

FORMAT EBOOK FOR KINDLE SOFTWARE
Don’t swear at me I don’t have a Mac and you actually have a much better piece of software (and an easier time formatting your books).Ĭheck out TextWrangler, and follow along as best you can – I think it will be easy enough, I’m just flagging it in case some steps are slightly different for you.
FORMAT EBOOK FOR KINDLE FOR MAC
That first time is a bear though! You have been warned.Ī special warning for Mac users: this is written for PC peeps. And it doesn’t take much “practice” to reach that point. It could even take longer! But after doing this a few times, you’ll be able to whizz through the process in an hour or less. It might take you a whole day to do this the first time. It’s a useful skill, if you are willing to work through the many frustrations that will accompany your first efforts. I can fix errors at the drop of a hat, fiddle with my end matter to my heart’s content, and I could even hang out my shingle as an ebook formatter now, if I needed a side-hustle. Be warned! That said, I actually love formatting my own ebooks I find it weirdly soothing. It becomes much less of a head melter after you first format an ebook successfully, but you will be tearing your hair out that first time. But over time, I started making more and more notes about where I was deviating from the path Guido had charted out, so I thought I’d now publish that here in case it’s useful for anyone.Īfter clocking up ten years’ experience making my own ebooks, I do a few things differently – but these are predominantly stylistic preferences, or my preferred best practices in terms of ebook layout, or the odd policy change from Amazon here and there.Ī much bigger caveat: you will need a fair bit of patience to get through the DIY formatting process. I relied on that series for many years as I built my first ebooks. This is my own personal process for formatting an ebook, but it does draw heavily on a series of blog posts Guido Henkel wrote in 2010, which you can still find here. If you want a guide to ebook formatting written by a true expert, then check out Guido Henkel’s Zen of eBook Formatting.
FORMAT EBOOK FOR KINDLE PRO
hiring a pro or using a tool – check out my free guide to self-publishing which has specific advice and recommendations on that.īefore we get into this, I’m not a professional ebook formatter. Here’s an overview of the process:Īnd if you are seeking information on the other two approaches instead – i.e. This guide to ebook formatting covers the third option – the DIY approach. You have three options when it comes to formatting an ebook:
