james said:
>   I don't pass myself off as an expert.

well, be that as it may, now i know you _do_ have expertise,
in many things, which was being obscured from my view by
the glare of a few "inadequacies", for want of a better word.

i'll deal with the shortcomings in a later post, but for now,
what's important is moving the lessons to a different point
on the learning curve, one that will leverage your strengths.

what was unclear before, which i now know from your book
-- and will detail outright, so the others here know it too --
is that you have a fairly solid grasp of the d.p. software, and
scan tailor (which is a big plus), and o.p.d.s cataloging stuff.
heck, you are even comfortable setting up your own server...

in addition, you've used stuff like calibre, sigil, and booki,
which means you know how to make an .epub, and a .mobi,
so what you seek is a _superior_ solution for those formats.
(which is what i have.  thus, it makes it a lot easier, for me,
if we both know that that's exactly what you're looking for.)

another admirable quality is you are willing to do research.
you don't sit and wait for someone to hand you something;
you go out and perform an active search to find solutions...

but your most vital strength is that you are a programmer.
i knew that, in the back of my mind, since you said you had
done stuff for the o.l.p.c. machines, but if i would've known
that you code in python, we coulda cut to the chase earlier...

because that means that you're probably a new subscriber
to this list, and were not here last september (and earlier).
when i have given numerous e-book app-coding tutorials.

i mention september in particular because it was then --
for the first time -- i was coding in python _and_ actually
sharing my source...  i suggest you go back and read that
series, running under the title of "these grapes are sweet".
the posts started in september, and some ran into october:

>   http://lists.pglaf.org/mailman/private/gutvol-d/2011-September/date.html

>   http://lists.pglaf.org/mailman/private/gutvol-d/2011-October/date.html

again, that's the first time i coded _anything_ in python,
so my scripts will be silly and crude to you, but you will
start to see how easy it can be to write code to help you.
and i invite you to riff on my work.  let's get it going on.

i've been long waiting for a programmer to come along
who would spur me into a positive collaborative spiral...

and you, james, just might be that guy.

-bowerbird