[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Tex2002ans

What you'll want to do is pick one "source format" or "master document" which you derive all others. Which format that is, that's up to you.

I prefer an EPUB-first (or HTML-first) workflow.

Others prefer InDesign-first, and others prefer DOCX-first.

You want the conversion to happen as late as possible, or else the amount of labor needed will multiply dramatically.

AMEN, brother!

... each conversion is going to require some amount of manual intervention.

...snippage....

Trying to allow for author-tweaks beyond this bifurcation point... Each new format will multiply the amount of work needed to update.

....more snippage....

Depends on the extent of the changes you're expecting the author to make.

Print comes along with plenty of its own challenges, and the smallest of changes (like adding a word, deleting a footnote) can cascade into very large reflows of text.

If you rely on more complicated things like referencing Page Numbers, Figures/Charts (floating), Lists, [...], this also throws huge wrenches in each format.

What's the intended use of the PDF?

Is it intended to be an actual Print book? If so, Calibre's PDF output is... abysmal.

I want to say that Tex is my resident process expert--what he doesn't know about it ain't worth knowing. Now, we argue about a few things--for books that will have both print and ebook components, I prefer INDD-->ePUB, but much of this is personal preference.

As he says, if you're thinking of using this for print, run like hell from the Calibre->PDF option. It's fantastic for hadning a client a pdf that they can read for whatever reason, or something that they can send to the Last Book Reviewer on Earth That Won't Accept ePUBs/MOBIs, but it's absolutely not a print layout option.

Lastly, I'm sorry, but I see absolutely NO possibility of you giving the client an ePUB and a PDF that they can update. How would they do that? Editing a PDF is always--always--a lousy outcome, other than letter-for-letter replacements (e.g., "their" for "there" or the like). Sure, they can learn--possibly--to open an ePUB in Sigil or Calibre's editor and make minor text tweaks, but what happens when they can't deal with code view? What happens when they decide to "just" edit a table or whatever, and they corrupt the markup/CSS?

And as I said, editing a PDF? That's no bueno for anyone. Believe me, I've spent a lot of time trying to figure out, lately, if PDFs are REMOTELY editable in any realistic way and the answer is--they ain't.

This is typical client pipe-dream nonsense--they think that everything is a Word file. If they REALLY need editable files, then you give them a Word file--that's what they have. They upload it at the KDP, they upload it at B&N, and they export it to PDF. That's the only realistic, viable path.

Otherwise, educate them and move on down the road. Tex and I have done many thousands of eBooks and hundreds of print and there's simply no "good" way to do this with a client that wants to be able to update the files themselves.

Hitch