# Additional Formats for MfGames Writing
=> .. Up a Level

Not everyone in the world uses EPUB. Yes, I consider it one of the best formats for me because I can change font size or layout, there is still a big need for print books and Amazon is the source of most ebook sales (though I don't care for that either).

To handle that, MfGames Writing[1] provides a pluggable collection of different output formats. This allows you to use only the formats that you way (EPUB2, PDF, HTML) and they can be updated separately.

=> /tags/mfgames-writing/ 1: /tags/mfgames-writing/

# Series

I appear to be writing a short series of post about the tools I use for publication and writing.

* Semantic Versions and Releases[2]: Why semantic versioning helps with the writing process.

=> /blog/2018/08/13/publishing-processes/ 2: /blog/2018/08/13/publishing-processes/
* Evolution of MfGames Writing[3]: A brief history and reasoning behind the tools.

=> /blog/2018/08/21/mfgames-writing-reasons/ 3: /blog/2018/08/21/mfgames-writing-reasons/
* First Steps Using MfGames Writing[4]: Starting a new project with MfGames Writing.

=> /blog/2018/08/22/mfgames-writing-init/ 4: /blog/2018/08/22/mfgames-writing-init/
* Adding Content to MfGames Writing[5]: Adding front and back matter to novels.

=> /blog/2018/08/23/mfgames-writing-content/ 5: /blog/2018/08/23/mfgames-writing-content/
* Working with MfGames Writing, CI, and Docker[6]: Adding automatic building with commits.

=> /blog/2018/08/24/mfgames-writing-docker-and-ci/ 6: /blog/2018/08/24/mfgames-writing-docker-and-ci/
* Additional Formats for MfGames Writing: How to create PDF, MOBI, DOCX, and HTML versions.
* Theming for MfGames Writing[7]: A light introduction on how to customize the output.

=> /blog/2018/08/26/mfgames-writing-themes/ 7: /blog/2018/08/26/mfgames-writing-themes/
* Integrating Semantic Versioning into MfGames Writing[8]: Tying semantic releases into the process.

=> /blog/2018/08/27/mfgames-writing-releases/ 8: /blog/2018/08/27/mfgames-writing-releases/

## Using Formats

Formats are consumed in the edition section of the `publication.yaml` file.

```yaml
metadata:
    title: Test Project
    author: D. Moonfire
    language: en

    theme: "@mfgames-writing/clean"
    outputDirectory: .
    outputFilename: test-project-{{edition.version}}.{{edition.editionName}}

editions:
    epub:
        format: "@mfgames-writing/epub2"
    pdf:
        format: "@mfgames-writing/weasyprint"
        isbn: 978-1-999999
    html:
        format: "@mfgames-writing/html"
        images:
            scale: 0.25
```

The format is the name of the package installed with `npm install`.

## EPUB

The easiest format to use is EPUB2.

```shell
$ npm install @mfgames-writing/epub2
$ npm run build:html
```

The setup for the NPM commands can be found yesterday[9].

=> /blog/2018/08/24/mfgames-writing-docker-and-ci/ 9: /blog/2018/08/24/mfgames-writing-docker-and-ci/

When this runs, it will generate an EPUB2 file that will be verifiable with `epubcheck`.

## HTML

HTML is also pretty easy.

```shell
$ npm install @mfgames-writing/html
```

## PDF

PDF is the complicated one and why I use a Docker image. I decided to use WeasyPrint[10] for PDF generation because it creates good-quality PDF files and works with HTML, the format themes[11] use.

=> https://weasyprint.org/ 10: https://weasyprint.org/
=> /blog/2018/08/26/mfgames-writing-themes/ 11: /blog/2018/08/26/mfgames-writing-themes/

```shell
$ npm install @mfgames-writing/weasyprint
```

This assumes that `weasyprint` and `pdftk` are both in the PATH.

## MOBI

There isn't a good package for generating MOBI files directly, so the best approach to creating a Amazon MOBI file for uploading is to create a EPUB file and then use `kindlegen` to convert it.

```shell
$ npm run build:epub
$ kindlegen *.epub
```

## DOCX

Like MOBI, it is hard to write a DOCX in a clean manner. To do that, we create a HTML and then convert it.

```shell
$ npm run build:html
$ sed 's@­@@g' < *.html \
  | pandoc -f html -t docx -o test-package-0.0.0.docx
```

We have the extra `sed` command to remove the hypenation from `@mfgames-writing/hyphen` which makes a cleaner file.


# Metadata

Categories:

=> /categories/programming/ Programming
=> /categories/writing/ Writing

Tags:

=> /tags/markdown/ Markdown
=> /tags/mfgames-writing/ MfGames Writing

# Footer

Below are various useful links within this site and to related sites (not all have been converted over to Gemini).

=> /now/ Now
=> /contact/ Contact
=> /bio/ Biography
=> /bibliography/ Bibliography
=> /support/ Support

=> /fiction/ Fiction
=> //fedran.com/ Fedran
=> https://mfgames.com/ Coding
=> https://moonfire.us/ The Moonfires

=> /categories/ Categories
=> /tags/ Tags

=> /privacy/ Privacy
=> /colophon/ Colophon
=> /license/ License

=> https://lists.typewriter.press/subscription?f=RDQ6f3AFHXnX2o763d5TgUmaYP7N763gR6FjZyGUUFWhyRkpgZF9I35ySICDBEdFFtgG Mailing List

=> https://d.moonfire.us/blog/2018/08/25/mfgames-writing-formats/