reading notes from the PDF document by M.A.Demers, an eBook formating manual using Word for PC or Mac.
These excerpts can be printed, too.
This guide is intended for those who wish to create their entire Kindle book using only Word, and where
your book document is then converted to HTML using Word’s Save as Web Page, Filtered option [Save
as Web page (.htm)] and uploaded to Kindle (you can upload a Word document directly to Kindle but it
isn’t recommended; more on that later). With Word you can embed your front cover, your table of
contents, and your Kindle menu markers (cover, table of contents, beginning). There are some quirks,
though, so those who have complex formatting will need to consider other options like learning HTML,
using the .mobi format, or hiring a specialist who can format your book using an HTML editor. But if
you’ve got a straightforward document like a novel, Word is all you need—though programs such as
Calibre or Mobipocket Creator will also enable you to test your book before uploading to Kindle, which
is not only highly recommended but easy to do.
...No Tabs
Do not use tabs anywhere in your document. Use Paragraph Formatting to indent your lines or
paragraphs. Do not indent your right margin as right margins are not recognized due to the Kindle’s
resizable text option.
If using bullets, it’s not recommended that you use Word’s bullet tool (because some options make use
of tabs). Instead, use either an asterisk or a symbol (using a websafe font!), then use the paragraph
formatting to align your bullets.
...Lines of text and paragraphs should not be separated by blank lines created by carriage returns. While
Kindle will recognize most blank lines (but not all; it’s a bit hit and miss), other devices may not and
your desired effect will be lost. It’s safer to use Paragraph Formatting instead—Format> Paragraph>
Spacing (Paragraph submenu)—and input your desired space in the After option. These paragraph
options are translated into HTML.
...If you want your chapter headings to start part way down your page (to mimic a printed book), use the
Before spacing option to add the equivalent of blank carriage returns and the After option to add space
between your chapter heading and first line of text.
The Kindle does not recognize line spacing greater than single, even though HTML does. Double line
spacing, etc., is converted to single on the Kindle.
The simplest way to ensure all your paragraphs are formatted the same way is to format your first
paragraph then click Tools> Options> check “Keep Track of Formatting.” (On the Quick Access
Toolbar click the down arrow; this opens the Customize Quick Access Toolbar submenu. Select More
Commands> Advanced> Editing options> check “Keep track of formatting.”) Word will then format all
subsequent paragraphs the same way. You then only have to change the formatting of your chapter or
section headers.
Beware, however, that if you set your first line to indent, you need to remember to remove that for
centered text like chapter headings. Otherwise you text will be off-center by whatever amount your first
line is indented by.
...Page Layout
When converted to HTML (and then Kindle), Word’s page margins are ignored, headers and footers are
erased, and any text divided into columns is recombined into one column. Text frames, regardless of
where they are placed on the page, are moved to the left margin and the text is flowed around it. If you
have footnotes at the bottom of your pages, the footnotes are hyperlinked and moved to the end of the
document into one page of footnotes; so if you have chapter-specific footnotes you will need to create a
separate page at the end of your chapter and input your footnotes as regular text.
While tables are supported by HTML, they are not supported by the Kindle. If you need to insert a table,
you must first convert it to an image file.
Use page breaks, not carriage returns, to force text to start on a new page (such as at the end of your
chapters or after a title or copyright page). If you don’t, your pages will run one into the other. To insert
a page break, click Insert> Break> Page break (Insert tab> Pages> Page Break).
When viewed in HTML there are no obvious page breaks; however, if you left space above and below
your chapter headings using paragraph formatting, you will see some white space. But when viewed on
the Kindle the page breaks will be there.
Miscellaneous Text Formatting
Clean out spaces before carriage returns. Since a space is required between a period and the start of the
next sentence, many of us, myself included, have a habit of adding in that space when we come to the
end of a paragraph and before we hit “Enter.” But these spaces are read as characters of text and so they
can cause odd text alignment. You can check for unnecessary spaces by clicking on the Show/Hide icon
(¶) on your toolbar to view hidden characters, then delete these spaces.
Do not use character spacing, for example to increase the distance between points of an ellipsis (“...”).
As noted earlier, horizontal spacing is erased when converted to HTML. Word’s Autocorrect
automatically increases the spaces between the dots of an ellipsis, but this will not translate into HTML.
If you use an ellipsis, do not put spaces between the points (“. . .”) as one would in a print manuscript
because each point will be read as an independent character and so your ellipsis might end up divided
between lines of text.
If using an en dash (“–”) or em dash (“—”) do not leave a space between the preceding text and the
dash, or after it. Doing so can create odd text alignment.
Do not use hyphenation to fit text on the line as the Kindle hyphenates automatically (and not always
properly). Use only where the word itself is hyphenated.
[about Images]
...PNGs and Bitmaps are converted by Kindle into JPEGS and GIFs since the device can only recognize
internally these two formats.
...different digital devices display at different resolutions: the default display on a Mac is
72 ppi but Windows’ default is 96 ppi; the iPad displays at 132 ppi; the Kindle DX at 150 ppi, the
Kindle at 167 ppi; and so on.
...Kindle Limitations on Embedded Images
Kindle will not accept embedded images larger than 127 KB, so using a large image inside your Word
document may result in rejection by Kindle... I have found that around 960 pixels high is an excellent balance between
file size and image presentation.
...Adding Images to Your Word Document
If you want to place an image into the body of your text, insert it then format it to be in line with text.
...if your image is connected intrinsically to your text—for example, if it’s a graph or image that
explains the preceding text—the best way to insert it is to center it using paragraph formatting and use
the aforementioned “in line with text,” then begin your next paragraph after the image.
...Cover Page and Product Image
...Amazon uses the terms “Cover Page” and “Product Image” interchangeably but they are not the same thing.
When you upload your book to Kindle, you will be asked to “Upload Your Book Cover,” but this cover is not the book cover
you see when you open a book on your Kindle; it is the product image on Amazon’s website and the
thumbnails on the reader’s Kindle home page.
Kindle’s requirements state that a cover image (product image) cannot be smaller than 500 pixels
wide/high, and it cannot be larger than 1280 pixels at its height or more than about 800 pixels wide.
...Product images must be in JPEG format
create a table of contents ...by manually inserting TOC markers
To create a manual marker, place your cursor at the beginning of your heading, then Alt+Shift+O [not
available on Mac; see Mac instructions below]. Note: if you have space before your chapter heading so
that it starts below your top page margin, then if you wish to preserve this look in your Kindle version
you need to place the marker at the top of your page and flushed left, not before the chapter heading.
This is because when you use the Go to function, it hyperlinks to the hidden marker and places it at the
top of the screen. Similarly, you mustn’t place the marker within or after your heading text as any text
placed before the marker will then “disappear” off the page.
In the Mark Table of Contents Entry dialogue box that pops up, type into the Entry table the name of
your chapter. This is the name that will appear when you auto-create your TOC, and as noted it doesn’t
have to match exactly your actual chapter heading.
The default “Table identifier” is “C”; leave all entries at the same letter identifier. However, if you have
a sub-chapter heading, you can use the Level to indent sub-chapter headings: level 1 is flushed left, level
2 is indented below level 1; and level 3 is indented below level 2, and so on. Note, however, that the
same problem with indents in your paragraphs reappears in your TOC: Kindle doesn’t go any further
than an indent of 10 pixels, so your level 3 entries appear flush with level 2 entries. Once again, if you
have more complex formatting, you will need to consider an alternative to using only Word.
Once you have everything marked you can now create a Table of Contents. This page should ideally
come after your title page, with a page break between them.
At the top of your Table of Contents page type in its title (“Table of Contents” or “Contents,” whatever
is appropriate). Then on the next line, and regardless of whether you used Styles or manual insertion to
determine your TOC entries, you must use the following system to create the TOC because Word’s
automatic table options are based on using page numbers, but for ebooks you need to use hyperlinks.
Therefore, the process is Insert> Reference > Index and Tables (References> Table of Contents> Insert
Table of Contents).
In the Index and Tables dialogue box, click on tab Table of Contents. Uncheck boxes “Show page
numbers” and “Right align page numbers.” Check “Use hyperlinks instead of page numbers” if it isn’t
already checked.
...Go Menu Functions
To take advantage of the Kindle’s Go menu items (Cover, Table of Contents, and Beginning) you need
to add bookmarks.
For your cover, click on the image, then Insert> Bookmark. Under “Bookmark name,” change the
default name to “cover” (no quotation marks or uppercase; in Word 2007 there is no default title, just a
blank box). Click on “Add.” You won’t see the bookmark but you will be able to check that it’s there
when you convert to HTML.
Also, as noted in the instructions, you need to click on the image and then place the bookmark; if you
click above the image and the image later fills the screen of the device the book is being viewed on, the
bookmark will get pushed back and create a blank page. If you place the bookmark below or beside the
image, you will get a blank page after your image and the reading device will assume the blank page is
your cover (because the bookmark says it is).
For your TOC, click at the start of your Table of Contents, Insert> Bookmark, and in the dialogue box
name it “TOC” (no quotation marks but all uppercase). Click on “Add.”
To add a Go to Beginning function, choose where you want your book to open when the reader first
opens it on Kindle. This is usually your title page though some prefer the first chapter. Wherever you
choose, place your cursor at the top of the page and, like before, click Insert> Bookmark. Type in “start”
(no quotation marks or uppercase). Click “Add.”
If you’re placing a bookmark at text that is centered, place the bookmark on a line above the text;
otherwise it can cause the text to flush left.
...Convert to HTML
In theory, you can stop here and upload your Word doc to Kindle. However, a few things:
1. Kindle does not accept .docx files so you must save your file as a .doc.
2. Kindle does not guarantee stability of the conversion, and if you stop here you can’t check your
book yourself first.
3. Only by converting to HTML can you check on the final image size of your embedded images to
determine if they conform to Kindle’s limit of 127 KB.
If you decide to proceed, a word of warning: before you Save as Web Page, Filtered [Save as Web page
(.htm)], save your document. This is because Word will automatically close your original Word doc after
converting to HTML and open up the resultant .htm file, and it will do so without saving any
changes to your Word doc.
[checking the HTML code after the conversion to Web, Filtered: separates the body from the image files]
...find the place where you added your “start” bookmark. You should find this:
</b><a name=Start></a></p>
If you find all the above code, your cover, TOC, and bookmarks are there and should work.
With Explorer [Finder], open up the adjunct image folder and check the file sizes of your images. If any
are above 127 KB, you will need to resize the image(s) in your Word doc to make them smaller, and
then repeat Step 5 again until all files are within the limit.
...If there is an adjunct image folder, you will need to zip your html file and the adjunct image folder into
what is called an “archive.” An archive is simply several files bundled together into one compressed
folder for ease of delivery.
...[preview the net result by using Mobi Pocket Creator]
To test your book, open MPC. Under Import From Existing File, select “HTML document.” In the next
dialogue box, use Browse to find your HTML file that you created from Word. Click on “Import.”
In the next dialogue box, click on the Publication File that was created and then click on “Build” from
the toolbar. In the next box, leave Compression Options and Encrytion Options checked at the default
“No Compression” and “No Encryption.” Click on “Build.”
In the next dialogue box, leave “Open folder containing eBook” checked and click “OK.” Don’t worry
about any warnings at the bottom of the box.
From your Explorer window that opens, drag the .prc file to the Kindle for PC icon on your desktop; this
will open your book in Kindle for PC and will store a copy of the file in your My Kindle Content folder.
You can also view the book on the Kindle Previewer (see below) by opening up the Previewer and
dragging the .prc file inside the view frame; this will open the file
...Calibre
Calibre is a library program but it has the added bonus of being able to convert non-digital rights
managed books to other formats compatible with other readers. For example, a Kindle book can be
converted to an ePub to be read on a Sony e-reader or a Nook. The beauty of Calibre is that when you
use it convert your HTML file to the .mobi format, Calibre retains most paragraph formatting including
hanging paragraphs (as shown in the earlier figure).
...In the convert dialogue box, in the upper right hand corner you will see “Output format.” Select
“MOBI” from the list.
In the Metadata panel, add a title name, author, and publisher. If you embedded a cover, check the “Use
cover from source file” box.
Unless you know what you’re doing, leave the Look & Feel panel alone, as well as Heuristic Processing.
Under Page Setup, choose Kindle for your Output profile; leave the Input profile at Default.
Leave Structure Detection alone.
If your book has an embedded table of contents that has been bookmarked, leave this page as is; Calibre
will detect your embedded TOC.
Leave Search & Replace, MOBI Output, and Debug panels alone.
Click “OK.” You will see a “Jobs” icon in the lower right hand corner. When it stops spinning, your
book is done.
In Explorer [Finder], navigate to “Calibre Library.” (This folder was created automatically when you
installed Calibre). Within that folder will be a sub-folder by author; within that sub-folder you will find
your book folder, and within that three files: a .mobi file, a .zip file, and an .opf file. Double-click on the
.mobi file to open it up in your Kindle for PC [Kindle for Mac]; this will also automatically copy the
.mobi file to your My Kindle Content folder to make the book part of your Kindle library.
Check your book for Go menu functions, your formatting, etc.
Upload to Kindle
For upload to Kindle, you can elect to send the .mobi file created by Calibre or you can send the zipped
file you created containing your HTML file and image folder. Which file you choose will of course
depend on which line of formatting you elected to follow.
The Kindle site states:
If your HTML content contains images or multiple files, please compress all files into a .zip file
before uploading.
Important: All the files in the .zip archive must be in a single folder, without any files in subfolders
(such as image files). Save your content in the web browser using the “Save As Web Page
(Complete)” option or similar, which will include any images on the page. Then the resulting files
can be put inside a .zip file.
This would suggest that you must move or copy your image files from the adjunct folder into the root
folder and zip that up instead. But this is not what Kindle means (as usual, they’re unclear in their
instructions). What they are referring to are HTML files created by an HTML editor and not to those
created by conversion from Word. Hence the instruction to “Save As Web Page (Complete).” If you
were to move the image files from the adjunct folder, the links would be broken between the HTML file
and the images, and your images would not display. So ignore this section on the Kindle site and just
upload your zipped folder as you were instructed by this manual to create.
If you send the .mobi file, note that with Kindle you need not send the .opf file because it contains
metadata that will be created when you fill in the online forms on the Kindle site.