Saving Time with Kindle Previewer Tool

Kindle Previewer is a free tool that emulates how your book will look on Kindle devices and applications and shows how the text displays for any orientation or font size. Once you’ve finished formatting your MS Word manuscript for KDP and saved it as a filtered web page, you can use Kindle Previewer to check the layout of your book and make sure it’s displayed properly. You can also check that the Table of Contents and any links are working properly.

It’s a lot easier and quicker to make changes to your book now, rather than waiting until after it’s been published to KDP!

Using Kindle Previewer

1. Go to https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help?topicId=A3IWA2TQYMZ5J6 and download the latest version of Kindle Previewer (v2.9 at the time this book was published).
2. Open your formatted MS Word manuscript and select “Save As” to save the document as a “Web Page, Filtered” (for PC) or “Web Page” (for Mac).
3. Open the Previewer and then open your filtered web page. The previewer automatically converts the web page into the mobi file and opens it.
4. The tabs at the top of the document allow you to preview it in several different Kindle viewers. You can also select “Devices” from the menu bar at the top of the screen to see what your file will look like on an iPhone or iPad.
   
   
   For more tips like this one, check out our latest guide on self-publishing “Publishing and Selling Your Ebook on Kindle” available on Amazon’s kindle store at http://amzn.to/1gJSDmj

Converting your e-book using Mobipocket eBook Creator

If you want to publish an e-book to Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing and you just don't want to hassle with formatting and converting the file on your own--try the free Mobipocket eBook Creator.  It's free software you can use to convert your Word file into a Mobipocket's MOBI file format.  A MOBI file is the equivalent of Amazon's proprietary e-book format AZW.  When you use Mobipocket, your Word file will be converted into an HTML file and then into a MOBI file that you can then upload to Amazon's KDP platform. 
With Mobipocket Creator, you can create e-books from Adobe PDF and TXT files as well as Word.  Also, the software includes a built-in converter that you can use to import PDF files, HTML, and images into your publication.  Another great feature is the Table of Contents Wizard which automatically creates links to the chapters of your ebook using smart heading extraction. 
Lastly, Mobipocket Creator helps protect your e-book from illegal copying by use of its Digital Rights Management (DRM) encryption.  The three security options included in Mobipocket Creator are 1. no encryption, 2. encrypted, and 3. password-protected. 
Overall, Mobipocket is easy to use and navigate.  It's a free tool that makes formatting and converting easier for e-book authors to publish on Amazon's KDP.  You can check out Mobipocket's e-book creator guide here.

Formatting e-books for Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing

You might be wondering which format to choose when uploading your manuscript to Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing.  The best choice is Microsoft Word (.doc/.docx).
KDP also accepts these formats:
HTML (ZIP, HTM, or HTML)
Mobipocket (MOBI)
ePub (EPUB)
Plain Text (TXT)
Rich Text Format (RTF)
Adobe PDF (PDF)
There are a few problems you may run into when using MS Word to upload your e-Book to Amazon.  Complex formatting like tables and graphics could cause conversion errors.  Make sure to use the previewer on KDP if you think your e-book contains complex formatting.  Don't expect the font sizes, margins, and page numbers that you set in Word to convert exactly in KDP.  These settings will not apply because readers can adjust font sizes.
If your document contains graphics, you'll want to use the "Insert" function to add images; not the copy/paste function.
When uploading your MS Word file, make sure you load it all as one file.  But do not include the cover.  KDP will automatically embed the cover image.
If, like many, you try to upload your e-Book in Portable Document Format (PDF), you'll probably run into conversion problems such as

• irregularly bolded text
• irregular page breaks
• irregular font sizes
• inconsistent text flow
• and missing or oversized images.

So your best bet is to format and upload your e-Book document in Microsoft Word.

Don't use tabs for Smashwords.com ebook

I uploaded my book Death by Clogging recently on Smashwords.com and I received a message from Smashwords.com that I needed to get rid of the tab formatting in my document.  By the way, I should have read their Smashwords free style guide before doing anything.
I've learned that Smashwords.com doesn't allow tabs to be used in ebooks.  Don't panic if your novel is full of tabs created by hitting the "tab" key in Microsoft Word.  This is how you fix it in a few easy steps.
In MS Word:
Hit the "Ctrl" and "h" keys.  This will bring up the Find & Replace box.  You can also do this by going to the "Edit" dropdown menu and clicking "Replace"
Now in the find box type "^t" without the quotatation marks.
In the replace box type nothing.  Just leave it blank.
Click "Ok"
Voila!  Your .doc is rid of tab formatting and is ready to be uploaded.

Death by Clogging can be found on Smashwords.com at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/91641
Death by Clogging can be found on Kindle at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005MJG0KI

Format problems when converting novel to Kindle ebook

Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) allows for various formatted documents; however, some formats convert better than others.  According to KDP's page on Amazon, the best formats to use are DOC (.doc) and PRC (.prc). 
MOBI or PRC is created using the free Mobipocket Creator.  Here's the link to this software:
http://www.mobipocket.com/en/downloadsoft/productdetailscreator.asp
I'll give it a try with my short story collectin "Death By Clogging" which I uploaded the other day to Amazon.com.  It's actually easy to upload your book to KDP, but the resulting look is what needs tweaking.
I used Portable Document Format (.PDF) and the result was irregular page breaks and inconsistent text flow.  Perhaps Mobicreator will resolve this.  I'll let you know soon!
-Lisa Logan