Print to eBook
Most books that need converting have no source files left. We start from the printed copy.
Alpha eBook converts printed books into eBook formats. Where the original layout files are long gone, or never existed, we work from the physical book itself: disbanded page by page, scanned, read by OCR, then checked line by line against the original.
Send us one book. We will convert a sample chapter and show you the result before you commit to the title.
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97000+ Titles Converted
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- The work itself
What Is Print to eBook Conversion?
Print to eBook conversion turns a printed book into a digital edition that can be read on a Kindle, tablet, phone, or eReader. Where publishers still hold the original layout files, the conversion starts from those. Where they do not, it starts from the printed copy itself.
The difference matters. A scan of a page is a picture of text: it cannot be searched, resized, or read aloud. A converted eBook is text, which reflows to fit the device the reader is holding and works with assistive technology.
The conversion is complete when the digital edition carries the same chapters, headings, notes, images, and reading order as the printed book.
Two Ways a Book Reaches Us
Most suppliers work only from digital files. We take either route, and which one applies changes the price and the timeline.
You have the printed book only
Common with backlist titles, older editions, and books that changed publisher along the way. This is print book to eBook conversion in the literal sense: we disband the copy, scan every page, run OCR, and rebuild the book.
- Copy is consumed
You have print-ready files
A press-ready PDF, an InDesign package, or the original word processing files. No scanning or OCR is needed, so the work moves faster and costs less.
- Faster and cheaper
How We Convert a Physical Book to eBook
Disbanding
The binding is removed and pages separated without cutting into the text or losing the outer margin, where running heads and folios live.
Scanning
Every page scanned at a resolution that reads cleanly and holds up when illustrations are reused. Text, halftones, and colour plates each to their own settings.
OCR
Scanned pages converted into editable text. This is where accuracy is decided, and where older typefaces and faded ink make the difference.
Proofing
The output checked against the printed pages rather than trusted. The step most suppliers skip, and why converted backlist so often reaches readers broken.
Structuring
Chapters, headings, footnotes, tables, and image placement rebuilt so the eBook has real structure and a working table of contents.
Delivery
Reflowable or fixed layout depending on the title, with a scanned PDF alongside for archive or reference.
- Reflowable ePub
- Kindle / ePub
- Fixed layout ePub
- Archival PDF
- HTML
No Source Files? No Problem.
Alpha eBook has been converting books since 2013. Where the original files are gone, the printed copy is all we need to rebuild your title as a proper, searchable eBook.
- From experience
Why Converted Backlist Often Disappoints
The scan becomes the book. Pages captured as images and wrapped in an ePub. It looks converted, but nothing can be searched or resized, and it fails accessibility outright.
OCR errors reach the reader. Transposed characters, broken hyphenation, running heads absorbed into body text. None of it looks wrong at a glance, which is why it survives to publication.
Structure is lost in the crossing. Chapters run together, footnotes drift from their references, and there is no working contents. The text is all present and the book is hard to read.
Books We Convert
Different books put different pressure on a conversion.
Backlist and out-of-print
Titles where the original files are long gone and the printed copy is the only source left.
Illustrated and photographic
Books where image quality carries the page, usually delivered as fixed layout.
Technical manuals
Diagrams, tables, and cross-references that have to stay tied to the text around them.
Academic and reference
Footnotes, indexes, and apparatus that need rebuilding rather than flattening.
Children's and picture books
Layouts where words and images are placed together and cannot reflow apart.
Multi-language editions
Books mixing scripts, where OCR needs handling per language.
Recent Titles Converted By Us
