Getting to EPUB - Useful Links

Useful links for someone starting out, on getting to epub + prc....

General information

The Electric Book Works knowledgebase - http://electricbookworks.com/kbase/

Converting from XML to epub

epub-tools - Open source tools for generating and managing ePub documents, including conversions from Word, RTF, DocBook, TEI, FictionBook
(Note: These are NOT ready-made silver bullets...but they are handy starting points that can be modified to work with your specific content.)

http://code.google.com/p/epub-tools/

Exporting from InDesign to epub

Producing ePub Documents from InDesign - http://blogs.adobe.com/digitaleditions/indesign-epub.html

Creating EPUB with InDesign - online resources - http://blogs.adobe.com/digitaleditions/2010/01/creating_epub_with_indesign_-.html

Exporting from InDesign directly to Mobipocket format (prc) for Kindle

Download Kindle Plugin for Adobe InDesign (Beta) - http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000234621

How to make epubs from scratch

Creating epub files - http://www.snee.com/bobdc.blog/2008/03/creating-epub-files.html

.epub eBooks Tutorial - http://www.jedisaber.com/eBooks/tutorial.asp

Check your work!

Validate EPUB documents - http://validator.idpf.org/ or install the epubcheck tool (runs from the command line using Java). Recent versions of the oXygen XML editor have a built-in EPUB validation function as well, available when you are editing an EPUB using its Archive feature.

Things to look for - http://electricbookworks.com/kbase/simple-ebook-operational-issues/checking-ebooks

Bugs in e-readers to be aware of - https://github.com/dvschultz/99problems/

Tools for getting from epub to prc (the Mobipocket format used by Amazon Kindle)

Download Kindlegen and Kindle Previewer (to make and view prcs) - http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000234621

Twitter is a good source of news and updates, particularly:

#epub - http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23epub
 
#ePrdctn - http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23ePrdctn