Convert Google Docs Fan Translated Novel to Kindle

[axu2]

EDIT: Figured it out. this post was initially asking how to do it.

I wanted to read about thirty 200-page novels in Google Docs written by various fan-translators. I don't have any control over the source format.

In my experience, trying to get a Google Doc onto a Kindle, especially with images, is difficult. If you try just sending the downloaded DOCX/EPUB, you'll get tons of formatting issues like weird background colors and squished images.

But I figured out how to modify the Google Docs EPUB so it looks good on Kindle.

Note: this only works if the google doc has no line spacing, and space between paragraphs was added by pressing enter twice.

Google Docs provides an EPUB download option. But it has tons of problems.

The other download options like docx, MD, have even more problems.

Here's how to fix the Google Docs EPUB output so it works well in many readers like Kindle, iBooks, etc. You can set these settings as Calibre default if you want.

* Download EPUB from Google Docs
* Import into Calibre
* Update Title and Author metadata.
* Convert books (in bulk if doing many books)
* Set Output format to EPUB.
* Change these Conversion settings:
** Look and Feel
*** Styling
**** Extra CSS

img {
  width: auto !important;
  height: auto !important;
  max-width: 100%;
  display: block;
}

This makes all images responsive instead of fixed size like in a Google Doc. display: block adds a line break after images.
*** Filter Style Information
**** Check Colors and font and padding (this removes Google Docs background color/custom fonts)
*** Transform HTML
**** if tag is span remove attribute style
**Page Setup
*** Select tablet output profile at bottom so images aren't reprocessed
** EPUB output
*** Select EPUB 3, default is EPUB 2, so formatting isn't lost.

and finally add your covers. To get calibre to show in library, bulk edit metadata, update cover from e-book file.

Now you have a perfectly formatted epub that looks great in iBooks or Send to Kindle.

Video version (slightly outdated): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWNql6iJbiA

changelog:
1) added remove fonts checkbox
2) don't remove spans entirely, only the inline style
3) added remove padding checkbox.

[DNSB]

Personally, I download from Google Docs in .docx format. If I require an ePub, I can use calibre or Sigil to generate the ePub.

[axu2]

placeholder for guide with info for paragraph spacing without the extra enter.

[axu2]

OK, I rewrote the first post with a detailed guide and explanations.

I found Calibre's docx converting lost line formatting, though interestingly Send to Kindle's docx converter preserved line formatting (but had other issues). So I feel starting with the Google Docs epub is best.