Updated Kindle Publishing Guidelines

[jhowell]

Version 2018.3 of the Amazon Kindle Publishing Guidelines is now available.

Testing books by side-loading them to a Kindle device/app is no longer described. It appears that they now feel that using their Kindle Previewer is sufficient even though it does not reflect how books will be displayed on older devices that do not support Enhanced Typesetting.

Kindle Create replaces Kindle Textbook Creator. It performs the same function and more.

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Listed changes are:

Updated 2.1.1 Kindle Create to add comics and update the language support.
Updated 2.2.1 KindleGen to revise requirements.
Updated 2.2.2 Kindle Previewer to add Enhanced Typesetting.
Deleted 2.2.3 Kindle Textbook Creator.
Updated 8.1 Testing Kindle Books to add Kindle Create and remove sideloading.
Updated 9.3.12 Footnote Guidelines to include guidance for footnotes or endnotes without numbers or symbols.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by jhowell

Version 2018.3 of the Amazon Kindle Publishing Guidelines is now available.

Testing books by side-loading them to a Kindle device/app is no longer described. It appears that they now feel that using their Kindle Previewer is sufficient even though it does not reflect how books will be displayed on older devices that do not support Enhanced Typesetting.

Kindle Create replaces Kindle Textbook Creator. It performs the same function and more.

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Listed changes are:

Man, lotsa luck with only using Previewer! Sheesh, I've reported at least 5 serious flaws with this newest KP3.x version. What a freaking nightmare. Links don't work, images display incorrectly, centered text doesn't display correctly, hanging-indented text displays wrong...on and on and on. Oh, and images inside of tables (to create side-by-side image displays) doesn't work right. Those are just off the top of my head.

They'll be prying those devices from my cold dead hands, and lemme tell ya, it's a freaking nightmare to explain to clients over and over that "oh, well, Previewer is broken, so you'll have to trust me," and worse, having to sideload all of them, take screenshots, drag them someplace convenient, send 'em to the client...ARRGGGHHHHH!!!!! I mean, if I were only doing 1-2 books a week, not a big deal, but...grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.


Hitch

[AlanHK]

Originally Posted by jhowell

Version 2018.3
Testing books by side-loading them to a Kindle device/app is no longer described. It appears that they now feel that using their Kindle Previewer is sufficient even though it does not reflect how books will be displayed on older devices that do not support Enhanced Typesetting.[

Now 90% of the files I make USING THE PREVIEWER (on epub source) just crash when I try to actually preview them in as "Voyage", now the only e-ink KF8 option. They work in DX (i.e., MOBI7) and the the "Fire" emulation (KF8).
But they load and work seemingly perfectly in my PW3.
No one has told me they don't work in a real Voyage, so, since this is something I only need to do these a few times a year and can't buy every Kindle made to test them, I just upload them anyway and they have been accepted.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by AlanHK

Now 90% of the files I make USING THE PREVIEWER (on epub source) just crash when I try to actually preview them in as "Voyage", now the only e-ink KF8 option. They work in DX (i.e., MOBI7) and the the "Fire" emulation (KF8).
But they load and work seemingly perfectly in my PW3.
No one has told me they don't work in a real Voyage, so, since this is something I only need to do these a few times a year and can't buy every Kindle made to test them, I just upload them anyway and they have been accepted.

DX? You mean in the old Previewer 2.9x? And the Fire? The Fire, DX and Voyage emulations are the old Previewer, 2.9x, which Amazon no longer supports. You should be seeing a message, every time you start it, to upgrade to 3.x.

Hitch

[jhowell]

Version 2019.1 of the Amazon Kindle Publishing Guidelines is now available.

Listed changes are:

Updated 5.1, HTML TOC Guidelines, to add lists of maps and illustrations.
Updated 5.3, Guide Items, to clarify that the start reading location is defined by Amazon.
Updated 9.3.2, Body Text Must Use Defaults, to update the color converter link.
Updated 9.3.7, Use CSS for Page Breaks, to clarify requirements.
Updated 9.4.2, Image Size and Quality Standards, to remove chart.
Updated 13.7.2, Adding Video, to clarify need for poster tag.
Updated 15.5, Supported Languages, to update language list