I’d like to take my free eBook, 30 Days to Better Business Writing, and make it available as an eBook in both Amazon Kindle AZL format and either EPUB and MOBI formats so that it is available for other devices.
So, here’s the thing. I start with a Word document because that is what I write and edit in.
How do I get from a Word document to EPUB, MOBI and AZL format?
Ideally, in a smooth automated way that preserves chapters and inline images such as screenshots? Does anyone have any tips about this? Is there software that will do it?
Smashwords has a guide to get the formatting working for their distribution system (which converts it to every type of format)… I’ve also been able to take the same Word document I created for them and feed it into the Kindle publishing system.
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/52
The guide talks about chapters and inline images though my work hasn’t required those so I can’t speak to the quality of the conversion.
Good luck!
- Brent Knowles
That looked very promising. Their converter technology seemed to do exactly what I need but reading their guide, they don’t want you to take the converted files and publish them anywhere else. This is a problem for me as I want to be able to give away my book on the Kindle store and also on this site. Hmmm.
The exact text is as follows:
Q: Can I take my Smashwords ebook conversions and sell them elsewhere?
No. The ebook conversions at Smashwords are not to be re-distributed or re-sold
elsewhere, per the Terms of Service. Why? Our free conversion services, for which we
have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars to build and continually improve, are
provided to authors and publishers as a benefit of our ebook distribution services. It’s bad
karma to take the files we create and upload or sell them elsewhere. Of course, you can
do anything you want with the Microsoft Word source file you create. Just as our books
are DRM-free and you’re trusting readers to hon
Yes, I wouldn’t advise taking the converted file over *but* the Kindle store allows you to upload a word document.
I just use the same word document that I created to match the Smashwords style guide (changing the cover page of course) and upload that to the Kindle store. It then gets converted for the Kindle by Amazon.
But yes, if you want to upload the converted file directly to your own site then it doesn’t help you.
- Brent
That’s a helpful clarification. Thank you. Uploading direct to Kindle Store might work but I really want to have my cake and publish it; making the files available on my site AND on the Kindle store (and elsewhere).
Hi Matthew,
I’ve been using Calibre (http://calibre-ebook.com/) to create ePub files, with good results so far. I’ve not used it to create any other format yet, but I’ve no reason to believe it will be a problem.
Save your Word document as a html page and then load it into Calibre from where you can create the e-book. You can then publish the book wherever you would publish the PDF.
I’ve found you need to take out any headers or footers unless you have a burning desire to have them turn up in the middle of your e-book page.
I too have heard good things about Calibre so your comment is very helpful in confirming them by real experience. Also, thanks for the tips about headers and footers!
Hi Matthew.
The awesome thing about Calibre is that it exports many different ebook formats and lets you add meta tags and your cover. It also works very well with Sigil, a WYSIWYG epub editor.
http://code.google.com/p/sigil/
I used Calibre to export my epub (using that Word to HTML method and importing the HTML into Calibre…although a txt document is cleaner) and then imported the epub into Sigil to fix formatting errors and make a linkable TOC.
I’ve got lots of advice to share, so feel free to email me if you have more advanced questions.
Good luck!
That’s super helpful thanks. I’ll check out the Calibre route.
I ran a simple test with Calibre, and it created the epub file nicely.
For those using OpenOffice/LibreOffice, a plugin exists that will export an OO or LO file in epub format. I haven’t tested it yet, but will in a week or so.
Good luck.
Aha! I’d switch to OpenOffice and use that if it had a native EPUB exporter. That might be worth looking into as well. Thanks. Matthew
In truth, even a perfect export from LibreOffice will probably still require a visit to Calibre to add some goodies. I was looking at it from the perspective of making some files easy to access on my Nook ereader, though I’m not sure that’s needed.
I’ve been idly donking around with this stuff because of a pair of upcoming projects. I expect better tools for this kind of thing to appear very soon.
I’ve looked into epublishing as well. The SmashWords guide is straightforward and well written. Amazon has software to do the conversion, however, I have not worked with it yet. It works just with their format.
@TC: Thanks for the info about the OO plugin. Do you have a link?
I also use and enjoy Smashwords. I have two e-books with them.
Che Forever: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1662
and
An Alef-Bet Kabalah: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1653
Good luck with this Matthew. From my brief scan (it’s past my bedtime) the book looks fantastic!
I’ve created several e-books for Leo from ZenHabits.net, but I made them all by hand. The Calibre programs and others usually didn’t come out quite right, so for maximum control I like to just format everything myself. He was extremely pleased with them after trying several alternatives.
Oddly enough I’ve been struggling with exactly the same problem.
I need to be able to get from Word into a realistic ebook format people can read electronically. Ideally I’d publish to Kindle and the iPad – these are the formats that matter most here in New Zealand.
The process seems harder than getting a book ready for print.
Please post an update when you solved this.
Have you tried Mobipocket Creator? (mobipocket.com) It’s free and can convert docs, pdfs and HTML (and possibly others that I haven’t tried) into files a Kindle can read.
If I understand it correctly, it basically takes the file, converts it into XHTML and from there, you can then build the publication file. It outputs mine as .prc files, but it might have other options. I’m just happy it converts the files I need into ones I can read on my Kindle! 
And yes, it should work with images too.
I did have a look at that but it crashed. However, I have found a pretty good process that works and I’m going to blog about it soon. Thanks for the suggestion. Matthew