Selling an epub via Lulu

[jpaulmorr]

Hi George, I can tell you my experiences, for what it's worth, and the results seem to be OK.  Granted I haven't had a lot of feedback yet!  The following took a number of iterations, but I am pretty happy with the result.

I started off with my book in Open Office, which is a free editor/formatter, and exported that to XHTML 1.1 plus MathML 2.0.  I then used Calibre (free) to convert that to epub format.  I had to tweak the code segments by hand using JujuEdit (also free), as the formatting wasn't correct.  And some of the tables still need work (which I haven't done yet).  Still, my book is 370 pages, and IMO it looks pretty good!

I then used Calibre to convert the epub to mobi format for Kindle. The mobi file was ready to be uploaded immediately.

I then tried uploading the epub file to Lulu, and got the same message you got.  I then opened it using Sigil (also free!) and used the "validate epub" (tick mark) with "cleaning with html tidy" (broom) set on.  This recommended some changes, which I made (later on it made all the changes invisibly).  After this, Lulu accepted the epub with no problem.  

In both cases, you have to upload a cover, and they have slightly different requirements.

Anyway, this worked for me - several times! - see how it goes!

[Peter May]

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jpaulmorr wrote:

 I then used Calibre to convert the epub to mobi format for Kindle. The mobi file was ready to be uploaded immediately. 

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Several conversions, unnecessary to go via ePub. Try MobiPocket Publisher (free) for Kindleising books.

[kevinlomas]

It is odd that Lulu take money for a service they they then cannot do, and then recently people have been getting e-mails to say Lulu are going to convert their 'real' books to e-books, for free (opt-out if not required). So just how are they going to do that?!

OK, I bet this will be deleted from this posting, but all the same >> http://www.smashwords.com/

They seem to be able to convert most types of files in to most types of e-books. For free.

[jpaulmorr]

Just wanted to say that SmashWords told me they can only start with a .doc file, so I gave up on them.  Personally, given the amount of work I did to make my ebook look good, I am leary of offers from other people to convert my book...

[kevinlomas]

nothing wrong with a .doc file, it's all I use. This is very handy though >>> http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/52

[jpaulmorr]

Just meant that I was using Open Office and didn't want to invest in Word!  Plus, Open Office doesn't have an export function to .doc.

[kirandotdellimoreatgmaildotcom]

Do-it-yourself always works for me. Why pay Lulu 99 bucks? Using google you can easily find many different ways to do the epub conversion. I used: http://www.web-books.com/Publishing/Word2EPUB.htm  

Google is your best friend!

[Peter May]

George, you should have started a new thread with this.

I am not clear about your problems. If you paid Lulu to produce an ePub version then they said the conversion wasn't formatted correctly then they should fix it or refund your money. You need to contact support.

Regarding Kindleising a book it is pretty easy, but this isn't the place. Amazon have a free eBook on publishing on Kindle and there is an active forum at http://forums.kindledirectpublishing.com Head over there.

It is entirely free to publish on Kindle.