Kindle Formatting Guide for Self-Publishing Writers

Source by Rob Hillman

Formatting is an important aspect of publishing your works online. You do not have editors who will structure your work for you. So, you need to know how to format your books properly so that they look great when viewed on Kindle devices. This article will teach you how to do just that.

Creating your Book

It would be best to format your book using MS Word. That's because Word offers a wide range of formatting features. If you wrote the book using a different program (eg Scrivener), you can just copy the content and paste it on Word.

Consider the following:

· Tables – Use the "Insert Table" function to add one or more tables to your book.

· Images – Make sure that the images you'll use have the .jpeg format. Use center alignment for all of your images.

· Grammar and Spelling – Proofread your work manually. Once you are satisfied with the quality of your work, analyze it using Grammarly or another grammar / spelling checker. This way, you can make sure that your e-book is free from mistakes. Do not rely on manual or automated checking alone. Combine them to get the most benefits.

· Layout – Use the default headings, characters, italics and indentations of MS Word. That's because they are likely to be compatible with the Kindle platform. Avoid unusual footers, headers and fonts since they may cause problems during the file conversion later on.

· Format – Save the content as a DOC or DOCX file.

Setting the Front Matter

The term "front matter" refers to the first few pages of your book. For example, these pages display the dedication, prologue, and title page of the book. Make sure that your book has a title page to secure a professional look.

· Title Page – Use center alignment for this page. The book's title should be at the top part of the page. The author's name, meanwhile, should be right under the title.

· Copyright Page – Put this page after the book's title page.

· Dedication – Your customized dedication should come after the Copyright one.

· Preface – This page should come after the Dedication page.

· Prologue – This page (if your book needs one) should come after the Preface.

Important Note: Insert a page break each page listed above.

Formatting the Text

After preparing the front matter, you may format the text of the book. If you typed everything on MS Word, the text should have built-in spacing, indentation and paragraph settings. You can keep the chapters "clean" by inserting a page break right after the last word of each chapter. This process can be boring and time-consuming based on the amount of chapters your book has. However, it can greatly improve the appearance of the final output.

Setting the Back Matter

This part is optional. It contains the notes, glossaries, bibliographies, and / or appendices of your book. The arrangement of the back matter depends on your preferences. Just make sure that the pages are separated by page breaks.

Uploading the eBook

After formatting the book, go to the "Bookshelf" section of your Amazon.com account and upload the file there. Enter the information that the system will require and hit "Save and Publish".