brakespear
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Post by brakespear on Mar 24, 2014 7:27:15 GMT -8
So, I uploaded my work via KDP a while back, and have been tweaking the formatting ever since. And now I'm also trying to format my work ready for Smashwords. Except I can't get solid information on these two points: 1) When I view the raw html file for the KDP version, and when I view the processed .mobi in Kindle for PC, there are spaces between every paragraph and every line of dialogue. Now, having taken great pains to ensure that I'd formatted everything using a uniform set of custom styles in open office, and having looked at the html and found NO margins beyond that which I defined... I'm at a loss. Where the hell is it getting that information? I mean good grief... I know my html well enough that I've been building a javascript text adventure with a canvas-based tile system for navigation... and I have *never* had trouble with margins misbehaving like this. Yet even when I view the damn file directly in Firefox, spaces... spaces everywhere (and even viewing the page source, no information telling it to add margins... in fact, the style code is very clearly telling it to set a margin of ZERO). EDIT: I *would* use a <br> inside the <p>, and basically turn every body of text into mega-paragraphs with lots of line breaks, but then I lose the indentation... unless I subsequently clutter up the paragraph with multiple spans to set the indentation for that line... that doesn't seem to be a healthy, reliable option to me, knowing how pedantic many e-readers can be. EDIT EDIT: Could it be default padding settings causing the spaces? (EDIT: No, it isn't. Padding settings wouldn't even touch it) 2) I created a lovely map of my book's setting... but it's landscape, and Smashwords recommends a width of 500 pixels. Which is really small, and which renders pretty much all the text on the map illegible. For the KDP upload, I used a width of 800, and on "Kindle for PC", the previewer, and the "look inside" functionality, the image is resized and displayed correctly. Is 500 pixels really the best I can do? Because if so, I'm inclined to simply not include the map in this edition. Here are my amazon uploads: www.amazon.com/Nicholas-Brakespear/e/B00IO0569S
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Post by Ted on Mar 24, 2014 9:45:18 GMT -8
Smashwords accepts MSWord doc files or epub, not HTML
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brakespear
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Post by brakespear on Mar 24, 2014 11:38:03 GMT -8
Er... yes, I know. But .doc formatting translates almost directly into html tags (paragraph styles become <p style=""> etc ), and formatting issues present in a raw html taken straight from the .doc will almost certainly be present in other formats. So I was hoping I could get confirmation on whether or not this is an issue, and whether or not it can be fixed. I'm hoping this is a standard issue, and thus one I can simply write off... I don't want to start uploading my book to smashwords and find that it's broken, when I've spent so much time carefully formatting it.
And what about the image resolution? Is a 500 pixel width essential, or is that just covering the flaws of older e-readers?
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Post by galatea on Mar 24, 2014 11:58:17 GMT -8
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Post by galatea on Mar 24, 2014 12:06:16 GMT -8
... I should really have to learn to read before responding... You get extra spaces in between paragraphs, right? That's a problem with your styles in Word. Prolly your style is defined to 'extra space after paragraph' word.tips.net/T000171_Adjusting_Spacing_After_a_Paragraph.htmlAnd otherwise you'd better post a link to your Smashwords page. That might give us a better view.
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brakespear
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Post by brakespear on Mar 24, 2014 12:18:39 GMT -8
Haven't uploaded to smashwords yet (though I have my account all ready to go); I'm trying to pre-empt any potential problems and make my files as "clean" as possible (I went through the formatting guide thingy cover to cover).
And no, I don't get white spaces between paragraphs in Open Office (Word); the spaces appear in html (though according to CSS padding and margin properties, they should not exist), and in "Kindle for PC".
Having done some digging, it seems like a common issue; *some* software will render that padding around paragraphs, some won't, and it seems to be entirely whimsical. So I *think* the Smashwords version should be okay. Touch wood.
But what about the images? I'd really love to include the map, but if it's really a bad idea to go with a width beyond 500 pixels... the details are lost.
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Post by galatea on Mar 25, 2014 10:05:56 GMT -8
Well, If I were you I would try to upload first to Smashwords and then see the result. You can always fiddle with the html afterwards. Conversion in Calibre sometimes gives this space problem because its default styles are just plain weird. But that's no issue for you as Smashwords does the conversion for you and Smashwords has configured its Calibre version well enough not to have this issue. As for images: Smashwords *can* do some weird stuff. I had an image that was small in the source document and huge in the epub. What you can do is: - step a: upload your word document to Smashwords and have it converted to all different file types - stap b: take the epub that Smashwords generated and put the image in a div (see smashwords-forum.proboards.com/thread/896/pixelated-pictures-epub?page=2 or notjohnkdp.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/how-wide-image.html for more details). - stap c: upload the new epub (this will not replace the other file formats, but only the epub. But at least you'll have all of the file formats)
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Ria Stone
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Post by Ria Stone on Mar 25, 2014 12:28:02 GMT -8
I sympathize, Breakspear, with your situation.
I had a text .doc only, no images and my book looks different in the various formats. I lost count of the number of times I edited my .doc to get rid of various issues. The one issue I gave up on was the paragraph indent. I used block paragraphs but got paragraph indents. I edited the styles formatting and various other formatting inputs to no avail.
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brakespear
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Post by brakespear on Mar 26, 2014 9:17:16 GMT -8
Thanks guys... I guess I'll just have to bite the bullet then, and upload an image that seems to work well with kindle, and just... hope for a reasonable conversion.
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Post by Julie Harris on Mar 26, 2014 14:55:54 GMT -8
Handy hint: images should be resized in a graphics program before inserting into the document. Can't help with much else though. Best of luck.
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chelsfield
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Post by chelsfield on Mar 31, 2014 23:47:38 GMT -8
I had the same problem with text appearing differently depending on format and reader. For instance, I had my brother check the book on his cell phone, and he came up with some issues that were just not appearing in other formats/readers. I think I mentioned in another thread that this is down to no acceptable and uniform standard for ebook formatting. In the end, I had to accept some of the formatting variations.
I use a lot of images in my books because they are non-fiction. As Julie recommended, I downloaded some free graphics software (probably recommended by SW-name escapes me but I can send it to you as it did the trick), did a couple of youtube training vids with it, followed SW guidelines religiously. My book passed the SW machine the first time; I was the one who kept fiddling a bit because I wasn't happy with some of the minor spacing issues. I will probably go back in once I am ready to upload my second book (soon with any luck and no Windows 8 problems), and play around with bib formatting etc.
One of the best and worst things about ebooks, this opportunity for tinkering. Good luck!
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chelsfield
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Post by chelsfield on Apr 1, 2014 4:23:28 GMT -8
GIMP2 is the graphics package, I think...
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Post by Ted on Apr 1, 2014 6:59:16 GMT -8
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Post by jaydax on Apr 7, 2014 15:22:08 GMT -8
Getting the book right can be tricky at first until you get to know what is required. I now create a docx file in Word with the correct styles and strip out all unneeded styles. I then send that to Calibre and use that to add metadata including description, keywords and cover. Calibre is then used to create contents file and turn it into an epub. If you need to tweek it, then the new editor in Calibre is brilliant. I create a Smashwords and Amazon version of the epub - different front and back matter and submit the epub files to Amazon and Smashwords. Getting the styles right is probably your problem. I detailed the process in a blog at authorbookpromotion.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/ready-to-create-ebook-check-again.html
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chelsfield
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Post by chelsfield on Apr 8, 2014 23:36:21 GMT -8
I have downloaded Calibre as well, but haven't done much with it. I'll have to give it another try....
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