Formatting of Kindle Books: a Brief Tutorial


*** Updated in August 2018 ***

You can download this book from the KDP forum (copy and paste the link into your browser, ignore the date):

kdpcommunity.com/s/question/0D5f400000FHwQnCAL/formatting-an-ebook-properly-in-word-or-in-wordperfect-openoffice-or-html

This document was written for the lay audience and outlines the steps necessary for creation of a full-featured, professionally formatted electronic book for the Amazon.com Kindle platform. Never mind the size of this tutorial: most of it is pictures and side notes (which you can ignore). The book consists of three parts--you need to choose only one of them--

{a} for people who don't want to learn HTML
{b} for those willing to learn HTML
{c} for professional web designers

It is possible to do some changes to your Word manuscript and upload it to Kindle Direct Publishing within half an hour, but you are likely to discover later that your ebook has many annoying little problems that need fixing in HTML code. If you don't want to learn HTML, the book contains a chapter on how to format a Kindle ebook properly using a free 30-day trial of Microsoft Word. The text also describes conversion of PDF, InDesign, EPUB, Apple Pages, OpenOffice, LibreOffice, Google Docs, WordPerfect, Final Draft, and QuarkXPress files.

Good formatting will take several hours to several days. Please keep in mind that the vast majority of self-published ebooks do not sell and the formatting efforts and expenses may never pay off. Readers will learn how to:

• create a fully functional "Go to" menu (table of contents, cover, and beginning)
• embed a high-quality image to create a full-screen, native cover of a Kindle book
• use Word's paragraph styles to achieve consistent formatting across different Kindle devices
• format pictures, lists, formulas, tables, or poetry using Microsoft Word (or HTML)
• troubleshoot fonts and font sizes in your Kindle book
• create a logical table of contents (NCX) that will enable the use of the 5-way button on a Kindle device (to skip through sections in your ebook)
• convert your Kindle ebook to the NookBook format and put it up for sale on the Barnes & Noble website
• and more...

In addition, the document contains an HTML template for a Kindle book.


Devices discussed: 1st generation Kindle (Kindle 1), Kindle 2, Kindle 3 (Kindle Keyboard), Kindle 4, Kindle 5, Kindle 7, Kindle DX, Kindle Touch, Kindle Paperwhite, Kindle Voyage, Kindle Oasis, Fire Phone, Kindle Fire, Kindle Fire HD, Kindle Fire Kids Edition, Fire HD 6, Fire HD 8, Kindle Fire HD 8.9", Fire HD 10, Fire HDX, and Fire HDX 8.9"

Software discussed: MobiPocket Creator, MobiPocket Reader, Kindle Previewer 2.5, Kindle Previewer 2.7, Kindle Previewer 2.94, Kindle Previewer for Mac, KindleGen 1.2, KindleGen 2.3, KindleGen 2.9, KindleGen 2.9 for Mac, W3C Validator, epubcheck, GIMP, IrfanView, KDP Cover Creator beta, KDP converter, Calibre, Calibre e-book viewer, Sigil, InDesign Plug-in, Notepad++, Notepad, TextCrawler, Fraise, TextWrangler, TextEdit, Clean HTML Word Macro from Toxaris, word2cleanhtml.com, KindleUnpack, KindleStrip, Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft Word 2007, Microsoft Word 2008, Microsoft Word 2010, Microsoft Word 2011, Microsoft Word 2013, Microsoft Word 2016, Adobe Acrobat XI, Adobe Acrobat DC, Nitro PDF, Nitro Pro, Kindle for PC, Kindle for Windows 8/10, Kindle for Mac, Kindle for iPad, Kindle for iPhone, Kindle for Android, and Kindle Cloud Reader

Formats discussed: Kindle Format 8 (KF8, AZW3), Kindle Format 6 (KF6 or Mobi7, MOBI, PRC, AZW), MobiPocket (PRC), Smashwords MOBI, Calibre MOBI, Calibre AZW3, EPUB, fixed layout (KF8, AZW3), and Kindle for iOS (AZK)