Formatting of Books a Brief Tutorial eBook Charles Spender
Download As PDF : Formatting of Books a Brief Tutorial eBook Charles Spender 
*** Updated in November 2018 ***
You can download this book at the following link (copy and paste into your browser)
formatting-kindle.info/FormattingOfBooks.zip
The KDP forum discussion is here
kdpcommunity.com/s/question/0D5f400000FHwQnCAL/formatting-an-ebook-properly-in-word-or-in-wordperfect-openoffice-or-html
This document was written for the lay audience and outlines the steps necessary for creation of a full-featured, professionally formatted electronic book for the platform. Never mind the size of this tutorial most of it is pictures and side notes (which you can ignore). The book consists of three parts--you need to choose only one of them--
{a} for people who don't want to learn HTML
{b} for those willing to learn HTML
{c} for professional web designers
It is possible to do some changes to your Word manuscript and upload it to Direct Publishing within half an hour, but you are likely to discover later that your ebook has many annoying little problems that need fixing in HTML code. If you don't want to learn HTML, the book contains a chapter on how to format a ebook properly using a free 30-day trial of Microsoft Word. The text also describes conversion of PDF, InDesign, EPUB, Apple Pages, OpenOffice, LibreOffice, Google Docs, WordPerfect, Final Draft, and QuarkXPress files.
Good formatting will take several hours to several days. Please keep in mind that the vast majority of self-published ebooks do not sell and the formatting efforts and expenses may never pay off. Readers will learn how to
- create a fully functional "Go to" menu (table of contents, cover, and beginning)
- embed a high-quality image to create a full-screen, native cover of a book
- use Word's paragraph styles to achieve consistent formatting across different devices
- format pictures, lists, formulas, tables, or poetry using Microsoft Word (or HTML)
- troubleshoot fonts and font sizes in your book
- create a logical table of contents (NCX) that will enable the use of the 5-way button on a device (to skip through sections in your ebook)
- convert your ebook to the NookBook format and put it up for sale on the Barnes & Noble website
- and more...
Devices discussed 1st generation ( 1), 2, 3 ( Keyboard), 4, 5, 7, DX, Touch, Paperwhite, Voyage, Oasis, Fire Phone, Fire, Fire HD, Fire Kids Edition, Fire HD 6, Fire HD 8, Fire HD 8.9", Fire HD 10, Fire HDX, and Fire HDX 8.9"
Software discussed MobiPocket Creator, MobiPocket Reader, Previewer 2.5, Previewer 2.7, Previewer 2.94, Previewer for Mac, Gen 1.2, Gen 2.3, Gen 2.9, Gen 2.9 for Mac, W3C Validator, epubcheck, GIMP, IrfanView, KDP Cover Creator beta, KDP converter, Calibre, Calibre e-book viewer, Sigil, InDesign Plug-in, Notepad++, Notepad, TextCrawler, Fraise, TextWrangler, TextEdit, Clean HTML Word Macro from Toxaris, word2cleanhtml.com, Unpack, Strip, Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft Word 2007, Microsoft Word 2008, Microsoft Word 2010, Microsoft Word 2011, Microsoft Word 2013, Microsoft Word 2016, Adobe Acrobat XI, Adobe Acrobat DC, Nitro PDF, Nitro Pro, for PC, for Windows 8/10, for Mac, for iPad, for iPhone, for Android, and Cloud Reader
Formats discussed Format 8 (KF8, AZW3), Format 6 (KF6 or Mobi7, MOBI, PRC, AZW), MobiPocket (PRC), Smashwords MOBI, Calibre MOBI, Calibre AZW3, EPUB, fixed layout (KF8, AZW3), and for iOS (AZK)
Formatting of Books a Brief Tutorial eBook Charles Spender
This book has four separate sections. The book starts with cold reality of how much an average person can expect to make from publishing your e-book. The estimate of earnings is based on published statistics and I think the analysis are accurate. In the ocean of web sights and consulting promoting making a living from e-books this book is refreshing and useful. The other three parts are related about formatting Kindle books depending on how technical you are : people who do not know HTML, people who are willing to learn HTML, and finally people who are comfortable with web design. The instructions are detailed with a lot of screenshots. The only thing I did not like is that foot notes are written in tiny font (and italic font to make things even harder to read) on dark gray background and I had very hard time reading them due to poor contrast and small italic font.Ali Julia review
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Formatting of Books a Brief Tutorial eBook Charles Spender Reviews
From the introduction through the first several chapters of Formatting of Books, I felt discouraged. The author painted a grim picture of what self-publishers could expect for the outcome of their ebooks. Lengthy side notes were presented in small font on a gray background. I would have preferred them in black text and regular font on a white background. My final impression was, "Why write a detailed manual of instruction for a cause that was deemed futile?"
I loved the first section of this book, which goes on at some length about how low the odds are of making any significant money through self-publishing. Spender quotes some reliable statistics that demonstrate his case convincingly, and I found this a refreshing contrast to all the ludicrous "Earn a Bazillion Dollars Through Self-Publishing" books that are out there.
On the other hand, it seemed odd that Spender never mentions any valid reasons why someone might want to self-publish. Reasons like a love of writing, the pleasure of sharing one's work with even a relatively few readers, or the enjoyment of playing the lottery-like game of hoping that your book will beat the odds and sell well -- if these or other notions have ever occurred to Spender, he doesn't say so.
Elsewhere, Spender's advice is too pat and self-confident. He states flatly that you will earn more by selling your book at $.99 and 's 35% royalty rate, rather than a higher selling price and 70% royalties. This may be true for Spender's books, but anyone who's researched this issue will know that the reality isn't a cut-and-dried certainty for all books and all authors. Likewise, Spender extrapolates his own experience and says that you should sell your book on only, because sales through any other outlet will be negligible. Again, this may have been true for him, but it's a mistake to declare that his experience is a universal truth.
But this is a book mainly about formatting books, despite the large amount of space given over to other topics. On that subject, I'd say Spender's instructions are mostly pretty good. I haven't done a hands-on comparison of his methods with the similar processes described in (for example) Aaron Shepard's books, but based on what I know of formatting, Spender's methods are workable.
But my major gripe with this book is that it is endlessly, maddeningly, repetitious. Again and again the same statements are repeated, the same information is given, usually with identical wording. I often found myself wanting to yell at the page, "I know, I know! You've said that six times already!" The repetition is particularly annoying when it's information that shouldn't have been included in the book even once, like explaining how to copy and paste with keyboard commands. (Control-C and control-V, for those of you who just saw a computer for the first time five minutes ago.) The book gives us this vital piece of instruction at least 4 times over. If Spender had edited out some of this useless and repetitious cruft, the book might live up to its title and be a "Brief Tutorial"; as it is, it's pretty lengthy.
I gave this book a five star rating because of the obvious knowledge of the author, because of the piles of detailed technical info, and because of the way the complexity of the topic and the detailed information was handled by the author.
Make no mistake – the topic of formatting e-books for 30 or 40 different devices is an incredibly messy and complex problem, complete with endless numbers of picky details that mean the difference between formatting success and abject failure.
This book is not an easy read, but I think it is as good as any book could be for this topic. I couldn't think of anything major that I could suggest to make the book better, for example.
Credit to the author for wrestling with such a complex, messy problem for so many years, and for maintaining this book as best he has done.
I particularly enjoyed the authors comments (based on his own experience, and that of others) on the economics of being self published writer in the modern Internet world.
Some of the bottom-line messages that I gained from the book where these get used to the idea that you will only earn pocket change as a book writer; convert your Microsoft Word documents using Gen version 1.2; don't bother publishing anywhere else but on KDP unless you really want to, because it it's too much work, too costly, and produces only 1/10 of the sales that you might get on KDP.
I would recommend this book to any Ebook author who wants to save time and learn more about the e-book publishing process.
The first half of the book is so negative and depressing I forced myself to read on thinking no one could continue in this mode. My glass is usually half full and I'm pouring more water into it. I am 73, I have survived more death, disaster and heartache in one lifetime than anyone could imagine. It took me 20+ years to gradurate from college. I never gave up. Yes publishing is a tough business. So is life. I am constantly learning new ideas. This authors general advice is to give up before you even start. I was looking for a straight book on formatting a kindle book. All this book to l d me was if I wrote a book no one would ever hire me. What? Negative. Negative. Negative. My advice go for it. Have fun. Don't let anyone say you can't.
This book has four separate sections. The book starts with cold reality of how much an average person can expect to make from publishing your e-book. The estimate of earnings is based on published statistics and I think the analysis are accurate. In the ocean of web sights and consulting promoting making a living from e-books this book is refreshing and useful. The other three parts are related about formatting books depending on how technical you are people who do not know HTML, people who are willing to learn HTML, and finally people who are comfortable with web design. The instructions are detailed with a lot of screenshots. The only thing I did not like is that foot notes are written in tiny font (and italic font to make things even harder to read) on dark gray background and I had very hard time reading them due to poor contrast and small italic font.
Ali Julia review
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