Converting between E-reader Formats

[[deleted user]]

Hey everyone,

For anyone just getting into ebooks and epublishing, I thought I'd share a useful discovery: Calibre, which is a free download that converts ebooks between e-reader formats. So people with Nook e-readers can still read indie ebooks only available through Amazon, and so on.

I wrote a whole blog post about it at www.theunboundunderground.com and I thought it was worth sharing.

[Heather]

Thanks for sharing I was just looking this up, I had seen Calibre but I was a little weary about it. :) (sounded too good to be true lol)

Heather-
http://bookwormrflects8.blogspot.de/

[M.T.]

Nice post! I heartily recommend calibre, if only because it means you can download the free pdf of Few Are Chosen from my website and convert it to the format of your choice.

It's excellent for authors too if you combine it with another e-book construction programme, Sigil. Sort the structure in Sigil and use Calibre to convert to e-pub or .mobi. It's pretty good.

Cheers

MTM

[Stephen]

Calibre is pretty good although if I am writing a novel from scratch I recommend jutoh. You have far more control of the final product and the resulting ebook format is pretty darn polished.

[[deleted user]]

Hey everyone,

I have heard the Calibre is better for converting already published works between formats than it is for actually formatting original works. So I'd probably recommend it for people who just want be able to shop anywhere for the books they read.

Also, I did a little research and found some interesting information on how Calibre handles DRM protected books. I talk about it more at www.theunboundunderground.com

[Justin]

I have Calibre but no clue how to use it haha.

[Infinite]

Does this mean I can finally read the book I got that was an E-pub file? Where's a good place to download calibre from? I'm very wary of viruses.

[Barbara]

http://calibre-ebook.com/
it's open source software. Import your books and turn them into what you want! ;)
Ihate the way it formats my manuscripts in the different formats, but haven't tried the other way around (for example turning a mobi file downloaded from Amazon into something else)...
P.s. SJM - if you're wary of viruses, download the portable version and don't instal it on your PC. It works anyway! ;)

[M.]

Interesting > I'll try that out, but I know from creating eBooks for myself and others that format & editing is very important to sel-pub authors as you need to ensure that images appear and that there are not big gaps or other problems which can appear.... anyways, gonna have a look at calibre

[M.T.]

Mike wrote: "Interesting > I'll try that out, but I know from creating eBooks for myself and others that format & editing is very important to sel-pub authors as you need to ensure that images appear and that t..."

It works best if you use sigil for the initial coding and then save it as a basic e-pub and convert it using Calibre. I haven't found a way to make calibre on its own lock the aspect ratio of pictures which means my covers look pants if I convert directly from an html file that's been converted using mobisoft for use on a kindle.

That may just be me though. There is lots of really good information, and many helpful people on the forums at www.mobileread.com - I can thoroughly recommend going there.

Cheers

MTM

[M.]

Well, I can already convert in good quality to actual Kindle format.... I will more likely use calibre to convert other people's books that are sent to me for review.....

[M.T.]

Mike wrote: "Well, I can already convert in good quality to actual Kindle format.... I will more likely use calibre to convert other people's books that are sent to me for review....."

Ah ha. You're sorted then. It's pretty good.

[Justin]

I have Calibre and I used it to make different formats to give to people for Reviews. As for using it to publish a book? idk how that would work..or if you could use it to self publish. Its basically a converter like many have said on here already but im going to test it out on one of my works and see what happens, cant hurt right?