InsaneJournal

Current mood:	accomplished
Entry tags:	ebooks

More news on the ebook-making front

Now, let me preface all this with something that should be in giant text: I’ve never done this before. What I’m bringing to this table as far as skill goes is a miraculously relevant handful of applications that I own, a good working knowledge of CSS and HTML, and steely determination.

Yesterday, I went on a PDF learning rampage of sorts. I tried to find out how to do specific things, and tried to discover why Adobe 8 Pro was bitching me out and was so eye-bogglingly complex to figure out. In backwards order, I learned about how Adobe 8 will do accessibility, then learned where on earth in the document that you’d go about adding accessibility features like tagging and whatnot, then mistakenly tried to use the tools to test out what I’d found, then found Acrobat Distiller, then searched for the mythic Rich Content PDF settings file (missing from the extras folder on my Adobe DVD shakes fist), then realised I could create my own settings file…if I knew what to put in it.

*Sighs* This will be more complicated than I was anticipating. Before, I planned to just print to PDF from my browser with the final edited html file in my sights. Now, I see I’m going to have to pipe the files through Word and/or Scrivener and edit everything into submission. So my workflow will look something like:

1. Get hold of the html file(s) for the fic in question.
2. Pipe the file into Scrivener somehow— not too clear yet on how I will do this. I’m considering two ways. I can
   • convert the html files into Markdown, then import them into Scrivener as text files, or
   • save the html files into rtf files with TextEdit, then import those files into Scrivener.
3. Edit the file(s) in Scrivener (if needed). I’m seriously considering editing them as Markdown-formatted text in Textmate, because then I could write valid Markdown, get that to Scrivener and then export as solid RTF, and only end up sticking Scrivener with higher-level design decisions and structuring and all that jazz. I do not envision myself having the time or inclination to go through each fic nitpicking on italics and stuff like that— I would really like fairly uniform output that I can tweak a little in Word as it suits me.
4. Export the file(s) from Scrivener, preferably into .rtf.
5. Go over the file(s) in Word. Add numbering, or header/footer, etc.
6. Either
   • save the finished word file as postscript using the print dialog, or
   • save the finished file as a .doc, period
7. Use Distiller to convert the postscript or .doc file into a pdf
8. Torture the pdf in Acrobat Pro until it capitulates.

Then I’ll upload, link, pimp, etc etc.

For my sanity, I think I’m going to stick to the goal of creating a well-formatted, tagged, easy-to-read, words-only pdf at first. I hate and have always hated and will always hate working with Word to put pictures in anything. Word sucks for adding pics to anything, and since I don’t have Adobe InDesign or any other fancy publishing program on hand (and also don’t feel much like working with one anyway), AND don’t have a word processor that sanely handles images, I’m just going to leave them alone. A good looking cover page and back page and well-done insides should be just fine.

ETA: Markdown editing it is. After wrestling with the Textmate bundle editor, I now have a way to quickly and easily convert html fic files to text files that I can easily edit. sighs in relief