Document formatting now much easier!

[Gordon]

I'm almost finished my second novel. At this stage I like to convert it to mobi (Kindle format) to see how it looks.

In the past I've had to convert the Word document to an HTML document, open it in Sigil, do all the formatting changes, save it as epub, open the epub in Calibre and convert the epub to mobi for my Kindle.

Now Calibre 1.5 does direct input of a Word 2007 document and conversion to mobi in one step. Just done it and all my formatting is in place. So much easier!

[R.A.]

I'll have to try it if I need to send anyone a mobi. For checking how the book looks, I just upload it to Amazon and preview it from there. I'm afraid that it will look different somehow once it is uploaded to amazon,so I would have to read it there, anyway. I spend a lot of time uploading, checking, fixing, and then uploading again. Especially with createspace. It's a wonderful finished product, but yeesh...I better not get started on my troubles getting things to look right on there. People have better things to do with their time.

Oh, and thanks for mentioning the 1.5.

[Bruce]

Having been around the block on this formatting issue, I thought I would share. I discovered Draft2digital is, by far, the easiest I have ever used. They allow you to download and keep the files (free) that look awesome, and you can send them yourself, or let them distribute to whatever channels you select. You create epub and mobi, and can ever experiment with Createspace if you want.

Unlike Smashwords, with Draft2digital, you can see your results immediately, so you don't have to wait days to find out if you are sending acceptable files. Nook by Barnes and Noble is also easy to use.

Like I said before, it has been easy. My earlier...er attempts at creating awesome files were fraught with too many hours spent pulling my hair, thinking bad thoughts about rotten programs, etc. I hope this helps you avoid that.

Good luck!

[Gordon]

Bruce wrote: "Having been around the block on this formatting issue, I thought I would share. I discovered Draft2digital is, by far, the easiest I have ever used. They allow you to download and keep the files (f..."

Thanks Bruce I'll have a look at it.