EPUB to MOBI Conversion [Left Margin Problem]
For the small subset of people in the world who experience the “left margin issue” above when converting from EPUB format to MOBI format, here is a solution that works for me:
- Install Calibre and Sigil.
- Import your EPUB into Calibre.
- Convert the EPUB to EPUB. This normalizes the CSS stylesheet for the book. Under “Page Setup” set the left margin to 0.
- Open the new EPUB in Sigil.
- Open Stylesheet.css (or stylesheet1.css) (located under the “Styles” folder in the Book Browser on the left.
- Do a search for anything that says “margin-left” (or “margin-right”).
- If the value is anything other than “0”, change it to 0. E.g. “5pt” –> “0pt” or “1em” –> “0em” You will find multiple instances of this within the stylesheet.
- Save the EPUB and exit Sigil.
- Open Calibre and convert the EPUB to MOBI. Under “Page Setup” set the left margin to 0.
That should do it. It’s cumbersome, yes, but it gets the job done.
Based off of a post in MobileRead.com
eBook Trifecta
Being the proud new owner of a Kindle book reader, I’ve recently rediscovered my love for reading (after switching wholesale to audiobooks, which I still listen to). Brian (a.k.a. seventyfourmanx), pointed me an eBook Trifecta:
- Calibre – eBook management software (for Linux, Mac OS X and Windows)
- Drinkmalk Stanza/Aldiko Catalog Site – A huge ebook resource
- Stanza – An eBook reader for iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch and Android users
With Stanza and Drinkmalk, you have access to a huge catalog of eBooks that you can download to your phone and then sync to your desktop. When I started this Kindle craze, I was a little worried about having to re-purchase all of my books in eBook format. So far, I’ve found what I needed at Drinkmalk. (As a disclaimer, I’m not encouraging you to pirate books. I already own physical copies of these books and am just looking to have them available digitally.) The Drinkmalk library is only accessible via Stanza. Luckily, Stanza has the ability to offload those books from your phone.
The main star of this post, though, is Calibre. Calibre handles translation of eBook formats and maintenance of your eBook library. Its main feature is the ability to translate eBook formats. In my own library, I had EPUB and PDF versions of books. I was able to translate those into the Kindle’s MOBI format and copy them to the Kindle all within the app.
You can also add metadata to your eBooks such as cover images, author, ratings, ISBN, etc. This comes in especially handy when you are browsing through the plethora of free eBook libraries such as:
- Project Gutenberg
- Random House Free Library – accessible via Stanza
- Feedbooks – Free Content
Given all this, I already have a “stack” of books waiting to be read and re-read. This brings me much joy and happiness.
Thanks for the tips, Brian!
Kindle App for iPhone
Amazon just released their aptly named “Kindle for iPhone” app (iTunes link) for the… uh… iPhone. It’s free, and it syncs books and bookmarks between your iPhone and your Kindle (if you have one).
I’m pretty excited about building up a library of reference books, though. 
I took some screenshots of me grabbing a sample:
I’m using the smallest font setting for the screenshot above. You can adjust font size and bookmark and all that jazz. Pretty nifty!
UPDATE: There’s no search functionality in this app. Boo!
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