Accurately Previewing a Kindle Book Pre-Sale

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Kindle Previewer is no substitute for an actual Kindle. It does not always display the same as you would see on a Kindle.

Well, that's true. KP3 is more browser-ish than "real" Kindles and Kindle readers. For example, it has ZERO relationship to KCR or DX and surely, no relationship at all to KF7, which, alas and alack, still exists.

If you have errors, it could be due to the ePub having errors. If you are using Sigil or the Calibre editor, use the epubcheck plugins (both have one) to check for errors.

OR, it's simply being sideloaded, by the 3rd party, in a way that misleads them.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

You are so wrong. I recently took an ePub with drop caps and with Kindle Preview, the drop caps looked good. On the Kindle, the drop caps look lousy. So never never take Kindle Preview's word for how an eBook will look on a Kindle.

Yeah, well, again, KP3 is more browser-ish, more KF8-ish, more like Azardi than eInks. You can't rely on dropcaps, when you can override them, easily and readily, with the PPW family of devices.

NOT unless you develop specific coding, for a specific layout, and embed that coding for that book alone. That works regardless of the font. IF you embed a 2nd font, for the Drop--in short, it wil never work 100% of the time.

Hitch

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by Rand Brittain

The book has now gone live and exhibits no errors whatsoever, so it looks like I was correct in assuming that Kindle Previewer was the most accurate tool available. Still kind of bizarre that authors don't get access to on-device previews, but I suppose I should count myself lucky they get anything at all.

I would think that kindlegen would give the closest approximation to what would be delivered by amazon.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

I would think that kindlegen would give the closest approximation to what would be delivered by amazon.

Do you mean Kindle Previewer 3.x? Because KG, Kindlegen, doesn't really show you anything--it's an executable that makes the files. ???

H

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Do you mean Kindle Previewer 3.x? Because KG, Kindlegen, doesn't really show you anything--it's an executable that makes the files. ???

H

Run kindlegen, split the output to KF7 and KF8, load same to kindles, inspect.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

Run kindlegen, split the output to KF7 and KF8, load same to kindles, inspect.

Why split the output? No reason to? And what comes out of KG is not one iota different than what you get if you drop your source file on KP3, AFAIK. What you get from KP3, AFAIK, is actually closer to the modern rendering than is the older KG. ???

Hitch

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Well, that's true. KP3 is more browser-ish than "real" Kindles and Kindle readers. For example, it has ZERO relationship to KCR or DX and surely, no relationship at all to KF7, which, alas and alack, still exists.

Well said!

NOT unless you develop specific coding, for a specific layout, and embed that coding for that book alone. That works regardless of the font. IF you embed a 2nd font, for the Drop--in short, it wil never work 100% of the time.

The problem with the drop caps conversion was that the drop caps code used line-height code which Kindles ignore. I fixed it by using a negative margin-top. But again, Kindle Previewer was useless.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Why split the output? No reason to?

To see what the KF7 looks like if all test kindles are KF8 capable.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

To see what the KF7 looks like if all test kindles are KF8 capable.

OOkay, but...if you put a KF7 kindle "version" on a KF8, it's still going to be a bit deceptive. Hell, I keep KP2.9.x running on my system, for quick-n-dirty DX KF7 viewing (and it is shockingly accurate, mind you!--and it is too for the PPW family, BTW, more accurate, IMHO, than KP3.x), and I keep a K2--yes, I really do--that I test upon.

I'm a big fan of KP 2.9.x. It's incredibly accurate and in some ways, more so than KP3.x. And you don't have to mess with carving up a file or be stuck using Calibre.

Hitch

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

To see what the KF7 looks like if all test kindles are KF8 capable.

For that matter, jps, if you are not using KP3 to generate (or KP2.9.x) your files, how are you testing for iOS?

Hitch

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by Hitch

For that matter, jps, if you are not using KP3 to generate (or KP2.9.x) your files, how are you testing for iOS?

Hitch

I don't do windows or mac and have no professional involement with ebooks.

[JSWolf]

The other day I tried to use the current Kindle Preview to look at a KF8 eBook created by a conversion using Calibre from ePub to KF8. I was not allowed to view this KF8 as I was told it's too old a version. Is there anyway to fix this with Calibre?

I did find one significant bug in Kindle Previewer. It respects line-height in CSS when it should not. That's why the drop caps looked OK when on a Kindle they did not. I had to change the line-height to a negative top margin.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The other day I tried to use the current Kindle Preview to look at a KF8 eBook created by a conversion using Calibre from ePub to KF8. I was not allowed to view this KF8 as I was told it's too old a version. Is there anyway to fix this with Calibre?

I did find one significant bug in Kindle Previewer. It respects line-height in CSS when it should not. That's why the drop caps looked OK when on a Kindle they did not. I had to change the line-height to a negative top margin.

Wolfie:

FFS...just make an ePUB and drop it on KP3. That'll solve it for you.

And you can line-height from now until your cows come home and guess what? Nothing will work. When it undergoes he PW, if you're talking body, it will be ripped out and changed to 1.2ems.

H

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Wolfie:

FFS...just make an ePUB and drop it on KP3. That'll solve it for you.

And you can line-height from now until your cows come home and guess what? Nothing will work. When it undergoes he PW, if you're talking body, it will be ripped out and changed to 1.2ems.

H

I did try the ePub and it showed the drop caps correctly because KP incorrectly allows line-height to work.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I did try the ePub and it showed the drop caps correctly because KP incorrectly allows line-height to work.

So, dear boy, lemme see:

You're unhappy with how KP3 works, because it's showing you a drop cap working correctly, (as if it would work correctly, that is) that you already know won't work right? Because you already know that KP's PW (Processing Workflow) is going to rip out all those body line-heights, and make it not work?

So, you want to make an older-style, "KF8" AZW-mobi, from Calibre, to what, reinforce the idea that it won't work?

Am I missing something here, Wolfie? If you want visual and visceral reinforcement that it won't work, just put the ePUB on KP2.9.x.

And while you're at it, would you like me to send you a hammer, so that you can smash yourself in the head with it? Because it feels good when you stop?

¯\(º_o)/¯



Hitch

[Notjohn]

I found the downloaded previewer software very helpful in the 2.n version, but when it was "improved" to 3.n I didn't like it at all. I find the online previewer much better (and just as fast, which usen't be the case.

Why don't you just mock up a KDP account for yourself (or use a sandbox title if you have one already)? Upload the epub2 and a placeholder cover and view it on the online previewer. I get a lot of Mail2Kindle books from NetGalley and they're generally awful.