From Word to Kindle: Self Publishing Your Kindle Book with Microsoft Word, or Tips on Formatting Your Document So Your Ebook Won't Look Terrible

by Aaron Shepard

****#1 KINDLE (US) BESTSELLER IN PUBLISHING & BOOKS (MAY 2015)***********#1 AMAZON.COM BESTSELLER IN BOOK DESIGN (NOV. 2013)*********#1 AMAZON.COM BESTSELLER IN MICROSOFT WORD GUIDES (SEPT. 2013)** PLEASE VISIT AARON'S PUBLISHING PAGE FOR ANY UPDATES TO THIS BOOK.It's not hard to find instructions for converting from Word to Kindle -- but these instructions are usually less helpful than they could be. Many, for example, proclaim that Word's HTML output requires extensive alteration and cleanup before submission.This advice is misguided. Some who offer it have drawn their conclusions after simply choosing the wrong export option. Others fuss about a moderate amount of excess code, not realizing that it doesn't increase file size enough to matter or that the Kindle ignores it anyway.Other instructions will imply the that conversion is straightforward and just what you would expect. Supposedly, as long as you start with a properly formatted Word document, you'll wind up with a well-formatted ebook. Well, it doesn't really work that way -- not without a few techniques for tricking or bullying the Kindle into doing what you want.In this book, Aaron Shepard offers his own tips for moving your document from Word to Kindle, with a focus on desktop Word versions from 2003/2004 to 2010/2011./////////////////////////////////////////////////Aaron Shepard is a foremost proponent of the new business of profitable self publishing, which he has practiced and helped develop since 1998. He is the author of "Aiming at Amazon," "POD for Profit," and "Perfect Pages," as well as two other books on Kindle formatting./////////////////////////////////////////////////CONTENTSGetting Started1 ~ FIRST STEPSWorking with Word | Document Setup | Text Cleanup2 ~ KINDLE FORMATTINGSpecial Characters | Font Formatting | Paragraph Styles | Paragraph Spacing | Paragraph Justification | Line Breaking | Page Layout3 ~ SPECIAL ELEMENTSOther Paragraphs | Lists | Tables | Text Boxes and Sidebars | Footnotes and Endnotes | Pictures4 ~ NAVIGATIONWeb Links | Internal Links | Tables of Contents | Menu Items5 ~ FINAL STEPSHTML Export | Book Covers | Book Data | Submitting and Previewing/////////////////////////////////////////////////SAMPLEBy default, Word will apply the Normal style to your paragraphs. Amazon knows this, so for some Kindles, it hijacks that style, changing its formatting to what Amazon prefers. This can lead, for example, to unwanted space above or below a paragraph.If you want control of your own formatting, then, you'll have to avoid the Normal style and apply something different. There's no problem, though, with applying styles based on Normal, or even with applying a duplicate of Normal under a completely different name.In regard to this, watch out for manual page breaks in recent versions of Word. Unless you're in Compatibility Mode, each break is now placed in a paragraph of its own, and the Normal style is assigned automatically. That in itself isn't a problem -- but if you then hit Return and start typing, your new paragraph will be in Normal as well. (This is another reason to stick to the paragraph format setting "Page break before" to start a new page.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Reference, Business

124 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 31, 2011

About the author

Aaron Shepard is the author of many books, stories, and scripts for young people, as well as professional books and resources for writers and educators. He has also worked professionally in both storytelling and reader's theater, as a performer, director, and teacher trainer. Aaron's lively and meticulous retellings of folktales and other traditional literature have found homes with more than a dozen children's book publishers, large and small, and with the world's top children's literary magazines, winning him honors from the American Library Association, the New York Public Library, the Bank Street College of Education, the National Council for the Social Studies, and the American Folklore Society. His extensive Web site, visited by thousands of teachers and librarians each week, is known internationally as a prime resource for folktales, storytelling, and reader's theater, while his stories and scripts have been featured in textbooks from publishers worldwide, including Scholastic, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, SRA, The College Board, Pearson Education, National Geographic, Oxford University Press, Barron's, Hodder Education, and McGraw-Hill.

Reviews

[Leah Wescott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank goodness for Aaron Shepard. He tucks you under his wing and flies you past all the BS. He's the king of parsimony - the finest butcher who shaves all the fat out of a confusing process and leaves you with just the lean necessities. I'm ready to brush the dust off my old manuscript and edit the hell out of it. The rest looks like it will be the easy part. Thank you, Aaron!

[Sandra Eidson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must have to help you with formatting when using HTML. Simple to follow instructions very little problems uploading when formatting as described.

[Blaine Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

This books provides a good primer on some of the ways that you can use Microsoft Word to get a halfway decent Kindle book into the marketplace, but it isn't the workflow that I'd use. I think that when combined with his HTML Fixes for Kindle book you'll actually be able to put together a pretty decent book, but I don't agree with all of his stylistic choices and defaults and think that he's lacking a bit of the final finesse that makes a Kindle Book truly enjoyable to read.

If you are starting from scratch, though, with no experience, and want to get a lot of basics into your own workflow from the start, then you could certainly do worse than reading this book and following the directions, as they are simple, straightforward, and if everybody used them then while there may not be perfect books out there there would be far fewer really poor ones.

[Grampy · Rating 4 out of 5]

"From Word to Kindle" by Aaron Shepard is a short but reasonably comprehensive guide to self-publishing on Amazon. Mr. Shepard offers a plethora of handy tips for formatting your document in Word, regardless of which version you have. His experiences in creating documents in Word for publication in a format Kindles can read has shown him many ways to simplify the process. Having never published anything myself, I cannot testify as to the efficacy of these tips, but they certainly sound helpful.

I intend to try them out myself, just to see how easy/difficult it is to make something that will be readable on my several Kindles. I'll let you know what I learn! Of course, if I do publish something for Kindle, you all will have to download it so I can learn how it is interpreted by whichever Kindle or Kindle app you use! Don't worry, it will be free, if I have anything to say about it.

[Kathy Steinemann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note: This book is for intermediate to advanced users of Word.

Aaron's advice is solid. It'll help anyone confused by the formatting issues caused by Word, html idiosyncrasies, or various versions of the Kindle reader. I learned a few things I didn't know, and I highlighted them for future reference. Although I watched for typos as I read, I couldn't find many.

I disagree on a couple of minor points - a matter of personal preference. And I don't like Aaron's use of typographic devices or his practice of moving the table of contents to the very front of the book. He does present a convincing argument for both techniques. However, they produce a book that, in my opinion, doesn't look as professional as it could.

[Sally Melia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was having problems with formatting my kindle ebook so I did a quick Amazon search and found this.

Aaron Shepard provides a perfect quick read and how to guide for those trying to perfect their kindle e-book. The books provides in valuable advice on how to change your settings on Word, all of the main problems and how to overcome them.

He correctly points out that any document created in Word or other publishing platform will have faults unless you use the correct approach.

Well worth it at 1.99. The only improvement might be a checklist, but it was still a good useful reference text.

[David Spell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great info for the price but ...

A ton of good information but would have appreciated more examples. I'm not an expert in Word so it would be great to have more step by step instructions. This book reads more like a lengthy explanatory email rather than a valuable resource. I'd suggest to the author at the very least to include an appendix of settings we could refer to as we draft our books.

[J. Rice · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't want to give this book a bad review or give anyone a bad opinion of the book, it just wasn't that helpful for me. Most of the content I had already read in other locations and didn't find anything really new. But if someone is looking to get started and want to find the same information I used in a single location then this book is good for that.

[Wilani Wahl · Rating 3 out of 5]

The only good thing that came out of this book is that I now know it will be best to pay a formatter to get my book when it is ready to be published switched from word to kindle. This book left me feeling very overwhelmed and confused, But then I am not a computer expert or an expert in Word

[Beverlee Couillard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of good information here. I finished it quickly, then keep going back and rereading. It is helpful. It's on my "Keep This One Handy," shelf. I'd rather have it in paperback. Lots of help here. I'm glad I bought it.

[Chad Torgerson · Rating 4 out of 5]

It helps take an eBook to the next level.

[Noelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Keep going back to again and again.

[Herb · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the book that convinced me that I could successfully publish to Kindle. It worked.

[Doug Bremner · Rating 5 out of 5]

great for authors trying to self publish ebooks.

[John Hawkins]

It was only .99