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Old 04-18-2011, 09:50 PM   #1
petercrowell
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question about uploading zipped ebook to kindle site

Hi,

So, I've recently created my .mobi file and I'm working through the process of uploading my book to the amazon site for publishing to Kindle.

I've got the following files in a zip file:

image.png
image.png
image.png
toc.ncx
book.opf
book.html
book.mobi

Every thing works great in Kindle Previewer.

I've uploaded this zip file to the kindle site and all appears to be well, but I can't click the table of contents.

The kindle preview at the site seems very limited. Am I to assume all is well and just publish?

Any ideas?

Thanks!
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Old 04-19-2011, 04:01 AM   #2
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Do you have the correct "toc" link in the "Guide" section of your OPF file?

I'm a little curious, though. Why are you uploading it in that form? Why not just create the Mobi file yourself, and upload that?
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Old 04-20-2011, 10:29 PM   #3
petercrowell
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT View Post
Do you have the correct "toc" link in the "Guide" section of your OPF file?

I'm a little curious, though. Why are you uploading it in that form? Why not just create the Mobi file yourself, and upload that?
Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT View Post
Do you have the correct "toc" link in the "Guide" section of your OPF file?

I'm a little curious, though. Why are you uploading it in that form? Why not just create the Mobi file yourself, and upload that?
Hi Harry,

I assume the toc is correct. But I confess to having copy/pasted the code and put in the name of my own .html file. So it reads like this:

<reference type="toc" title="Table of Contents" href="nameofbook.html%23TOC"></reference>

Any flaws leap out at you?

It works perfectly in the Kindle Previewer software, so I assume it's correct?

Also, I uploaded the files as I did out of ignorance to a better way. But I'd love to learn how it should go. Does the .mobi file somehow comprise all the other files into itself?

Do I not need to upload the .toc, .html, .opf files if I have the .mobi?

What about the images?

Thanks very much for your response!
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Old 04-20-2011, 10:50 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by petercrowell View Post
<reference type="toc" title="Table of Contents" href="nameofbook.html%23TOC">
Possibly you should have an # in place of the %23 since that's an anchor fragment, even though technically, you're supposed to be able to substitute numerical references like that in URIs. It may be something that KindleGen & KPreviewer can deal with, but that the online thing that Amazon uses chokes upon.

Anyway, just upload the Mobi. Think of it as being like a prepared martini* already in a cocktail glass, which you hand to Amazon to gulp down right away.

Whereas if you upload your source html, opf, and images to convert on their site, you're basically handing them pre-measured shots of gin and vermouth and asking them to put the two together and add the olive in while supplying their own glass.

Sure, they can do it if you don't want to, but if you handle the mixing yourself, you have more control over the results and can know it's more-or-less going according to your preferred "recipe".

Hope this helps.

* Shaken, not stirred.
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Old 04-21-2011, 06:11 AM   #5
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Originally Posted by ATDrake View Post
Possibly you should have an # in place of the %23 since that's an anchor fragment, even though technically, you're supposed to be able to substitute numerical references like that in URIs. It may be something that KindleGen & KPreviewer can deal with, but that the online thing that Amazon uses chokes upon.

* Shaken, not stirred.
First, thank you again ATDrake. This answer is so helpful. Now I understand the basic process fully. I uploaded only the .mobi and all is well there.

Regarding the # vs. % question, I changed to the # in these two places in the .opf guide section, one the original url in question, the second only because it also had a %:

<guide>

<reference type="toc" title="Table of Contents" href="book.html#23TOC"></reference>

<reference type="start" title="Startup Page" href="book.html#23start"></reference>

</guide>

However, when I regenerated the .mobi it was created with warnings, telling me those two urls cannot be resolved.

When I upload to the kindle site for testing on that previewer, the toc does not appear at all when I click the toc link.

On the other hand, the progress bar at the bottom is functioning.

So here's the breakdown:

#
.mobi generated with warnings (url could not be resolved)

Online previewer toc does not appear
progress bar funcitons

Desktop version of previewer toc appears and is clickable
progress bar does not function

%
.mobi generated successfully, no warnings

Online previewer toc appears but is not clickable
progress bar does not function

Desktop version of previewer, everything works fine.


I think I'd feel better with the version that works best in the desktop previewer, since that's closer to the Kindle itself.

What do you think?
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Old 04-21-2011, 06:42 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by petercrowell View Post
Regarding the # vs. % question, I changed to the # in these two places in the .opf guide section, one the original url in question, the second only because it also had a %:
Your anchor fragment identifier prefix should be either just # or %23 (including the "23"), which are supposed to be technically equivalent to each other (# being the 23rd character in the ASCII range).

So it should read either #TOC or %23TOC in the href, not #23TOC.

You're getting a URL not resolved error for that last option because KindleGen is expecting to see a name or id="23TOC" in your html instead of the plain id="TOC" which you no doubt have instead when you do that, which it now can't find.

That's probably why the TOC went non-functional.

You might want to double-check your links to make sure they really go where they're supposed to, to corresponding anchors with the right name.
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Old 04-22-2011, 01:26 PM   #7
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Maybe I'm misunderstanding something. Regarding the progress bar at the bottom of the display -- should I be able to click that and navigate through the book?
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Old 04-22-2011, 04:22 PM   #8
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If you're referring to the scrolly thing at the very bottom of KPreviewer on the Mac, where there's a jelly-type button you can drag back and forth, yes, that's supposed to be clickable.

But if you're referring to the non-scrolly one which should be just above it in the KPreviewer window proper, which has "locations X - Y" resting on it, then no, that's non-clickable and you navigate through it by using the back and forth arrows on the toolbar, which correspond to the Kindle's own Back/Prev/Next buttons and the 5-way controller.
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Old 04-23-2011, 06:49 AM   #9
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Okay, got it. Thanks so much again.

One last (I hope!) thing. All is well in the Kindle Previewer on my desktop. But at the amazon upload site, in the online previewer, the html toc does not work.

Since it works in the desktop previewer, is it safe to assume it will work for readers on the Kindle itself?
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Old 04-23-2011, 01:34 PM   #10
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Probably, though I have absolutely no experience working with Amazon's publishing program.

But I think I've read that if you submit your own Mobi file and it doesn't get rejected for errors, what you submit is what you get back as Amazon doesn't change anything beyond adding corrective metadata and DRM if you've clicked that option.

The latter of which they apparently use as an excuse for rejecting Calibre-generated Mobi files due to some issues with necessary space for the DRM-layer, according to people in the Calibre forum.

If it's an option, perhaps try downloading your previewed or "published" file back through the Amazon system to try on your Kindle and see if everything works okay?
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Old 04-23-2011, 09:33 PM   #11
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Thanks yet again, ATDrake. Yes, I went with it and as soon as the book becomes available, I'll download to my computer. (Confession: I don't actually own a Kindle!)

I probably will soon, however.

My thanks again.
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