Markdown > Pandoc Book Doctor > Publication

After migrating my writing workflow from Org-Mode to Markdown, I needed a more straightforward process for quickly publishing the files into different formats. I came across Stefano Cecere's repository and was duly impressed. I was also inspired by Adam Day's work.

I knew I didn't want to lug around a bunch of custom configuration files for every project I tried to convert with Pandoc. Hence, my little pet project was named the Pandoc Book Doctor.

The Pandoc Book Doctor is a single bash script that does all the heavy lifting. I can publish my markup files to a PDF, ePub, or DOCX file without maintaining and altering several configurations. A set of sample conversions can be found in the \examples directory.

Besides saving me some time and grief, this script may be helpful to those who aren't interested in the peculiarities of modifying modern Latex. There are a lot of great templates out there if you like Latex. Unfortunately, none of this helps mediate between Markdown and Pandocs.

Markdown certainly isn't as extensive as Latex for rendering concepts precisely as envisioned, but that's why Markdown is everywhere, and Latex isn't. This script has already made friends with Latex to make this process less daunting.

This project is based on the principles of GNU's copyleft mantra. So, if you need to share, steal or modify this script--go for it. If you are a nerd and decide to send me a PR, just know that I still love you; I might not be so fast to reply.

Come to think of it; I hear Microsoft loves the fact that thousands of copies of the same repositories are copied all over their database. :D

The Process

>> Step One - Create the Project Template

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Create a working template of a novel with the following:

bash doctor create <directory>

This command will create a 5.5 x 8.5 novel template. The size can easily be adjusted later.

>> Step Two - Edit Configuration Files

First, check out where everything is in the newly created files, specifically: metadata.yaml and front-matter.tex. Then, note how the information in these files is referenced during each conversion.

The front-matter.tex is only used when producing a pdf file. When producing ePub documents, all latex will be ignored. That is why some of the text from front-matter.tex is also present in the metadata.yaml configuration file. The section under "rights" does not output to pdf, but it does to ePub.

Here's a fair warning about exporting to a manuscript. I haven't made friends yet with the DOCX template yet. The template I discovered and robbed from Adam Day's repository is already mostly there, even without all the crazy lua. In the future, I may add character counts and try to autofill some of the missing header data. Until then, a few quick runs with search/replace should set the document up nicely.

Here's the file structure:

your-book/       # the new book directory
|- metadata.yml  # Metadata content (title, author...)
|- front-matter.tex  # (pdf only) title page, copyright, epigraph, and dedication
|- *.md          # the book's chapter files 
|- publications/ # File output is placed here 
|- images/       # Images folder
|  |- cover.png  # Cover page for epub

You'll also want to review, change and add additional files as needed. Please remember that the starting numbers of each new file are essential, as this will dictate the order in which Pandoc compiles the documents.

There will be a directory called images created in your project file. Any images you wish to include with your project should be copied here. The standard markdown reference to images placed in this directory would be as follows:

![](images/crow.jpg)

You may want to refer to markdown_guide.md for creating MD files. More information about syntax can be found in the Markdown syntax guide.

>> Step Three - Compile Your Project

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Lastly, you'll want to compile your project into a new format. Currently, there are three available formats: ePub, Manuscript(DOCX), and PDF. The output is always generated inside the publication directory.

bash doctor convert <directory> <epub, manuscript or pdf>

Working with Your Project

A repository is an excellent tool for saving changes while writing and editing a novel.

After each writing session, commit the changes using a tool like Lazygit. Lazygit comes with some very nice features for reviewing all the save points in a project's history.

Also, check out LazyVim. If Lazygit is installed, LazyVim will automatically integrate the tool into your workflow. Just hit gg to get started. A tutorial is available here.

Finally, you can easily add Grammarly to your LazyVim configuration, turning it into a powerful content editor. I use the Mason Tool Installer to set up Grammarly in LazyVim.

LazyVim Plugin Lua

return {
  "WhoIsSethDaniel/mason-tool-installer.nvim",

  opts = {
    { "grammarly-languageserver", auto_update = true },
    auto_update = true,
    run_on_start = true,
    start_delay = 3000,
    debounce_hours = 5,
  },
}

Requirements

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• Install the latest version of Pandoc: Installing Pandoc.
• Install a LaTeX distribution: Installing TeX Live

These can also be installed through the Ubuntu repository:

sudo apt-get install pandoc texlive-full

You also need to install the pandoc-latex-extensions.

pip install git+https://github.com/tbsexton/pandoc-latex-extensions.git@patch-1 --user