Ebooks

For the last two or three weeks I've been converting many stories already hosted on the Ebook Library into epub/lrf/and mobi formatted stories. For anyone who is interested in checking out what's been recently converted please visit the News Page at the Ebook Library. I'm still working on this and have another batch coming up hopefully by next weekend.

When I last asked for requests as to what to convert next no one responded so I'm picking authors who've been on the site the longest.

Since I learned how to use Macros in Microsoft Word 2007 I've been slowly but surely creating LRF/Mobi/and epub versions of my absolute favorite stories hosted at the Ebook Library as well as most of the stories posted recently. This is the reason for long delays between updates besides the holidays. My current project is converting all the Top Ten most read fics at the archive, however that will not take long since many already have all four ebook formats.

My question/challenge to the community is does anyone have any specific conversion requests for stories already listed on the archive that are currently only in RTF format?

For anyone that adds a request I'll honor it if you leave feedback/review at the author's post at the Ebook Library. :)

Leave a link here leading to your review of the story and I'll get it converted in the order in which it was requested. :)

What format do you guys prefer???

So far I've been posting RTF, LRF, Epub, and Mobi...

Or does the answer to this question depend on the device you use to read fan fiction hosted at the Ebook Library?

I would have created a poll but don't have that capability on LJ.

First one of the big changes from 5.13 Calibre to 6.11 Calibre is that I don't need separate settings for converting my html files to LRF, Epub, or Mobi. I use one html page to make all 3 file types. I kept the default conversion settings in Calibre for LRF, epub, and mobi.

( Table of Contents )

( Structure Detection )

( Conversion - Look and Feel )

( CSS stylesheet cheat sheet )

( Known Bugs )

( LRF Output box )

( Add/Save Preferances )

If you have any questions please ask. I'll be the first to admit I'm not great at making tutorials.

I've started to use < h2 > tags for all my chapters within the HTML document I plan on using to convert to LRF. Here is an example. (I've added spaces to the tags so they'll be visible.)

< h2 >American Myth< /h2 > or < h2 >Chapter One< /h2 >

These are the settings I'm using in order to center my chapters and add a page break at each chapter. You don't have to use the css override if you don't want to but I find it helps the ebook look nicer.
( LRF css settings )
The next step is to change the chapter detection settings.
( Chapter Detection Settings )
This setting works best for chapters that aren't labeled Chapter One or Book One. If you have chapters that are like Monday, The Last Stand, and etc...you're good to go with the first setting.

If all your chapters start with Chapter or Book you'll need to use this setting instead.
( Alternate Chapter Detection Settings )
The only change is at Detect chapter at tag: Instead of h2,none, you need to use $,,$

If you don't make that change in the Sony PRS Table of Contents you'll get

Chapter One
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Two

One thing to keep in mind this method only adds the chapters to the Table of Contents on the Sony PRS. The table of contents won't show on the actual story. However, I find going to the Table of Contents rather easy and it's much easier to jump to later chapters using this method. If you do open the LRF in Sony Library you can view your Table of Contents there before adding the story to your device. this is what I'm doing to double check my work.

( Mobi css settings )

( Epub css settings )

For those that would like to learn more about Ebook Formats I'd like to refer you to this post. Ebook Formats It's one of the best break downs of the formats, what devices they go with, and how you can read them on your computer.

First, this is a tutorial for anyone with a Sony PRS. However, for anyone converting documents to EPUB this program may be of interest.

Calibre is the best program I've found to manage my library and to convert documents to LRF.

Here is the link for a full list of features and some screenshots.

Things you may want to adjust to remove the wide margins. Here is a ( screenshot example )

I use Calibre to create LRF files because the LRF supports Table of Contents.

Calibre is also very useful for handling collections aka tags. When you add a name under the tag column it creates a collection on your Sony device when the file is transfered over. Here is an ( example of how the tags look )

Things to know.

1) First Calibre can convert HTML, RTF, PDF, LIT, PRC/Mobi, and TXT to either LRF or EPUB. (but it converts HTML and LIT files the best from my experience)

At the moment LRF is the open source version of LRX which Sony's DRM format for selling ebooks. LRF cannot be read on other devices. EPUB is the publishing industries attempt to find a common format they can sell to anyone with an ebook device. Downside only the Sony device supports this format.

2) Calibre cannot convert copy protected novels to LRF or EPUB. So you'll have to crack the PRC format before you can convert it.

3) When you convert files to LRF. All paragraphs are indented and depending on what font type you have set in your file it may become Arial or Times New Roman. So if you have a preferance make sure your source file is in the font type you prefer.

4) Here are some codes I use to make my table of contents look nicer.

LRF -

These go into HTML source file.

< P style="page-break-after:always">  (I use this one right after the cover image and right after the Table of Contents) I also use this after the end of a chapter or story.

If you do not like your paragraphs indented this is the code to use. p { text-indent: 0pt}

EPUB -

On EPUB none of the margins were indented when I last tested it. However this code will add the indent. (this is added in the Calibre program, not the HTML source file.

p {margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;padding:0pt; text-indent:15pt; font-size: 16pt}

You don't have to use the font-size:16pt I added it in there as a test to see how I can adjust the font size.

I'll talk more about Table of Contents in another post.

Please let me know if I forgot anything.