eBook common sense 101

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

WAY to expensive for the use I have of it.


The few calibre generated ePub i've seen, well. Ouch !!! Maybe it's better with an html sources, but with a mobi source, it's just horrible.

I find converting between epub and mobi and back quite good. I haven't noticed any major changes to layout from doing so. They are both based on html, but handle styles slightly differently.

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by Hellmark

Why do you have to use .doc? Smashwords, Lulu, and Amazon accept other formats, don't they?

Smashwords only accepts docs... Lulu accepts a few dif ones, but since I have to make a good doc for smash anyways, I stick with that.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

Smashwords only accepts docs...

You're saying Smashwords won't accept an ePub that is already formatted exactly as the author wants it? That would indeed be odd if they required all of their submissions to go through the Meatgrinder.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

You're saying Smashwords won't accept an ePub that is already formatted exactly as the author wants it? That would indeed be odd if they required all of their submissions to go through the Meatgrinder.

They will also accept an rtf, but if you tick rtf as an output option you will get an error message. No other formats are allowed.

[avantman42]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

You're saying Smashwords won't accept an ePub that is already formatted exactly as the author wants it? That would indeed be odd if they required all of their submissions to go through the Meatgrinder.

That's exactly what we're saying. From the FAQ:

Can I upload my book as a PDF or .EPUB?
No.However, if you upload your book as a Microsoft Word .doc file, PDF andEPUB will be among the several outputs we produce for your book.

I'd really like to be able to upload an ePub, but it's just not an option.

[DiapDealer]

Huh... strange.
Oh well.

[EowynCarter]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

As I am a software developer by trade I decide to take a couple fast minutes to look in to all the complaints about conversions.

I pulled 2 epub's off Smashwords and looked at the source in NotePad++ and I do not see what the problem is. Looks like Smashwords uses Open Office + TidyHTML to do its work and the files look clean and simple. The CSS was basic and would have been easy to change if I wanted to.


So then I opened one of my .doc files, saved it as .rtf and converted to epub with Calibre. Calibre did not do as good of a job as Smashwords does. I do not know if that is a artifact of the rtf step in between, or something else, but Calibre was much more verbose then needed. A million times better then if I had saved the file to HTML via MS-Word, but not as good as Smashwords does.

So I guess, I am still not seeing the problem. Ah well...

Well, quality of conversion will depends of lots of stuff. Quality of the source, how close are the format converted from and converted to, quality of the software...
I don't mind conversion if there are good enough not to be spotted at first glance.

But, the editor is payed to do its job, and code quality is part of the job... Just converting without doing some minimal quality check feels cheap.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Misconceptions duly addressed:

Originally Posted by susan_cassidy

Edited to add: PDF is the worst format for ebooks, as it is inflexible.

In fact, an ADA-compliant tagged PDF is very flexible, capable of wrapping to the screen size used, and adjusting font sizes to suit. Most PDF generators are not equipped to create a tagged PDF, but in applications like Word, when you save the file, look for PDF/A Compliant in the Save As PDF options.

Despite the naysayers around MR, the fact is that PDF is still an incredibly popular format for ebooks and other documents. Don't let the guys here tell you PDFs aren't ebooks... they are just unpopular with people who use ebook readers, because PDFs are rarely optimized for readers. But I read them all the time, presently on a Nook Color, and properly-tagged PDFs work just fine. Of course, anyone who reads PDFs on a PC or Mac will have no trouble reading them.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

eBook common sense 101:

Lesson 1. Never use Word.

Use Word all you want. Yes, it tends to contain a lot of extraneous code that you don't need when you convert. But generally, you can do a simple copy and paste from Word (as opposed to File>Import tools) to other conversion apps, like Sigil, and that extraneous code gets removed. I usually copy and paste from Word into Dreamweaver to get cleaned HTML for web and conversion uses... then copy and paste that into Sigil to create ePubs... easy.

Bottom line, use whatever word processing app makes it easiest for you to write.

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

Use Word all you want. Yes, it tends to contain a lot of extraneous code that you don't need when you convert. But generally, you can do a simple copy and paste from Word to other conversion apps, like Sigil, and that extraneous code gets removed. Bottom line, use whatever word processing app makes it easiest for you to write.

Exactly.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

Misconceptions duly addressed:



In fact, an ADA-compliant tagged PDF is very flexible, capable of wrapping to the screen size used, and adjusting font sizes to suit. .

I've never seen one of those. Have you got one I can look at? I'd be interested to see if they are any easier to convert.

[EowynCarter]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

I find converting between epub and mobi and back quite good. I haven't noticed any major changes to layout from doing so. They are both based on html, but handle styles slightly differently.

Oh, it looks good when you're reading the ePub.
But when you look at the code....

It's ok to convert quickly, to get some epub to start with. But I wouldn’t dare sell that.
Code quality is as important a part of epub making as check spelling, proof reading... Seeing crappy code says to me : I’m cutting expenses and I don't want to pay someone to do the job properly.

[jonathan2]

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

Misconceptions duly addressed:



In fact, an ADA-compliant tagged PDF is very flexible, capable of wrapping to the screen size used, and adjusting font sizes to suit. Most PDF generators are not equipped to create a tagged PDF, but in applications like Word, when you save the file, look for PDF/A Compliant in the Save As PDF options.

Despite the naysayers around MR, the fact is that PDF is still an incredibly popular format for ebooks and other documents. Don't let the guys here tell you PDFs aren't ebooks... they are just unpopular with people who use ebook readers, because PDFs are rarely optimized for readers. But I read them all the time, presently on a Nook Color, and properly-tagged PDFs work just fine. Of course, anyone who reads PDFs on a PC or Mac will have no trouble reading them.



Use Word all you want. Yes, it tends to contain a lot of extraneous code that you don't need when you convert. But generally, you can do a simple copy and paste from Word (as opposed to File>Import tools) to other conversion apps, like Sigil, and that extraneous code gets removed. I usually copy and paste from Word into Dreamweaver to get cleaned HTML for web and conversion uses... then copy and paste that into Sigil to create ePubs... easy.

Bottom line, use whatever word processing app makes it easiest for you to write.

Thank you sir. You have provided good information

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

Oh, it looks good when you're reading the ePub.
But when you look at the code....

It's ok to convert quickly, to get some epub to start with. But I wouldn’t dare sell that.
Code quality is as important a part of epub making as check spelling, proof reading... Seeing crappy code says to me : I’m cutting expenses and I don't want to pay someone to do the job properly.

I agree. Poor code is a sign of a lazy author and/or publisher.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by jonathan2

Hehe, gotcha! So what processor would you recommend - Open Office?

There is a way to fix the mess. Save the Word document as filtered HTML and then load it into Book Designer. BD will remove the crap that Word has added. Granted, it may not be perfect, but it will be the best you'll get without hand editing the crap out.

Export the file as HTML. Load into Sigil and you can split it and make all the ToC entries h2 and then generate the ToC. Ands you can fix anything in the code you need fixing like the hard spaces BD puts in for an indent and turn them into real indents. Just try it and see how it works.

But one suggestion, BD may or may not work well in Vista. It's fine in XP and Win 7.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

Oh, it looks good when you're reading the ePub.
But when you look at the code....

It's ok to convert quickly, to get some epub to start with. But I wouldn’t dare sell that.
Code quality is as important a part of epub making as check spelling, proof reading... Seeing crappy code says to me : I’m cutting expenses and I don't want to pay someone to do the job properly.

How many people are likely to look at the code? Sometimes "good" is good enough.