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Old 01-20-2013, 07:11 PM   #2
Hitch
Bookmaker & Cat Slave
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Posts: 11,447
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Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Phoenix, AZ
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Quote:
Originally Posted by VydorScope View Post
Got this today in email...

Interesting stuff - including mention of a plan to use the EPUB for generating other formats in the future.
Well...

Our first client to try this has failed abysmally. According to Smashwords, his file has been rejected because:
  1. His cover size was too small (his product image--didn't meet Apple's 1400px-wide-on-the-short-side image requirement);
  2. His "copyright page" is not correct (I suspect this means that it doesn't say "Smashwords Edition," or "published at Smashwords" as it most certainly asserts his copyright, etc.; it states "Your book doesn't follow the copyright page recommendation in Step 21b of the Smashwords Style Guide Please see our FAQ,");
  3. They won't allow him to name his book(s) as they are named, as he uses some words in all upper-case;
  4. And, WAIT FOR IT!: He has fonts of varying sizes. This doozy states: "Your book contains some possibly corrupt formatting. If you take a look at the EPUB, you'll notice there are slight font size differentiations. This is caused by your mix of inconsistent on-screen formatting. One option is to do a CTRL-A and change everything to Normal style, then modify the style to enforce the characteristics you want. "

Really? Fonts of varying sizes? I nearly spit when I saw that one. This guy's books are simple, ordinary fiction titles. His Chapter heads are your basic chapter heads, not huge by any means. (1.2ems/120%). I mean, what's the point of accepting ePUB format if all you're going to do is make the same "Word-style" manuscripts that they were already making with Calibre's API? Their advice on how to "fix" this? Use the "nuclear method" of nuking all formatting.

What a load. Of course, the ePUB passes ePUBcheck (2 and 3); there's not a damned thing wrong with it. My head is already hurting from what will inevitably be the outflow from this. We already tell prospective clients that we don't "format for Smashwords" as we don't do Word-file cleanup, and this is just going to be another headache, if they don't get their act together. Differing font sizes referred to as a "corrupt file?" Corrupt file my BUTT.

Hitch
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