Converting a Text Doc to eBook
With eBook
readers so popular, many writers are converting their texts to eBook
formats in order to sell them on the internet, or simply for personal
use.
Even if you're computer savvy, it can be a challenge to find
a conversion method that's simple yet preserves the integrity of the
original format when it goes to eBook.
I recently converted my Cowgirl Image horse-training articles to .mobi
eBook format.
Between learning how to convert texts for my computer job
and for my own use, I found a method that works consistently, easily,
and quickly.
Convert Original Text to HTML
Using recommended conversion techniques such as Word / Open Office
to Calibre / MobiPocket Creator did not give me proper formatting or
consistent results.
I found that the key to good eBook conversion seems to be to make a
good HTML version of your text. The easiest way I've found to do this
is to use Google
Docs.
OpenOffice and Microsoft Word (while great
processing programs) do not seem export the same clean HTML versions
Google Docs does.
- You can access Google Docs through your existing Google Account
if you have one; or if you don't it only takes a few minutes to
create. You will need an account in order to upload your original
text.
- Upload your original text to Google Docs and when prompted,
tell Google Docs to convert it to a Google Document.
Once it's open in Google Docs, scan the document and make any adjustments needed.
- If text is 1.5 or double-spaced, set it at 1.0 Single Line
Spacing. Highlight
the text and click Format-->Line
Spacing. You can fix any extra spaces between
paragraphs here. If needed, use Remove Space After Paragraph.
- To make each chapter start on its own page, give each
chapter title an H1 or H2 heading. This command is located in
Paragraph-->Format-->Heading 1. Highlight the chapter text and
click Heading 1.
You can manually adjust font/size after you select the heading.
- If you want a Table of Contents inserted during conversion,
simply make sure all chapters are in H1 or H2 format.
(Instructions for this are in Step 3).
Then Insert-->Table of Contents.
You can highlight & change the text size to make it small text.
Use multiple Shift-->Enter to put space between the Table of Contents and book text. I recommend putting the ToC at the end of your text, as Calibre will insert its own at the beginning of your book.
- To make additional spaces anywhere in the text, you can use
Shift-->Enter. Multiple Enters will not work.
If you need to get rid of a few extra spaces between paragraphs that showed up in a completed .mobi version, you may have some paragraph formatting issues. Find the matching text in the Google Doc, then highlight the problem paragraph and the paragraphs above & below. Go to Format-->Clear formatting. Go back to the text and hit Backspace, then Shift-->Enter to remake the paragraph breaks. Then add back any indentation if applicable, if it doesn’t happen automatically.
- Once you are done formatting/editing your document, you need to
export your document as HTML.
File-->Download As-->HTML
(You can also save a second copy to your computer in another format such as rich text or Word for future use.)
- The file will then be saved to your computer as an HTML file. If it's zipped, you need to extract the file once it's saved. You can then open the unzipped HTML file to make sure it looks ok.
Convert HTML to .mobi (for Kindle) in
Calibre
Calibre is a great open-source book conversion software you can install on your computer.
- Add your HTML file to Calibre using the Add Books button, or
simply drag and drop into the Calibre interface.
- Click Edit Metadata to add/edit the Author, Title, and other
information. You can also generate a Calibre book cover here if you
don't have one, or attach your own.
I've read that Amazon prefers a 600 x 800px cover, Barnes & Noble 600 x 730px.
- When you're finished, go to Convert Books. Select the Output
Format. I use .mobi, and the instructions below pertain to this
format.
However, it's easy to select another output format.
(The Input format should reference your HTML file and say ZIP or
HTML.)
- Double check the Metadata info to make sure it's okay. If
you have your own book cover, you can also add it here.
- Next go to the Look & Feel tab. Depending on the formatting
of your text, you may or may not need to make an adjustment here, such
as Insert Blank Line Between Paragraphs and Line Size (the space
between each paragraph).
I personally like to set Line Size at 1.2 em for very separated paragraphs. For text that doesn't use separated paragraphs (such as books), do not check Insert Blank Line Between Paragraphs... and set Line Size at about 0.5em.
- In Page Setup I set the Output profile to Kindle, and Input
profile to Default Input Profile.
- For chapter spacing, the Structure Detention tab should say
Chaptermark At PageBreak.
(The default Detect Chapters At code tells you that Calibre is referencing your H1 or H2 tags. You can change this setting if you wish.)
- If you are using a Table of Contents, go to the MOBI Output
tab.
Uncheck Do Not Add Table of Contents.
Do check Put Generated Table of Contents at Beginning of Book.
Probably the .mobi book will end up showing two Tables of Contents: the one you created in Google Docs and the Calibre one. I don’t know how to fix this, so I just make the Google Docs Table of Contents in very small font, and put it at the end of the book.
- You can permanently set the above options in the Preferences
tab.
- Adjust anything on the other tabs as needed, then give the ok to
convert your book.
- Once your eBook is finished, find your new book in the the list
of Formats. Select your book and click View to preview your book.
To preview your eBook in an Amazon Kindle format (highly recommended), install the Kindle Previewer.
Convert .mobi to .epub (for Nook)
- Find your new .mobi file in Calibre (or use Add Books to add it).
- Click Convert Book Individually.
(I use individual conversion to make sure the Input tab is set correctly each time.) - Change the Input format to MOBI, and the Output format to EPUB.
- Choose a cover (if desired or applicable). It may resize the
cover to Calibre-chosen dimensions no matter which cover you chose. So
far I've been unable to figure out how to keep Calibre from resizing
an
ePub cover (this doesn't seem to be a problem with mobi, so it may be
connected to the Output File setting).
- Go to Page Setup and change settings to Output File: Nook, and Input File: Mobipocket Books.
- Go to the EPUB Output tab and adjust any settings if needed. Click Preserve Cover Aspect Ratio.
- Click Okay.
- You now have an ePub file suitable for publishing.
- Preview your file in the Nook for PC app, or any ePub reader such as EPUB Reader for FireFox.
- A couple errors I have found is that in the .epub version, the
Table of Contents anchors are sometimes off by one chapter - even
though they are correct in the .mobi version. Also, the ePub books
don't seem to show the Title/Author information in the header bar.
Unfortunately, I don't know how to fix this.
Convert PDF to eBook
Once in a while Google Docs will not accept your file. Perhaps you have a photo or strange formatting in the original text that Google Docs just cannot handle. The workaround method I've found is to convert your text to a PDF file (instead of HTML), then use Calibre to convert it to eBook.
- If you don't already have a PDF converter installed on your
computer, Bullzip PDF Printer is a terrific open-source
program that you use from the Print dialogue of your computer.
Or convert your file online using Adobe CreatePDF. You may have to pay for this service.
If you are using OpenOffice, it comes installed with a PDF Exporter, so simply open your original file and go to File-->Export as PDF.
- Once you've created your PDF file and previewed it to make sure
it looks good, add it to Calibre and follow the same steps for
conversion to eBook.
Why not just use PDF files all the time instead of HTML docs? You
can try it, it may work fine for you.
However, Calibre states in its help files that there can be numerous
formatting problems when converting from PDF. For instance, I have not
been able to figure out how to make a Table of Contents work using a
PDF File.
Therefore, I recommend using the PDF method as a second
choice.
