Quote:
Originally Posted by gmw
I'm not sure what the deal is with Smashwords and mobi files (I haven't tried to distribute through them yet, but it is one I'm considering) it was mainly as an example that I knew supplied mobi files for some books - and, curiously, mobi files smaller or similar size to the epubs on the couple of free books I checked out.
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AFAIK, they automatically generate .mobi files from MS Word docs that need to be formatted according to their very strict style guide. If the SmashWords .mobi files are smaller than the ePub versions, they're most likely mobi7 files.
Quote:
Originally Posted by gmw
Is it safe to assume that "the old mobi7 format" will be readable on all current Kindle readers?
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The old mobi7 format can indeed be read by all Kindles (and some ePub readers with mobi support). However, since it's based on the old HTML 3.2 standard, the mobi7 version might look very different from the ePub version, depending on the styles that you used.
Most likely you won't have to worry about this at all, because if you upload your book to KDP as an .ePub file, Amazon will automatically send the new, better-looking AZW3 format to those devices and apps that support it and the old mobi7 format to the owners of older readers.