[Hitch]

Originally Posted by CliffB

Yes, Hitch I was asking, thanks for the insight.

How much time do you spend, and what tools do you use to import or convert content?

Well, the first part of the question is too difficult to answer in a simple number. In fiction, we have a named scale: Gilligan, Professor and Skipper. (FYI, all: these are internal names, and I'd really like it if you wouldn't repeat them.) As you've probably already inferred or discerned, a Gilligan is a 3hour book (standard fiction, <75K), a Professor is a 4-hour book and a Skipper is a whole lotta clean-up and fat that needs removing...6+ hours. Now, these terms were created back in '09 or so, when it was easier to create a book than it is now. To many different devices, differing base formats at Amazon, media-queries, etc. So, really, a Gilligan is probably not less than 5 hours, and so on. But we like the names, so we kept 'em.

We find import and conversion to be very problematic and time consuming. We have used various tools such as PanDoc, Writer2Xhtml, Calibre, etc. Lately many of us have just given up and simply cut and paste the content (as text) into Sigil (in Book View) and then quickly apply formatting. The original content is open in one window in the originating application (LO, Word, Google Docs or whatever) and Sigil is in another window, both side by side. We cut and paste, apply formatting, compare and make small changes one chapter at a time. This may seem tedious but it actually is faster and more reliable than using a conversion program most of the time.

There is, quite simply, no magic tool. For fiction, we export to HTML; and then depending on the book, it's cleaned either in NoteTab Pro with our proprietary clips, or Epsilon, ditto. Epsilon is our cleaner and coder for more complex books. It's just the way it worked out.

Nonetheless, it's export HTML (from whatever) or get an ePUB from INDD. Then either NTPro or Epsilon, for the basic cleaning. Now, obviously, this can be quick...or not. Some Word files, short fiction, only require a single pass. I (personally) use Toxaris' ePUB tools plugin to assist in pre-cleaning Word files. Despite my old beliefs, there are some things that are done more rapidly, or more easily, in Word, pre-export.

The bulk of the clean-up is in these tools. NTPro, Epsilon, and what Barb (our head bookmaker) calls "her girl PERL," a program she's written that does a series of repetitive tasks.

Once the HTML is cleaned and styles are assigned to the various elements, the HTML and CSS are imported into Sigil if we're doing fiction. And Epsilon if we are doing non-fic or heavily laid-out fiction. To stay on-topic, assuming it's fiction and it's pushed into Sigil.

At that point, the file splits are inserted; fonts are imported and subset; the file is previewed; tested against ePUBcheck, and then finalized.

Using conversion tools such as Pandocs, Writer2Xhtml or Calibre sometimes works good with some content, but other times results in missing content or mangled content. Conversion with these tools is not always reliable. Some source documents were originated in Word, LO or Google Docs, opened in Word or LO and then imported back to LO or Word. There are levels upon levels of tag soup in most of these files.

I've not found any insta-conversion program that works worth a crap. Some of the guys here on MR have stated that using the Calibre EDITOR (not the converter) works really well. This is using the Editor as an import tool--so, you'd export your HTML to your HTML editor, clean it up a bit, and then paste it into the Calibre editor, and pop out an ePUB. Of course, you could also use the Calibre editor as an HTML editor, too, to simplify it even further.

Cutting and Pasting into Book View as text results in totally scrubbed and cleaned files. Re-applying any lost formating is pedestrian compared to sorting out the tag soup.

You know...it's really not that hard to clean up the "tag soup," as you call it. A lot of what you've described, both here and previously, is adding to your woes; all the back-forth with your writers and all that. I think that the time you're "saving," by having the authors and publishers work in their own files--so you don't have to--is being eaten up on the flip-side when you go to convert.

If you have to work in a shared environment, where they'll be making edits and all that, why not something like Jutoh or Scrivener? Wouldn't that be easier? If you and your authors had Scrivener, you could simply ship the .scriv file back and forth, OR, each of you could work in the file, push a button, create an ePUB or MOBI for proofing, and bobs-yer-uncle.

I admit that I am a bit boggled by the process you have. If I may, why are you working in ePUB? As a reviewing medium?

Hitch