section breaks on smashwords

Brad Chambers · 02-22-2011, 07:53 PM

I am confused about this. After waiting for a month for a short story to be approved for the premium catalog I am told to take out my section breaks and insert paragraph returns. I assume this means the short row of # that I inserted to indicate a change in time during the story. I have other stories with these that have been approved. I have also had to resubmit for having paragraph returns and was told to remove them. Does this all depend on who is doing the checking? I thought it was computerized and worked automatically. I hope someone can explain this. Please.

Alm Hlgh · 02-22-2011, 07:58 PM

I will say I have had a similar problem; previously approved versions of my work and when I uploaded a more up-to-date copy I've had it fail the meatgrinder's test. I actually believe that SW is going through an upgrading system. If you go and read some of Mark's post on site updates, he talks about upgrading the meatgrinder (I presume it's a computerized software also).

You might want to check out the guidelines also...

DMSmillie · 03-02-2011, 03:41 AM

I wonder if they mean there are actual section breaks in the Word doc, as in "Insert - Breaks - Section Break"...? Section breaks are often used when setting up a print version of a book in Word in order to start a new page and specify that it should be an odd numbered page, for example - might there be one or two of those lurking in the Word doc? If you view the doc in Draft view, you'll easily be able to see all page and section breaks, and replace the section breaks with ordinary page breaks. There's never been any indication that the kind of "scene break" you refer to is in any way a problem or not allowed.

"Meatgrinder" is what they call their automated conversion software, which takes your Word doc and converts it into EPUB, MOBI, PDF, etc, format.

Brad Chambers · 03-02-2011, 06:50 AM

The only break I have is one page brake from my title page to my story. And my title page was copied and pasted from a previous story that was approved. I've taken out my rows of ### and resubmitted. Still waiting on them to catch up on their backlog.

altworld · 03-02-2011, 09:40 AM

I use

*** - Section break

**** - End of chapter

##### - End of book

So far Zero problems with the Meatgrinder, and I did an updated yesterday.
Arigato,
Nick Davis

BrentKnowles · 03-03-2011, 01:40 PM

I don't think you can have *any* 'automated page breaks' from Word or whatever you are using. (i.e., using the Insert Page Break function).

DMSmillie · 03-03-2011, 02:34 PM

I've used them without any problem in books published via Smashwords. You just can't guarantee that they'll translate as page breaks in all the formats Meatgrinder produces, so have to format around the page break so that it works with or without the page break itself (e.g. also include some sort of scene break indicator and/or a couple of blank lines). But in the EPUB and MOBI formats, the page break worked fine, with each new chapter starting at the top of the screen.

randyflycaster · 03-09-2011, 10:58 AM

I took out all page breaks. Before each chapter I added a empty line (carriage return).
Randy

Brad Chambers · 03-09-2011, 02:43 PM

I really hope smashwords gets caught up soon. I'm still waiting to see if the changes I made were the right ones. I submitted a new story day before yesterday and there were over 1000 books in the queue.

altworld · 03-10-2011, 09:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brad Chambers

I really hope smashwords gets caught up soon. I'm still waiting to see if the changes I made were the right ones. I submitted a new story day before yesterday and there were over 1000 books in the queue.

Submitted a new story on Sunday and the queue was up 1800 took 24 hours to get through the Meatgrinder. As always its a case of fire it off and try to forget about it for 12 hours or so. Its not as if the system wont automatically put in the vetting for Premium Distribution if it passed the Meatgrinder.
Arigato,
Nick Davis

Brad Chambers · 03-10-2011, 10:30 AM

Well, taking out the### must have done it because they got approved. I really don't know why it made a difference this time and not before. At least they're good to go now. And smashwords is actually working at a decent speed today.

ellenoc · 03-11-2011, 12:37 AM

I've always done exactly what the SW guidelines advise - no page or section breaks, just some extra returns, and I hate it. IMO books where new chapters don't start on a new screen just look like lazy formatting. I was hoping this thread might have some magic about breaks for SW.

ketadiablo · 03-11-2011, 02:25 AM

Hi everyone, I'm Keta Diablo, erotic romance author. Someone told me to hop on over to the Writer's Corner and then I stumbled upon your thread about Smashwords. I'm going to post a detailed step-by-step below and hope it helps. This isn't mine, but came from a publisher who formats all day long.

Supposedly, it's Smashwords format too, but read and use your own judgment. I'm not good at formatting, thus my formatter friend does it for me and my books look beautiful.

So here goes. Hope it helps:

First thing, control A, which selects the entire document, then select Format, styles and formatting, Remove Formatting, then click on Normal (depending on how your document is formatted you might have to scroll down the list to find normal) once you find it then right click on Normal and select font - apply Times New Roman, Regular, 12 point, then click Paragraph, select Alignment Justified, then 0, 0, 0, 0 (for the spacing categories) then select first line indent 0.5 and spacing single and then select OK.

Then go to search and replace, in the search box, click Special, and click on the tab character, that'll put it in your search box, then click Replace and don't put anything in there. Click replace all. That will take all tabs out of your document.

Next in the search box click Special and enter Manual Line Break and in the replace box, click Paragraph Mark, THEN REPLACE ALL.
Next select Special, in Search box select Section Break and in Replace box select Paragraph Mark THEN REPLACE ALL. Sorry, it's easy to "think" you've typed something, and anytime you have a problem with the formatting don't hesitate to ask.

Next you want to remove the extra paragraphs in the document so you don't have more than two together (if you miss some don't worry I'll catch them) Just enter the Paragraph Mark 4 times in your search box and replace it with one paragraph mark, then do the same entering the Paragraph Mark 3 times in your search box and replace it with one, that'll bring you pretty close.

Next Click your Search box and in the box hit your space bar twice Then in the replace box hit your space bar once. That will take out all the double spaces between words.

Next, search for the number of *** or however many of those you use when indicating a scene switch in your document, enter those into your search box, then in Replace, (make sure your cursor is in the replace box, it has a tendency to jump back to the Search box when you do this and if it does you'll have to click the No Formatting button to get it out of there and put your cursor back in the replace box, Select Format, Paragraph, Alignment Center, and then enter go to special and enter a paragraph mark. Then replace all, this will put your *** (scene break indicators) in the center with a paragraph after for safety just to make sure you don't have two few.

Finally, follow the same steps as above for your Chapters, only in this case because you do not want to split the word Chapter and the number, you need to enter your formatting code and your paragraph mark before you type in Chapter. If you don't have an extra paragraph already entered after your chapters in the document then I'll catch it and fix it when I prepare the document.

If any of this is unclear, Keta, please let me know and I'll try to help, or if you run into any other problems let me know that as well.

02-22-2011, 07:53 PM	#1
Brad Chambers Enthusiast Posts: 25 Karma: 514012 Join Date: Jan 2011 Device: Kindle	section breaks on smashwords I am confused about this. After waiting for a month for a short story to be approved for the premium catalog I am told to take out my section breaks and insert paragraph returns. I assume this means the short row of # that I inserted to indicate a change in time during the story. I have other stories with these that have been approved. I have also had to resubmit for having paragraph returns and was told to remove them. Does this all depend on who is doing the checking? I thought it was computerized and worked automatically. I hope someone can explain this. Please.

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02-22-2011, 07:58 PM	#2
Alm Hlgh BelieveNLove Alm Hlgh Posts: 39 Karma: 501052 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: USA Device: none	I will say I have had a similar problem; previously approved versions of my work and when I uploaded a more up-to-date copy I've had it fail the meatgrinder's test. I actually believe that SW is going through an upgrading system. If you go and read some of Mark's post on site updates, he talks about upgrading the meatgrinder (I presume it's a computerized software also). You might want to check out the guidelines also...

03-02-2011, 03:41 AM	#3
DMSmillie Enquiring Mind Posts: 562 Karma: 42350 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: London, UK Device: Kindle 3 (WiFi)	I wonder if they mean there are actual section breaks in the Word doc, as in "Insert - Breaks - Section Break"...? Section breaks are often used when setting up a print version of a book in Word in order to start a new page and specify that it should be an odd numbered page, for example - might there be one or two of those lurking in the Word doc? If you view the doc in Draft view, you'll easily be able to see all page and section breaks, and replace the section breaks with ordinary page breaks. There's never been any indication that the kind of "scene break" you refer to is in any way a problem or not allowed. "Meatgrinder" is what they call their automated conversion software, which takes your Word doc and converts it into EPUB, MOBI, PDF, etc, format.

03-02-2011, 06:50 AM	#4
Brad Chambers Enthusiast Posts: 25 Karma: 514012 Join Date: Jan 2011 Device: Kindle	The only break I have is one page brake from my title page to my story. And my title page was copied and pasted from a previous story that was approved. I've taken out my rows of ### and resubmitted. Still waiting on them to catch up on their backlog.

03-02-2011, 09:40 AM	#5
altworld Evangelist Posts: 495 Karma: 746472 Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Deep in Maryland Device: Android G1	I use * - Section break ** - End of chapter ##### - End of book So far Zero problems with the Meatgrinder, and I did an updated yesterday. Arigato, Nick Davis

03-03-2011, 01:40 PM	#6
BrentKnowles Author Posts: 38 Karma: 540064 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Edmonton Canada Device: iPad	I don't think you can have any 'automated page breaks' from Word or whatever you are using. (i.e., using the Insert Page Break function).

03-03-2011, 02:34 PM	#7
DMSmillie Enquiring Mind Posts: 562 Karma: 42350 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: London, UK Device: Kindle 3 (WiFi)	I've used them without any problem in books published via Smashwords. You just can't guarantee that they'll translate as page breaks in all the formats Meatgrinder produces, so have to format around the page break so that it works with or without the page break itself (e.g. also include some sort of scene break indicator and/or a couple of blank lines). But in the EPUB and MOBI formats, the page break worked fine, with each new chapter starting at the top of the screen.

03-09-2011, 10:58 AM	#8
randyflycaster Zealot Posts: 113 Karma: 1000858 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: New York City Device: Sony 350	I took out all page breaks. Before each chapter I added a empty line (carriage return). Randy

03-09-2011, 02:43 PM	#9
Brad Chambers Enthusiast Posts: 25 Karma: 514012 Join Date: Jan 2011 Device: Kindle	I really hope smashwords gets caught up soon. I'm still waiting to see if the changes I made were the right ones. I submitted a new story day before yesterday and there were over 1000 books in the queue.

03-10-2011, 10:30 AM	#11
Brad Chambers Enthusiast Posts: 25 Karma: 514012 Join Date: Jan 2011 Device: Kindle	Well, taking out the### must have done it because they got approved. I really don't know why it made a difference this time and not before. At least they're good to go now. And smashwords is actually working at a decent speed today.

03-11-2011, 12:37 AM	#12
ellenoc Author Posts: 87 Karma: 501132 Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Colorado Device: Kindle	I've always done exactly what the SW guidelines advise - no page or section breaks, just some extra returns, and I hate it. IMO books where new chapters don't start on a new screen just look like lazy formatting. I was hoping this thread might have some magic about breaks for SW.

03-11-2011, 02:25 AM	#13
ketadiablo Erotic Romance Author Posts: 36 Karma: 50000 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Midwest Device: kindle, nook,	Hi everyone, I'm Keta Diablo, erotic romance author. Someone told me to hop on over to the Writer's Corner and then I stumbled upon your thread about Smashwords. I'm going to post a detailed step-by-step below and hope it helps. This isn't mine, but came from a publisher who formats all day long. Supposedly, it's Smashwords format too, but read and use your own judgment. I'm not good at formatting, thus my formatter friend does it for me and my books look beautiful. So here goes. Hope it helps: First thing, control A, which selects the entire document, then select Format, styles and formatting, Remove Formatting, then click on Normal (depending on how your document is formatted you might have to scroll down the list to find normal) once you find it then right click on Normal and select font - apply Times New Roman, Regular, 12 point, then click Paragraph, select Alignment Justified, then 0, 0, 0, 0 (for the spacing categories) then select first line indent 0.5 and spacing single and then select OK. Then go to search and replace, in the search box, click Special, and click on the tab character, that'll put it in your search box, then click Replace and don't put anything in there. Click replace all. That will take all tabs out of your document. Next in the search box click Special and enter Manual Line Break and in the replace box, click Paragraph Mark, THEN REPLACE ALL. Next select Special, in Search box select Section Break and in Replace box select Paragraph Mark THEN REPLACE ALL. Sorry, it's easy to "think" you've typed something, and anytime you have a problem with the formatting don't hesitate to ask. Next you want to remove the extra paragraphs in the document so you don't have more than two together (if you miss some don't worry I'll catch them) Just enter the Paragraph Mark 4 times in your search box and replace it with one paragraph mark, then do the same entering the Paragraph Mark 3 times in your search box and replace it with one, that'll bring you pretty close. Next Click your Search box and in the box hit your space bar twice Then in the replace box hit your space bar once. That will take out all the double spaces between words. Next, search for the number of * or however many of those you use when indicating a scene switch in your document, enter those into your search box, then in Replace, (make sure your cursor is in the replace box, it has a tendency to jump back to the Search box when you do this and if it does you'll have to click the No Formatting button to get it out of there and put your cursor back in the replace box, Select Format, Paragraph, Alignment Center, and then enter go to special and enter a paragraph mark. Then replace all, this will put your * (scene break indicators) in the center with a paragraph after for safety just to make sure you don't have two few. Finally, follow the same steps as above for your Chapters, only in this case because you do not want to split the word Chapter and the number, you need to enter your formatting code and your paragraph mark before you type in Chapter. If you don't have an extra paragraph already entered after your chapters in the document then I'll catch it and fix it when I prepare the document. If any of this is unclear, Keta, please let me know and I'll try to help, or if you run into any other problems let me know that as well.