Where can I get clear instructions for this type of Kindle publishing?

September 22, 2013 8:52 AM

My book is in an HTML file, not Word. I'm going to use kindlegen to convert it. Everything is working great, except I can't figure out how to include the cover, start page, and table of contents. Amazon's directions are spectacularly opaque. Where can I go to find out what to do?
posted by markcmyers to Technology (4 answers total)

Best answer: I found this guide immensely useful.
posted by tavegyl at 9:37 AM on September 22, 2013 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Yes! Thank you so much, tavegyl!
posted by markcmyers at 9:40 AM on September 22, 2013

If your book's source doesn't have to be a bare html file, I'd recommend making it into an ePub first using Sigil. It will allow you to WYSIWYGily insert a cover, generate a TOC, specify spine elements like startpage, flesh out your metadata and validate your code, among other conveniences. In the end, you'll have a well-formed epub that works for iPads and Nooks and Kobos and whatnot, and which kindlegen (or KDP, if you're uploading it) will happily convert into a Kindle-compatible format that retains all the fanciness.
posted by mumkin at 10:05 AM on September 22, 2013 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: I've found an even clearer guide. This site provides a template with clear instructions that makes the whole thing easy as pie.
posted by markcmyers at 8:28 AM on September 23, 2013