by C.K. MacLeod
Updated. Originally posted at Beyond Paper Editing.
Have you discovered Jutoh? Jutoh is an elegant and inexpensive piece of software ($39 USD) that allows you to convert Word docx files or ODT files to epub and mobi ebook formats.
Jutoh will work for fiction that’s mostly straight text, but it will also handle nonfiction texts with
- pictures
- headings
- bulleted and numbered lists, and
- internal and external hyperlinks
Word to Jutoh Workflow
Below is my Word-to-Jutoh workflow. Unless otherwise stated, I perform most of these steps in Word 2010.
1. Tag any special formatting that you’d like to retain, such as headings, italicized and boldface words, and hyperlinks. JW Manus suggests a system for tagging special formatting. Use what works for you. The idea is that you want to be able to search and replace for these items later.
2. Nuke your Word doc. Word is infamous for creating formatting gremlins that can show up in your ebook. Zap ’em. Copy your entire book into Notepad (comes with Windows) or another text editor and paste it into a brand new Word document. I then execute a Clear All from the Word Styles menu for good measure.
A bit much? Maybe. But I’ve noticed that a nuke doesn’t always remove hidden fonts. How do I know? CrossEyes (free for PC users) helps me to see what lies beneath…
3. Clean up any extra uses of the space bar and Enter key, such as extra spaces between words and after end punctuation, or extra paragraph spaces. Clean up tabs, too. You can use a copyeditor’s trick and do this automatically by using tools like the Editorium’s File Cleaner or the Wiley Publishing Cleanup Tool (free). You can also use Word’s Find and Replace feature to clean up extra tabs and spaces.
4. Set heading and paragraph styles in Word. If you want to use an indented paragraph style, be sure to set your indents in your paragraph style. Use fonts that are ebook-friendly and copyright free. Times New Roman is always a safe bet. Remember, readers can adjust fonts on their e-readers—you want to choose a font that plays nicely with conversion software.
5. Resize images in an image editor. I use Paint.NET, but GIMP is another good free option. Check your distributor (Amazonor Lulu, for example) for image width and height restrictions.
6. Insert images into your Word file (Insert, Image). Images can really increase your file size so you may need to compress them. You can compress them in your image editor by setting the image quality to 75%.
7. Insert external, or off-book hyperlinks where you’ve tagged them. Shorten links using a link shortening service, like bit.ly or Pretty Link. Shortened links have a better chance of surviving your chosen distributor’s converter.
8. Address any cross-references, or internal hyperlinks in your book using Word’s bookmark feature. If you forget to do this in Word, you can use Jutoh’s indexing feature.
9. Page through your document with with the Show/Hide feature activated (Pilcrow). Look for any extra spaces you may have missed (or re-introduced—it happens).
10. Export your file to Jutoh. If you’ve carefully formatted your document in Word, your file will export almost seamlessly, with styles, images, and hyperlinks attached. Tip: some font styles won’t export. If you use the ebook-friendly fonts recommended by the Jutoh manual, your fonts will transfer over.
Jutoh is designed to play nicely with Word. If you follow good ebook formatting practices in Word, your book file will convert seamlessly.