5 Free Tools to Convert Files for the Kindle and Other Ebook Readersby Wendy Woudstra
There are a number of reasons why you might want or need to convert your files and manuscripts to e-book formats. Perhaps you want to
convert personal files for reading on your Kindle, or maybe you want to
make your galleys available digitally to reviewers, or your want to
sell your own books as e-books from your website.
No matter what your reason and your needs, there are a variety of tools to do most of the hard work for you.
Calibre
http://calibre-ebook.com
WIN | OSX | LINUX
This is my all-time favorite program. I can plug in all my documents,
from PDFs to RTF, .lit and Microsoft Word... and on the fly I can send
them as .mobi to my Kindle, or as an ePub book to the Sony Reader. The
number of devices it works with is impressive, and it does a better job
of managing and making use of your entire ebook collection than
anything else I've come across.
As a by-product of all this awesomeness, it works pretty darn well as
an ebook converter too. Just plug in your file -- RTF or Microsoft Word
work fine -- then specify your metadata, give the thing a cover, and
convert it to .mobi for the Kindle, and ePub for other readers.
Mobipocket
eBook Creator
http://www.mobipocket.com/en/downloadsoft/productdetailscreator.asp
WIN
Another free conversion application that does a great job converting
text and Microsoft Word files to .mobi, which are viewable on the
Kindle, and on Windows PCs, Windows Mobile, Blackberry Palm and Symbian
OS with the Mobipocket eBook Reader, as well as on several
dedicated ereader devices like the Cybook, Illiad, iRex and BeBook.
eScape
http://www.pincette.biz/odftoepub/index.xhtml
WIN (with OpenOffice)
A tool to convert OpenOffice.org documents into ePub format.
Follow the styling rules, create a cover image and select a
style sheet, then create your ePub. The license to use eScape
is only for individual, non-commercial use only, so you can't use it if
you want to charge for your ebooks.
eCub
http://www.juliansmart.com/ecub
WIN | OSX | LINUX
eCub is a free, cross-platform tool for creating EPUB and MobiPocket
books with options for generating a table of contents, a
cover page, and a title page. You can create a simple cover design
image using templates and a simple design tool. Then you can compile,
check and try out the EPUB at the click of a button. eCub
only creates unencrypted files, but may be used for commercial purposes.
Simplicissimus
BookMaker
http://bookmaker.simplicissimus.it/?lang=en
WIN | OSX | LINUX
Simplicissimus is an Italian web application (don't worry, the
instructions are in English) that will let you upload a file and
convert it to PDF, ePub, or .mobi on the fly. It
accepts .rtf, .doc, .odt, .txt, .html, lit, .and .fb2 files
for conversion.
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