Font problems with new ebook conversion

[keith]

I just uploaded my first manuscript to SW. Got through the meatgrinder without an issue, no autovetter problems, but I'm seeing that in ePub the first paragraph after every header is in a different, much smaller font, and any paragraph with a footnote also is in a different, much smaller font.

The first problem I can work around by simply putting in a blank line in between every header (which is a chapter title) and the first paragraph of the chapter. So I'm not too worried about that. However, I don't know how to get past the issue with the footnotes.

I've read the whole Style Guide and took the nuclear option and reformatted everything--so there should be no trace left of the original superscript footnotes, which I replaced with bracketed hyperlinks (before going nuclear). Any hints on how to get my stuff to format properly? I'm sooooo close!

[keith]

Just as an update - I tried adding in an extra paragraph after each chapter title, but that didn't do the trick. Maybe if I'd added in a space. But still--shouldn't have to do that kind of workaround.

I also tried isolating each hyperlink to a footnote and clicking the "normal" style, which got rid of the blue and underline formatting (but the link still worked). I thought that might be changing the font of the paragraph it was in. But no dice; it was the same as before. Now I'm really stumped.

[Ted]

Searched forum using "footnote" as search word and found this: "... if you have any footnotes or endnotes then MSWord adds those as a text separator. Read MSOffice instructions on how to change or remove them." Read more: smashwords-forum.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=conversion&thread=524&page=1#ixzz2CuBWTC6N

While the link refers to a separator and you've having font problems, maybe they're related some how. Take a peek and maybe it will give you some idea.

[keith]

Hey, Ted, I appreciate the response. I've already taken out all the footnotes and replaced them with hyperlinks to a notes page at the end of my book. I'd done that before using the nuclear option and then replacing the links, so there shouldn't be any problem with footnote code left over. Anything else you can dig up would be much appreciated.

[Ted]

I take it that you've uploaded revisions to Smashwords and keep getting the same ePub problem.

1) Does font issue show up in PDF conversion? If not then it sounds like MSWord has some hidden coding that's messing things up.

2)Download LibreOffice then open your MSWord file in LibreOffice and save-as the default LO .odt format(use Save-as not the Save function). Open that file in LO and use the LO save-as option to save file in MSWord .doc (Word 97-2000) format with a different name than original MSWord file. Upload that saved file to Smashwords and see if your problem still exists. Sometimes MSWord's hidden coding can mess things up and sometimes LO will remove the problem.

Note: Don't experiment with your original file. Always use a copy.

[keith]

Looks perfect in PDF, so I'll try your suggestion, Ted. Thanks once again for the help.

[keith]

Unfortunately, using LibreOffice didn't work either. I can create a perfect epub through Calibre, but it's just not working through meatgrinder. I can only think of one reason, and one workaround.

The reason might be that when I used the nuclear option, I saved the previous file as a template, opened a new document in that template, then dumped the stripped text into that document--that way I already had my styles set up. I suppose I could go back and re-nuke it and set all the styles up again manually. But the problem is coming up in paragraphs that are simply coded "normal"--the only thing I did to them was place them after a chapter title or insert a bookmark and hyperlink for a reference to my notes page. So I'm not too inclined to reformat the book all over again with uncertain results.

One paragraph after a chapter title <i>doesn't</i> do this: it's the only one where I start with a block quote, so it has a different style applied. Maybe I could define a style called "Normal2" with no differences between that and "Normal," and apply it to all the paragraphs in which I'm having a problem.

What do you think? I'm obviously grasping at straws.

[Ted]

Sounds like the template is the issue, so you could find the bug(s) in it, or...

Take a look at these template/resource links as these might help or make it easier for you:

ebook creator

jules57's template and notes

[keith]

Finally got it fixed (I think)! Re-nuked and re-formatted the whole thing, this time not using a template and re-creating all styles from scratch. Here's what I think I did differently:

1. Made sure all styles were set with "Style for following paragraph" set to "Normal." I think that might have been causing the problems with the first paragraph after a chapter title.

2. When making footnotes, I created two links, one from text to note, the other from note back to text. The first time around, I used the same bit of text (the footnote number) for both the hyperlink and the target, and I think that was confusing Meatgrinder. This time, I set the target as the phrase or sentence immediately next to the hyperlinked footnote number. That seemed to work better.

Hope this helps some other intrepid writer! And thanks for your suggestions, Ted.

If I may make a suggestion: I can save my word file as a web page (automatically reformatting my footnotes as end notes) and then convert with Calibre, and the links between reference numbers and endnotes still work. My understanding is that BookTango works the same way. Sure would be nice if Smashwords Meatgrinder worked the same way. Not that I'm complaining.... :-)