Is There Anyone In Chiang Mai Who Knows About Ebook Conversion?

[chiangmaibruce]

hi, well the title says it all. I would like to try converting an existing work into a format that can be read on Amazon kindle.

I have started in on the research and first tentative efforts, but a bit confused about the best and fastest approach to achieving that might otherwise be a very time-consuming task (note that the work has quite a few tables and charts) ...

I am already somewhat familiar with html, so not a complete techno-newb.

Are there any Chiang Mai-based TV members who have been through this process, and who might be free for coffee and chat? Thanks

[amexpat]

Calibre

[JUDAS]

1) Download the e-book you want to read. Use sites like Pirate Bay, Isohunt or Bittorrents. The books once downloaded will most likely be in PDF format.

2) Download Calibre: http://calibre-ebook.com/

3) Open up Calibre and click on "Add books to calibre library/device from files on your computer"

4) Find the e-book you want to convert. Most likely in folder called "My Completed Downloads" Click on Open.

5) Calibre then adds it to list of books.

6) Click on it and it'll go blue

7) Then click on the brown book at the top called "Convert Books"

8) A new screen with your selected book will then pop up. Make sure in the top right corner it will say "Output Format: MOBI"

9) MOBI is the format that your Kindle can read.

10) Click on "Okay"

11) The first screen then pops up again and in the bottom left corner it will say jobs: 1 If you click on it you can see how much longer the conversion takes.

12) When it's finished it'll create a folder on your desktop called the name of your book. Or you can click on "Path: Click to open" just over "jobs"

13) Open up your folder and you'll see your e-book in the original PDF format and your new MOBI

14) Plug Kindle into computer. It's only one cord both for charging and connecting to computer

15) Click on "Start" in bottom left corner. Select "My computer" and open up Kindle

16) Open up folder "My documents"

17) Drag MOBI into "My Documents"

18) Disconnect Kindle from computer.

19) Turn on Kindle.

20) Read book!

[chiangmaibruce]

Calibre

Thanks for the tip - will check it out. Interesting that it does not appear to support .doc files as an input source though (?)

For those scratching their heads, as I was a few moments ago ... http://calibre-ebook.com/about

PS: Judas thanks for the further info ... you snuck that in while I was typing. But in my case I am not converting from one e-book format to another .. I am starting from the original document. Anyway I will read more about Calibre .. the price is right, anyway

Edited May 27, 2011 by chiangmaibruce

[newtronbom]

Calibre

Thanks for the tip - will check it out. Interesting that it does not appear to support .doc files as an input source though (?)

For those scratching their heads, as I was a few moments ago ... http://calibre-ebook.com/about

PS: Judas thanks for the further info ... you snuck that in while I was typing. But in my case I am not converting from one e-book format to another .. I am starting from the original document. Anyway I will read more about Calibre .. the price is right, anyway

What format is the original work in? If it's a word doc, there's an addon for MS word that will convert it to a ".lit" format. calibre should cope with that OK. It works for me with word 2010. I run Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit, but it will work on 32 bit and most others too. The other attachment is for "Bookcreator v 2.8 beta" which is "free" and may help you too. Hope this helps you.

WordRMR.rar

bookcreator_v2.8-beta.zip

[Drew Aitch]

It's important to note that some PDF files will have a few formatting issues after conversion. I think that headers and footers could be an issue with some files where the text from these will attach themselves to the end of a sentence or paragraph.

If you have to option (rights), to remove any header and footer text from the PDF file prior to conversion, then it might clean up the readability of your converted file.

Aitch

[wjhall]

Mobipocket is I find the best to convert many different formats inc.doc to Kindle friendly

http://www.mobipocket.com/en/HomePage/default.asp?Language=EN

[chiangmaibruce]

Ok thanks folks for suggestions up to this point. At this stage I have downloaded and am now familarising myself with a number of programs. These being:

1. the macro add-on for Word (bookcreator) that is meant to improve the quality of formatting when you then subsequently "save as filtered html"

2. Calibre that can then accept the html file (or a .pdf which is my other option)

3. an html editing program - CoffeeCup

4. Mobi pocket creator - as recommended in the Amazon Kindle store to do final formatting or optimisation for kindle

I have tried conversion in different ways (and using pdf instead of doc as starting point) and seen different issues arise with the formattiing .. so far any method would seem to require manual intervention to fix problems and insert tables and/or charts ... presumably using the html editor software ... but I 'm not clear at what stage that needs to be done (?)

And do i really need to run it through all of the above steps, or can I short-cut?

Edited May 28, 2011 by chiangmaibruce

[chiangmaibruce]

Ok...finished .... Now I'd just like to give it a test run on an actual Kindle device before sending it live.

I have tried it on different PC-based Kindle simulator readers and it looks OK-to-fine. But then when I tried it on the "Preview Your Book" viewer on the amazon kindle web site, it looked a bit skanky.

I don't want to fix what's (maybe) not broke .. so the only way to be sure is to suck up to someone with a Kindle ... hint ... hint and see how it goes.

So where do people with Kindles go for their morning coffee? Some swanky Nimman cafe with deep leather lounges and refined ambience? ... your suggestions please

[mrclough]

May be worth dropping a PM to mallmagician. He uses ebooks with a Kindle device and is very clued up on the subject.

[mallmagician]

May be worth dropping a PM to mallmagician. He uses ebooks with a Kindle device and is very clued up on the subject.

Yep, go ahead. Will give u feedback on the file running on my kindle. Pm me

[chiangmaibruce]

May be worth dropping a PM to mallmagician. He uses ebooks with a Kindle device and is very clued up on the subject.

Yep, go ahead. Will give u feedback on the file running on my kindle. Pm me

Thanks for that, will do. I had an email from the help-desk ppl at kindle yesterday and they say the format is fine, which was a relief. The only issue now is that some of the images - words in tables - are shrunk down too small. This is despite the fact that all images were originally the same width when created/saved. But then when you adjust font size or move to two page view ... are ok. So do I need to (try to) adjust this anomaly or just leave it to the reader to tweak at their end?