Help Converting KF8 to ePub

[yaelkmiller]

I need help converting my KF8 mobi file to ePub, please.

I manually created my KF8 mobi file using Kindlegen so I already have a content.html, bookcover.jpg, toc.html, toc.ncx, and book.opf

The above files are done to Amazon's specifications. What do I need to change about these files and what files do I need to add in order to make an ePub?

Once I have all files needed for ePub what tool/software do I use to actually output an ePub?

[Doitsu]

a) Use Calibre to convert the KF8 file to an ePub file

or

b) Create a new Sigil project and add your source files to it.
(You'll also need to split content.html into smaller files.)

[yaelkmiller]

@Doitsu Why do you need to split content.html into smaller files? And how many pieces do I split it into?

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by yaelkmiller

@Doitsu Why do you need to split content.html into smaller files? And how many pieces do I split it into?

Some older ePub readers cannot handle .html files that are significantly larger than 300KB. Depending on your file/chapter size it might be sufficient to split content.html into one file per chapter.

BTW, Calibre does this automatically and you could fine-tune the converted .ePub file in Sigl.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by yaelkmiller

@Doitsu Why do you need to split content.html into smaller files? And how many pieces do I split it into?

Some Readers, all that use the Adobe RMSDK AFAIK (not sure on others), have a 300kb file size limit for any one file of the the book's text. What most do is make each chapter a separate XHTML file which usually takes care of worrying about the limit.


An ePub is basically a zip file with specific content. You might want to download a few ePub's (the MobileRead library has thousands) and change the extension to .zip, you can then take a peek at their contents to get an idea of how an ePub is put together.

[yaelkmiller]

@AnemicOak Thanks.

[yaelkmiller]

@Doitsu Do you recommend I use Calibre to convert? (I've been wary of Calibre ever since I found out that Amazon no longer supports 3rd party conversion tools.) But your suggestion of using it and then fine-tuning it is interesting. What fine-tuning does a Calibre converted document usually need?

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by yaelkmiller

What fine-tuning does a Calibre converted document usually need?

Ideally, an ePub converted by Calibre shouldn't require any fine-tuning. You can use Sigil, for example, to modify metadata or to implement some last-minute changes.
BTW, unless you plan to publish your book in Apple's iBookstore, you might have to slightly modify some styles.
For example, ADE/RMSDK based readers usually don't support small caps etc. They also don't support media queries.

[yaelkmiller]

Originally Posted by Doitsu

BTW, unless you plan to publish your book in Apple's iBookstore, you might have to slightly modify some styles.

You're saying if I publish it in iBookstore, I won't have modify styles. But if I'm publishing on the NOOK, I will have to modify. Correct?

Sigil has a validator, correct?

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by yaelkmiller

But if I'm publishing on the NOOK, I will have to modify. Correct?

You'll only have to modify your source files, if you used (X)HTML/CSS content supported by the Kindle but not by ADE based readers. If you used just basic formatting, no media queries, no drop caps and no small caps, your files probably won't require any changes at all.

Originally Posted by yaelkmiller

Sigil has a validator, correct?

Yes, but it's not 100% reliable, you may want to check the final ePub file with ePubCheck online.

[yaelkmiller]

@Doitsu Thank you for all your help.