MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Professional Quality Personal Documents: KDP and/or Calibre?

RMOP · 03-27-2014, 01:58 AM

I'm primarily interested in producing professional quality Kindle-format books for myself and to share with friends. I do have a few small projects that might result in marketable Kindle books, so that is a factor as well, though a secondary consideration.

I've used Calibre, and found it a bit clunky, which probably means that I've simply not mastered its considerable functionality. I've actually gotten better results by sending heavily formatted .doc files to my @Kindle.com account, which places the book in my Personal Documents. Not bad, but I'm not satisfied, as I've been unable to get that approach to display book covers as would a commercial Kindle book, nor have I sorted how to add a Table of Contents or Index using .doc filed. It's probable possible, but I've not done it.

I just learned about KDP, and was wondering if KDP might be a suitable application for my purposes, namely, producing professional quality Kindle books for my PERSONAL use, with only a secondary interest in actually selling any of them. The .doc -> Personal Documents approach is convenient for spell-checking, footnoting and formatting, but not so great for cover art and other advanced features. The KDP application seems to provide the means for adding nice covers and Table of Contents, but I'm sure that it's not intended for my primary purpose of producing Personal Documents. But, perhaps it can play a role in that? It may be relevant to note that I'm taking obscure public domain material, finding and eliminating the (usually) many typos or scanning errors, and adding appropriate formatting and footnotes and annotations. Mundane stuff, but it requires repeated proofing and editing. Lots of editing.

I'd appreciate any comments about how best to produce really high quality Kindle books for personal use. I've probably a preference toward sticking with Calibre and learning it better, though if KDP will work better, I'm happy to go that route. Given the level of editing my texts require, perhaps I need a combination of things. If I can master producing a really good quality eBook, then I'd be more likely to try to bring some material to the marketplace.

Many thanks.

03-27-2014, 01:58 AM	#1
RMOP Zealot Posts: 100 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2008 Device: Kindle Paperwhite, TabPRO 8.4, Galaxy Light, Sony PRS-300	Professional Quality Personal Documents: KDP and/or Calibre? I'm primarily interested in producing professional quality Kindle-format books for myself and to share with friends. I do have a few small projects that might result in marketable Kindle books, so that is a factor as well, though a secondary consideration. I've used Calibre, and found it a bit clunky, which probably means that I've simply not mastered its considerable functionality. I've actually gotten better results by sending heavily formatted .doc files to my @Kindle.com account, which places the book in my Personal Documents. Not bad, but I'm not satisfied, as I've been unable to get that approach to display book covers as would a commercial Kindle book, nor have I sorted how to add a Table of Contents or Index using .doc filed. It's probable possible, but I've not done it. I just learned about KDP, and was wondering if KDP might be a suitable application for my purposes, namely, producing professional quality Kindle books for my PERSONAL use, with only a secondary interest in actually selling any of them. The .doc -> Personal Documents approach is convenient for spell-checking, footnoting and formatting, but not so great for cover art and other advanced features. The KDP application seems to provide the means for adding nice covers and Table of Contents, but I'm sure that it's not intended for my primary purpose of producing Personal Documents. But, perhaps it can play a role in that? It may be relevant to note that I'm taking obscure public domain material, finding and eliminating the (usually) many typos or scanning errors, and adding appropriate formatting and footnotes and annotations. Mundane stuff, but it requires repeated proofing and editing. Lots of editing. I'd appreciate any comments about how best to produce really high quality Kindle books for personal use. I've probably a preference toward sticking with Calibre and learning it better, though if KDP will work better, I'm happy to go that route. Given the level of editing my texts require, perhaps I need a combination of things. If I can master producing a really good quality eBook, then I'd be more likely to try to bring some material to the marketplace. Many thanks.