I built a JSON to PDF Ebook engine because formatting ebooks was driving me insane

Source: Dev.to

Introduction

Hey everyone 👋
I’m Sam — a solo builder who spends way too much time writing long‑form content: guides, frameworks, SOPs, ebooks…

The hard part was turning that content into something clean, structured, and publishable without spending hours in Google Docs, Notion, or—worse—InDesign.

So I built EbookForge.

The Problem

If you write long‑form content, you probably know the pain:

• Fighting with margins and spacing
• Random line breaks
• Tables that jump around
• PDFs that look different every time you export
• Manual formatting that kills your flow
• Templates that solve nothing

I always thought, “why isn’t there a simple, deterministic way to generate a clean ebook from structured content?” There wasn’t. So I built one.

The Solution: EbookForge

EbookForge takes a strict JSON schema and turns it into a clean, professional PDF ebook.

What it supports

• Titles / subtitles
• Headings
• Paragraphs
• Lists
• Page layout rules
• Consistent typography
• Automatic spacing

No WYSIWYG. No template hell. Just structure → output.

Why it works

• Predictable
• Scriptable
• Versionable
• Works with LLMs
• Integrates with any backend
• Developers already understand it

If you’ve ever built internal docs, tutorials, online courses, ebooks, or technical PDFs… JSON is the perfect middle layer.

Who Might Benefit

• Developers generating PDFs programmatically
• SaaS founders shipping guides or documentation
• Indie hackers building content products
• Writers who want full control over structure
• Anyone automating content workflows

Getting Started

I built EbookForge for myself first, but I realized others might find it useful too.

It’s live here: EbookForge.

You paste a JSON example, hit “Generate”, and get a clean PDF instantly.

Still early, still improving — feedback is super welcome.

Call for Feedback

If you’ve ever struggled with PDF/ebook generation, I’d love to know:

• What formats do you use?
• What pain points do you hit the most?
• What features would make this 10× more useful?

Happy to share code snippets or JSON examples too.

Thanks for reading! 🙌

— Sam