With microsofts word, for example, you should keep the formatting of your text as simple as possible. Mobi format, which is the preferred kindle file format. In the apply to list, select whole document and click ok. On the bookmark window, type toc in the bookmark name field see below. After you format your manuscript in word, add finishing touches with kindle create. An ebook that started life as a subscriber incentive might in fact make a great premium product, or serve as an authoritybuilding book in the kindle store. This adds a drop cap a large capital letter to the first letter of the first word in a chapter. How to format your book for kindle using microsoft word in 6 easy steps. How to format an ebook for kindleamazon publishing in under.
Authors writing ebooks generally have different kindle formatting needs than readers who want to read ebooks that didnt come from amazon. Kindle devices and apps are designed to use amazons ebook formats. Kindle format 8 books can also be designed in html. In just a few simple steps, you can have a clean and professional file that is ready for publishing. I use either word or libreoffice to compose my work and do all the wordprocessing. Not simple as in watered down, but simple as in focused, clear, and to the point. Its important to use styles properly when using any program, but in particular these two when youre sending them off to a different program for ebook formatting. In this highly anticipated video, i provide a tutorial to format your ebook in. How to format your book for amazon kindle using microsoft. Fast forward to a couple of years later when i worked inside a publishing house. When i wrote my first book, i wrote something simple. If youd like to make the entire process to easier, then consider signing up for coschedules 14day free trial. Days, which is a book i created using the exact six steps above and was released before the new. Even though im a mac pages fan, i dont recommend writing a book in it.
How to format a poetry book for selfpublishing ebooks. This resizes your pages and changes your page count, which you need to know for setting your margins. Luckily, its easy to turn your kindle book into a printed copy using amazons estore. Its not that hard to format your word document for a kindle ebook if you know. Click the insert tab, then click the bookmark button. Write down every possible idea you have for a kindle book that fits with your goal. Once youve written a book youre proud of, heres what to do next. A few things you will have to keep in mind when writing. The little blue truck and llama llama books are excellent examples. List all your books on this page using the normal style. How to write and format a kindle book kindle edition by. Earn up to 70% royalty on sales to customers in the us, canada, uk, germany, india.
Use microsoft words page break feature to create intentional page breaks for chapter endings and to separate sections as needed. Before you submit your book to kdp, you need to format it so it meets our quality. How to format your book for kindle using microsoft word in. How to format a book for kindle using microsoft word geoff affleck. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading write a kindle bestseller. Jun 23, 2016 an ebookthat is, a book that lacks a url and that you use software to read on a personal device or computeris considered a version according to the mla handbooks template of core elements. What is the best writing software to write kindle books. In this complete guide to all things kindle direct publishing, well walk you through the process on how to publish a book using amazons kdp, starting with how to properly format your book files. More than likely, youll write a nonfiction kindle book, but even a novel can be a way to share your history, interests, or passions. For mla, simply change the publication medium description. Readers can choose to view kindle books in different font sizes, so page numbers, font sizes and margins dont apply. Kindle samurai is a tool for optimizing your kindle books seo to get tons of organic sales. May 05, 2020 when i tried to publish a poetry book on amazon kindle, it preserved at least some of the word formatting. There are plenty of discussions online about the difficulty of uploading a kindle book using open office and yet it can be done and this book is proof so i decided to write a manual showing exactly how to do this with lots of screen shots.
Step by step self publishing guide with more than 70 screen shots kindle publishing series 1 ebook. How to write a book for kindle about your expertise or passion step 1. Go to the amazon page of each of your books and copy the url of the page. Writing ebooks and the kindle publish your own ebooks. Create a print version on createspace estore some people want their books in digital format and others want the physical printed book. On a separate document, write down the title of your book, along with any section and chapter titles, the number of sections or chapters, the word count of the book, and a page number estimate.
Once you have a goal in mind, its time to do some massive brainstorming on what to write about. And since i love to publish to createspace, and draft2digital, i need to export my books in both epub and mobi formats before hitting publish and getting to the fun part of marketing my books. How to write your first ebook with pictures wikihow. The easiest way to do this is either use microsoft word or pages for mac. To create an kindle ebook, you need the following files. Jan 24, 2019 kindle create is an easy to use software that amazon has made for you to custom format your ebook for their kindle ereaders.
You can use worddefault paragraph indentations, bold characters, italics and headings in your kindle book. Assuming you know the best format for your ebook already. I would recommend doing this upfront so that you can learn lessons. Publishing takes less than 5 minutes and your book appears on kindle stores worldwide within 2448 hours. I found this in d2d help, regarding poetry book layout, but it proved to be a hit and miss affair. Avoid special fonts, headers, and footers, which do not translate into kindle format. The following is a comparison of ebook formats used to create and publish ebooks the epub format is the most widely supported ebook format, supported by most ebook readers except by amazon kindle devices. You dont have to write a 1,000 page tome in order to publish on kindle. How to write, format, publish, and market a kindle bestseller. How to write a childrens book in 9 easy steps complete.
New software reads kindle files differently on different devices, so you may find yourself having to reformat your ebook. Before you submit your book to kdp, you need to format it so it meets our quality standards. Kindle formatting formatting your word manuscript for kindle. How to write, format, publish, and market a kindle bestseller kindle edition by asselin, barb. Basically, i need book writing software that will easily help me to research, outline, reorganize, write, collaborate, and edit. By colin dunbar in todays self publishing world, its a good idea to have your book available in as many formats as you can. Kindle suggests you write it in word because if you decide to format this yourself, you must save your file to a filtered. It gives you the power to make changes to your book. The bottom line is, the files that amazon sells to its readers are, by and large, a single file. Format chapters place your cursor next to the first paragraph of your first chapter and click chapter first paragraph. When your book is uploaded, a step 6 magically appears in the kdp dashboard. This step can also be done during the writing process, and the. Build your book format a paperback manuscript word for.
Write is a free online editor that takes all the hassle out of making ebooks and pdfs for print. Knowing how to write a book for kindle means knowing how to format it correctly. Kindle create is an easy to use software that amazon has made for you to customformat your ebook for their kindle ereaders. It also means creating an attractive listing that people will want to click on to find out more about your book. When i tried to publish a poetry book on amazon kindle, it preserved at least some of the word formatting. Highlight your book title on the list, go to the insert tab, and click hyperlink. How do you format a kindle ebook how to write an ebook. Mar 27, 2017 in this highly anticipated video, i provide a tutorial to format your ebook in. Enter your books trim size into the width and height fields. How to format a book for kindle using microsoft word indie. Once you have all that, come up with a list of descriptive terms or keywords that are related to your book, and a general thesis statement if needed.
Dont justify your text, dont hit enter twice after a paragraph to. After much trial and error, i was able to upload passable ebooks to kindle and nook but not smashwords. For this and more amazing training videos, head on over to ebook publishing school. How to write and format a kindle book kindle edition by whiteside, ryan. But draft2 digital stripped almost all of my formatting away when i tried publishing a book. How to format your book for kindle using microsoft word in 6 easy. Its filled with stepbystep instructions, pictures, and a hyperdetailed process for. Check out this video walkthrough showing you how i format a book for kindle right on my computer screen. The content of this posts has been taken from kdps help page so when you are ready to publish your ebook to kindle be sure to visit their help page for any last minute updates. How to make a kindle ebook from scratch with html, xml and. Amazon will spend several seconds converting your book to the kindle format. Feb 11, 2020 on a separate document, write down the title of your book, along with any section and chapter titles, the number of sections or chapters, the word count of the book, and a page number estimate. If this is your lifes work, its worth paying a few hundred dollars to get it done right.
You have all the steps it takes to write and publish an ebook on amazons kindle store. I like making things simple, so i just think of the kindle book format in eight sections. Once your book is uploaded, amazon says upload and conversion successful. Selfpublish ebooks and paperbacks for free with kindle direct publishing, and reach millions of readers on amazon. You can learn about the 10 steps to publishing your own book, the six key foundations of marketing, the best way to launch your book, and more. How to format a book for kindle using microsoft word. There are no specific guidelines on how to cite books read from new devices such as the amazon kindle. How to format your book for amazon kindle using microsoft word.
Kindle file format is a proprietary e book file format created by with the extension. For new kindle publishers i think learning how to format your book is an essential skill. Writing ebooks for the kindle is not any different to writing a book or ebook for any other platform except that you should give special consideration to formatting your manuscript. You can try this yourself using a program called calibre, or you can just pay someone to do itwhich i recommend. May 05, 2014 to create an kindle ebook, you need the following files. How to use open office to write kindle books kay franklin. How to write a book for kindle about your expertise or passion. As you write your book, apply heading 1 to chapter titles. For example, i had over 2,000 downloads during a free promotion for my kindle book how to write a nonfiction book in 3. Kindle file format is a proprietary ebook file format created by with the extension. Make sure lines have the same syllable counts and rhythms. The former is the actual, final, encrypted kindle format that is dispensed from the amazon store, to your kindle as a purchased book. Use words insert function to insert images into your ebook. If you only expect to read your ebook on a computer not on a phone or special ebook device, then you should choose a pdfbased ebook.
Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading how to write and format a kindle book. Turn your completed manuscript into a formatted ebook with kindle create. This book is a goldmine for anyone trying to learn how to format their own books. An ncx navigation center extended table of contents. How to format your book for kindle using microsoft word in 6. If you decide to write your book in rhyme, you need to make the rhyme very, very good. Choose the type of book youre making and click choose file. Most ebook readers also support the pdf and plain text formats. Formatting for the kindle is really plain formatting just like typing on a typewriter, if youre old enough to remember those days. Whether you plan to exclusively publish on kindle or you are creating an ebook version of a book that youve published in a physical form, youll need to make sure that your content is pristine. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets.
This is because pdfs display the pages of a book exactly as they were designed by the book publisher. By the end of this kdp guide, you will have your book available in the kindle store, and ready to get into the hands of your readers. Place your pointer in the left hand margin outside of the text. An ebookthat is, a book that lacks a url and that you use software to read on a personal device or computeris considered a version according to the mla handbooks template of core elements. The easiest way is to write your book using good old microsoft word. How to write a kindle book 10 easy steps to get the first book.
One trick or hack to consider when publishing your ebook is to find a top seller on fiverr who writes book descriptions. And, even if you could, you cant upload that format at the kdp, the kindle digital publishing platform. The book in html format it can be all in one file, or you can break it up, a chapter per file, for example an opf open packaging format with the books details. The software includes a traffic keyword finder, a page one conclusions tool that identifies a keywords ability to get your book ranked on the first page, and an individual book analyzer so you can scope out the competition. Kindle devices and apps are designed to use amazons e book formats. For tips and tricks for designing your book in html please click here.