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Help! How can I format my ebook for easy reading?
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Scott
(new)
Jan 24, 2018 10:48AM
I've been sending people pdfs of my ebook, but they tell me it's hard to read and they prefer to read on their Kindle. Is there a way I can format it to be read on a Kindle, or some other way to make it easier to read?
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Scott,Do a simple search. I formatted from ODF.
Do you think I knew what I was doing? Think again.
Everything passed the first time around. You need to concentrate.
Nothing is easy.
GO!
Make sure all your text is in the same font/style in Word before you make the PDF.You can use a software like Calibre to then convert it to MOBI file for Kindle.
The advice to use the same font, size and style is good advice. Also, make sure you have the chapter titles break with your next chapter and not at the end of the previous one.Some software programs have learning curves. Takes some practice to get it right. I was using WordPerfect's Ebook Publisher with good results for Mobi and Epub until I upgraded to Windows 10 rendering the EP useless. I decided not to upgrade to a later version of WordPerfect, and went for a subscription for MS Office. There are two options for making a PDF there. Adobe's PDF Maker, which I liked until recently with some update, either Windows or Adobe's it too quit working, and Microsoft's Print to PDF. I'm not as happy with it as it doesn't seem to have as many features, but it does a decent job. I edit it in Acrobat 9.
I've tried other programs, including Jutoh, and an ebook creator author Debbie Drumm had created back a few years, I forget what it was called. It worked flawlessly for your initial book launch. But there was no way to republish your book with it, if later, you made edits. And I do make edits all the time! She promised to let me know if and when that was fixed, but I haven't heard anything since. :[
I now get my EPub and Mobi files with Draft2Digital. Chose them over Smashwords because you don't have to be so fussy with your manuscript formatting, and you get to use your finished files anywhere you want. You can't use their ISBN anywhere else, but that's true of everywhere, I think. Takes only a few minutes to generate your files. Take the time to look them over before you hit Publish. Download a copy and check it over on your Kindle or Kindle for whatever device you use for that. Tweak your manuscript as needed and upload again. When it looks the best it can be, download once again, and upload to KDP.
I've been very satisfied with these files. JSYK, D2D formats all books with Garamond only. I decided I didn't care, since people change fonts and settings on their readers anyhow. Plus, I don't have to worry about licensing fonts and all those headaches.
I wouldn't mind looking at your PDF file just to see what they're talking about, if you wouldn't mind my doing so. :)
