Character spacing problems after conversion

[gezginrocker]

Hello,

I'm trying to create an ebook which I'll sell on Google Play. I saved my Word file as filtered HTML, imported into Calibre and converted to epub.

When I view the file at my smartphone with Moon+ Reader, it looks fine. But when I view it with Aldiko, I see that character spacing is broken, spacing between words is not equal size. You can see screenshot here.

I have also converted book to mobi and viewed it at Kindle. Character spacing problem also exists there to a lesser extend.

Before the conversion, at Word I have selected all the text and went into font options, set character spacing scale to 100%, spacing and position to normal but it doesn't help.

I want my ebook to be displayed properly on all readers. What are your recommendations to overcome this spacing issue?

Thanks a lot

[JSWolf]

Please do not sell a Calibre converted Word document that has not been hand cleaned up. Use either Calibre's eBook Editor ro Sigil to clean up the code. There can be quite a mess in the CSS and/or XML. So you should clean it up by hand. Remove any traces of Calibre. Fix any CSS that needs fixing so it looks neat and is not full of stuff that doesn't need to be there. Fix all the XML so no extra code exists. Make your eBook as lean as you can. When you do that, there is less of a chance of something not working on some device/software.

Don't just go Word > ePub and think you are done.

[gezginrocker]

Thanks for the answer, although I thought this section was for noobs but you are are assuming that I'm a technical person who can do CSS/XML cleaning. This is my first attemp to create an ebook.

I have opened both html and epub at Sigil and they both look perfectly normal. So I've no idea what the hell I need to clean.

[PeterT]

For a start in Word you want to ensure you use STYLES wherever possible. Apply changes to the STYLES and not to the text itself.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by gezginrocker

Thanks for the answer, although I thought this section was for noobs but you are are assuming that I'm a technical person who can do CSS/XML cleaning. This is my first attemp to create an ebook.

I have opened both html and epub at Sigil and they both look perfectly normal. So I've no idea what the hell I need to clean.

Well...

I think that this is where there's always a disconnect, between what noobs perceive as "noobs," and what we (experienced and commercial bookmakers) think of as "noobs." To me, a noob is someone who can write and understand HTML and CSS, but doesn't know how to apply that in an ebook. Your comprehension of the term is someone who knows how to do basically nothing except create a file/book in Word, and then use free software that you found on the web to make an ebook--that you hope, presumably, to sell for money. Right?

Here's the rub: to make an eBook properly, you either have to learn the HTML and CSS that goes into it, and apply it--particularly if you hope to sell on a platform like GooglePlay, from which people will be buying and downloading into the widest possible number of varied readers--or you have to invest in a program like Jutoh or perhaps Scrivener to do the coding-lifting for you ($40USD, I believe they both cost). You could, alternatively, try Atlantis Word processor, which has an export to ePUB function. However, again, I think that runs around $40.00.

There's no way around "noob-ness" with a get-out-of-jail-free card. If you decide to use Calibre to make an ePUB, then what you put INTO it has to be pristine--and you need to know enough to know how to fix it, when it doesn't come out exactly right. If you then decide that you're going to try to make another commercial book, a MOBI (Kindle) book, you need to know enough about the ePUB you're using as your source to know how to fix it, and how to do things like media-queries so that it will work on KF7 and KF8 devices.

This is the problem with all those "you can make your own eBook!" blogs. They tell the reading masses that making an ebook is EASY--just upload your Word file at XXX, and kablammo! Instant magic bestselling author. But this is all still computers, and it's all still GIGO--Garbage In, Garbage Out. If you haven't thoroughly cleaned and styled your Word file, then what you get out isn't going to be very good. And if you don't learn enough HTML and CSS to clean up the results, to get your FINAL book, it won't be very good, either. Not at Googleplay--where your book will be viewed on dozens of different readers--and not at Amazon, which has a challenge for EVERY different reading device.

Changing fonts in a Word file, or character spacing, won't help you--not at all. Because those things are NOT conveyed, by the file, through a conversion into ePUB. So, start cleaning up your Word file, using STYLES, and take Pablo's tutorial on ePUB basics at the MR Wiki.

FWIW.

Hitch

[speakingtohe]

Everyone has to start somewhere. The fact that the OP is testing in several apps shows more than a bit of intelligence.

I haven't done any publishing since the 90's when PageMaker was marginally okay.

I agree that professional editing and setup cannot be beat, but perhaps not affordable for a first effort.

If finances or preferences dictate that you must do it yourself, my advice is to take the text of a page or two and paste it into a few apps, format it and see which one works the best. Lots of free or trial apps out there.

I love calibre and I am quite partial to Word, but these are not publishing applications

Helen

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

Everyone has to start somewhere. The fact that the OP is testing in several apps shows more than a bit of intelligence.

I haven't done any publishing since the 90's when PageMaker was marginally okay.

I agree that professional editing and setup cannot be beat, but perhaps not affordable for a first effort.

If finances or preferences dictate that you must do it yourself, my advice is to take the text of a page or two and paste it into a few apps, format it and see which one works the best. Lots of free or trial apps out there.

I love calibre and I am quite partial to Word, but these are not publishing applications

Helen

Hi, Helen:

Oh, I completely agree! I simply was trying to convey that there really isn't a shortcut to eBook-making...I guess, to word it badly, if you decide to become an accomplished chef, in the interim, you can acquire things like pre-made pastry shells, or pre-made sauces, etc., to aid you in your efforts. If you decide to make an ebook to sell commercially, you are still stuck learning SOME level of HTML and CSS, or at the very least, you need to have a pristine Word file to start with.

At that point, it's possible that the resulting output might be good enough for publication, but the OP said it wasn't. And I'd be very wary, MYSELF--me--of publishing a book on GooglePlay, just because it's going to be read in every bloody reader on the planet, which means, man, that file has to be SQUEAKY.

I wasn't trying to say that the OP needed to hire me or someone like me. I meant that s/he needs to start with Pablo's mini-Toot, and work his/her way out from there. That way, when s/he gets unexpected results from Calibre's output, s/he'll know what to do to fix it.

OR, use something relatively cheap like AWP, Jutoh or Scrivener. That's all I meant. Shortcuts either a) cost money, or b) don't really exist. The $40 substitutes for learning, or the learning for the $$$.

Hopefully, that came across okay?

Hitch

[goldilocks]

I took a look at your sample page and I think your problem is you have the document set to full justification. So there is going to be lots of extra spaces in your document. If you don't want that extra space, make it left justified only.

Just my 2 cents!

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by goldilocks

I took a look at your sample page and I think your problem is you have the document set to full justification. So there is going to be lots of extra spaces in your document. If you don't want that extra space, make it left justified only.

Just my 2 cents!

Goldilocks:

Many e-readers fully-justify by default. I don't know if what s/he is reading it in does or not. And s/he can't set the file to "justify-left" for Amazon--it will get a KQN and be pulled from sale, with a single customer complaint.

Hitch

[PeterT]

The other thing to remember is that some eReader programs do have the option to ignore CSS (ie ignore the rules included within the ePub that control how a book looks).

I do believe that Moon Reader+ does that by default.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by PeterT

The other thing to remember is that some eReader programs do have the option to ignore CSS (ie ignore the rules included within the ePub that control how a book looks).

I do believe that Moon Reader+ does that by default.

PRE-cisely my point about GooglePlay!

Hitch

[goldilocks]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Goldilocks:

Many e-readers fully-justify by default. I don't know if what s/he is reading it in does or not. And s/he can't set the file to "justify-left" for Amazon--it will get a KQN and be pulled from sale, with a single customer complaint.

Hitch

Hitch,

Yes, I know that some ereaders have their own settings or the user can institute their preferences. In Word I have been using the left justify but when I am done and create the ePub I don't include any justification settings (left, right, or otherwise!).

But I only fix eBooks I have purchased or create from on-line reads. So, my knowledge of what Amazon requires is only what I have read at MobileRead.

I just thought to provide an explanation of why the screen shot sample may be showing so much empty space between words. The OP may not even have a spacing problem in the CSS. But I am just a novice myself...

[eschwartz]

Also keep in mind that converting directly from DOCX to EPUB will work much better than going through the filtered HTML intermediary. Kovid wrote a very nice DOCX plugin, why not use it?
Alternatively, use Toxaris' Ebook-tools word addin, which will export to EPUB.

But yeah, proper styling comes first.


Those two together will go a great deal towards a better-looking book.
For the best results, manual tweaking using calibre's ebook editor is a wise move.

Knowledge of HTML helps.

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Hi, Helen:

Oh, I completely agree! I simply was trying to convey that there really isn't a shortcut to eBook-making...I guess, to word it badly, if you decide to become an accomplished chef, in the interim, you can acquire things like pre-made pastry shells, or pre-made sauces, etc., to aid you in your efforts. If you decide to make an ebook to sell commercially, you are still stuck learning SOME level of HTML and CSS, or at the very least, you need to have a pristine Word file to start with.

At that point, it's possible that the resulting output might be good enough for publication, but the OP said it wasn't. And I'd be very wary, MYSELF--me--of publishing a book on GooglePlay, just because it's going to be read in every bloody reader on the planet, which means, man, that file has to be SQUEAKY.

I wasn't trying to say that the OP needed to hire me or someone like me. I meant that s/he needs to start with Pablo's mini-Toot, and work his/her way out from there. That way, when s/he gets unexpected results from Calibre's output, s/he'll know what to do to fix it.

OR, use something relatively cheap like AWP, Jutoh or Scrivener. That's all I meant. Shortcuts either a) cost money, or b) don't really exist. The $40 substitutes for learning, or the learning for the $$$.

Hopefully, that came across okay?

Hitch

I didn't mean to imply you were trying to drum up business, especially frmo a newcomer. More pain than it is worth at times I gather.

I know nothing about mini toot and am sure I don't want to.

The Op seemed interested in getting things right and I applaud that. Shows an awareness that okay is possibly not good enough

My feeling is, if you cannot afford quality editing/formatting, take a page or two, format, do a TOC, styles sheets on a small part of the document until you have them right and continue from there. Still going to be a long rocky road, but if you can master that you can get it done reasonably.

Me, I would give it a try, but might end up panhandling on the streets to afford a decent service

Helen

[gezginrocker]

Thanks for all replies.

Btw, I found a review of Aldiko here. When you search the article for "justification", you come across a screenshot just like mine. The author of the review listed "Defaults to Full Justification" as a con of Aldiko.

Then I decided to add a Lonely Planet epub to Aldiko for testing. And there's spacing problems just like mine as well. So, either professional Lonely Planet ebook makers also screwed up, or Aldiko is faulty.

Yes, there are some issues with Kindle as well, but it is not as obvious as Aldiko. I'll try different justification settings at the code and see the results at Kindle and different e-readers.