Since my last post, I’ve been working on formatting Resurgence so that it can be uploaded to Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). KDP is the first eBook format I chose to make the book available. I spent about 2 weeks working strictly on this formatting task, including a learning curve, researching and trying things out.
The good news is I still have all my hair. But I certainly googled the heck out of formatting for KDP.
I will begin with what I tried but gave up on and will end with how I ended up formatting Resurgence.
Kindle Create
As I am used to Word because I can set a style once then reuse it, I followed KDP’s recommendation and downloaded Kindle Create for Microsoft Word, a free application that can create the formatted book that is then uploaded to KDP.
Kindle Create was a huge disappointment. It sounded like the application can accept multiple types of documents but the version I installed only accepts .doc and .docx files. As I installed it last fall, I don’t think my version is that old, then again, I did only download Kindle Create for Microsoft Word so that probably explains the limitation.
As I use Word for my manuscripts, that the accepted file types is great but alas, it didn’t take long for me to dislike using this application.
The good
Simple to use
It’s easy to identify specific sections and format them
The Table of content is created automatically
Easy to format drop caps (a special effect on the first letter of the first paragraph of a chapter or scene)
Works with Kindle Previewer
In principle, Kindle Create identifies, based on Word Styles, how the manuscript was built. It allows you to confirm which sections are chapters. The other sections, you pick and choose from a list of element types (like copyright, title page, dedication, sub-chapters and more) and it will format those sections appropriately based on the chosen theme (4 themes are available).
Identifying the sections is what allows Kindle Create to know what to put in the Table of Contents. That part works great and is pretty quick.
The bad
Very tedious if you don't like the preset formats for a specific item (like font/size/placement of the chapter heading)
I had saving issues
In my latest test, I uploaded a short version of my manuscript that included the front and back matter as well as the first 5 and last chapter of my manuscript. I hated the way the chapter headings looked. I hated the size of the heading, the spacing of it with respect to the text. There wasn’t much about it I liked.
So I modified the format of the chapter title element and expected it to update all my other chapter titles to that same changed format (a fair assumption, that’s what happens when I update a style in Word and Kindle Create had identified them all).
It didn’t.
For all chapter titles to look the same, I have to format each chapter title individually. If there’s a way to change the default formatting of the chapter title so that I can change it once and it applies to all my chapter titles, I haven’t found it.
It is very tedious (and error prone), for each chapter title, to 1) change font size, 2) remove the lines above the title, 3) add lines between the title and the first paragraph. It’s reasonable to do that for 5 chapters but I have 30 chapters in my manuscript. I had the same issue with other types of headings.
Add drop cap to the mix. Regardless of the application, drop caps has to be individually set on a letter, which I had done in Word. Kindle Create recognized drop caps (great!) but I didn’t like how they looked (too small), I would need to change the format of the drop cap for 100 individual letters as I have 100 scenes in my manuscript (yikes!). Even though there’s really just one drop cap setting that matters, it’s still a hundred changes and easy to miss one.
The weakness of Kindle Create is that there is no way to preset the format of an element style so that it applies to the entire document.
Although I did try the application for a portion of my manuscript, I got frustrated, made worse that when I went back to it the next day to test the result, the saving hadn’t worked. Saving had worked on a test file I had tried last fall but when it counted, saving only created a 1 KB .kpf file. So all that tedious work for nothing.
As I wasn’t able to generate a document I wanted to test on my Kindle, I can’t speak to the quality of document created using this application, whether good or bad.
Kindle Create Add-in in Word
Last fall, after I first tried Kindle Create and I realized that it would be tedious to manage formatting of a book, I found a Kindle Add-in available for Word. Once the Kindle Create Add-in for Microsoft Word is installed, you have to enable it. It actually has to be enabled every time Word is opened and you want to use it on a file.
First, you open a Word document then click “Get Started” on the Kindle tab. It converts the document after choosing a few options (like theme). Unlike Kindle Create, you have to go through the entire document and identify the elements. Kindle Create had recognized my chapters automatically. But unlike Kindle Create, you can select everything that has the same style (whatever you set your chapter style to) and apply the Kindle style to it. So a great improvement over the Kindle Create application.
The drop caps in this instance looked terrible until I identified the paragraph as a first chapter paragraph. I still found at least one case of the drop cap not applying correctly after a scene break. I use a drop cap for each scene, that way it’s easy for the user to know it’s a new scene without having to add a separator. The drop caps looked better with Kindle Create.
The good
Easier and more flexible formatting than Kindle Create
You can change the Kindle styles and it will apply to all elements of that same style
It seems to do both print & eBook formatting at the same time
The bad
Kindle Previewer doesn’t work for me with this Add-in
What you see on the screen is what the print version would look like (so different left margins depending on odd/even pages (that was annoying for me as I kept thinking my centering didn't work correctly)
Having to identify all first paragraphs individually
At least one drop cap didn't look right
That’s essentially as far as I got with the Kindle Create Add-in for Word. To be honest, I had forgotten about the Add-in until I started working on this post and it hadn’t come up in my latest formatting research.
It<s a viable option over Kindle Create as it has more formatting flexibility. I can't speak to how good the file looks as I didn’t try generating a file using this method to test on my Kindle.
Calibre
Calibre, a free book management and book conversion application, wasn’t what I tried next but I did end up installing it but eliminating it as a tool.
I wasn’t looking for a book management software but the reason I considered it is because it can convert between formats. Based on some reviews, I saw many complaints about needing something else to fix Calibre conversion issues. I figured I would start with whatever was being used to fix Calibre issues before trying it.
I did download it to test an EPUB I created to convert it to the MOBI format. I didn’t like the end result when I uploaded it as a document to my Kindle. To be fair, I didn’t fiddle with it for very long. By then, I had decided I needed to pick a method, stick with it, and get it done. I didn’t particularly like the application but that’s a personal choice. I will probably keep it and maybe use it at times to convert to other formats as needed.
Scrivener
Scrivener is a writing application that also saves/converts the results into multiple formats.
I had downloaded a trial version of Scrivener at the end of 2016. I had tried it as a writing software for a few days and fiddled with it but I was simply too used to Word and my other tools to manage my world that I only used it over 4 days or so.
The good news is that the free trial “days” count down based on the separate days you open scrivener rather than a fixed set of 30 days. That meant I was able to see how easy it would be to create a formatted document using it.
The good
Serves as both writing and formatting application
It can convert to multiple formats
It has some nifty stuff (for example, when you write, you can make the cursor stays in the middle of the screen rather than type to the end of the page and have to scroll up)
The bad
The software must be purchased (although it’s not that expensive)
High learning curve to truly use the features
I didn’t get very far putting my manuscript into Scrivener. I didn’t even get through all the front matter. The learning curve is just too high for me at this point, which was one reason I had given up using it in the first place.
But for anyone who is already using Scrivener to write, it's most definitely a viable option to format books. It’s just not for me.
Sigil
Sigil is essentially a free eBook editor that creates EPUB format for eBooks. In the editor, you can switch from normal view (what the eBook would look like) to code view which can be very useful to get a book to look the way you want.
As I have experience with coding and some HTML/XML knowledge, Sigil was an application that I felt comfortable trying.
The good
Create your cascading style sheet (CSS) once and reuse it for subsequent books
Complete control over the document
Creates a much cleaner document
Sigil fixed what I hated about Kindle Create (not the Add-in, remember, I had forgotten about that), which was control over the style, setting the style once and then just applying it where I needed the style to apply. That control comes at a price of having to create a marked-up Word document (based on formatting that needs to be re-coded in Sigil) and quite a few other steps along the way.
The bad
Some rudimentary understanding of HTML is required
Copying text from a Word file adds a lot of unnecessary code, so it's necessary to mark-up the Word file and save it as a text file then copy the text file to Sigil
Need to understand how to create a marked up file (but that can be done from any editor)
Need to install the FlightCrew plug-in to validate the EPUB document
Requires running the eubcheck manually
Requires running KindleGen to create the .mobi
Running EPUB check and KindleGen from the command prompt isn’t for everyone
Understanding Sigil/FlightCrew, EPUB check or KindleGen errors can be difficult (can be daunting for those who never coded before)
Manipulation is required to prepare a Kindle version of the EPUB to run through KindleGen
I found a series of blog posts by Rod Shelton that took me through getting my Word document into Sigil step by step then all the way to generating the MOBI file using KindleGen. I don’t know that I would have stuck to using Sigil if not for his blog posts. I might have remembered the Kindle Create Add-in.
Some of the steps are outdated (or maybe there’s something I didn’t understand) as the first MOBI file I sent to my Kindle, the links in my Table of Contents (not the Go To option) weren’t working. I actually got that to work by undoing a step he had identified in his posts. Other than that, it went relatively well.
Would I recommend Sigil in general?
To coders like me, it’s an option. To everyone else, no, because for many, that kind of coding and tedious steps is daunting. For the amount of fiddling required, maybe simply bite the bullet with Kindle Create and live with the tedious reformatting of each instance of an individual element or better yet, use Word with the Kindle Create Add-in. But understanding the style sheets and everything that makes up an eBook can be useful if you find that there's something wrong with your book.
It probably would have taken me less time had I used the Kindle Create Add-in for Word than it took me to get Resurgence formatted with Sigil with all the steps to get it through Kindle Gen.
That said, I probably ended up with a much cleaner document as a result. Just try saving a Word file as a filtered HTLM document and see what kind of mess Word does to the file. When I did it, Word set the language on each individual paragraph and included all font types available that I didn't use in the document!
Conclusion
Had I remembered the Kindle Create Add-inn for MS Word, I might have stuck with that option and gone all the way to testing what such a file would look like on my Kindle. I may try this method to format the next book and see how big a file results from that method and how long it takes me. As I will have the style sheet already done in Sigil, I may do a compare of both methods and post my results.
Because of the manipulation I performed in Sigil and outside Sigil, I have to reread the entire book. I already noticed I missed italic tags on the first page of the first chapter. So that's a negative of using this method.
So I’m off to read the results of my hard work.
Next step, completing the KDP publishing step after I fix the format errors I find and regenerate the file for Resurgence.
I’m getting close to the end!
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