How do I make my own Ebooks? - Page 2

BookCat · 04-17-2010, 04:43 AM

cfrizz, why bother turning rtf into txt? Txt looks awful in readers, it's margins are unjustified and you lose the font formatting.

If you're unsure how to do this, give me a shout and I'll try to upload a Sony Word template to MR. Then you just paste the text in, put details in properties, and save as rtf.

HarryT · 04-17-2010, 04:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cfrizz

Thanks to this thread I figured out how to turn my Word documents into books for transfer to my Sony reader! Thanks.

For those that need to know how, copy Word document into notepad & save. Upload to Sony reader it shows up as plain text.

... and you lose ALL the formatting, which is important in many books. Really, plain text should be your very last choice.

BookCat · 04-17-2010, 04:50 AM

I think we cross-posted, Harry.

HarryT · 04-17-2010, 04:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BookCat

Oh I disagree. I have a number of books which I've formatted into rtf, and they're probably the nicest looking books I have on my reader. They are divided into chapters, but no, there are no hyperlinks, just page turns, which is all I want when reading. The size is only slightly more than txt, but they go onto an SD card, so this isn't a problem.
The best thing about my rtf books is the layout: no margins, perfect paragraphing, and any font size I choose.

Each to their own, I suppose.

But, with respect, using a tool like "Book Designer", you can convert your RTF file into a "real" LRF eBook which has a table of contents, etc, in two minutes flat. For me personally, that trifling effort is well worth undertaking.

BookCat · 04-17-2010, 05:06 AM

But why bother, when I'm happy using Word and don't feel a burning need to have a table of contents?

From what I understand, Book Designer isn't free, and I don't need more programs.

HarryT · 04-17-2010, 05:14 AM

BD is entirely free.

Don't get me wrong: I did exactly what you're doing for many years, and was happy with it. And if it's just something you're going to read once and then throw away, it's a very good approach.

The real shortcoming of RTF on the Sony Reader for me was the fact that it didn't handle illustrations. I'm a big fan of 19th century novels, many of which are beautifully illustrated, and I felt that the illustrations added so much to the "feel" of the book, that I wanted them in my eBooks. Hence my desire to wish to create the best-formatted eBooks that I could, complete with TOC, illustrations, a nice cover, and so on. You may have noticed that I've uploaded very many illustrated books here to MR.

Ea · 04-17-2010, 06:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

But, with respect, using a tool like "Book Designer", you can convert your RTF file into a "real" LRF eBook which has a table of contents, etc, in two minutes flat. For me personally, that trifling effort is well worth undertaking.

How do you create a TOC if the chapter headings aren't formatted in some way that makes them stand out from the rest of the text so that BookDesigner can recognise what is chapter heading and what is 'ordinary text'? I.e. if chapter headings and text is all the same format.

HarryT · 04-17-2010, 07:24 AM

Go through the book, highlight the chapter headings, and give them the "Title" style in BD. The TOC is then automatically generated from the titles.

beppe · 04-17-2010, 08:06 AM

Hi Harry,

Please give me a hint on how to solve my problem.

" ... The "book" I love most is a collection of meditations of Augustine. Daily. I can navigate it with the search function of the reader. While it would be nice to have a click-able Monthly Calendar ..."

I have it in html, upub(bed) with Calibre.

Thank you.

beppe · 04-17-2010, 08:06 AM

Hi Harry,

Please give me a hint on how to solve my problem.

" ... The "book" I love most is a collection of meditations of Augustine. Daily. I can navigate it with the search function of the reader. While it would be nice to have a click-able Monthly Calendar ..."

I have it in html, upub(bed) with Calibre.

Thank you.

Ea · 04-17-2010, 08:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

Go through the book, highlight the chapter headings, and give them the "Title" style in BD. The TOC is then automatically generated from the titles.

As I thought

Can you do that in two min. flat?

I can't, espceially not if the chapters are not given obvious titles such as "Chapter 'n'"

HarryT · 04-17-2010, 08:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ea

As I thought

Can you do that in two min. flat?

I can't, espceially not if the chapters are not given obvious titles such as "Chapter 'n'"

But that is an example of poorly-formatted source material, and that's always going to take longer to deal with. If you have a "normal" book, where the chapters start with "Chapter X", then BD will do it automatically for you. The "exceptional" cases don't change the fact that, for the majority of cases, it really is a very, very quick and easy process.

The list of words that BD recognises as "titles" is configurable, so if you frequently find that you have items which should be recognised as titles, but aren't, you can add them to that list.

HarryT · 04-17-2010, 08:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beppe

Hi Harry,

Please give me a hint on how to solve my problem.

" ... The "book" I love most is a collection of meditations of Augustine. Daily. I can navigate it with the search function of the reader. While it would be nice to have a click-able Monthly Calendar ..."

I have it in html, upub(bed) with Calibre.

Thank you.

Do it with hyperlinks. BD has a very good hyperlink editor.

cfrizz · 04-17-2010, 08:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BookCat

cfrizz, why bother turning rtf into txt? Txt looks awful in readers, it's margins are unjustified and you lose the font formatting.

If you're unsure how to do this, give me a shout and I'll try to upload a Sony Word template to MR. Then you just paste the text in, put details in properties, and save as rtf.

Hi BookCat. Please do that, since I have no clue how to do these things. I was just happy to be able to get them into the reader!

Thanks.

beppe · 04-17-2010, 09:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

Do it with hyperlinks. BD has a very good hyperlink editor.

Thanks. I will try.

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04-17-2010, 04:43 AM	#16
BookCat C L J Posts: 2,911 Karma: 21115458 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Birmingham UK Device: Sony e-reader 505, Kindle PW2, Kindle PW3, Kobo Libra2	cfrizz, why bother turning rtf into txt? Txt looks awful in readers, it's margins are unjustified and you lose the font formatting. If you're unsure how to do this, give me a shout and I'll try to upload a Sony Word template to MR. Then you just paste the text in, put details in properties, and save as rtf.

04-17-2010, 04:50 AM	#18
BookCat C L J Posts: 2,911 Karma: 21115458 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Birmingham UK Device: Sony e-reader 505, Kindle PW2, Kindle PW3, Kobo Libra2	I think we cross-posted, Harry.

04-17-2010, 05:06 AM	#20
BookCat C L J Posts: 2,911 Karma: 21115458 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Birmingham UK Device: Sony e-reader 505, Kindle PW2, Kindle PW3, Kobo Libra2	But why bother, when I'm happy using Word and don't feel a burning need to have a table of contents? From what I understand, Book Designer isn't free, and I don't need more programs.

04-17-2010, 05:14 AM	#21
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	BD is entirely free. Don't get me wrong: I did exactly what you're doing for many years, and was happy with it. And if it's just something you're going to read once and then throw away, it's a very good approach. The real shortcoming of RTF on the Sony Reader for me was the fact that it didn't handle illustrations. I'm a big fan of 19th century novels, many of which are beautifully illustrated, and I felt that the illustrations added so much to the "feel" of the book, that I wanted them in my eBooks. Hence my desire to wish to create the best-formatted eBooks that I could, complete with TOC, illustrations, a nice cover, and so on. You may have noticed that I've uploaded very many illustrated books here to MR.

04-17-2010, 07:24 AM	#23
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Go through the book, highlight the chapter headings, and give them the "Title" style in BD. The TOC is then automatically generated from the titles.

04-17-2010, 08:06 AM	#24
beppe Grand Sorcerer Posts: 5,161 Karma: 81026524 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Italy Device: Kindle3, Ipod4, IPad2	Hi Harry, Please give me a hint on how to solve my problem. " ... The "book" I love most is a collection of meditations of Augustine. Daily. I can navigate it with the search function of the reader. While it would be nice to have a click-able Monthly Calendar ..." I have it in html, upub(bed) with Calibre. Thank you.

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