EPUB export

[brunhilda]

I did a horrible mistake and I used Publisher for a book design without researching first. Now the publishing house wants EPUB export and I am literally f***ed, because I cannot export to EPUB nor IDML...

Is there any feasible workaround to create eBOOK files? So far I did not find anyting that would make it easier then designing the whole book from a scratch again in InDesign :////

 

[mykee]

3 hours ago, brunhilda said:

Is there any feasible workaround to create eBOOK files? So far I did not find anyting that would make it easier then designing the whole book from a scratch again in InDesign :////

PagePlus produced EPUB without problems, but unfortunately Serif no longer sells it.

Perhaps a solution might be to 
- making a copy of the project
- turn off automatic hyphenation in styles
- export to PDF
- try converting with Calibre
I haven't done this yet, but I also miss the EPUB/MOBI/AZW export.

[pixelstuff]

3 hours ago, brunhilda said:

I did a horrible mistake and I used Publisher for a book design without researching first. Now the publishing house wants EPUB export and I am literally f***ed, because I cannot export to EPUB nor IDML...

Is there any feasible workaround to create eBOOK files? So far I did not find anyting that would make it easier then designing the whole book from a scratch again in InDesign :////

 

Depends on how good of a workaround you are needing.  You can export to PDF and then use Calibre to convert the PDF to EPUB. It creates a usable EPUB, but with poor fit and finish. If the final product isn't too bad you might can go in and clean it up with the Sigil application.

[brunhilda]

thanks for your tips!

actually, I wrote this question after trying Calibre and ended up totally frustrated

I want to preserve the font and manage pages in an easy way, which is too hard for me in Calibre.

but..! I found https://pdf.iskysoft.com/ and sent the EPUB export to the publishing house. so fingers crossed! if it works, I would need to pay a yearly fee under 100 bugs, which is still ok.

[Twolane]

RE using Calibre to convert to epub:

I have used Calibre to convert all of my .docx files to epubs for Google Play Books. I get around 20,000 downloads a year from Google Play, so the Calibre software must be doing something right.

1) Open Calibre.

2) Drag your .docx file into the program. Highlight the file if it isn't already.

3) Right-click on the selected title and select Convert books / Convert individually.

4) Select your cover image where it says Change cover image.

5) Slide the mouse to the top right dropdown menu  and BE SURE OUPUT FORMAT = EPUB. (Eventually it will default to that if you convert enough .docx files.)

6) Enter your Title, Author, Author Sort, and Publisher. (You can leave Publisher blank. I use my author name as Publisher.)

7) Click on OK, bottom right.

😎 When the BIG ARROW on the right stops flashing, Calibre is done converting your book to an epub.

9) On the right, under Path / Click to open, you will see your epub when you CLICK ON Path: Click to open.

10) Et voilà! There is your .docx file converted to an epub.

Can't get any simpler than that. 

And just what I want, stupid, mindless forum software that converts something to a smiley. Oh well, you'll figger it out, I'm certain.

[walt.farrell]

18 minutes ago, Twolane said:

Drag your .docx file into the program. Highlight the file if it isn't already.

And if you're starting with a PDF from Affinity Publisher?

[Twolane]

1 hour ago, walt.farrell said:

And if you're starting with a PDF from Affinity Publisher?

I can't comment on that. I convert .docx files in Calibre to epub for the ebook distributors that require it.  I use APub to convert the .docx files into pdfs for Amazon and Ingram Spark POD books. Beyond that, I'm no help whatsoever.

[brunhilda]

haha, thanks! 🤓

thats what I did and the result was:
– the font is not preserved
– pages are not preserved
– paragraph layout is damaged
– illustrations are damaged (thats might be because I used CMYK profile with a spot color)

[brunhilda]

My publishing house requires InDesign file to convert it into EPUB, which I did not notice in the contract...

I just delivered PDFs for the printer and thought my job was done. So now I am figuring the way how to convert PDF to EPUB.

And I hope PDF Element would work for that. So far everything looks the same as in Publisher PDF export, no distortions like when exporting in Calibre.

Element:

[brunhilda]

On 2/23/2022 at 8:20 PM, pixelstuff said:

Depends on how good of a workaround you are needing.  You can export to PDF and then use Calibre to convert the PDF to EPUB. It creates a usable EPUB, but with poor fit and finish. If the final product isn't too bad you might can go in and clean it up with the Sigil application.

yop, thats what I understood from youtube tutorial which I wanted to follow initially. but then was discouraged by the result of first Calibre export...

[ostonica]

A few years ago I tried PDF2ID, with mixed results, but I gather it's improved now. It might help 
https://www.recosoft.com/products/pdf2id/

BTW I've finally given up on Affinity. Apub is no use at all for what I need to do - (get INDD files from the (non-profit) publisher and make epub versions for them.)    There is no inclination at all from Serif to do anything about  supporting Epubs in Apub. 

Jim

[Wosven]

22 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

And if you're starting with a PDF from Affinity Publisher?

It all depend of the type of file. It's suited to produce books with lot of text, and do a fine job of it (if compared to older PDF2HTML tools).

It won't be so bad as PDF with lot of images, but using a dedicated tool to create epub is always better, of course.

ID do a sad job converting to epub, if the original file wasn't produced with this intend, since we use tricks and special characters that can't be well converted to html.
And publishing houses will convert the ID file without finesse... (at least, a big editor does it this way, perhaps some will put more time on this and get a better result).

 

Doing epub is a job and need skills. Using converting tools should be the first step, if not using a dedicated one.

 

20 hours ago, brunhilda said:

thats what I did and the result was:
1– the font is not preserved
2– pages are not preserved
3– paragraph layout is damaged
4– illustrations are damaged (thats might be because I used CMYK profile with a spot color)

1. You'll only be able to use the same fonts if you tell the app to use them, and preferably if you got the licences for this use...

2. Pages are irrelevant in an epub, unless you do fixed layout instead of reflow, but in this case, PDF is better suited.

3. Epub is suppose to reflow content depending of the setting of the device (use document's fonts or choosen ones, use document's size or set one, etc.), it's screen size, etc. It's like a web page or browser.

4. Are those illustrations usable on a web page? If not, they'll be converted to other format, with possible errors if the app messed the 4 CMYK channels with the 3 RVB ones.

[KJ Scrim]

I have made the same mistake. UGH!

I have tried Calibre, other online resources, and I even tried to use Google Docs. All attempts ended with a messed up book. If I had a MAC computer I would be using Vellum, but this was an inexpensive substitute for a PC. After years of asking, I'm surprised Affinity hasn't made these changes. Is there a workaround? I suppose Calibre will work if you want to spend just as much time fixing it as it takes to do the initial layout in Affinity.

[brunhilda]

so I ended up coding the book almost manually 🙈🙈🙈 using Calibre...

[brunhilda]

On 2/25/2022 at 5:34 PM, ostonica said:

A few years ago I tried PDF2ID, with mixed results, but I gather it's improved now. It might help 
https://www.recosoft.com/products/pdf2id/

BTW I've finally given up on Affinity. Apub is no use at all for what I need to do - (get INDD files from the (non-profit) publisher and make epub versions for them.)    There is no inclination at all from Serif to do anything about  supporting Epubs in Apub. 

Jim

Thanks, Jim. I checked the software but it needs InDesign SW installed to make it work

[Will Wallace]

On 2/25/2022 at 11:34 AM, ostonica said:

A few years ago I tried PDF2ID, with mixed results, but I gather it's improved now. It might help 
https://www.recosoft.com/products/pdf2id/

BTW I've finally given up on Affinity. Apub is no use at all for what I need to do - (get INDD files from the (non-profit) publisher and make epub versions for them.)    There is no inclination at all from Serif to do anything about  supporting Epubs in Apub. 

Jim

PDF2ID is not an answer. It doesn't generate EPUB files from anything. It converts PDFs to InDesign .indd files. If you have InDesign, you don't need to be concerned that Affinity Publisher doesn't allow exporting to EPUB.

[Will Wallace]

On 1/8/2021 at 10:05 AM, walt.farrell said:

I am saying that as Affinity has no support for exporting HTML/CSS today, it is not as simple a matter as you suggest to provide the epub support. If they already had HTML/CSS support it would be less work (though still significant), but as they don't, providing HTML/CSS is a pre-requisite.

And yes, it is something that all the applications will need, as they have a common core set of functions and can operate on each others' files. The good part of that is that only a single implementation of the function will be needed and it will cover all 3 applications.

I realize that this post is now more than a year old, but the predecessor to Affinity Publisher, Serif PagePlus, has an Epub export function. It's incomprehensible that the replacement for PagePlus omits a function that has become exponentially MORE important since the switch from PagePlus to Affinity Publisher.

[Will Wallace]

I grew weary of waiting for Affinity to comment in this thread, so I contacted support directly. Here's the reply I received this morning:

Quote

Thank you for your email and your feedback.

 

It is important to note that we have only promoted Affinity Publisher as being Affinity Publisher and not as a replacement for any other product that may be available from other companies. We include a feature list on our site for each of our apps for individuals to read through to see whether it apps suit their needs

 

We have not ever included ePub as a feature within Publisher or as a future feature that may come to Publisher. That said we are aware of the requests for such a feature.

 

We would discourage anyone from buying a product that does not do what they need it to.

 

Kind regards,

 

Steven @ Affinity Customer Experience

To me, this translates as, "We hear you, and we don't care. Don't hold your breath."

[Pšenda]

10 minutes ago, Will Wallace said:

To me, this translates as

It doesn't require any translation for me - it says exactly what I would expect. So no unnecessary and unfulfillable promises. That you translate it into something else is only your problem.

[walt.farrell]

39 minutes ago, Will Wallace said:

I grew weary of waiting for Affinity to comment in this thread,

Serif generally does not comment in topics in the Feature Requests & Suggestions part of the forum. This part of the forum is for us to make our wishes known to the planners, not for them to tell us their plans.

They almost never say whether they are planning to do something in the future. At best they might say that they would like to do something sometime in the future, with no indication of whether it might actually happen, or when.

[brunhilda]

1 hour ago, Pšenda said:

It doesn't require any translation for me - it says exactly what I would expect. So no unnecessary and unfulfillable promises. That you translate it into something else is only your problem.

well, more importantly we have a problem with Publisher features. and it seems that "we" are a lot of people…

[PaoloT]

2 hours ago, Will Wallace said:

To me, this translates as, "We hear you, and we don't care. Don't hold your breath."

To me, your reaction translates as: "You may be as clear and honest as you want with some customers, but they will continue on their way".

Paolo

 

[PaoloT]

39 minutes ago, brunhilda said:

well, more importantly we have a problem with Publisher features. and it seems that "we" are a lot of people…

In this case, I would contact my MP to see if a law can be passed to force Serif to implement the features we want!

Paolo

 

[Old Bruce]

3 minutes ago, PaoloT said:

In this case, I would contact my MP to see if a law can be passed to force Serif to implement the features we want!

Paolo

My MP stopped taking my calls after I asked about repealing Pascal's law.

[nour bouch]

so why don't we get an answer from serif, they make this forum but don't talk to us. console us!