Quote:
Originally Posted by ForsCream
The reason why I opened this thread is, my company might start a project to develop an EPUB Maker software, as we think Sigil is not easy to use. And there are more and more indie authors at the mean time.
Yes many eBook retailers accept .doc file, but most of us can't make our book beautiful with .doc.
So I want to collect some ideas for an ideal EPUB maker software.
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You want "ideal" ePUB maker software?
Let's see:
- InDesign + ePUB plug-in;
- Jutoh;
- Calibre (sorta);
- Atlantis Word Processor;
- Open Office + the OO plug-in ePUB-maker;
- Oxygen;
- Blue Griffon;
- Pages, export to ePUB;
- iAuthor (kinda);
- Toxaris' ePUB Tools program, which works off of Word,
- Oh, and, yeah, Sigil. Which doesn't include...
- All the other "insta-ePUB-maker" websites out there, like "Draft2Digital," etc.
There are plenty of programs out there. (ePUBStar and the others included. If I forgot someone's program, please don't be offended.) For that matter, let's not forget the "Meatgrinder," Smashwords' online usage of the Calibre API, or NookPress, which would allow someone to upload a Word file and download a pre-made ePUB which could be tweaked in something like Sigil.
As mrmikel points out, Sigil carries a hefty million lines of code. There are plenty of programs for the least-tecchie (Jutoh) to the most-tecchie (probably Sigil) and everything in-between (AWP, OO + plug-in, Blue Griffon).
What nobody has managed to make yet is the Harry Potter ePUB-maker. Take one Word file or word-processing file, whether created properly or not, whether styled or not, using any codes, combination of codes, tags, etc., and uber-magically wave a wand and say "EPUBliarmus!" and make an ePUB that will pass all the ePUBchecks out there, from Lulu (with ePUBcheck 1.x-something to iBooks with ePUBcheck 3.x-something), work on all devices, and, oh, yeah, also convert (by Hermione's magic potion) into Kindlebooks, with all the requisite fallback styling for all the now-10-different Kindles with massively different screen resolutions and capabilities.
Oh, and let's not forget: must run on PC's, Macs and Unix.
Now, if you can make THAT, well...you'll probably make almost as much as Sigil has, which is almost nothing. We've seen dozens if not hundreds of people come through here, all seeking the Holy Grail of a super-easy ePUB-maker, and they all want Calibre-easy and, oh, yeah...FREE. Most of the people we see won't even pay $30-$40USD for something like Jutoh or AWP. So, if you want to invest the time and money...great, go for it. Nobody here will stop you, that's for certain. If you're looking to make money, I gotta say, from what I've seen, you're barking up the wrong tree.
Good luck.
Hitch