Embedding chess fonts

[lapaget]

I am publishing chess books, and embedding chess fonts on epub with Sigil works fine, both with TTF and OPF.

However I am publishing on Amazon also, and the conversion to AZW3 with Calibre (last version) only works for very small files, and not in the same way on a previewer or a Kindle Fire. I would say "erratic".

I know it's possible, as recently a book came out, where the size of the pieces follow the font size.

Till now I was using some trick to get a similar result,but this book have a finer appearance, so I go on trying, not very successful.

Can anybody help?

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by lapaget

However I am publishing on Amazon also, and the conversion to AZW3 with Calibre (last version) only works for very small files, and not in the same way on a previewer or a Kindle Fire. I would say "erratic"

Since Amazon KDP is known to reject (perfectly fine) .azw3 files created by Calibre, why don't you try to upload the .mobi file that Kindle Previewer creates? (Even though it has a .mobi extension, it's a hybrid file that contains both a traditional .mobi/prc file and an .azw3 file.)
BTW, since all Kindles and Kindle apps come with the Code2000 Unicode fallback font, there's no need to embed a chess font as long as the chess symbols in your book have been encoded as Miscellaneous Symbols Unicode characters (U+2654-U+265F).

[lapaget]

Originally Posted by Doitsu

Since Amazon KDP is known to reject (perfectly fine) .azw3 files created by Calibre, why don't you try to upload the .mobi file that Kindle Previewer creates? (Even though it has a .mobi extension, it's a hybrid file that contains both a traditional .mobi/prc file and an .azw3 file.)
BTW, since all Kindles and Kindle apps come with the Code2000 Unicode fallback font, there's no need to embed a chess font as long as the chess symbols in your book have been encoded as Miscellaneous Symbols Unicode characters (U+2654-U+265F).

That works fine, thanks. https://www2.mobileread.com/i/smiliesadd1/thumbsup.gif

I just tried the latest version of Kindle previewer (166 Mbytes !) and the resulting file has the chess figurines, nice. I thought only a .azw3 file could have embedded fonts.

Actually I had already tried to convert with Calibre to .azw3 , no way to see the fonts,
and converting to Mobi, I am confused as opening this Mobi with Calibre you see the fonts, while with others emulators I don't, and I have no Kindle Fire to check. So I will use Kindle previewer.

I tried in the past the Unicode characters, but they are really, really ugly.https://www2.mobileread.com/i/smilies/mad.gif

An additional problem however, I got a message that there is no cover: I used to add the cover and the description for the epub file while uploading on Kobobooks, and to add the cover, description and metadates with Calibre, saving then a Mobi file.

How shall I do now that I cannot use Calibre?

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by lapaget

An additional problem however, I got a message that there is no cover: I used to add the cover and the description for the epub file while uploading on Kobobooks, and to add the cover, description and metadates with Calibre, saving then a Mobi file.

How shall I do now that I cannot use Calibre?

You can use one of the two methods described in the Kindle Publishing Guidelines. (If you use Sigil, you can right-click the cover image and select Add Semantics > Cover Image from the context menu.)

AFAIK, if you use KDP to publish your Kindle book, you can also upload a cover separately.

[lapaget]

Originally Posted by Doitsu

You can use one of the two methods described in the Kindle Publishing Guidelines. (If you use Sigil, you can right-click the cover image and select Add Semantics > Cover Image from the context menu.)

AFAIK, if you use KDP to publish your Kindle book, you can also upload a cover separately.

I will never use kindlegen, as last year I spent a lot of time (weeks) with no result, and the AmazonPublishingGuidelines which I followed end 2011 did not allow me to produce a single book.

I am using Sigil since, fully appreciating it, but my version is probably old, 0.3.4 , as I do not have Add Semantics > Cover Image. I will update and follow your advice.

With KDP which I am using, I understand that the cover that I upload is only for the web site and does not go inside the book, right?

However I had to use Calibre to adjust the Metadates, generate the Table of contents, and obtaining the function that allows jumping from one chapter to another using the four way switch on e-ink Kindles. How will I do this now using Kindle Previewer to generate the Mobifile? (I see that most of recent books in .azw3 are lacking of this function that I find useful)

Thanks if you can help again

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by lapaget

I will never use kindlegen, as last year I spent a lot of time (weeks) with no result, and the AmazonPublishingGuidelines which I followed end 2011 did not allow me to produce a single book.

They've updated the guidelines several times since 2011. Why don't you check out the latest version? BTW, Kindle Previewer uses KindleGen.

Originally Posted by lapaget

With KDP which I am using, I understand that the cover that I upload is only for the web site and does not go inside the book, right?

I'm not quite sure about this myself, since I also included the same image in the ePub that I uploaded and it seems to work.

Originally Posted by lapaget

However I had to use Calibre to adjust the Metadates, generate the Table of contents, and obtaining the function that allows jumping from one chapter to another using the four way switch on e-ink Kindles. How will I do this now using Kindle Previewer to generate the Mobifile? (I see that most of recent books in .azw3 are lacking of this function that I find useful)

You can do all of this and more automatically with the latest Sigil version as long as your chapter headings have been formatted as heading tags (h1..h6). I.e., you'd first automatically create a regular (NCX-based) table of contents and then an HTML TOC for older Kindles.

BTW, since this is a Calibre forum, you may want to post any additional questions in the Sigil, ePub or Kindle forums.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by Doitsu

BTW, since this is a Calibre forum, you may want to post any additional questions in the Sigil, ePub or Kindle forums.

..........

[lapaget]

Originally Posted by Doitsu
BTW, since this is a Calibre forum, you may want to post any additional questions in the Sigil, ePub or Kindle forums.

Thank you for helping me with Sigil, which was the first step to produce an .epub to transform then to Mobi KF8 using Calibre.

Actually the first question was about Calibre:
(the conversion to AZW3 with Calibre (last version) only works for very small files). As confirmed in your first reply.
It's a pity, because I used Calibre successfully for 35 books!

So this thread should be considered closed, as I got all the answers, thank again.

Should in the future be possible to use Calibre to produce an .azw3 file with embedded chess fonts, will you be so kind to post that in this thread?