How To Format Your EBooks For Amazon's Kindle

If you're not using Amazon Kindle already to establish yourself as a trusted author, you really should be. It's a great way to build authority and brand yourself as an expert. The only downside of Kindle is that it's a little bit tough to get the formatting just right.

Now I've written a number of articles about the power of Kindle and the its benefits - remember there are authors who've literally sold millions of Kindle books, one who hit the headlines a few months back - over a million copies in 1 year at only 99cents. Not much I hear you say, but that guy netted over $330,000 and just think about the viral exposure he got -what do you think will happen the next time he publishes a book on Kindle? It's not rocket science, so get involved...

The easiest way to do it is to upload the document directly to Kindle Direct Publishing. The site is kdp.amazon.com. Once this is done correctly, your book can be viewed on Kindle devices and any device with a Kindle app. This includes PC's, Macs, Androids, Blackberry phones, iPhones, and iPads.

Formats Kindle Accepts

Kindle will accept several different formats:

- Microsoft Word (.doc or.docx)

- ePub (.epub)

- Plain text (.txt)

- HTML (.htm,.html or.zip)

- Adobe PDF (.pdf)

- Rich Text Format (.rft)

- MobiPocket (.mobi or.prc)

While lots of folks naturally choose to upload Microsoft Word documents directly to Kindle, I'd advise against this. The reason is that there's extra coding in Word documents that the Kindle reader can't handle. What this code will do is mess up your formatting completely. Your graphics will be screwed up and your fonts misaligned.

I recommend using Rich Text (.rft) or plain text (.txt) because neither have any extra code that can make things difficult for the Kindle reader.

Images In Your Books

Pictures have to be in .jpg format. They should be aligned in the center only. Don't copy and paste them into your document; they should be inserted directly. Currently, the Kindle device itself only shows images in grayscale, but devices with Kindle apps can show full color.

Other Formatting Considerations

- No headers or footers

- No bullet points

- No strange characters that the device might not be able to read

- Bold, italics and indentations are alright

- Add a page break at the end of each chapter or they'll all run together

- Use 'indent' under Paragraph Settings instead of tab key if you want to indent

I suggest making the table of contents at the very end of your Kindle formatting. The reason is that the page numbers will be different than those of your original document. It looks pretty weird to have an incorrect table of contents, so do this as a last step and make sure it's right.

Before you upload, you should also scroll through the book slowly one last time looking for anything funny. Be on the lookout in particular for funny page breaks or tabs that you forgot to take out.

Using MobiPocket Creator

Another option that makes formatting a heck of a lot easier is to use MobiPocket Creator. This is a free program you can get from MobiPocket.com that converts HTML files into .prc, which is an eBook format. It turns your HTML file directly into Kindle-ready eBooks, which means one more step (converting.doc file to HTML, then HTML to .prc) but eliminates a lot of the formatting hassles.

Once you publish your first Kindle eBook, you'll get a feel for which files work best for you. Just don't get frustrated if you have to do a little re-formatting. It becomes second nature after a while. And if you're going to be publishing a lot (which you should be!), it's well worth it to download MobiPocket Creator because it makes it much easier.

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How to Format and Check Your Kindle Ebook Without Owning a Kindle Device

Self publishing for Kindle ereading devices is hot. Amazon has made it easy for ordinary people to publish their own books, without the help of a publishing company.

You just write your book, convert it to the correct format, and submit it to the Kindle Direct Publishing store, where people can instantly buy and download it on their Kindle.

However, before you submit your book to the store, there are some important thins to keep in mind.

People who buy digital books from Amazon have seven days to return them.

If your book is not properly formatted, has an amateurish look, and is hard to read and navigate through by lacking an active table of contents, your reader will ask for a refund, and you will lose the buyer forever. It's as simple as that.

That's why you need to format your Ebook correctly.

The font I recommend you to use for your book is Times New Roman, the size is 12-14.

Start your book with a (centered) title and your author name, followed by a clickable Table Of Contents to make it easy for your readers to navigate through your content.

Insert a page break after every chapter, to make your book look professional.

These simple tips will make your Kindle book look great.

Before submitting your Ebook to the Direct Publishing Platform, you should always check how your book will look on a Kindle reader device.

But what if you don't own a Kindle reader?

No problem. You can still check your book's layout by following one of these tips.

1) Download a copy of the MobiPocket Creator program.

The MobiPocket program is free to use, and converts DOC, PDF, and TXT files to the Kindle MOBI and PRC format, and you can see how your document will look in the Kindle device.

- If your original document does not include a table of contents, you can use the Wizard to automatically create one for you.

2) Another way to see how your Ebook will look without owning a Kindle device, is with the free "Kindle for your PC" program from Amazon.

Go to Amazon.com and click on the Kindle link > Ereaders > Kindle for PC (or Mac).

Install the software, and open the Ebook file to see how your book is formatted.

3) Or you can download a copy of the (free) Kindle Previewer tool from Amazon. Do a search for "Kindle Previewer tool" via Google, and you will find the download page.

Follow one of the above steps, and you will no longer have to be worried about how your Kindle book will appear on a Kindle device.

About this Author

If you want to publish and sell your own book via the Kindle Bookstore, visit my blog and download my free report: "How To Publish Your Book On Amazon's Kindle Store" at: http://kindle-publishing.blogspot.com.

Convert PDF to Kindle Format

If you are like me, you have tons of PDF files stored on your computer hard drive that you have promised to actually read some day. If you absolutely love reading books on your Kindle, you will probably realize that if these PDFs somehow got transferred to your Kindle, you would definitely read them right away. The question is, how do you convert PDF to Kindle format and then transfer it to your device?

Why Convert a PDF to Kindle Format?

If you are the proud owner of a Kindle eBook reader, there have undoubtedly been situations where you wish you had the ability to convert PDF to Kindle format. But why? There is no argument that the Kindle has always had the built-in ability to display PDF files without losing the formatting of the original file. All you need to do is use your USB cable to transfer the file from your computer to your device, email it to your Kindle email address or use the built-in web browser to view it.

In fact, the most recent versions of the Kindle have enhanced PDF support which allows for features such as magnifying text, viewing documents in landscape mode, adding notes and highlights, dictionary lookups, zooming and panning. But if you own an older version of the Kindle, none of these features are included. While you will be able to view PDF documents in their original format, you would not be able to use any of the features listed above. But what if you absolutely needed these features? The answer is simple: you will need to convert your PDF to Kindle format.

What PDF Features Are Available for Older Models?

For older models, the only available feature is the ability to view PDF files in their original format. Most of the time this may be adequate. However, if the font size on a PDF is very small and hard to read without zooming in, you would most likely not be able to read it on the smaller Kindle screen. In simpler terms, for older Kindle models, the PDF will look exactly the same as it appears on your computer monitor with no options to change it. What you see is what you get!

Which Models Have Enhanced PDF Support?


Latest generation Kindle
Second generation Kindle
Kindle DX

Enhanced PDF support implies that you will be able to use features such as viewing documents in landscape mode, adding notes, magnifying text, dictionary look-ups, panning and zooming.

However, even on the latest generation Kindles, if you want PDF features such as variable font size, annotation, text-to-speech and document re-flow, you will have no choice but to convert PDF to Kindle format.

Converting a PDF to Kindle Format will Enable All Kindle Functionality

However, if you convert a PDF file to Kindle format before transferring it to your device, you will be able to use all the built-in Kindle features including text-to-speech. Even on the most recent Kindle models, text-to-speech does not work on PDFs unless they are converted. Another advantage of converting to Kindle format is that the document will be re-formatted so that the words "flow" more evenly across the screen. To many, the "re-flow" feature is the biggest advantage of converting a PDF file to Kindle format.

What does re-flow mean exactly? It simply means that if you change the font size, the words will shift in the paragraph much like a word-processing document or regular Kindle eBook.

What Types of PDF Files Cannot Be Converted?


PDF files that are mostly graphical in nature (pictures, charts, diagrams, tables, etc.)
Files that have added security. For example, some authors protect their PDF files so that they cannot be altered whatsoever including the ability to copy and paste
Password protected PDF files (if you do not know the password)
Most DRM protected files

Why Not Simply Email the PDF to Your Personal Kindle Email Address?

Sending a PDF file to your Kindle email address will work in some cases. The cost is pretty cheap as well (15 cents per megabyte). However, this method is not fool-proof. Here are a few disadvantages:


The file will come back in an unreadable, mangled format. Depending on how complex the PDF is (because of pictures and other graphics), the conversion may not be smooth. The alternative would be to have my service strip out the text only and create the converted file from that.
There is a size limit of the PDF that you email
The online converter will not convert any password protected or DRM PDFs

Has PDF Support Prevented You from Purchasing a Kindle?

If you do not yet own a Kindle because you were not sure about the devices PDF support, you should no longer need to be concerned. You can now convert PDF to Kindle which will allow the document to function just like a regular Kindle eBook.

Convert PDF to Kindle Format - Conclusion

There are significant advantages if you convert PDF to Kindle format before transferring them to your device. These advantages will allow you to view documents in landscape mode, add notes, magnify text, get the definition of any word in the file, enable text-to-speech, adjust font size, pan documents and zoom in on hard to see areas.

If you are looking to convert your own PDFs to Kindle format, please visit my site at Convert PDF to Kindle Format