[David Gaughran]

Hi Alex,

Thanks for providing that extra info.

In case anyone doesn't know what we are talking about, Smashwords have an unusual system (on the author/publisher side). Instead of letting us upload our e-book files directly (like Amazon), they make us upload a Word doc of the book.

Their system then converts this automatically into the various formats: epub, mobi, PDF etc.

The problem is that the system isn't that smart. And to avoid tripping it up, the Smashwords version has to be extremely simple, or else the whole document can go haywire. In fact, sometimes even when you do everything right, it can still spit out some strange effects.

Alex, with regard to the two issues you have highlighted here, I'm aware of the second one, but I am unable to see what you are referring to with the first one.

While I rigorously test each document for a couple of days before announcing the release of the book, it's simply not possible to test what the book will look like on every single brand of e-reader, tablet, and smartphone. I test each format on several different devices, but that's the best that anyone can do.

Can I ask what brand of e-reader/device you are viewing on? That could help me hunt down what's causing this. The reason I ask is that the Smashwords system can put in gunky code that may only trigger the kinds of things you are seeing on one make of smartphone or e-reader - which might be why I haven't heard anything about this yet.

With regard to the second issue, I don't think there is anything that can be done to prevent this. As I explained above, Smashwords require a Word doc. And in fact, they require it all left aligned, which they then convert to justified. If there is a workaround to prevent this, I'm not aware of it - but I don't think there is.

In short, we have no way of editing the CSS/HTML of the files their system spits out, and no way of "priming" the Word doc to achieve affects like altering the justification of the text.

I am a big fan of Smashwords, but this is on area they really need to work on. I take the time to hand code the HTML for all my e-book files, and it really pains me to have to take the regressive step of uploading a Word doc so Smashwords dumb system can mangle it like this.

In fact, some indie writers (and formatting experts like Guido Henkel) refuse to use Smashwords for this very reason.

I, along with many other writers, have been plaguing Mark Coker to allow us to upload our own epub and mobi files to the site. Unfortunately, he has stated that this is not a priority for Smashwords.

Thank you Alex for bringing this to my attention and for PMing me your email. I will send you on the proper epub file now.

For anyone else affected by this issue, especially readers, I urge you to send an email to Smashwords to complain about the files their system spits out. I think they may listen to readers more than writers here.

Dave