eBook Publishing

ePublishing on the iPod has never been all that attractive to us. The screen was too small for creating interesting layouts for the kinds of stuff we would want to publish. Still, we had always meant to figure out the workflow for publishing for the iPod just to understand the process. Last night, we decided to figure out how to get it all working.

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We needed to figure out how to:

• Convert content stored in Word or .pdf to EPUB format
• Transfer converted file onto iPod device
• View file on iPod

As it turns out, the process was relatively simple. It took us about 30 minutes to figure out everything. Setting up the workflow is simple. The file conversion can be done using a shareware program called CALIBRE. This application can take many different types of files (Word, .pdf, txt, etc.) and convert them into formats readable on a variety of different devices (Sony, Kindle, iPod, etc…). CALIBRE also has an integrated  media server which will enable the converted file to be downloadable to the physical device.

To view the EPUB files on the iPod,  STANZA is a free app which does the job nicely. It connects automatically to the CALIBRE media server for direct transfer to the iPod of the converted files…no AppStore upload needed.

We are pretty sure we will be able to do something comparable for the iPad. It is exciting times for us small publishers. The iPad is an entirely new platform on which to work. The “rules” are still being written. Nothing is impossible. On April 3rd, it is going to be a brand-new day.