Previewing Your .epub in Kindle Previewer & Calibre by Amy K. Jones
You’ve got your .epub formatted ebook all ready to submit to a publisher and now there’s one more necessary step before you put it up for sale: previewing your book in the Kindle Previewer and in Calibre Ebook Management Program. Before you do anything else, make a backup copy of your .epub file and save it somewhere safe under a different name. Now, here’s how to make sure your book looks fantastic!
Preview in the Amazon Kindle: (Download: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000234621)
I receive no reward of any kind for references to this book retailer and I do not work for them, though I am a published author selling through them as well as a member of their affiliate program.
You’re about to submit your book to Amazon ebooks for digital publishing - Congratulations! There is one vital step you simply must take before you submit your work, though. I’ll walk you through the very simple process.
1) Get the Kindle Previewer: Go to the Amazon Kindle for authors site (link above) and download their ‘Kindle Viewer’ for authors. Install it on your computer. (Don‘t confuse yourself by downloading anything else at this time. You only need the viewer.)
2) Preview Your Ebook: Open your Kindle viewer and click on ‘Open Book’. Select your copy of the .epub book file and click open. Your book will appear in the viewer. Flip through your book and enjoy that heady feeling of accomplishment you’re due. Make notes of anything you’re not entirely thrilled with as you go and make changes by uploading the .epub file to Sigil - Don’t forget to save your work!
3) Verify All Shortcut Features: When you’ve finished making any adjustments you wanted to make and saved your work in Sigil, upload your book (.epub file) to the Kindle Previewer again. Use the ‘Go To’ button at the top panel of the viewer and select each of the offered shortcuts to specific locations. Verify that the viewer displays each of these options acceptably.
***Important Note*** The Amazon Kindle Previewer doesn’t seem to recognize that you have a Table of Contents in some cases. This issue has been addressed in numerous forums around the net, but I have yet to find a solution for this problem. Your document (assuming you used Sigil, following my previous article’s directions) does contain an active Table of Contents that is readable and functional. You can and should verify that the rest of your book functions and looks good in the Kindle Previewer, taking the .epub back to the Sigil program to make adjustments as necessary, then go ahead and submit your file for digital publishing.
Preview in Calibre Ebook Management Program (Download: http://calibre-ebook.com/)
You’re getting ready to submit your ebook for publication in the .epub format - Congratulations to you! Now, use Calibre to ensure that your book will look stunning on just about any ebook reader available in the marketplace today.
I cannot say enough good things about this program. It is just beautiful and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading digital material on their desktop. I am not affiliated with the product or its developer; I just love the program.
1) Download Calibre Program: Download and install from the above link.
2) Preview Your Ebook: Open Calibre and use the first button in the top panel to open your .epub book file, then double-click on it in the center panel when it appears. A book viewer screen will open and your book will load. This will tell you whether your .epub document (book) will look good on devices other than the Amazon Kindle.
3) Editing Your .epub Further: You can make more adjustments to your .epub file using this program and save them, or just load up all your book and magazine subscriptions and read/manage them on your desktop beautifully!
Previewing your work in both of these programs is well worth the extra effort and will save you time and hassle as you move into the wonderful world of online publishing. Your .epub book file will be readable on just about every device available today, and .epub is the file type the US Library system has decided to use because of it’s versatility and simplicity. Now get your book out there for all of us to enjoy!
Programs Discussed in This Article: Sigil: http://code.google.com/p/sigil/ *Runs on Windows, Linux and Mac Computers Calibre Ebook Management: http://calibre-ebook.com/ *Runs on Windows, OS X, Linux & Portable Amazon Kindle Previewer: *Runs on Windows, Linux and Mac http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000234621
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