Overview
Hederis:Convert is based on the concept of “single-source publishing”. The fundamental principle of this type of publishing workflow is that your final book files (EPUB, print PDF, HTML, etc.) are all controlled by a single file where you make all changes and edits; you then transform that file into all the output formats that you need, and all of those output files are 100% up-to-date.
In the Hederis:Convert workflow, this single source of truth is your Microsoft Word manuscript. This manuscript contains your up-to-date book text, as well as any instructions for the creation of your final output files. These instructions are given in the form of Word Styles, including the semantic tagging of your manuscript text. See “About Styles” for more on this.
A simple workflow example
Book production is a skilled craft, and requires fine-tuning from experts who understand the book’s text. Hederis:Convert reduces the time it takes to get laid out files into your review process, so that you can focus on creating a perfect single-source of truth (your Word manuscript). Don’t expect the results to be perfect after the first conversion - Hederis:Convert is a tool to help you in the book production process, and not a replacement for human experts.
A sample workflow might look like the diagram above:
You upload your raw Word manuscript.
In the background, Hederis:Convert processes this manuscript, applies the necessary tagging, and creates initial PDF, EPUB, HTML files, along with a new Word manuscript that contains the results of this analysis.
You download this new Word file, which becomes your new working manuscript. (If you don’t use this new Word file as your working file, then you’ll have to redo a lot of work throughout this process.)
Your team reviews the new Word file, checking to make sure all paragraphs use the correct styles (see “Working with Microsoft Word”), boxes are correctly wrapped (see “Add a Wrapper”), and chapter breaks are in the right places (see “Add a Section”).
You also review the PDF and EPUB file to see if anything needs to be tweaked in the Word file to create a cleaner output (see “Design Templates” for more on this).
Make all required changes to your source Word file (which will be the most recent file created by Hederis).
Re-upload your latest-and-greatest Word file for conversion, and start a new review process to make sure your changes were correctly incorporated and to see if any new changes need to be made.
