ePub

[codemer]

Wouldn't it be cool to be able to generate digital books directly from Storyist? I've been reading about an XML format called ePub, which is a digital format supported by some electronic book readers like Stanza (iPhone/iPod Touch).

 

http://www.idpf.org/

 

This request actually comes because one of my proofreaders has been using Stanza lately. When I took a look at it, the public domain books look pretty good, but the PDF of my book does not, with gems like:

 

and in the middle of Smoe / Awesome Title / 4

a sentence, you get the page header.

 

I was hoping that since Storyist already stores the manuscript in XML that a simple XSL translation could produce an ePub file. I haven't looked yet. Maybe someone already released an open office to epub XSL file.

 

Thanks,

IF

[Steve E]

Wouldn't it be cool to be able to generate digital books directly from Storyist?

Yep. Very cool. (Next: an iPod/iPhone version of Storyist.)

 

Some months ago I suggested (half in jest, half wishful thinking) that Steve install a Publish button in Storyist. But now, with all the digital book publishing sites available (not the least of which is Amazon's), perhaps it's time for someone to do a survey of required formats. Different publishing site formats could be an export option. Good idea? Too much?

 

They serve dinner at 4:30 PM here so the cooking staff can leave at five. Hense the free terminal.

-Thoth

[codemer]

Two votes. That's practically a unanimous.

 

After doing some more reading tonight, it looks like ePub is gaining in popularity in the US, and is also now supported by Sony's latest reader. The Kindle, however, is getting complaints for not supporting ePub. I found all this information on the Internet, so I know it to be 100% accurate.

 

IF

 

Yep. Very cool. (Next: an iPod/iPhone version of Storyist.)

 

Some months ago I suggested (half in jest, half wishful thinking) that Steve install a Publish button in Storyist. But now, with all the digital book publishing sites available (not the least of which is Amazon's), perhaps it's time for someone to do a survey of required formats. Different publishing site formats could be an export option. Good idea? Too much?

[Steve]

Two votes. That's practically a unanimous.

 

After doing some more reading tonight, it looks like ePub is gaining in popularity in the US, and is also now supported by Sony's latest reader. The Kindle, however, is getting complaints for not supporting ePub. I found all this information on the Internet, so I know it to be 100% accurate.

 

IF

 

I've been following this spec for a while now. It does (finally) seem to be gaining support, and it is certainly worth writing an importer/exporter for. I did also look at OCF for the story container, and might adopt that for the container format in the future.

 

-Steve

[marguerite]

Time to resurrect this thread, I think, because ePub is even more prevalent than when Isaac first posted.

 

I've been working with RTF/DOC/ePub/MOBI conversion as part of figuring out the best way to get my own files onto my new Kindle without having to mail them off to Amazon.com every time I change something (yes, after doing a one-on-one comparison of prices and availability of books by my favorite authors, I canceled my preorder for the new B&N e-reader and purchased a refurbished U.S.-only Kindle for $50 less, figuring that I'd just wait out the volatility in the market—with a sigh, because the B&N technology is very appealing, but the e-bookstore still needs serious work ).

 

In any case, I have discovered that you can create a readable Stanza Desktop file very easily from Storyist. Do the following:

1. Choose File > Export > Your Manuscript Name. Make sure there's a check mark in the box next to "Run Export Assistant before Exporting."

2. In window 1, choose "Create a workflow for me" (because you're going to set very basic options that you may not want for other exports).

3. In window 2, leave all the style mapping options on the right set to none.

4. In window 3, choose to convert curly quotes to straight, em-dashes to two hyphens, and ellipses to three dots. You can also convert italics to underlining, but since Stanza strips out both, that's not essential.

5. In window 4, choose save and name your new workflow "Stanza." Next time you want to export a Stanza file, just choose it from the second option in window 1 and leave the settings as is.

 

Storyist exports. Now open the file in Stanza and read it. Save it as ePub if you like. Stanza will not know who wrote the file, although it will give the filename of the RTF file as the title. But it will find all the chapter headings for you and set them off (and, Thoth, it has bookmarks! ). It will also convert the file to MOBI and send it directly to a Kindle attached via USB (reputedly: I don't have the Kindle yet). You should also be able to open the RTF in the Stanza iPhone app, but I haven't tried that and don't know how efficient its conversion is. The iPhone app can certainly handle the ePub file, though. Both Stanza applications are freeware.

 

If you're an obsessive like me and want to see the title and author identified, you have a couple of choices. You can export the file as RTF without bothering with the Export Assistant, read it into Darth Processor (Word, for those who haven't read every Storyist post), set that information in File > Properties, and save the results as a .doc file, at which point you can open the .doc file in Stanza with curly quotes, etc., intact (although I couldn't get it to recognize the chapter headings then). Or you can download calibre, a free file conversion and e-book library management program, set the information there, and export as ePub, MOBI, Kindle proprietary, and various other things. Calibre will also open the B&N .pdb files, although it doesn't convert them very well. And it stores PDFs, but again the conversion is a problem. So it lets you keep all your e-book files in one place, regardless of format.

 

Not to say it wouldn't be great to export the ePub files directly from Storyist.

Best,

Marguerite

[thealtruismsociety]

Time to resurrect this thread, I think, because ePub is even more prevalent than when Isaac first posted.

 

I've been working with RTF/DOC/ePub/MOBI conversion as part of figuring out the best way to get my own files onto my new Kindle without having to mail them off to Amazon.com every time I change something (yes, after doing a one-on-one comparison of prices and availability of books by my favorite authors, I canceled my preorder for the new B&N e-reader and purchased a refurbished U.S.-only Kindle for $50 less, figuring that I'd just wait out the volatility in the market—with a sigh, because the B&N technology is very appealing, but the e-bookstore still needs serious work ).

 

In any case, I have discovered that you can create a readable Stanza Desktop file very easily from Storyist. Do the following:

1. Choose File > Export > Your Manuscript Name. Make sure there's a check mark in the box next to "Run Export Assistant before Exporting."

2. In window 1, choose "Create a workflow for me" (because you're going to set very basic options that you may not want for other exports).

3. In window 2, leave all the style mapping options on the right set to none.

4. In window 3, choose to convert curly quotes to straight, em-dashes to two hyphens, and ellipses to three dots. You can also convert italics to underlining, but since Stanza strips out both, that's not essential.

5. In window 4, choose save and name your new workflow "Stanza." Next time you want to export a Stanza file, just choose it from the second option in window 1 and leave the settings as is.

 

Storyist exports. Now open the file in Stanza and read it. Save it as ePub if you like. Stanza will not know who wrote the file, although it will give the filename of the RTF file as the title. But it will find all the chapter headings for you and set them off (and, Thoth, it has bookmarks! ). It will also convert the file to MOBI and send it directly to a Kindle attached via USB (reputedly: I don't have the Kindle yet). You should also be able to open the RTF in the Stanza iPhone app, but I haven't tried that and don't know how efficient its conversion is. The iPhone app can certainly handle the ePub file, though. Both Stanza applications are freeware.

 

If you're an obsessive like me and want to see the title and author identified, you have a couple of choices. You can export the file as RTF without bothering with the Export Assistant, read it into Darth Processor (Word, for those who haven't read every Storyist post), set that information in File > Properties, and save the results as a .doc file, at which point you can open the .doc file in Stanza with curly quotes, etc., intact (although I couldn't get it to recognize the chapter headings then). Or you can download calibre, a free file conversion and e-book library management program, set the information there, and export as ePub, MOBI, Kindle proprietary, and various other things. Calibre will also open the B&N .pdb files, although it doesn't convert them very well. And it stores PDFs, but again the conversion is a problem. So it lets you keep all your e-book files in one place, regardless of format.

 

Not to say it wouldn't be great to export the ePub files directly from Storyist.

Best,

Marguerite

 

I also think direct to ePub format would be great. I plan on grabbing a book here soon. Would be great to read your own novel in novel format to troubleshoot.

[Steve]

Time to resurrect this thread, I think, because ePub is even more prevalent than when Isaac first posted.

 

Not to say it wouldn't be great to export the ePub files directly from Storyist.

Best,

Marguerite

 

Done.

 

-Steve