Converting an EPUB to an MP3

Start:
Place all six scripts into your working folder (the folder where you've 
got your EPUB file and where you'll be doing the conversion). This can 
get messy, so give each EPUB its own folder and a separate copy of the 
scripts.
Get SOX and LAME. Put them in your %PATH% or copy the programs into your 
working folder.
http://sox.sourceforge.net/
http://lame.sourceforge.net/


1: Convert from EPUB to HTM
Either rename the EPUB with a ZIP extension or use 7-zip to open it. Find 
the content files. These will typically be a collection of similarly-named 
HTM, HTML, XML, or XHTML files. Also keep an eye out for a JPG file for 
the cover art. The EPUB file format doesn't specify names or locations for 
any of this, so each book is likely to be different.

2: Rename the HTM
You can do it the hard way (manually) or you can do it from the DOS 
command line (which, for most people, is an even harder way). Make sure 
that the chapter numbers are at the *end* of the file name.

3: Convert from HTM to TXT
Put the "Htm2Txt.vbs" script in the folder with your HTM files and run 
it. The HTM files can now be deleted.

4: Edit the text
Spend a few minutes reading the text files! Look for anything you don't 
want read out loud or anything with confusing punctuation. You can run 
DOS commands to remove unwanted lines, use Windows Notepad to do simple 
editing, and use Microsoft Word, Open Office, Libre Office, or Notepad++ 
(from https://notepad-plus-plus.org/) to do more complex editing. No 
matter what tool you use, you'll need to get proficient with it. Text 
editing is the single most important part of the conversion process.

5: Configure your voice
Run the "VoiceChooser.hta" script to select the voice you want to use. 
A "StoryReader.cfg" file will be created to hold your choice. As long 
as you have that "StoryReader.cfg" file, you won't have to run the 
"VoiceChooser.hta" script again. In fact, you can always skip this step, 
but then the text-to-speech engine that gets used may not be one you like.

6: Convert text to WAV files
7: Normalize the volume and apply speech-frequency rolloffs
8: Convert from WAV to MP3
All three of these steps are performed in one go by running "TextToMp3.bat".
Note: If you thought you'd be clever and merge all your text files into one 
massive file, this is where it will blow up. As the text-to-speech creates 
the intermediate WAV files, a potential problem arises: WAV files have 
maximum sizes! A big text file will result in a WAV file that exceeds the 
maximum size. Epic fail. Short stories are okay in one file, but a book 
with separate chapters should be left in separate chapters!

9: Add cover art (and more)
Run the "ID3.bat" file to get prompted for the title, author, and cover 
art to use. You'll also be prompted for a release date. Don't worry about 
that. Release date is mostly used in case your player does a bad job 
sorting files. Sorting by release date is a common (but rarely-used) 
feature. You could (for example) take a multi-book set and enter fake 
release dates one day apart for each book just to make sure they play 
in the right order.

10: Enjoy!