How to Publish Books and eBooks on Amazon with Kindle Create: Using MS Word, LibreOffice Writer or OpenOffice Writer with Kindle Create on Windows

BILL THOMPSON

HOW TO PUBLISH BOOKS AND EBOOKS ON AMAZON WITH KINDLE CREATE

Copyright ©2020 William Thompson

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any storage information and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the publisher.

The information in this book is distributed on an 'As Is' basis without warranty. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, neither the author nor the publisher shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the instructions contained in this book or by the computer software or hardware products described in it.

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CONTENTS

Title Page

Copyright

About the Author

Other Books

DEFINITIONS

INTRODUCTION

PART I ~ About Kindle Create

1. All About Kindle Create

Limitations of this Book

How to Use this Book

Why Use Kindle Create?

Useful References

Requirements and Preparation

Enabling Access to All Kindle Create Functionality

What is KFX Format?

Pros and Cons of Creating a Reflowable eBook

KPF Upload or Word doc Upload for Kindle eBook?

Pros and Cons of Creating a Fixed Format eBook

Reflowable eBook or Fixed Format eBook?

Pros and Cons of Creating a Paperback Book

KPF Upload or Direct PDF Upload for Paperback?

PART II ~ Prepare a Word doc for Kindle Create

2. Preparing a Word Doc Using MS Word

Detailed Workflow

Standard Layouts Used in Books and eBooks

How to Prepare and Insert High Quality Images

How to Reduce Total File Size

Creating Lists that Work Well in Kindle Create

How to Create a Clickable TOC

Another Way to Prepare Tables

Understanding the Look Inside Version of Your eBook

Avoiding Problems with the Look Inside

Checking Your Word doc

Create a Cover for Your eBook

Saving Your Work

Word Formatting vs. KC Formatting

Word Formatting Tips

3. Preparing a Word Doc Using LibreOffice Writer

Detailed Workflow

Standard Layouts Used in Books and eBooks

How to Prepare and Insert High Quality Images

How to Reduce Total File Size

Creating Lists that Work Well in your eBook

How to Create a Clickable TOC

Another Way to Prepare Tables

Understanding the Look Inside Version of Your eBook

Avoiding Problems with the Look Inside

Saving your Work

Checking your Word doc

Create a Cover for Your eBook

How to Format Poetry

LibreOffice Formatting vs. KC Formatting

LibreOffice Writer Formatting Tips

PART III ~ Using Kindle Create

4. Create a Reflowable eBook

What is a Reflowable eBook?

Detailed Workflow

Manipulating Text, Pages and Sections

Adding Front Matter and Back Matter

How to Use the Heading Styles in the Elements Tab

Simplest Way to Format Headings and Create a TOC

Styling your Main Headings Quickly

How to Prepare and Insert High Quality Images

Resizing Images in Kindle Create

Why you should Always Avoid Using Dropcaps

How to Format Poetry

How to Reduce Total eBook File Size

Saving Your Master Project Folder and KPF Upload File

Understanding the Importance of the KCB Project File

Create a Cover for Your eBook

Current Bugs

5. Create a Fixed Format eBook

What is a Fixed Format eBook?

Font Size Warning

Saving Your Word doc as a PDF file

Detailed Workflow

How to Prepare and Insert High Quality Images

How to Reduce Total File Size

Saving Your Master Project File and KPF Upload File

Understanding the Importance of the KCB Project File

Understanding the Look Inside Version of Your eBook

Create a Cover for Your eBook

Current Bugs

6. Create a Paperback Book

Creating just a Paperback Book

Creating an eBook and a Paperback Book for a Novel

Automated Tasks on Upload to KDP Print

Manipulating Text, Pages and Sections

Adding Front Matter and Back Matter

How to Use the Heading Styles in the Elements Tab

Simplest Way to Format Headings and Create a TOC

Styling your Main Headings Quickly

How to Prepare and Insert High Quality Images

Resizing Images in Kindle Create

Saving Your Master Project File and KPF Upload File

Understanding the Importance of the KCB Project File

How to Format Poetry

Create Your Wraparound Book Cover

Current Bugs

7. Testing Your KPF file

Testing Your Reflowable eBook

Testing Your Fixed Format eBook

Testing Your Paperback Book

8. Kindle Create Best Practice Advice

Dos and Don'ts

9. Recovering Kindle Create Master Files

Recovery from a Reflowable or Paperback KPF file

Word doc Recovery from a KPF file using Calibre

Word doc Recovery from a Fixed Format PDF File

10. Convert a KPF File to Epub Format

Why Convert Your KPF File to Epub Format?

Requirements

Workflow Overview

Detailed Workflow

Common Conversion Problems

Why Epub is Still the Best eBook Format

Uploading Your Epub to Online Epub Retailers

11. Troubleshooting Q & A

Questions and Answers

DEFINITIONS

doc TOC: The Table of Contents in the document.

em: This is a font size measure where each unit is represented as a decimal fraction or multiple of the width of the letter 'm' from the current font. Hence the name: 'em'.

fixed format ebook: Refers to an ebook where each ebook page has been converted and digitized into a photographic image(jpeg) of the page. A print replica ebook is similar; this is when each page in the published imprint book version is turned into an individual photographic jpeg image for the ebook version so that the ebook version looks exactly like the imprint or paperback version of your book.

Fx: Abbreviation for fixed format

jpg or jpeg: A bitmap file format used for storing images.

Interactive TOC: This is the TOC on the Kindle e-reading device(aka NCX TOC or Logical TOC). It is not a reference to the TOC in the document.

KC: Abbreviation for Kindle Create.

kcb: The Kindle Create project file extension.

KDP: Abbreviation for Kindle Direct Publishing.

KFX: Kindle's own proprietary version of fixed format ebook and reflowable ebook format that is used in Kindle Create.

KP: Abbreviation for Kindle Previewer.

KPF: Kindle package format file extension. This is the file format that is used when you create and save a Kindle Create doc for upload to KDP.

LITB: The Look Inside the Book version of a Kindle published ebook that is used as a preview for most ebooks found on Amazon.com.

LO: Abbreviation for LibreOffice.

Logical TOC(aka Nav TOC or Interactive): The Logical TOC is the TOC that is created and displayed only on the Kindle device itself(it is not a reference to the TOC page in your ebook).

LW: Abbreviation for LibreOffice Writer

multi-level or multi-indented TOC: This is a TOC that contains both main headings as well as indented subsection headings.

OO: Abbreviation for OpenOffice.

OW: Abbreviation for OpenOffice Writer

pixel or px: A measure which is normally used for setting the height/width size of images

print replica: A print replica ebook is when each page in the published imprint book version is digitized into an individual photographic jpeg image for the ebook version such that the ebook version looks exactly like the imprint or paperback version of your book on computers, tablets and mobile phones.

pt: Abbreviation for the 'points' measure which is yet another measure for setting font size.

reflowable ebook: An ebook that relies only on html text displays where the text reflows to accommodate all the different-sized device screens. This is also the reason why page numbering and page headers are not allowed in reflowable ebooks.

single level TOC or Level 1 TOC: This is a flat TOC that is not multi-indented and which only displays the main headings based on the Heading 1 style only.

TOC: Abbreviation for Table of Contents.

INTRODUCTION

There are now three prime ways to upload your ebook to Amazon Kindle. The first method -- and the oldest way -- is to just upload a properly prepared Word doc to KDP. This is perhaps the easiest way and it will give you an ebook that is single font throughout with no noticeable or pleasing interior styling. The second method, which is the method that professional formatters use, is to format your ebook as an epub for direct upload. This method gives you the deepest control over the formatting, styling and layout of your ebook. I've been using epub format for many years and I can confirm that using this format is still the best way to format your ebook for upload to Amazon Kindle. The last method is to just load your properly prepared Word doc into Kindle Create to finish-off, personalize and improve your ebook's interior styling. This method will give you an ebook that is very close to its epub equivalent. What's more, I've found that Kindle Create is by far the fastest and easiest problem-free way to create print books on Amazon. And Kindle Create is the only app on this planet that is capable of giving you a fully formatted reflowable ebook, fixed format ebook, paperback book or comic book for upload to KDP. Furthermore, I believe that Kindle Create is truly a godsend to those tech-challenged indie authors who have no capability or no wish to learn how to create epubs, because Kindle Create is so simple to use -- you can do it all just using point and click -- no HTML knowledge is required. And Kindle Create is a free app.

The main purpose of this book is to give the reader a complete and convenient step-by-step companion guide – with all the necessary information in one place – on how to create ebooks for fiction and non-fiction novels as well as describing how to format and create paperback books using Kindle Create. This book will, descriptively and visually, show new Kindle Create users all the necessary and basic steps required to create text-heavy, reflowable ebooks(e.g. fiction or non-fiction novels) by loading a Word doc into Kindle Create and will also show the user how to produce image-dense, fixed format ebooks(e.g. travel books or cookbooks or books of poems) using a PDF document in Kindle Create. The user will be shown how to format and create a paperback book using Word and Kindle Create. This guide also includes useful tips and advice on how to avoid and resolve formatting/layout problems and also includes advice on how to speed up your Kindle Create workflow to successfully publish a quality ebook or paperback book. However, take note this book does not describe how to format or publish comic books using Kindle Create.

If you are an indie author and publisher with a consistent track record of preparing and uploading Word docs for direct upload to KDP, who is considering switching to using Kindle Create, this move should be a relatively easy and simple process for you because you should already know all about how to prepare Word docs according to the Kindle formatting rules for Word, which is also an essential prerequisite before you load your Word doc into Kindle Create. So all you have to really learn is how to use the Kindle Create app, which is what this book is all about.

I should also be clear that there is no chapter or section within this book that is solely dedicated to fully describing and showing the layout and usage of all the widgets and bits and bobs within the Kindle Create application itself. In my own mind, simply describing the layout and usage in words and images in any how-to book is really not going to help the reader to quickly and instinctively learn how to use any new software application.

I learned how to use Kindle Create by loading a Word doc or PDF file into KC and playing with the application widgets every day until the app layout and usage became completely instinctive and second nature to me. But I've also read about some first time indie authors who, believing that Kindle Create was a breeze to use, and after formatting their book or ebook in Word or LibreOffice Writer, loaded their Word doc into Kindle Create for the first time ever with the expectation of successfully finishing-off their ebook and publishing in record time without any problems at all. This is really the worst way to do it! In my opinion, any indie publisher who takes that route and who is unwilling to take time out to thoroughly learn how to use an essential tool of their trade – and learn it well – deserves all the formatting hell and angst that they get. The only way to really learn the layout and usage of Kindle Create – or any new software application for that matter – is to play with it and practice, practice, practice until you become an expert user.

Lastly, I will be using and referencing Kindle Create version 1.40.6.1 for this book, which is the most current version at the time of publication.

1. All About Kindle Create

I remember using Kindle Create(KC) for the first time when it was first released in early 2017. I was quite intrigued and excited because it was the first time ever that Amazon had provided an app that allowed the app user to finish–off and convert a Word doc to reflowable format or