: Modern Markup for lengthy novel suited for self-publishing I wrote a lengthy novel using a program I wrote. This produces a suitable LaTeX source I can use to generate a nice-looking PDF. Markup,

@Sherry594

Posted in: #Formatting #Kindle #MarkupLanguages #SelfPublishing #Software

I wrote a lengthy novel using a program I wrote.
This produces a suitable LaTeX source I can use to generate a nice-looking PDF.

Markup, beside customary division in Part/Chapter/Scene, is used to put emphasis, to handle direct-speech (which I use a lot, sometimes even nested) and to output certain phrases in "strange fonts".

So far, so good.

Now my problem is I need to convert all this into a format suitable for Kindle as I want to self-publish with Amazon.

I have seen standard tools (i.e.: Kindle Create), but that seems to lack all the kinds of formatting I'm using and its input (if I want to enable reflow) is restricted to Microsoft .docx format, which I don't know how to produce.

OTOH I have control over my program so, given a suitable markup (e.g.: Markdown) I can generate what is needed.

Question is: which "suitable markup" is available for novel rendering?

Ideally it should:


handle standard headings (easy; almost every markup does).
handle TOC and some limited cross-referencing (this is also standard).
handle font change "on the fly" (font face, not just bold/italic).
handle (possibly nested) direct speech, possibly keeping track of speaker.
output a professional-looking ebook for Kindle (mobi, epub or azw3/4).
if possible generate, from the same source, also PDF (not mandatory).


Does such a beast exist?



UPDATE:

judging from comments and the lonely Answer I did not manage to make the message through (or I'm saying something completely foolish, which could well be).

What I really like in LaTeX is it's possible to use things like tqt{Yesterday my boss said: tqt{jump!} and I had to jump.} to define a (nested) direct speech fragment and it will be converted according Your (global) choices.

In my book I use:

«Yesterday my boss said: “jump!” and I had to jump.»


but that could be easily (and globally!) converted to a different style, e.g.:

— Yesterday my boss said: «jump!» and I had to jump.


This (again AFAIK) is possible neither in plain HTML nor with programs normally used to edit books (MSWord, kindle-create, Calibre or Sigil).

Other uses of semantic tagging could include:


differentiating (visually or otherwise) speech from different entities (e.g.: speech from a vampire could be in a different font)
long citations.
nested tales (e.g.: flashbacks).
separators (horizontal line vs. stars vs. graphic image).
add "invisible" metadata (e.g.: time and duration of a scene, to be used to prepare a timeline).
etc.


"Normal" markup languages (e.g.: Markdown) are not really suited for this even if they have a lots of features, mostly useless for novel writing (cross-reference, lists, tables, math, ...).

I am thinking about defining (and implementing) something myself.

Let me know if there is some interest.

Any comment welcome.

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@Ann1701686

@Ann1701686

I have not been able to find any suitable Markup, so I started coding it myself.

A very preliminary version is available on GitLab.

Any feedback would be VERY welcome.

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@Samaraweera193

@Samaraweera193

My bestie, when converting Ebooks, is Calibre.

I use it mainly to load .epub files on my Kobo (usually converting from .pdf or .doc).

You have so many options to control formatting. You can also export to .mobi and view it on your Kindle if you own one (or also just check the given preview).

Calibre also has an integrated reader for Ebooks.



Hope this can helps out.
Here you can find the free program:
calibre-ebook.com/download

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