Creating Professional Looking Epubs

Big McLargeHuge · 04-28-2012, 07:42 PM

I have a few paperbacks i want to turn into epubs. But i want them to look as if i bought them from B&N or Amazon or something. Pictures of the publishers symbol, exact formatting of the book, exact Font sizes and spaces and things like that... Any easy way to do this?

Like, how do i turn the paperback of this:

Deadhouse Gates (Book 2 of The Malazan Book of the Fallen) [Mass Market Paperback]

To look as good as this ebooks formatting:

Deadhouse Gates [Kindle Edition]

I'm from the US by the way, the UK version is just formatted better.

Also, how do you get chapters like this?:

Chapter 1

Part 1

Part 2

[Etc...

Chapter 2

Part 1

Thanks in advance.

JSWolf · 04-28-2012, 07:55 PM

You don't need to do chapters like that. You just do it in toc.ncx and it will work very well in ePub.

Big McLargeHuge · 04-28-2012, 08:00 PM

Well, this may be a bit silly, but i want to make them look nice haha.

Also, i meant:

Book One:

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Etc..

DaleDe · 04-28-2012, 08:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big McLargeHuge

Well, this may be a bit silly, but i want to make them look nice haha.

Also, i meant:

Book One:

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Etc..

You can certainly do that if you want inline TOC that is part of the book but for navigation purposes most people use the separate file that can be popped up anytime you need it. It will also support nested TOC. Of course you can have both!

ePub can typically do better than anything Kindle can do for formatting except the Kindle Fire KF-8 format which is really ePub anyway. You might want to start with Sigil, a free download that can accept HTML file input and allows you to control the formatting exactly as you want it to be.

Dale

mrmls · 04-28-2012, 08:11 PM

To turn paperback into epub you need to scan the book, apply OCR, then fix OCR mistakes, and then create an epub and format it.
For OCR the best choice could be Abby FineReader, but it's a commercial product, need to buy it.
For epub creation - Sigil, which is available for free.

It will take a lot of time to make it perfect, especially if doing for the 1st time.

The other way is to buy Kindle edition, remove DRM and then convert mobi to epub. Which is like 10000 times faster. But DRM removal has legal restrictions.

JSWolf · 04-29-2012, 08:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrmls

To turn paperback into epub you need to scan the book, apply OCR, then fix OCR mistakes, and then create an epub and format it.
For OCR the best choice could be Abby FineReader, but it's a commercial product, need to buy it.
For epub creation - Sigil, which is available for free.

It will take a lot of time to make it perfect, especially if doing for the 1st time.

The other way is to buy Kindle edition, remove DRM and then convert mobi to epub. Which is like 10000 times faster. But DRM removal has legal restrictions.

Actually, since Deadhouse Gates is already available in ePub, it would be easier to buy that, strip the DRM and edit the ePub so it looks as wanted.
http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Deadh...kYXc0OSUGg&r=1

DRM removal is a grey area. It's unknown if removing the DRM for personal use is illegal. And until it's proven in a court of law, it will never be known 100%.

Kaylee Skylyn · 04-29-2012, 09:09 PM

To address your question about the Part one, chapter 1 ect I also was looking to do that and posted in another post how I found what I was looking for:

To quote: "So for my example I found an example of what I wanted to do; have "Book1" with child "Chapter 1" ect then "Book2" with child "Chapter 1" ect in my copy of "White Fang" by Jack London (from FeedBooks) that was already in my library. (but is it a GOOD example of how to do this? I'm assuming so but you tell me.)"

So take a look on how they do it in White Fang (shows up properly in the TOC) and that should answer that part of your question.

HarryT · 04-30-2012, 02:35 AM

The abbreviation for "et cetera" is "etc.", not "ect.".

JSWolf · 04-30-2012, 07:44 PM

(IMHO), a professional looking ePub uses toc.ncx and does not have an internal ToC. Also, it has proper indents and no like spaces between paragraphs except for section breaks. It has small to no margins and it has smallish spacing for ToC headers.

dwig · 04-30-2012, 09:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

(IMHO), a professional looking ePub uses toc.ncx and does not have an internal ToC. Also, it has proper indents and no like spaces between paragraphs except for section breaks. It has small to no margins and it has smallish spacing for ToC headers.

I agree.

The only time an ebook should have an inline ToC is when it is a book that might be read in some non-linear fashion. Such books would include non-fiction books that discuss multiple topics (e.g. histories, textbooks, ...) or collections (e.g. short story collections, omnibus editions, ...).

The only time a single-story/topic book should have an inline ToC is when it is, or tries to be, a facsimile of a particular paper edition. An ebook for general reading should not attempt to mimic paper layout and typographic conventions that don't apply to ebooks.

AnemicOak · 04-30-2012, 09:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

(IMHO), a professional looking ePub uses toc.ncx and does not have an internal ToC. Also, it has proper indents and no like spaces between paragraphs except for section breaks. It has small to no margins and it has smallish spacing for ToC headers.

So do all ePub readers (devices & apps) support the toc.ncx now? Because IIRC that hasn't always been the case, making an inline TOC useful.

JSWolf · 05-01-2012, 01:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dwig

I agree.

The only time an ebook should have an inline ToC is when it is a book that might be read in some non-linear fashion. Such books would include non-fiction books that discuss multiple topics (e.g. histories, textbooks, ...) or collections (e.g. short story collections, omnibus editions, ...).

Actually, there's still no reason for an inline ToC. toc.ncx supports multiple levels of contents. So if it was an omnibus, each book would be the top level and under each book would be all the ToC entries for each book.

Quote:

The only time a single-story/topic book should have an inline ToC is when it is, or tries to be, a facsimile of a particular paper edition. An ebook for general reading should not attempt to mimic paper layout and typographic conventions that don't apply to ebooks.

But because an inline ToC is not easy to get to, it is really a waste of space. The external ToC can be gotten to very easily. So really, I can't see a reason to have an internal ToC unless you need to have more information in the ToC then the external ToC can handle.

JSWolf · 05-01-2012, 01:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

So do all ePub readers (devices & apps) support the toc.ncx now? Because IIRC that hasn't always been the case, making an inline TOC useful.

iBooks does. ADE does and that includes ADE based readers. Bluefire does. I would think Alkido and Manato (sp?) for Adroid would as I've not read they don't.

Most do it seems. It's just the odd ones that might not. And given that there are ones that do for just about every platform that has an ePub app/program, it's not really an issue.

dwig · 05-01-2012, 10:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Quote:

The only time an ebook should have an inline ToC is when it is a book that might be read in some non-linear fashion. Such books would include non-fiction books that discuss multiple topics (e.g. histories, textbooks, ...) or collections (e.g. short story collections, omnibus editions, ...).

Actually, there's still no reason for an inline ToC. ...

Yes there is a reason. The inliine ToC serves as an addenda to the title page by giving an easily read list of the several titles included in the collection. Its purpose is not so much to the a linked ToC, in fact I don't feel links are necessary. If a title page is not a "waste of space" then inline a ToC of this nature isn't a waste either.

mrmikel · 05-02-2012, 08:52 AM

It seems to me an inline TOC does no harm and since it is only electrons we are wasting, why not, if the creator wishes. If someone doesn't want to bother to read it, then they can use epub toc to jump directly to the first chapter.

I think it may provide the new ereader user with some level of comfort by being similar to what they are already familiar with.

04-28-2012, 07:42 PM	#1
Big McLargeHuge Enthusiast Posts: 47 Karma: 490332 Join Date: Mar 2012 Device: None Currently	Creating Professional Looking Epubs I have a few paperbacks i want to turn into epubs. But i want them to look as if i bought them from B&N or Amazon or something. Pictures of the publishers symbol, exact formatting of the book, exact Font sizes and spaces and things like that... Any easy way to do this? Like, how do i turn the paperback of this: Deadhouse Gates (Book 2 of The Malazan Book of the Fallen) [Mass Market Paperback] To look as good as this ebooks formatting: Deadhouse Gates [Kindle Edition] I'm from the US by the way, the UK version is just formatted better. Also, how do you get chapters like this?: Chapter 1 Part 1 Part 2 [Etc... Chapter 2 Part 1 Thanks in advance. Last edited by Big McLargeHuge; 04-28-2012 at 07:44 PM.

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04-28-2012, 07:55 PM	#2
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 79,000 Karma: 144284074 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	You don't need to do chapters like that. You just do it in toc.ncx and it will work very well in ePub.

04-28-2012, 08:00 PM	#3
Big McLargeHuge Enthusiast Posts: 47 Karma: 490332 Join Date: Mar 2012 Device: None Currently	Well, this may be a bit silly, but i want to make them look nice haha. Also, i meant: Book One: Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Etc..

04-28-2012, 08:11 PM	#5
mrmls Enthusiast Posts: 37 Karma: 99 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Europe Device: Sony PRS 505, 600, 950	To turn paperback into epub you need to scan the book, apply OCR, then fix OCR mistakes, and then create an epub and format it. For OCR the best choice could be Abby FineReader, but it's a commercial product, need to buy it. For epub creation - Sigil, which is available for free. It will take a lot of time to make it perfect, especially if doing for the 1st time. The other way is to buy Kindle edition, remove DRM and then convert mobi to epub. Which is like 10000 times faster. But DRM removal has legal restrictions.

04-29-2012, 09:09 PM	#7
Kaylee Skylyn Enthusiast Posts: 47 Karma: 415790 Join Date: Feb 2012 Device: android phone, Kobo Aura, Sony PRS 350	To address your question about the Part one, chapter 1 ect I also was looking to do that and posted in another post how I found what I was looking for: To quote: "So for my example I found an example of what I wanted to do; have "Book1" with child "Chapter 1" ect then "Book2" with child "Chapter 1" ect in my copy of "White Fang" by Jack London (from FeedBooks) that was already in my library. (but is it a GOOD example of how to do this? I'm assuming so but you tell me.)" So take a look on how they do it in White Fang (shows up properly in the TOC) and that should answer that part of your question.

04-30-2012, 02:35 AM	#8
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	The abbreviation for "et cetera" is "etc.", not "ect.".

04-30-2012, 07:44 PM	#9
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 79,000 Karma: 144284074 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	(IMHO), a professional looking ePub uses toc.ncx and does not have an internal ToC. Also, it has proper indents and no like spaces between paragraphs except for section breaks. It has small to no margins and it has smallish spacing for ToC headers.

05-02-2012, 08:52 AM	#15
mrmikel Color me gone Posts: 2,089 Karma: 1445295 Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Central Oregon Coast Device: PRS-300	It seems to me an inline TOC does no harm and since it is only electrons we are wasting, why not, if the creator wishes. If someone doesn't want to bother to read it, then they can use epub toc to jump directly to the first chapter. I think it may provide the new ereader user with some level of comfort by being similar to what they are already familiar with.