FAQ's and Troubleshooting
FAQ's
DIY FORMATTING KIT
HTML TROUBLESHOOTING
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
- What Size should my e-book cover be? Make the cover image a JPG file and 600 x 800 pixels. This will provide a full screen bleed when displayed on e-readers.
- How do I embed a cover in my Kindle ebook? There are two book covers. The first is the Product Image that you upload to the bookshelf through the KDP. The other is the book cover that is within the ebook itself. Embedding a cover image on a page depends how you are uploading to the Amazon KDP service.
If you are using Word, then place the image on the first page of the book. Then when you upload to KDP, you need to package (zip) the individual files together – both the Word file with the graphics placed and the individual files. Basically, you can only upload one (1) file through the system, so you need to use a packaging program such as WinZip or Stuffit (Mac).
If you converted from Word to HTM, then Word created the HTM file and the individual files (graphics) in a separate folder. The HTM and folder must be zipped together and then uploaded.
If you created your ebook using our KIT and SIGIL with each chapter on a separate HTML (or XHTML) page, then you have a cover.html with the image placed on the page. The issue with Kindle it will displaytwo (2) covers: one for the embedded image on the cover.xhtml page and the other for the image itself. Since the Kindle uses the image to display the cover, removing the cover.xhtml page will eliminate the "double image" within the book.
- How to remove second cover image from EPUB for Kindle? As shown in Video 10, open your created EPUB file, remove the cover.xhtml page and "Save AS" a new file - rename adding a 'K' for Kindle. The EPUB file then can be uploaded directly through Amazon Direct Publishing service or you can create a MOBI file by dragging the EPUB-K file over the Kindle Previewer.
- How do I Create a Linkable TOC? The Template comes with the basic four chapters created. Using the template, DIY Kit and Video 7, you can create your Linkable TOC.
If you are looking to only create a Kindle file (as one customer wanted) I provided a set of Videos to Create a Linkable TOC for Kindle. NOTE: This is only for Kindle. Visit the Video Center: Section on "How to Create a Linkable Table of Contents for Kindle"
DIY TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE
- I can't open the Word doc sample in my Word program. Why? The Word file in the kit is compatible with Word 2004+. If you are having problems opening or using the file, then use the Text file as your starting point. Simply open your Word program, click open and find the Word text file. Save As My Book.doc
- When I open MyBook.doc in Open Office it says the file is corrupted and it's unreadable. What am I doing wrong? If you use Open Office as your word processing program, try opening the MyBook.txt file. This should open cleanly. The Updated DIY Formatting Kit 2.0 will include an Open Office (MyBook.odt) file for OO users.
- When I paste my content in SIGIL the tags are all on separate lines. How do I fix that? It will automatically correct itself when you switch to Book View.
- The TOC editor is not located in the SIGIL program as indicated in your VIDEO. An update of SIGIL in August moved the TOC editor to the right side of the program. It works the same as the previous TOC Editor. In addition, you are now able to manually manipulate the toc.ncx and content.opf files.
- Where do I paste my content in the Template? All content must be place between the opening and closing body tags:
<body>
...content...
</body>
In our FormattingTemplate.xhtml, we've indicated the content position with a comment tag: <!--PASTE CONTENT BELOW HERE -->
- How do I add an image in SIGIL? Open your epub in SIGIL. Right click the "Images" folder and select "Add Existing Items". Browse to the image on your computer and click "OPEN".
- How do I link to an image from my pages. All images in the SIGIL program are contained in the Images folder. All Text is located in the Text folder, and so on. To link to an image from a content page the code would look like this:
<img src="../Images/image.jpg" height="100" width="100" />
Important Notes:
There are two periods before the slash.
The source (src) must be in quotes (")
The exact height and width dimensions of your image should be indicated.
Use the exact name of the image.
The tag is "self closing" so requires a closing bracket ( /> ).
- Does the DIY Formatting Kit work for non-fiction formatting such as comics or heavy graphic oriented books? The DIY formatting Kit for NON-Fiction is due out in Sepetember 2011 and will address formatting for heavy graphics, comics, poetry and other special formatting issues.
- I'm formatting a book and ran into this error: attribute name is not declared for element a What do I need to do? The attribute "name" is not allowed in epub formatting. You can only use the attribute id. Easily change all instances using the Find/Replace tool. Find "name"; Replace with "id" (do not put in the quotes).
Example: <a name="cover"></a> changes to <a id="cover">
</a>
- What does this mean? <h1 class="sgc-99" id="heading_id_2"> <a name="_Toc280179867"> <span>Chapter II</span> </a><a name="_Toc280179868"> <span><br /> In this instance, it appears you pulled in a table of contents that was created in your Word File (the name="_Toc280179868").
It also appears that the original word file had formatting and styles not compatible with HTML. Those error was corrected by the SIGIL (class="sgc-99") and placed in the style sheet on the page.
The break tag <br /> was added part of the original Word file before it was converted.
Essentially, the Word file was NOT properly formatted before converting to HTML. While these errors will not hurt the file, it does make for messy code.
The one issue you must correct is the
attribute "name". It must be changed to "id" in all instances. (See Attribute 'name' not declared for element 'a')
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