E-readers not recognizing chapters

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by exaltedwombat

There's no point in hating InDesign, it's the name of the game for printed page layout.

I was going to suggest a workflow - prepare text in Indesign using very basic epub-compatible layout, leave it like that until ALL text revisions have been made. Then export an epub, continue tarting up in InDesign for the printed version.

But that's too organized. Authors can't seperate content from layout.

OMG!

Were you actually considering this as an authorial workflow? Or did I misunderstand you?

Hitch

[exaltedwombat]

Originally Posted by Hitch

OMG!

Were you actually considering this as an authorial workflow? Or did I misunderstand you?

Hitch

No, the author will doubtless present a Word document, haphazardly formatted with spaces rather than tabs, no concept of Header styles etc. as usual! I'm suggesting this is where the person who will be constructing the printed and eBook versions might start.

It's all wishful thinking though, because no known author has yet finalized the text before wanting to fuss over format :-)

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by exaltedwombat

No, the author will doubtless present a Word document, haphazardly formatted with spaces rather than tabs, no concept of Header styles etc. as usual! I'm suggesting this is where the person who will be constructing the printed and eBook versions might start.

It's all wishful thinking though, because no known author has yet finalized the text before wanting to fuss over format :-)

Yes, I do think you were seeing stardust, for a moment there. On average--average, mind you--our clients copyedit not less than 3 times post-ePUB production. We have many that go to 7-8 rounds. We have very few that only do 1-2, although we try to induce them, both carrot and stick, to either present a final manuscript (ho! ho ho ho!) or at least keep edits to a single round. But I'm never-ceasingly surprised at the sheer revision rounds we go through, so...no, I think you'd be crazy to try to do that in INDD, myself. I mean, it's easier in many ways to edit in ePUB than INDD, really, so...how do you workflow what you're doing, with IND?

Hitch

[exaltedwombat]

Yeah. It was an idealised workflow for a situation where an author has completed the text, and the book will be produced both printed and as eBook. Not for real life!

[Man Eating Duck]

Originally Posted by exaltedwombat

Yeah. It was an idealised workflow for a situation where an author has completed the text, and the book will be produced both printed and as eBook. Not for real life!

Where I work we finalize the book for print with all editorial changes and proofing applied (yeah, right), and only then we simplify it for epub export. From there on we maintain both versions in InDesign for reprints and updates to the digital version. We have a very rapid indd -> epub workflow, making this less cumbersome than it sounds

[exaltedwombat]

Interesting. How do you rapidly convert from indd to epub? Do you find Export: epub useful for anything but the simplest designs? Can it cope with illustrations - I always found this a problem, though I haven't yet tried the latest versipon of InDesign?

[Man Eating Duck]

Originally Posted by exaltedwombat

Interesting. How do you rapidly convert from indd to epub? Do you find Export: epub useful for anything but the simplest designs? Can it cope with illustrations - I always found this a problem, though I haven't yet tried the latest versipon of InDesign?

The epub export is close to useless as-is, but with a bit of massaging afterwards they turn out nice. We use InDesign 5.5. We have an indd template with a certain set of styles, and do a bit of formatting in advance of the export. Images, for instance, are placed inline in their own paragraph with the byline in a separate paragraph following that. I also format and style page breaks in a certain way that makes it easy to split the document in Sigil.

After exporting I import the epub to calibre, and use Modify Epub to embed metadata and cover. I have written a simple cmd script to replace the font with a non-mangled version if applicable (embedded fonts are needed for some books with special characters). I also replace the css with a hand-crafted one as the css generated by InDesign is ridiculous. Finally I run a set of replaces in Sigil, which among other things split the chapters into separate files and remove inline styling of img tags. Sigil 0.6 vastly simplifies the whole process. When the InDesign version is ready it takes me a couple of minutes to generate a new epub version, and this is also suitable for Kindle conversion.

The end result is not perfect, but IMHO better than most commercially available books. If you're interested I can see if I find the time to post the necessary files and our internal instructions, it would have to be a google-translated version. I should touch them up a little anyway, they tend to be ignored as I am basically the whole "ebook department" at our company.

[exaltedwombat]

Originally Posted by Man Eating Duck

If you're interested I can see if I find the time to post the necessary files and our internal instructions, it would have to be a google-translated version. I should touch them up a little anyway, they tend to be ignored as I am basically the whole "ebook department" at our company.

Yes, I'm sure a number of us would find that fascinating! I'm interested that you bring Sigil into the workflow at all - I've always found it adds yet another unnecessary layer of stylesheet complexity.

[Man Eating Duck]

Originally Posted by exaltedwombat

Yes, I'm sure a number of us would find that fascinating! I'm interested that you bring Sigil into the workflow at all - I've always found it adds yet another unnecessary layer of stylesheet complexity.

Sure, I might be able to do it tomorrow or monday. About Sigil: I use it to do some replaces, split the document into one file per chapter, and generate the toc.ncx. It doesn't really add any complexity, and it's easier and more flexible than writing a custom script

[exaltedwombat]

Sorry, didn't mean Sigil. Should have said Calibre. It's an excellent eBook organizer, but I find little use for its coding functions since embracing Sigil.

[Man Eating Duck]

Originally Posted by exaltedwombat

Sorry, didn't mean Sigil. Should have said Calibre. It's an excellent eBook organizer, but I find little use for its coding functions since embracing Sigil.

Ah, but organising is what I use it for.

It's very handy for storing and embedding metadata with the mentioned plugin, especially when I re-generate an epub for corrections, but there's no reason to use it for conversion.

[JSWolf]

Hitch, do you happen to have (or can you make) a link to an ePub that you've put together? I'd be rather interested in seeing your formatting/code.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Hitch, do you happen to have (or can you make) a link to an ePub that you've put together? I'd be rather interested in seeing your formatting/code.

Wolfie?

Me or my firm? if you just want the firm (we'll have to go back for one of my own), do you have a genre preference? Or will a Jackie Collins do you?

H

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Wolfie?

Me or my firm? if you just want the firm (we'll have to go back for one of my own), do you have a genre preference? Or will a Jackie Collins do you?

H

Any ePub will do that shows off your work. Thanks.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Any ePub will do that shows off your work. Thanks.

I'll pm ya.

H