Converting Stageplays to eBooks?

[kit444]

I'm considering getting a Kindle 2 (probably will, in fact). One of the reasons I would like to get one is that I read a lot of scripts for plays for the theatre company I'm involved with. It would be nice to port the digital copies to a Kindle instead of printing all that paper. I've been playing around with Mobi and Calibre to convert PDF copies of my scripts to a Kindle-friendly format. Unfortunately, it loses all of the formatting (character names in the center, action indented 3 inches, etc.) that is customary for a script. It justifies everything to the left margin.

Is there a way (preferably with minimum hassle, as I sometimes have to read hundreds of scripts) to convert a PDF or Word script document and maintain the formatting?

Thanks in advance.

[nrapallo]

See the recent thread Kindle 2 and PDFRead 1.8 which discusses converting .pdf scripts to images, primarily in portrait mode.

Of course, it would be much better, if you can print the Stageplays again from your source document directly into .prc and by-passing the .pdf stage altogether. I'd recommend using Mobipocket Creator for this.

[kit444]

Originally Posted by nrapallo

See the recent thread Kindle 2 and PDFRead 1.8 which discusses converting .pdf scripts to images, primarily in portrait mode.

Of course, it would be much better, if you can print the Stageplays again from your source document directly into .prc and by-passing the .pdf stage altogether. I'd recommend using Mobipocket Creator for this.

I saw that thread. It was very helpful. Final Draft will let you export to a HTML file that Mobipocket Creator can read. I'm more interested in converting a script from another writer that's already in PDF.

[nrapallo]

Originally Posted by kit444

I saw that thread. It was very helpful. Final Draft will let you export to a HTML file that Mobipocket Creator can read. I'm more interested in converting a script from another writer that's already in PDF.

If the script was prepared by a word processor using a standard font, then Mobipocket Creator can also import the .pdf file and convert it (i.e. via OCR) into words/text that can reflow quite well.

I have purchased unencrypted .pdf ebooks that were printed from MS Word or equivalent and the entire .pdf transformed nicely into .prc (and then to .html for conversion to my reader's own format).

I do like the 'exact copy' that PDFRead produces, but it truly is best used when formatting/fonts/text positioning are complex. Otherwise, I usually find other methods.