Did you know that you can convert a PDF into a range of formats simply by uploading to Google Docs? These currently include Word (.docx), Open Document Format (.odt), Rich Text Format (.rtf), Plain Text (.txt), Web Page (.html, zipped), and yes EPUB (.epub).
With your mind suitably blown, let's get down to the practicalities. The first of which is that when you upload a PDF to Google Docs it is going to need a bit of cleanup. How much cleanup depends on the complexity of the document but a basic PDF with headings, word breaks, running heads, footnotes and blockquotes you'll find needs the running heads removed, the spaces between pages deleted, the word break hyphens removed, blockquotes re-indented, some merged lines separated, footnotes re-activated, etc. But at least italics will be retained.
A licence to print money
Once you've done the clean up, then you can download the file as an EPUB by simply selecting File > Download As > EPUB Publication. And there instantly you have the means to print money when a publisher wants to convert PDFs to EPUBs.But wait, before you get too excited there are a few things to consider. Yes, you have a functioning EPUB with ho-hum internals, a lack of metadata (who uses it anyway?) because there's no way to input this in Google Docs, <span> tags everywhere in place of <h1>, <p>, <i>, etc. (again who cares, it looks fine and it works, and you want a quick buck, who can tell and who cares anyway).
Then there's the other problem, you have a single file because Google Docs is centred on documents, it's not a publisher app that thinks in terms of books made of chapters, a cover, and so on. And this is ultimately the sticking point that is its downfall. If Google is to take EPUB creation seriously, it needs to make some concessions to the format by adding ways of including relevant metadata in a guided way and breaking down documents into chapters (with a cover).
Conclusion
While I could sit and test more complicated files and could rifle through the add ons available to see if anything enables me to make something more book like, I think that converting a single document is all I really need to see in order to understand that while I'll get a working EPUB 3 file from a Google document, if I'm going to use this as a shortcut for building a book, then there is going to be a lot of cut and paste to be done, and internal maintenance to get something that most people in publishing would accept as a complete EPUB. All of which requires technical knowledge. (Our jobs are safe! If somewhat devalued. But let them try Google Docs and then come to us.)
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