So, I know this might be a long shot, but Blurb is my to go to place for making books. Until now I've always used InDesign with the Blurb bookmaker plug-in to create the books. The software and plug-in is made by blurb, but I hope your team can connect with them and persuade them to facilitate a means to make it work in Publisher as well. That would mean I'd be 100% Adobe free in the future.
So crossing my fingers here for news. Thanks