Formatting e-book -cover and contents page

Banx · 01-09-2015, 08:28 AM

I've formatted my first e-book from HTML but come across two minor glitches.

The first is that when I open the book in Kindle it goes straight to the title page and not the cover. To get to the cover I have to go back a page. So the cover is there and in the right order but I can't access it straight off. When I open the book in Calibre's own viewer it works just fine.

The second glitch is that my contents page is at the end of the book rather than being at the beginning of the book just after the copyright page.

If anyone can give me some advice on this I'd be very grateful.

Jeremy

Section8 · 01-09-2015, 09:11 AM

As a new PW2 user, I've noticed something like this also. The epub readers I've used (Nooks, Sony), first open books on the cover, but the kindle first opens books (in my case, epubs converted to azw3 with calibre) several pages in.

I haven't tried to figure out if this can be controlled. I'm guessing it's just a "feature" of the kindle - that it tries to first open a book at where it thinks you will want to start reading instead of just at the cover.

Dr. Drib · 01-09-2015, 09:25 AM

This is not a minor glitch.

This is the way Amazon prefers to have its books open.

Banx · 01-09-2015, 11:24 AM

Thanks for that. Saves a lot of time trying to solve a problem if it doesn't exist.
J

Nancy Fulda · 01-16-2015, 05:21 AM

If it's important to you, you can always insert the cover image on the first page of text. That way readers will open to the cover image despite kindle's default settings.

Banx · 01-16-2015, 06:23 AM

Thanks Nancy. That's a really useful suggestion. Would I still be limited to keeping my file to 129kb?

Many thanks,

Jeremy

Nancy Fulda · 01-16-2015, 08:17 AM

Almost certainly. But you can reduce file size without losing much quality if you choose an image format with a good compression factor.

GIFs are great for that, as are JPEGs if you save them at 80% rather than 100% image quality. (The image isn't quite as sharp, but the human eye usually can't tell the difference.) I wouldn't recommend using PNG or BMP - they tend to be really big files. Not sure about TIF.

Banx · 01-16-2015, 09:07 AM

Thanks Nancy. Much appreciated.

J

01-09-2015, 08:28 AM	#1
Banx Writer/cartoonist Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: Greenwich, London Device: none	Formatting e-book -cover and contents page I've formatted my first e-book from HTML but come across two minor glitches. The first is that when I open the book in Kindle it goes straight to the title page and not the cover. To get to the cover I have to go back a page. So the cover is there and in the right order but I can't access it straight off. When I open the book in Calibre's own viewer it works just fine. The second glitch is that my contents page is at the end of the book rather than being at the beginning of the book just after the copyright page. If anyone can give me some advice on this I'd be very grateful. Jeremy

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01-09-2015, 09:11 AM	#2
Section8 Addict Posts: 264 Karma: 2121470 Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Arlington, TX Device: Kindle PW4, Moon+ Reader on a cheap Android tablet	As a new PW2 user, I've noticed something like this also. The epub readers I've used (Nooks, Sony), first open books on the cover, but the kindle first opens books (in my case, epubs converted to azw3 with calibre) several pages in. I haven't tried to figure out if this can be controlled. I'm guessing it's just a "feature" of the kindle - that it tries to first open a book at where it thinks you will want to start reading instead of just at the cover.

01-09-2015, 09:25 AM	#3
Dr. Drib Grand Sorcerer Posts: 45,413 Karma: 59504381 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Peru Device: KINDLE: Oasis 3, Scribe (1st), Matcha; KOBO: Libra 2, Libra Colour	This is not a minor glitch. This is the way Amazon prefers to have its books open.

01-09-2015, 11:24 AM	#4
Banx Writer/cartoonist Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: Greenwich, London Device: none	Thanks for that. Saves a lot of time trying to solve a problem if it doesn't exist. J

01-16-2015, 05:21 AM	#5
Nancy Fulda I write stories. Posts: 700 Karma: 16437432 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Northern Germany Device: kindle	If it's important to you, you can always insert the cover image on the first page of text. That way readers will open to the cover image despite kindle's default settings.

01-16-2015, 06:23 AM	#6
Banx Writer/cartoonist Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: Greenwich, London Device: none	Thanks Nancy. That's a really useful suggestion. Would I still be limited to keeping my file to 129kb? Many thanks, Jeremy

01-16-2015, 08:17 AM	#7
Nancy Fulda I write stories. Posts: 700 Karma: 16437432 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Northern Germany Device: kindle	Almost certainly. But you can reduce file size without losing much quality if you choose an image format with a good compression factor. GIFs are great for that, as are JPEGs if you save them at 80% rather than 100% image quality. (The image isn't quite as sharp, but the human eye usually can't tell the difference.) I wouldn't recommend using PNG or BMP - they tend to be really big files. Not sure about TIF.

01-16-2015, 09:07 AM	#8
Banx Writer/cartoonist Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: Greenwich, London Device: none	Thanks Nancy. Much appreciated. J

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