How to Easily Format an eBook [3] Convert / Verification

This is the 3rd post in my tutorial about formatting an eBook for Kindle or Nook. You can read the first post about overall text formatting here. You can read the second post about title pages and a table of contents here. This post deals with the final step, converting your text into the requisite eBook file for Amazon or B&N and verifying it.

Once all the formatting and features are finished, you are ready to convert your file into an eBook file. For Kindle you can use .mobi and for Nook you can use .epub. You can create both from the same initial Word file, so the entire process is very easy.

Save as Filtered HTML

The first step is to save your Word document as Filtered HTML. An eBook file is really nothing more than an HTML file, so by saving as one initially you've have done half of the work already. Saving as Filtered HTML preserves all the formatting of the Word document, but removes much of the tags that Word/Office use for their specific functionality, cutting down on file size and tags that have no place in an HTML file.

To do this, merely do a "Save As" in Word (F12) and in the Save as type dropdown at the bottom, select "Web Page, Filtered."

Below that dropdown, to the right, you'll see a tag called "Title" (which might say Add a Title next to it, or already have a title from your file in it). Make sure this is set to the title of your book.  Select and change it if necessary.

When saving, save it two times – one with a filename that denotes it for Kindle, and one for Nook. That way you can convert each one separately in Calibre without any issues. If you want, update the type of edition in the Copyright Page for each to denote that one is the Kindle Edition and one is the Nook Edition.

Once saved, you can move on to conversion.

Calibre

The software I've used to convert my books is Calibre. You can find out all about it on the Calibre website, calibre-ebook.com. It can be used as an eBook manager if you so desire, but I only use it to convert files. It's very easy to do, and it has the added bonus of being free. The conversion discussed in this tutorial will only use Calibre.

First of all, download and install Calibre. Once done and the program is opened on your computer, you'll notice that there are a lot of options and it may be a bit overwhelming. No worries, there are only a few steps you need to take.

Add/Update Your Book

The first step is to merely add your book to the list in Calibre. Click the "Add Books" button at the upper-left and navigate to and select the HTML file for your book. If you have more than one HTML file (if you saved one for Kindle vs. Nook), then add each separately. Anything added will appear on the eBook list in the middle of the main window, like so:

From there, you'll need to update your book settings so that everything is set for when you convert the file. Highlight the book in the list and select the "Edit Metadata" button on the toolbar at the top, or right-click and do the same thing. Either way, the Edit Metadata dialog will appear:

Make sure to update the Author(s) and Author sort textboxes appropriately. The Title and Title sort should be set, but update them if they are not. I believe the sort is only used in the Calibre list, but it doesn't hurt to be accurate with them.

This is also where you are going to attach the cover for the book. For publishing on Amazon or B&N, I suggest having two sizes of your cover: 600x800 and 180x240. The first will be used in the eBook itself, while the other can be used for uploading to the Amazon and B&N websites. In Calibre, select "Browse" in the Change cover section and navigate to your 600x800 version.

Also, remember to update the Date and Published fields to denote when you actually created/published the eBook file. Click "OK" when you are ready to save the updates.

That's really all you need to update on the file. Now you are ready to convert.

File Conversion

Merely select your book in the list and click "Convert" on the toolbar. It will bring up a Convert dialog, and if you already did all the updates mentioned in the previous section, there's only one thing you'll need to change. In the upper-right corner, there is a dropdown for Output format. Change this to the desired format – MOBI for Kindle, EPUB for Nook.

Once your desired format is selected, click "OK" to convert. It will take a handful of seconds to process. Once done, you can find your final file in the book's folder wherever you designated the Calibre Library to be on your file system (during installation of the program). That is the file you will use when submitting to either Amazon or B&N.

Verification / Quality Assurance

Before you submit, however, you should always check the file in the target eReader to make sure it appears as you want it to. Generally, if it looks good on Kindle, the Nook version will look just as good.

I do most of my checking on Kindle, since I actually own one. You can easily copy your file to your Kindle by merely plugging the USB cord that comes with your Kindle into your computer. Copy the .mobi file and paste it into the high-level Kindle directory where all the other books on your Kindle are. Disconnect the Kindle, turn it on and check out your book.

For help on transferring files to your Kindle, check here.

If you don't have a Kindle handy, you can easily check using the Kindle Previewer program, which can be downloaded here. It's a simple program that will open any compatible file so you can see how it would appear on a Kindle.  Be aware that this is not the Kindle reader app for PC - you cannot add a custom book to that app.  If you want to look at it on your PC or Mac, you'll need to download the Previewer application.

Change the font style or size. Test out the Table of Contents and the links there. Make sure all your special pages (Title Page, Section/Part Breaks, etc) look sufficient. Nothing will look that good in super-large fonts, so don't worry about those; just test the smaller fonts that most people will use.

Another important thing to check is whether the paragraph indents are working properly (based on the steps taken in the first post of this tutorial). Unfortunately, the only way to really know if all the formatting is okay is to actually read through the entire book on your eReader, making note of each instance that needs to be fixed (I do a final reading in this fashion, using the Note feature of the Kindle to mark areas for adjustment).

To test on Nook, I merely used the Nook app on PC and my Android handset. You can find all the versions here. Nook functions pretty much the same way – if it looks good on Kindle and the Table of Contents work, chances are it will work on Nook as well. But it's a good idea to try it out on at least one version of the Nook app (or the Nook itself, if you have one).

Next Steps

All that's left is to get them published on Amazon or B&N. I'll leave how you do that up to you... but hopefully someone has found these tutorials helpful in some way. Post a comment if you have any questions.

Shameless promotion: If you want to see how this all looks in final eBook form, download a free sample of my book in Kindle or Nook formats. You could also try reading it as well. ;)

The Wheel of Time [7] A Crown of Swords (1996)

I don't consider this volume part of any "trilogy" within the overall sequence, like I have for the previous volumes. It's more of a bridge between the first half of the series and the second half. It's the end of the fast-paced adventure that the characters have gone through thus far. Many readers mark this volume as the beginning of the slowdown of the series, but for me that comes in the next few volumes.

I've always liked A Crown of Swords; I felt it was almost as good as the last few, but not quite there. It features the same elements/pattern as previous novels: a few major events, a new land/city to explore (Ebou Dar), the death of a Forsaken, Rand conquering another nation... but here is where Jordan begins some trends that change the tone and pace of the next "trilogy" (Books 8-10).

Before you continue:

• This is part 7 of my The Wheel of Time retrospective
• See this blog post for an overview of the retrospective
• These blogs are most effective with your own re-read of the series
• Warning: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE SERIES

Thoughts Then

Before we get into that, though, let's go back to when I first read the novel. It was 1996 and I was just finishing up my sophomore year at the University of Nebraska. The release of this one was a bit odd because it was the first time we had to wait two years for a book, it came out in the spring and it was shorter than the mammoths of Books 4-6. It was along the lengths of each of the first three, but I felt letdown because I had come to expect the lengths of Books 4-6.

I don't remember getting this or actually reading it the first time. What I do remember is that I was mildly disappointed at the end. Both because it was much shorter than the last few, and because I didn't feel like much had happened in the grand scheme of things (on the road to Tarmon Gai'don). I was also disappointed that Perrin got short shrift again in this book. At this point the only thing of importance Perrin had done since Book 4, The Shadow Rising, was help rescue Rand at Dumai's Wells.

I wasn't at the point where I started to feel like he was milking the series a little. That comes later.

Thoughts Now

I have a completely different view of this book now, having read the entire series up to Book 13. Realizing that Rand and friends will hit some roadblocks in the future and how that fits into the overall arc of the story – I have a better appreciation for what Jordan was doing with this and the next several books. I still don't enjoy them 100%, and I have issues with Book 10, but I get the point.

However, the drawback is that such appreciation can really only come when you've read the entire series once already. Jordan could see it and he knew what he needed to do, but it's hard for a reader to understand and see that vision when they have to wait 2 years between volumes.

Re-reading this has made me think about another current series that is taking forever... George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. Like many, as a reader I sometimes get frustrated with long waits and seemingly glacial pacing and lackluster user reviews of later novels in a series like that. However... if you do get involved a series like this, there is a level of trust the reader has to put in the author, and a commitment the author has to put to the reader. The reader must be patient and the author must reassure them that their investment in the series will be worth it.

Can you put your trust in the author?

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. Trust that I will get you there," the author says (or should say). It may seem like Jordan might be losing his way in this volume, but he's not. The story has changed, that's all.

So What Happens?

Not a whole lot... though it is enough for a full volume when you're reading it all straight through. Pretty much nothing happens with Egwene and the Salidar Aes Sedai, other than them leaving Salidar. We get to experience Ebou Dar, which I now picture in my mind as Venice, having visited there a few months ago and knowing what such a city looks like firsthand.

You get a random chapter with Forsaken, who seem to be wasting time and goofing around with inconsequentials like the Shaido (which we learn later in Perrin's storyline are just a major distraction to the main storyline). A little something with Morgase, a little something with Elaida.

There are only a few major events here, which led to my initial disappointment back in 1996. Nynaeve finally breaks her channeling block – one of those "cool things" she does after being super annoying for a few chapters. Let see... oh, the Seanchan finally return and take a few cities, Elayne and the others find the Bowl of the Winds and Rand abruptly launches an attack on Sammael, who dies at Shadar Logoth. Rand becomes King of Illian. A few of the sequences are very cool, but they only take up a handful of chapters.

Oh, and there's the appearance of Cadsuane. I don't like this character and she is my least favorite of the series. I even like her less than Sevanna. I suppose that means Jordan wrote her well. But I've never liked how she just suddenly appears in the middle of the series and is this super important person that all Aes Sedai are in awe of and who's a bitch to Rand. Not one mention of her before? Even though Jordan said it was all planned, I have a hard time shaking the feeling that she was added to the storyline as he went along. Maybe it's because I hate this character so much.

If I were casting Cadsuane, I would choose either Meryl Streep or Judi Dench, who can both be nasty old women.

I'm sure there will be more on Cadsuane in later blogs. Just wanted you to know how much I dislike her.

New Wrinkles in the Telling of the Wheel

Along with not much going on, Jordan starts doing some different things with this book. One is that he jumps around in time much more than before. There are a few sections in this book that actually happen during or before the end of the last book (the Dumai's Wells sequence).

You have Dumai's Wells from the viewpoint of the Shaido Wise Ones. You have the immediate aftermath from the viewpoint of Gawyn and the Younglings. Those aren't too bad; they are in the Prologue, so it's not that jarring to read.

But much later on, in Chapter 8, is the scene where Moghedien escapes. Now, this was shown at the end of the last book. I had forgotten about the jumping around here and it confused me at first. It's a bit strange to suddenly jump back to the end of the last book when you're 25% of the way into the next one. Couldn't this have been shown earlier? Or maybe picked up from the moment after Moghedien escapes?

Jordan does more manipulation of time throughout the next few books, and with the amount of characters (and particularly the wait between books back in the day) it can get a bit confusing keeping track of all of it. Particularly when you realize that A Crown of Swords only covers about 11 days total – the shortest time span for a single novel in the series, according to Dragonmount.

The Worst Picture of Rand... EVER

Onto the cover. Yes, we're talking about the Darrell K. Sweet cover.  Again. Is that really supposed to be Rand on the cover? Really? Take a look for yourself:

No comment.

I actually thought it was a different character at first, but the reddish hair and the dragons on his arms confirmed my worst fears. Once again, I have to wonder what in the world Tor was thinking when they had Sweet do these covers. Rand has appeared on every cover so far (save The Shadow Rising, I really have no clue who any of them are on that cover), and not once has he looked the same between them.

Since when did Rand start rocking the feathered-back look? And did he shrink about a foot? He's supposed to be around 6'5" according to Jordan, but here he looks like 5'5". Later on Jordan said he gave up when it came to Rand's height in the Sweet covers.

And as usual, the completely incorrect Trollocs grace the back of the cover like they do for many of the others. Not worth showing.

Who is That Person Again?

This volume is where you might start to encounter characters that had appeared earlier in the series, but you can't remember exactly when. Like Teslyn and Joline in Ebou Dar... I drew a blank and had to go to encyclopaedia-wot.org (an extremely handy reference site) to figure out where they had come from and why. Also had to do this with Pura (Ryma Sedai, from Book 2, The Great Hunt, also from the New Spring prequel), who appears with the Seanchan that capture Amador. I knew I'd seen the name before.

Back in the day, before sites like encyclopaedia-wot, I would draw complete blanks, just kind of shrug it off and think, "If this person was important, I would have remembered them." Unfortunately there is a lot of that going on in the next few books. And in the end, many of these minor characters are not that important to the overall arc of the story. They help flesh out the world, expand it that much more, but many readers would not miss them had their scenes been skipped or handled differently, and the overall story would not have suffered much at all.

Along with this, there's a couple of very short scenes with an unnamed old man talking to Mat and watching him later on. It's thrown in there and I had to look it up because I had no clue who this was – had forgotten these details entirely. Come to find, it's Noal Charin, an important character later on, and the reader doesn't learn this until Book 9 (since Mat doesn't appear in Book 8, The Path of Daggers, grumble grumble). In publishing time that was 4 years. So easy to forget these random snippets here and there that are ultimately pointless. Just introduce him in Book 9, Jordan... most people will have forgotten about the mysterious old man by the time his identity is revealed.

The Alternate Paperback Cover

A Crown of Swords is notable because when it first came out in paperback, the cover was different. There was no Sweet cover like the previous volumes (yay!). It was simple, with an image of the Crown of Swords. Kind of like the current covers for A Song of Ice and Fire. Here it is:

So much better than any Sweet cover.  Looks professional.

I thought this cover was awesome. I was surprised they had changed it, but figured they were actually doing something about the crappy Sweet covers! Alas... 'twas not to be. I couldn't find the source, but I remember reading once that it was an experiment by Tor to see if they sold differently... honestly, I don't think it mattered since the series was selling hugely at that point (the next volume would be the first #1 New York Times Bestseller of the series).

They even made promo versions of The Eye of the World with a similar style cover. You can see it here.

Either way, I had a copy of this version. I don't have it anymore, since I donated all my paperback versions to a library. In hindsight I probably should have kept it for nostalgic purposes.

An Old Friend

If you read my first blog in this re-read, about Book 1, The Eye of the World, you might remember that I met my first friend in my new high school (Papillion-La Vista High School, in Papillion, NE) because of this series. His name was Brian Watson. We didn't keep in touch much the last year of high school and beyond, but I did run into him again, about a year after this volume came out.

My friends and I used to hang out at the local Denny's on 84th street, near I-80, in Omaha, NE. It's a 24-hour Denny's and we used to sit in the corner booth of the smoking section for hours late at night, many times just drinking soda or coffee for hours. As long as you bought something, they wouldn't kick you out for squatting.

So many hours of my young life spent here.

One time, Brian showed up. We got to talking and eventually the topic turned to The Wheel of Time. Brian mentioned that he had given up on the series since it was taking forever. I told him that the last few were pretty good and related some of the major events from them when he said he didn't care about spoilers.

We even started joking about how Jordan would probably die before he ever finished the series, at the rate he was going (the end seemed nowhere close with only 7 books out). How prophetic that observation would be.

I'm pretty sure that was the last time I talked to Brian – it was at least the last time I remember. I have no idea what became of him.

The Same Font

Something that struck me as I was reading this on my Kindle, is that the format of the text has been the same on the Kindle since the first volume. I don't know about you, but with some of these books that I've read so many times when younger, the font and font size actually make a difference in the reading of the book. It gives it a different feel from book to book.

You have something like Lord of Chaos, where the hardback has very small print, compared to A Crown of Swords,where the text is larger and there's a totally different feel to it. When you're reading them, you have a slightly different mindset with each volume, whether you realize it or not.

The font you use in an essay could affect the type of grade you get. The font used in advertising could make a viewer more receptive to the message. Fonts with serifs (as opposed to sans serifs) are easier for those with dyslexia to read, and many find serif fonts more sophisticated.  There have been various studies done on this and they make for interesting reads.  Search for them.

I have no doubt that publishing companies choose the fonts of their publications very carefully. Which makes eBooks interesting... because with the Kindle, I can select from 3 different fonts and it's not dictated by the publisher. What's more interesting, the font will be the same from novel to novel. This makes the series read differently for me, more than any re-read before. It truly feels like it's all the same set of writing. Once I finish one book, I just grab the next and continue. I don't get the different feelings from covers, fonts or line spacing.

So thanks, Amazon, for creating the Kindle, which allows me to experience this series in a whole new way, 20 years later.

Next:

Book 8 – The Path of Daggers
 
Previous:

Book 6 – Lord of Chaos
Book 5 – The Fires of Heaven
Book 4 – The Shadow Rising
Book 3 – The Dragon Reborn
Book 2 – The Great Hunt
Book 1 – The Eye of the World
Retrospective Overview

How to Easily Format an eBook [2] Title Pages / Table of Contents

This is the 2nd post in my tutorial about formatting an eBook for Kindle or Nook. You can read the first post about overall text formatting here. This post deals with Title Pages and the Table of Contents.

Once you have the basic text ready to go (according to the first part of this tutorial), you'll need to add any extra pages like a Title Page, a Copyright Page, Part/Section Pages, etc. Essentially anything that you want in your eBook that is not part of the normal text. For my eBooks, I created all of the above, including a Table of Contents.

Title Page

The title page in your eBook is essentially the first page after the cover. Usually it just says the book title, the author's name and any other info (like a tagline, publisher, etc) that you deem absolutely necessary. But for the most part, it should just be the title and author.

For my novel Bonebearer, all I did was this:

Very simple. On the Word page, start the title around 7-8 lines down from the top. Put a few spaces on each line to ensure that they remain after you convert it to the eBook format. Try to keep it tight overall and only in the first half of the page so it looks good with the most common font sizes a reader may choose for their eReader. Feel free to use larger size fonts (as compared to your normal text). When converted to an eBook the size differences between the two will remain.

Also remember to keep it on its own separate page, with page breaks between it and nearby pages. Page breaks force a new page in eReaders, so don't forget to use them when needed.

Copyright Page

There are a lot of different ways you can do this. One is to just pick up some of the books you own, look at their copyright pages and imitate them in some form or fashion (that is what I did). Add credits for any additional contributors. Go ahead and put a disclaimer about it being a "work of fiction" and that it's copyrighted, etc etc. Put it on a separate page entirely, with page breaks, like you did with the title page.

Technically you already own the copyright from the moment you create it, further reinforced by fixing your work in some tangible medium (an eBook); you don't have to file for copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office unless you want to bring a lawsuit against someone for infringement. So that's up to you.

For more info on copyright, please check copyright.gov. It's a good idea to read through the FAQs so you're familiar with the basics before publishing anything.

Yet... why bother with a copyright page? Well, because it looks professional, that's why. Plus, they are not hard to make. The extra effort will make it look like you care (which you do, right?).

Here is the copyright page from my novel, Bonebearer:

You will notice I added things like "Cover art by" and an author website. I also have an ISBN, which is something you may or may not have. It is not required in order to sell an eBook, but if you're really trying to be serious about selling your writing, it's a good idea to have one so your work can be identified for a few reasons (as taken from here):

· for the purposes of trading through conventional channels
· for search and discovery in publicly available retailer databases
· for item/product-level sales reporting (whether for royalties or for sales data reporting)

Whether you want to get an ISBN or not is up to you. They even suggest having a different one for each eBook format, but I have used the same one for both my Kindle (.mobi) and Nook (.epub) formats of Bonebearer. Read more about ISBNs on isbn.org.

Part / Section Pages

If your text is broken into discreet parts – i.e. Part 1, Part 2, etc – then you should make them on separate pages (with page breaks) as usual. Format it however you wish, but follow the same basic techniques mentioned for the title page: start it a few lines down the page (with spaces on the blank lines to force them to appear in the eReader format), use different sizes/styles of font as needed, and try to keep it in the first half of the page.

I would suggest using a large size font so that the reader knows it's a part / section break. Here's an example of a part break from my novel, Bonebearer:

I have a quote for each part in that novel. You might just have Part 1: Part Name or whatever. As usual, keep it simple and elegant. No need for crazy pictures or too much variation in fonts.

Don't forget that each part / section page needs to be on a separate page with page breaks separating them from the text. It's important!

Table of Contents

Here is one of the most critical parts of your eBook. A properly done Table of Contents will enable the reader to jump around in the book easily and it also meets the standards that Amazon or B&N recommend for their eBook formats. With one in place, it will also display page numbers in the Kindle format.

To create your Table of Contents, you must add a bookmark in each spot that you want to put on the list. So if you have chapters, add a bookmark at the beginning of each chapter. This can be a tedious manual process if your file is quite large and you have a lot of chapters, but you'll only have to do it once and it will be worth it. Why? Because it will look professional and it shows you care about your final product.

To add a bookmark in Word, first place the cursor where you want it, then select Insert -> Bookmark on the toolbar / ribbon:

This will bring up the Bookmark dialog. Type the name of your bookmark in Bookmark name (overwrite whatever is in there, it may show an existing one). I usually do something simple like "C01" (Chapter 1) or "P01" (Part 1) so I can easily identify it later. Click "Add" to add the bookmark. Go through your entire file and add each new bookmark one at a time.

Once that is done, add a new page near the beginning of your file, typically after the copyright page and before the text begins. This will be your Table of Contents page. Format it however you wish and type out the chapter names. Don't bother with page numbers or the full justification that you might see in a physical book. Just simply list everything.

When your list is complete, highlight a chapter name. Right-click and select "Hyperlink." In the Insert Hyperlink dialog, you'll have the option to add a few different types of links. You want to select Place in this Document, then select the name of the bookmark you made for that chapter. Like so:

Click "OK" and the link will be added. Your highlighted text now looks like a link you might see on a web page, but instead it will jump to the bookmark (and thus the chapter) in your text. Repeat this for every chapter name in the Table of Contents.

Yes, it is tedious. But you only have to do it once!

Next Steps

At this point your file should be completely formatted, along with all necessary features for the final eBook. The last step is to convert your eBook to the proper formats and check it in an eReader (or eReader application) to make sure everything is kosher. Check the link below for the continuation.

Next: Convert in Calibre / Verification

Shameless promotion: If you want to see how this all looks in final eBook form, download a free sample of my book in Kindle or Nook formats. You could also try reading it as well. ;)