I've been converting stories (Just a few. Doranwen has done most of the conversion work.) and I have had a change in opinion about splitting long stories.
When I started, I was thinking that the epub conversion editor should "bend over backwards" to put the breaks where the author wanted them. If there weren't chapter breaks in place already, we should go back to the original posts and/or contact the author.
That was how I started. Over the past few days I've realized that would make the process too onerous and will impede the epub conversion process.
My epiphany was that if an author of a long work felt strongly about breakpoints, they would have put in chapter or section markers in the first place. I feel that way, which is why all my longer works are chapterized in the archive.
So, I think that for epub conversion, the rules should be simple.
1. If chapter/part breaks are in place, honor them even if they are small. (Take a look at Meet Me in Kansas City.)
2. If there are no preexisting break points, put them wherever they seem to fit with minimal disruption to the story. If the author (or anyone else for that matter) doesn't like the break points, they can redo the conversion themselves or at least request a reformat. For my part, if I did a conversion and the author wanted it segmented differently, I would be happy to make the change ASAP.
Just some thoughts after a few days of converting stories.
Bob
