@echoes-io/books-generator

LaTeX book generation and compilation system for Echoes.io storytelling platform

Overview

The Book Generator provides automated LaTeX compilation for Echoes timeline content, enabling professional book publishing with the Victoria Regia template.

Features

• Victoria Regia Template: Elegant LaTeX template inspired by golden ratio with Brazilian style
• Automated Compilation: Generate PDF books from markdown content using pandoc
• Chapter Organization: Respect episode/chapter hierarchy
• Timeline-Aware Styling: Custom colors for each timeline (Anima, Eros, Bloom)
• Multi-Format Output: Support for A4 and A5 page formats

Installation

npm install @echoes-io/books-generator

Requirements

• Node.js >= 20
• pandoc
• LaTeX distribution (pdflatex, xelatex, or lualatex)

On Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt-get install pandoc texlive-latex-base texlive-latex-extra texlive-fonts-recommended

Usage

CLI

books-generator <contentPath> <outputPath> <timeline> [episodes] [format]

Arguments:

• contentPath: Path to timeline content folder (containing chapters/ directory)
• outputPath: Output PDF file path
• timeline: Timeline name (anima, eros, or bloom)
• episodes: Optional comma-separated episode numbers (e.g., "1,2,3")
• format: Optional page format (a4 or a5, default: a4)

Example:

# Generate book for Bloom timeline, episode 1, A4 format
books-generator ./docs/bloom ./output/bloom-ep1.pdf bloom "1" a4

# Generate book for all episodes
books-generator ./docs/eros ./output/eros-complete.pdf eros

Programmatic API

import { generateBook } from '@echoes-io/books-generator';

await generateBook({
  contentPath: './docs/anima',
  outputPath: './output/anima.pdf',
  timeline: 'anima',
  episodes: '1,2,3',
  format: 'a4'
});

Content Structure

Your content folder should follow this structure:

timeline-name/
└── chapters/
    ├── ep01-episode-name/
    │   ├── ep01-ch001-chapter-title.md
    │   ├── ep01-ch002-chapter-title.md
    │   └── ...
    ├── ep02-episode-name/
    │   └── ...
    └── ...

Template

The Victoria Regia template includes:

• Golden ratio-based layout: Professional typography and spacing
• Timeline-specific colors: Each timeline has its own color palette
  • Anima: Sage green (#4ECDC4)
  • Eros: Burgundy (#D2001F)
  • Bloom: Pink (#FF69B4)
• Elegant frontmatter: Title page, copyright, preface, table of contents
• Chapter decorations: Ornamental separators and headers
• Professional styling: Optimized for readability

Development

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build
npm run build

# Test
npm test

# Lint
npm run lint

TODO

Content Structure Migration

• Migrate from docs/ to content/ folder structure
• Add frontmatter support for chapter metadata:
  • title: Chapter title
  • pov: Point of view character (for multi-POV timelines)
  • number: Chapter number
  • episodeNumber: Episode number
  • timelineId: Timeline identifier
• Parse frontmatter using gray-matter or similar
• Update path resolution to use content/timeline/chapters/ instead of docs/timeline/chapters/
• Extract title and POV from frontmatter instead of markdown headers

Template Improvements

• Add support for custom metadata in frontmatter
• Improve multi-language support
• Add more page format options (letter, custom sizes)

License

MIT

Echoes - Multi-POV storytelling platform ✨