Preparing your PDF for Digital Conversion
– Excerpt from eBook Formatting Kit
NOTE: In the video I talk about tables. The Kindle and iPad DO display tables but you need to proof carefully to ensure they display well on all devices and apps and at various point sizes.
Where you start your formatting adventure depends on the condition of your manuscript. Many authors only have access to the final PDF file sent by their publisher. Others are starting with an unpublished book in Word or Open Office. Still others may have the file in text or it is an OOP (out of print) hard copy.
Kissing Cousins versus The Foreigner.
Here’s an extremely oversimplification of the three types of e-books. First, the EPUB and MOBI are kissing cousins – extremely similar, and speak almost identical languages. The PDF is a distant cousin, several times removed, comes from another country and speaks a foreign language.
The EPUB and MOBI understand each other. They stem from the same foundation (HTML) and use a lot of the same formatting structure. Yet, the EPUB is the city cousin; he is fixed in his ways, and demands a higher or “extra” standard of living (XHTML). The MOBI is more flexible: able to live in the rural country (HTML), or in the bright lights of the big city (XHMTL).
In Simplier Terms.
An EPUB is like a multi-page website; the MOBI can be multi-page OR a single page. To display the “website” or e-book on e-readers, all the elements are packaged into a file called an “.epub” or “mobi” — it’s that simple.
Since a PDF is coded differently than EPUBs or MOBIs, a direct conversion from PDF to its foreign cousins produces, more often than not, inexact results. In most cases, starting from the original file is best.
How to Convert PDF Files
Unfortunately there is NO easy, one-click method to convert a PDF file into an Epub or Mobi. A PDF uses non-compatible coding and layout features.
The best way to format from PDF to an EPUB or MOBI is to start with a clean word file. There are several ways to convert your file from PDF format: The most effective conversion techniques include:
Convert PDF to HTML for Mobi and Epub
Third-Party Conversion Tools.There are several choices online ranging from free to cost. Calibre and MobiPocket Creator are the most popular: quality of the final HTML results will vary. Most “paid” programs offer a free trial version, which you can use for a limited time.
MobiPocket Creator. Owned by Amazon, Mobipocket does a decent job removing extraneous coding that you find in other conversions; however, as of this writing, it is only available for the PC.
Calibre e-book Management. This is one of the most popular conversion tools, and works well to convert your PDF into a workable epub, rtf or text format. I say workable because you may need to reformat the pages once converted.
While Calibre is a good starting point, it does not allow you to adjust the HTML code. Once you have the PDF in a working format, use SIGIL to reformat. http://calibre-ebook.com/
SIGIL e-book Editor. Use this free open source program once the PDF has been converted to a workable format. SIGIL works only with EPUB files. http://code.google.com/p/sigil/
Copy and Paste: If the file is unencrypted, you can highlight the entire content in a PDF and past into a word file. Unfortunately, a lot of the layout formatting will be lost, and redesign will be required.
Kindle Direct Publishing. When you upload a file to the KDP service, and click Preview, there is a small link that says “Download HTML”. The HTML created from your PDF file won’t be perfect but it will get you started.
Kindle Email. Email the PDF file to your Kindle Email account. There is a cost for converting a PDF to the AZW format, but you can set the following to get around that issue:
Set your Personal Document Charge limit to $0.01 (on Manage Your Kindle). When sending to your *@kindle.com email, you receive a message stating the charge was over the limit and the fine automatically forwards to the *@free.kindle.com email. For files over 3G you’ll have to change the limit first.
Video 1: Convert PDF files to EPUB Using Calibre
Video 2: Convert/Modify PDF to EPUB using SIGIL
Purchase Unruly Guides; DIY eBook Formatting Kit or Visit our Services for formatting and cover design.
Check out the links below for more tips on converting your PDF into a workable file.
Hi! Just a wee point regarding your comments on tables. Both Kindle and iBooks can read tables perfectly well. I don’t know where this myth got started – probably in the garbage that Amazon call ‘help files’. I use tables for both Kindle and epub files and they work fine (with one or two minor points to note).
Best wishes
Brian
Brian,
Kindle and iBooks (iPad) DO display tables, but you have to weigh whether they display well for all audiences / devices. The older Kindles and apps have the most difficulty (until Amazon updates them all the HTML5), and though the table does display, it can be forced off the page (arrows will appear to the left and right to see the entire table on older Kindles).
I purchased your book and notice the tables do not display entirely on the page (Kindle Fire) at the font size I have selected. If a reader enlarges the text, then the table simply cuts off the right side. In your book (Table 4) on my Kindle Fire I can click the small arrows to the right to see the entire table or I can flip the Fire horizontally, then the width of the table appears. For the Fire, flipping the page is automatic, where for older Kindles, it has to be manually done, which some readers may consider a hassle. And many may prefer to see the entire table width if possible to understand the information. (NOTE: There are other issues in your ebook when viewing on my Kindle Fire. Increasing the point size when proofing will help you in discovering the issues. Also keep in mind that the Kindle Previewer is only 90% accurate. Spacing and alignment are slightly different on actual devices and Apps.)
As stated, tables DO work, but not consistently well. The key is to make the reader experience as painless as possible. I suggest everyone preview their ebooks on various devices AND at various text sizes. While you may be able to read at the smallest point size, others, like myself, prefer a larger point.
I have created dozens of books with tables, and while many tables display well, the more complex tables I may resort to an image if being created for the Kindle environment.
Thanks for your comments,
Suzanne
Conversion from .pdf to .azw is free. Just send the .pdf with the subject of “convert” to the username@free.kindle.com email so as to deliver over wi-fi. If it’s delivered over 3G, then there is a charge (ie if sent to the username@kindle.com address).
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_pdoc_main_short_us?nodeId=200767340
That works as well however, if I plan to reformat for publishing purposes or/and the file i rather large, I prefer to convert the file manually. thank you for your comment. — Suz