Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jordan
Not that it would kill the publishers, but the less complication for them, the more likely they'll provide us with value-added service. Trust me, I'd much rather send everyone an ePub file, then convert my books to half a dozen formats as they come out.
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As it happens, I
can do the format conversion. I have the software and technical skills. So could you. Most people
couldn't, and shouldn't be expected to.
If you have a standard file format with all the necessary elements as an input format, translating that to half a dozen output formats is trivial. It can happen automatically as part of the same workflow that will also create the files sent to an imagesetter to be turned into plates for printing the paper edition.
All of it can be handled by the appropriate scripts. In my scenario, you use a tool to mark up the manuscript as desired, and press a Build button. The tool generates an ePub format, and hands it to a conversion tool that outputs the electronic formats you provide to customers. The same pipeline can contain a process that FTPs the built versions to the appropriate place on your website where they are available for purchase.
Once the process is set up and working correctly, intervention is minimal, and required only when something changes, like a change to the ePub format that will affect the conversion tool, or the addition or removal of output formats.
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Dennis