as being in favor of retaining the RTF format.

[Daithi]

To create documents I use Microsoft Word at work and I use OpenOffice at home. When I create HTML I rarely use WYSIWYG editors because I have far more control editing the HTML (or XHTML) and the CSS by hand. However, sometimes my CSS doesn't work as expected and I spend untold hours trying to figure out why <something> is displayed in the wrong spot and why it won't freaking work the way I want it to work.

I'm not exactly sure what the point is that I'm making. Maybe it's that there are different tools for different jobs, but for the time being I don't see RTF going away.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Isn't ePub XML? Perhaps it is XHTML?

Yes, ePub is essentially XML... however, many of the component files, such as the individual chapters, the title page, dedication page, etc, are just HTML pages within the ePub package. They can be opened and read on any browser or web page editor. I build the whole thing manually with Dreamweaver at the moment, but I hope that won't always be the case.