Best tools for making ebooks & PDFs
Hey y'all,
So of course there is the ol' Google Doc > Download to PDF option.
And while I see using Canva to make the cover; are folks using Canva to design every page of their ebooks as well?
Or is there another method out there?
Thanks for the insight!
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This is a more technical tool, but when I was publishing ebooks I used Pandoc (https://pandoc.org), a free open-source document converter. I would write my ebooks in Markdown and use a Ruby script with Pandoc to generate a PDF (using wkhtml2pdf), ePub (for iBooks and other ePub stores) and then KindleGen to generate the Amazon/Kindle version.
oi, mon frerer --- this is beautiful. Amazing and truly tickles my itch to code everything possible!!!
From the bottom of my mother-board, I thank you!!!
😀
I probably invested more time building the script than I should have, but it was fun to do, and it allowed me to create an "ebook build" workflow exactly the way I wanted it.
I had multiple ebooks, and each one was its own folder with the following structure:
cover.jpg // high resolution cover image 1500x2250
book_info.txt // meta data such as title, author, publication date, version number, etc.
0.md // introduction
1.md // chapter 1
2.md // chapter 2
...
The script not only assembled the ebooks in multiple formats but also autogenerated a table of contents and other front/back matter.
THIS is what the funk I'm talkin' about!!!
"I probably invested more time building the script than I should have, but it was fun to do, and it allowed me to create an "ebook build" workflow exactly the way I wanted it."
I will probably fall into the same sandbox with glee!!!
So dangerous, probably gonna delay publishing by at least a week; and increase my joy factor by a few multiples as well.
If you're on product hunt, maybe we connect there so I can sufficiently credit/blame you :p
hahaha
Hi Canin,
I'm not really active on ProductHunt but I probably should be. I just followed you there.
I should also clarify, the reason I felt it necessary to create a build process is that I had created 13 different ebooks. Most people create a final version and publish once, but after I published I found I was still updating versions (mostly minor changes and fixing typos) so I needed a fast way to generate ebooks after every change.
followed ya back!
Yup, exactly -- I'm in a similar boat
I’ve been using Beacon: super easy to use, good templates, great for lead magnets. Not sure how useful it might be for an extensive (50+ page) eBook but I’m sure it could do the job. https://beacon.by/?lmref=4SCxAA (referral link, feel free to use it or not). Cheers!
I'm down! Thank you ~ as I mentioned, these are the solutions I'm lookin' for -- the lesser known, up and coming solutions !!!
I'll likely sign-up - probably on the free-tier, nonetheless -- might even have to write a post about all of these options :)
Thanks for the opportunity to explore!
You can use designrr.io you can turn Google docs to ebook or a blog post to ebook. They have several cover templates or create your own cover as well.
Thank you; this is what I was looking for :)
Those lesser known solutions!!
Definitely checking it out!
If you want to go professional and want absolute control over your layout you can use something like Indesign or the newer and cheaper alternative, Affinity Publisher. Or if you want something easier to use, you can check out Microsoft Office Publisher (I have not personally used this in a very long time so I have no idea how it has evolved)
Otherwise for the simplest option just go with what you are doing and export from Google Doc or MS Word. And design your cover page in some design tool like Illustrator or Canva like you are doing
Yo, I've never heard of that !!! Thank you ! Checking it out now.
This comment was deleted 6 years ago.
Whoa, that's nifty!!!
Not sure I'm entirely on-board with the royalty situation ... but being able to write an entire book in Markdown is really appealing!
Thank you!!