Ubuntu – What’s a good tool for creating .epub format e-books

We know you don't like Calibre... but have you tried its CLI conversion tool?

The Calibre install provides the command ebook-convert that will handle what you want, and there's no need to run Calibre.

ebook-convert file.pdf file.epub

is all that's required.

If the output looks a little wrong - try this

ebook-convert file.pdf file.epub --enable-heuristics

It will try a "smart" way to convert. Not perfect, but can work well in most conversions.

You definitely want Calibre. You can use it to convert virtually any file type to any other file type, as long as the source file doesn't have DRM (like Amazon, Adobe, etc.). If it does have DRM, check out Apprentice Alf's blog for help stripping it out with Calibre plugins. Don't use the DRM stripper to pirate books or otherwise violate your agreement with the vendor. Use it so you can enjoy your books on any device in any format.

Calibre is also an awesome e-book management program that can do virtually everything. It can manage Kindles, Android phones/tablets, etc. It can even email your books with one click to your Kindle's email address if you want. You won't be disappointed :-)

From a terminal:

sudo apt-get install calibre

Or search for it in Ubuntu Software Center

To actually convert the EPUB file you can use the following command:

ebook-convert file.epub file.pdf (For details, check this other answer)

Or you can check the details for the conversion dialog using the Calibre GUI.