https://github.com/chrisanthropic/open-publisher

Using Jekyll to create outputs that can be used as Pandoc inputs. In short - input markdown, output mobi, epub, pdf, and print-ready pdf. With a focus on fiction.
https://github.com/chrisanthropic/open-publisher

ebook ebooks epub fiction jekyll latex latex-template mobi pandoc pdf publishing self-publishing

Last synced: 4 months ago
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Using Jekyll to create outputs that can be used as Pandoc inputs. In short - input markdown, output mobi, epub, pdf, and print-ready pdf. With a focus on fiction.

• Host: GitHub
• URL: https://github.com/chrisanthropic/open-publisher
• Owner: chrisanthropic
• License: mit
• Archived: true
• Created: 2016-03-12T20:57:25.000Z (almost 9 years ago)
• Default Branch: master
• Last Pushed: 2020-12-16T17:42:41.000Z (about 4 years ago)
• Last Synced: 2024-09-28T04:40:12.257Z (4 months ago)
• Topics: ebook, ebooks, epub, fiction, jekyll, latex, latex-template, mobi, pandoc, pdf, publishing, self-publishing
• Language: Ruby
• Homepage: https://github.com/chrisanthropic/Open-Publisher/wiki
• Size: 8.39 MB
• Stars: 244
• Watchers: 7
• Forks: 27
• Open Issues: 13
• Metadata Files:
  • Readme: README.md
  • License: LICENSE

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README

        
## What is Open-Publisher

Open publisher is really just a couple of bash scripts that wrap around Jekyll, Pandoc, KindleGen, and LaTeX, along with some custom Pandoc templates created with a focus on fiction.

Write your manuscript in markdown, run a script, and receive some beautifully formatted ePub, Mobi, and print-ready PDF books.

Full documentation on the [wiki](https://github.com/chrisanthropic/Open-Publisher/wiki)

## Why is Open-Publisher

My wife is [an author](https://www.backthatelfup.com) and I handle all of the digital/print book creation. After 4+ years of using various tools I decided to streamline my process.

It can be a pain to manually update a Bio page with new information or new books for example. Doing a simple thing like that for 3 formats of a dozen books can take time and introduces the possibility of new typos with every change.

Pandoc is a great tool to convert markdown files to html/epub/pdf/etc., but its epub templating is still very minimalistic. It requires multiple stages to create a template that allows me to reuse common pages such as biography, licensing, etc.

I love Jekyll and use it whenever I can for web design. One of my favorite aspects is the ability to define 'code chunks' in the _includes folder and then use references to it wherever I want. Change that include file, rebuild, and every reference to it on your website is updated. It's that kind of logic that I need for creating my books.

By using Jekyll's templating I'm able to create files that slightly differ based on need. The mandatory Smashwords title page for example, or a custom Title page with Amazon URLs to other books.

Jekyll allows me to create custom templates, multiple 'includes', and then output them into a perfectly formatted Markdown file.

This markdown file can then be passed along to Pandoc and converted to epub/mobi/pdf.