Quote:
Originally Posted by AThirstyMind
What! Amazon sets the SRL without asking to after the TOC? My clients, and I have many and have produced 100s of books in the last several years, want their TOC in the back of the book... almost exclusively. They don't want that TOC to get in the way of the 'Sample'. So most of my books are Cover, Title page, copyright, TOC, dedication... and finally Reader Letter (it's backlist you know) where I put the SRL... then Chapter 1. Of course they all open right where I want them in all the previews and when I email them to my devices (iPad and Kindle Fire). But you're saying that's not where the book will start when my author actually uploads it and sets it to fly free into the Universe?
I don't believe any of them, have ever gotten a complaint from a reader that the book doesn't start at the right place. And there isn't anything after the TOC in these books... is this the key? The only version where I put the TOC in the front is the Smashwords Word version... all others, Epub and Kindle content (mobi7 and KF8) are in the back. And of course now, most want all the front matter to join the TOC back there too.
I only have a couple of clients who ever get those dreaded typo notices, and believe me I'm sure there are dropped punctuation and wrong word usage in others, because normally I'm asked to just convert and not proof... I think the criteria is how much money an author makes for Amazon. The modest sellers are left alone, the big sellers... well Amazon wants to keep them big sellers, so any little thing brought to their attention from readers they jump on. And you're right, even words properly used in 18th century England are questioned.
I guess it's my turn to rant now. But really... putting the TOC in the back will mess up the SRL?
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Thirsty:
Here's the real gist of the problem:
I Do Not Know.
And I'm not sure that
Amazon knows.
However, I can say this: not every book from the advent of history has had this change.
This is new. This started about December, so the only books you have to "worry" about are from about 11/30 or so forward. And, I don't know what on earth will happen if you put the html.toc at the back of the book. Amazon says, not less than 3 times in their latest guidelines that it is to be
at the front of the book. (Sections 3.3.1, 3.3.2 and 3.3.6, which goes on to lecture you about placement). Rather importantly, and this could affect the receipt of the "If You liked this book" feature (which is implemented by Amazon during the PW), Amazon goes on to say in 3.3.6:
"Place the HTML TOC towards the beginning of the book and not at the end of the book. This ensures that a customer paging through the book from the beginning encounters the TOC naturally. Inaccurate placement of the TOC affects the accuracy of the “Last Page Read” feature. Correct usage ensures that the TOC appears in the book’s sample."
If your customers, like mine, are seeking to have the "If You Liked This Book" Amazon-implemented feature, and this is driven by the last page (which it is), then...I'd say it's possible that "mis-locating" the TOC could affect the placement or even existence of this. It's certainly something to consider.
H