Converting my own book for Kindle

Ticky · 12-29-2011, 10:44 AM

I have written my own book and would like others to read it on their Kindle. The book was written in Microsoft Word but when I try to convert the format via Calibre to be accepted by Kindle, it fails to recognise its format. Can anybody help?

HarryT · 12-29-2011, 10:56 AM

Save it as RTF from Word, then convert that with Calibre.

Ticky · 12-29-2011, 11:02 AM

Cheers Harry, I will try that.

Ticky

Ticky · 12-29-2011, 11:04 AM

Actually Harry, not quite sure how to convert from Word to RTF. Can you help please?

Ticky

theducks · 12-29-2011, 11:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ticky

Actually Harry, not quite sure how to convert from Word to RTF. Can you help please?

Ticky

in Word: Save as (pick RTF as the type)

Ticky · 12-29-2011, 11:25 AM

Tried that but it didn't work. Any other solutions?

Ticky

HarryT · 12-29-2011, 11:28 AM

What didn't work? Saving as RTF, or converting the RTF file in Calibre?

Ticky · 12-29-2011, 11:37 AM

Converting from RTF to Calibre. Just says that it doesn't recognise the format.
Would it make any differnce the fact that my book contains photos?

Ticky

HarryT · 12-29-2011, 11:42 AM

In that case, from Word, save your file as "Web Page, Filtered", and load that into Calibre. If you have pictures, zip up the HTML file and the pictures into a single ZIP file, and add the ZIP file to Calibre.

Ticky · 12-29-2011, 12:34 PM

Thanks Harry. All sounds very technical to a novice like me, though. Not sure I follow what you mean by 'zip up' the HTML and put photos in a 'zip file'.
The photos are often on the same pages as text (I've written my autobiography for my children and grandchildren, so I've inserted photos in the relevant places) so how do I save the text to 'Web Page, filtered' and the photos to a zip file at the same time? Sorry for being so uneducated in these things....I'm a bit of a dinosaur really!
Ticky

alansplace · 12-29-2011, 03:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ticky

Tried that but it didn't work. Any other solutions?

Ticky

Aafter saving as RTF you must add the RTF as a new book to Calibre and then convert it.

sgraffwriter · 12-30-2011, 08:31 AM

I only had success when I made a duplicate file of my book as html. Calibre recognized that and there were far fewer formatting issues. With Word and PDF, there will be formatting issues.

HarryT · 12-30-2011, 09:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sgraffwriter

I only had success when I made a duplicate file of my book as html. Calibre recognized that and there were far fewer formatting issues. With Word and PDF, there will be formatting issues.

Given that Calibre doesn't support Word directly, then yes, one could say that

. Exporting from Word to either RTF or HTML, though, should work fine.

It goes entirely without saying that you should never, EVER, regard PDF as a source to convert something from.

Jedai · 12-30-2011, 12:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sgraffwriter

I only had success when I made a duplicate file of my book as html. Calibre recognized that and there were far fewer formatting issues. With Word and PDF, there will be formatting issues.

If you're doing your Word file properly that is without trying to "trick" the program into formatting exactly how you want but by using the miscellaneous classes (Title1, Title2, ..., Normal and so on) and just changing the style of those classes to get your preferred format, inserting page jump at the end of chapter instead of passing a bunch of newlines and such things, you'll get an excellent result after exporting to filtered HTML and converting into epub with Calibre, you will even get a proper table of contents (which is lacking in many epub...). (Sigil often allows you to touch up the little bit that didn't work out)

Now that may not be as good as directly manipulating your HTML code, especially if you have some advanced needs (notes, special formatting) but for a basic book, it's better than nothing.

--
Jedaï

Jedai · 12-30-2011, 12:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

In that case, from Word, save your file as "Web Page, Filtered", and load that into Calibre. If you have pictures, zip up the HTML file and the pictures into a single ZIP file, and add the ZIP file to Calibre.

Technically you don't even need to do that, if the urls in the html are correct (which they should be when exporting from Word) Calibre does the zipping up himself, you just need to import the exported html file.

@Ticky > Just save your book as a "Web page, filtered (*.htm, *.html)" as HarryT counseled and import the file thus produced in Calibre. At this stage convert it into epub in Calibre and check the results, if you have too many discrepancies into the result come back and let us know.

--
Jedaï

12-29-2011, 10:44 AM	#1
Ticky Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2011 Device: Kindle	Converting my own book for Kindle I have written my own book and would like others to read it on their Kindle. The book was written in Microsoft Word but when I try to convert the format via Calibre to be accepted by Kindle, it fails to recognise its format. Can anybody help?

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12-29-2011, 10:56 AM	#2
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Save it as RTF from Word, then convert that with Calibre.

12-29-2011, 11:02 AM	#3
Ticky Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2011 Device: Kindle	Cheers Harry, I will try that. Ticky

12-29-2011, 11:04 AM	#4
Ticky Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2011 Device: Kindle	Actually Harry, not quite sure how to convert from Word to RTF. Can you help please? Ticky

12-29-2011, 11:25 AM	#6
Ticky Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2011 Device: Kindle	Tried that but it didn't work. Any other solutions? Ticky

12-29-2011, 11:28 AM	#7
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	What didn't work? Saving as RTF, or converting the RTF file in Calibre?

12-29-2011, 11:37 AM	#8
Ticky Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2011 Device: Kindle	Converting from RTF to Calibre. Just says that it doesn't recognise the format. Would it make any differnce the fact that my book contains photos? Ticky

12-29-2011, 11:42 AM	#9
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	In that case, from Word, save your file as "Web Page, Filtered", and load that into Calibre. If you have pictures, zip up the HTML file and the pictures into a single ZIP file, and add the ZIP file to Calibre.

12-29-2011, 12:34 PM	#10
Ticky Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2011 Device: Kindle	Thanks Harry. All sounds very technical to a novice like me, though. Not sure I follow what you mean by 'zip up' the HTML and put photos in a 'zip file'. The photos are often on the same pages as text (I've written my autobiography for my children and grandchildren, so I've inserted photos in the relevant places) so how do I save the text to 'Web Page, filtered' and the photos to a zip file at the same time? Sorry for being so uneducated in these things....I'm a bit of a dinosaur really! Ticky

12-30-2011, 08:31 AM	#12
sgraffwriter Stephen Graff Posts: 9 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Woodbury, NJ Device: Kindle for MAC	I only had success when I made a duplicate file of my book as html. Calibre recognized that and there were far fewer formatting issues. With Word and PDF, there will be formatting issues.

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