My Current Job Stream for Publication

So I had problems getting Quest of the Wizardess turned into an epub.  It turns out that the recommended method for creating an acceptable document for Smashwords doesn’t work with simple epub conversion tools.  The primary problem is creating a table of contents using bookmarks and hyperlinks.

I ended up buying a epub creation and editing tool called Jutoh.  It was recommended at a writers conference I attended last fall (IndieReconLive).  I had to pick apart all of the bookmarks and blast through all of the hyperlinking.  Along the way, I eliminated drop caps, which also got in the way.  After I did all of that work, I was rewarded with a clean epub file which I was able to upload to iBooks.

Since I do my own publishing through CasiePress, I’ve had to learn to create job streams to accommodate various input engines. So now, I create in Scrivener.  I export that to MS Word and use their spelling and grammar checker.  Then I export that into InDesign for the creation of my print file for Createspace.

For ebook distribution, I’ll now export back to MS Word (Jutoh likes .docx files) and reformat for ebooks.  That becomes my gold standard for input into Jutoh.  For Smashwords and Amazon, I’ll create a separate file that has the bookmark/hyperlink table of contents and input .doc files.  For Kobo, Barnes & Noble and iBook, I’ll create an epub in Jutoh and submit that.

Lots of work, but I do that to have better control over my distribution.