New issue loading book from Calibre to Kindle Fire 7"

[Coolmeadow Kid]

Hi. I seem to just have lots of trouble with weird things concerning Calibre. I have six books in a series that I'm writing. I got a Kindle Fire 7" (2015 edition) to see how all of this looks on a Kindle. The first five books loaded fine. I used it to read through each one of them and found multiple wording, grammar issues and corrected in Calibre as I read. The first five reloaded fine. The sixth seemed fine until I got to the end of the book. Then it shows the book starting over but the print changes to light blue. It didn't have this before I did my editing. And it only has about two thirds of the book this way. I can pull it up in Calibre and this isn't in the HTML editing screen, nor is it in the file preview side-screen. When I look at the viewer built into Calibre, sometimes it shows the blue, sometimes it doesn't. I'm sending these books to my mom whose 87 years old. I don't want to confuse her with the book being in there almost two times. Any ideas? I hope someone can help. Jim.

[Coolmeadow Kid]

Has no one had an issue like this? In the last 3 weeks I've gone through each of the 6 books I've written. The last three are the only ones that start the book over and change the text from black to light blue text. It doesn't show this way on the Calibre View button, nor does it show this in the ePub editing screen. Book six has just under 17% of the book repeated. Book 5 has just over 4% repeated, and Book 4 has a little over 1% repeated. The first three books don't have any repeated and no blue text.
I mentioned in a previous thread that each time I loaded another book into Calibre to edit the HTML so it looks right, I've always gone from docX to ePUB to do the editing. So nothing has changed. Actually the first 2 books I wrote in Open Office, then changed it to docX before going to Calibre and converting it to ePUB. The other 4 were written in docX from the beginning. I've checked the first and last page HTML and changed them to read exactly the same, thinking there was something there that was telling it to do this. Today I downloaded and published books 5 and 6 to Amazon for the first time, and the preview screen shows book 6 to have the repeated section at the end. I didn't check book 4 or 5. Since this repeat is not in the ePUB editing screen, I have no way to get rid of it.
Surely someone else has run into this. I think it's very unprofessional looking to have a book for sale that has this in it. Plus the fact that it's a bigger download than it needs to be.
If you have any ideas to try to get it fixed, or even a thought on where to go to ask for help, I'd appreciate it. Judging from the number of people that have read this thread but not commented, even a 'I don't know' or 'that is weird' would be good to see. Thanks! Jim.

[BetterRed]

Moderator Notice

This sounds more like a conversion related issue rather than an editor issue, so I'm moving the thread to the Conversion sub-forum.

To get answers to Conversion problems you need to do what this says ==>> How to ask a question about conversion problems

BR

[Coolmeadow Kid]

Thanks BetterRed. I debated on where to put it originally. Thinking it was an HTML issue, I chose the other sub-forum. It does still seem weird to me that it would be a conversion issue. Mainly because I've edited and converted to MOBI on all 6 books in the last 3 to 4 weeks, and the issue is the same. But since all of this is new to me, I'll go with your expertise and hope this opens up this question to someone who wouldn't have seen the post otherwise, and hope that they have some suggestions.

So, would it be good to attach the ePub of the book here for others to play with? It shows to be a 1MB in MOBI and 552KB in ePub.

Thanks again. Jim.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Coolmeadow Kid

Thanks BetterRed. I debated on where to put it originally. Thinking it was an HTML issue, I chose the other sub-forum. It does still seem weird to me that it would be a conversion issue. Mainly because I've edited and converted to MOBI on all 6 books in the last 3 to 4 weeks, and the issue is the same. But since all of this is new to me, I'll go with your expertise and hope this opens up this question to someone who wouldn't have seen the post otherwise, and hope that they have some suggestions.

So, would it be good to attach the ePub of the book here for others to play with? It shows to be a 1MB in MOBI and 552KB in ePub.

Thanks again. Jim.

MR rules say you must be the Author before you can post the book.
You could post a sample chapter.

But a few ???
Did the HTML validate (and follow EPUB rules, which are a subset)?
Did you consider Kindle rules (foibles )? Things that are Valid EPUB are not always honored by AZW3 (and Mobi, even less)

[PeterT]

Or use the ScrambleEbook plugin and post the scrambled version.

[Coolmeadow Kid]

Originally Posted by theducks

MR rules say you must be the Author before you can post the book.
You could post a sample chapter.

But a few ???
Did the HTML validate (and follow EPUB rules, which are a subset)?
Did you consider Kindle rules (foibles )? Things that are Valid EPUB are not always honored by AZW3 (and Mobi, even less)

Sorry. That went way over my head. This does bring up another question, though. Should I be sending the books to Kindle using EPUB instead of MOBI? I've used the MOBI conversion exclusively on all 6 books when I published them on Amazon. I might try sending one of the three that has the issue via EPUB version to my Kindle Fire just to see what happens.

And I'll just throw this in. Another issue I hoped I could make work, but failed. I have one section that I'd like to switch to white lettering on a black background. All for effect as the character is hit from behind by a vehicle doing 70 mph while said character is stopped in a left turn lane. The effect is because he's in a coma for two months, but can still hear what's going on around him. It works great in the Calibre preview screen. Doesn't change at all on the Kindle Fire. If anyone has a fix for that, I'd be forever grateful. Just sayin'. I might try the EPUB version of this one on the Kindle too. Jim.

[theducks]

You make a EPUB, then convert to AZW3 (you could go direct to AZW3. I just prefer to work on EPUB. YMMV)

Mobi is an OLD, Limited format

[Coolmeadow Kid]

Well, that didn't quite work. Almost, but no cigar. When I converted to AZW3 and sent to the Kindle Fire, the white on black text works, but the spaces between paragraphs are still white... and the text is reduced to about 15 characters wide for the whole book when viewing in portrait mode. Two or three words. A little better in landscape, but still doesn't use the full width of the screen. If I look at it in the AZW3 editing preview screen, it looks perfect. Didn't think to look at it in the Caliber view screen before I deleted it, but I don't think that would matter since it doesn't render well on the Kindle. Oh, well...it was worth a shot. Jim.

[Coolmeadow Kid]

Originally Posted by theducks

You make a EPUB, then convert to AZW3 (you could go direct to AZW3. I just prefer to work on EPUB. YMMV)

Mobi is an OLD, Limited format

I didn't see your post before I wrote my last one. Is there a way to get the whole width of the screen in AZW3? Thanks. Jim.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Coolmeadow Kid

Well, that didn't quite work. Almost, but no cigar. When I converted to AZW3 and sent to the Kindle Fire, the white on black text works, but the spaces between paragraphs are still white... and the text is reduced to about 15 characters wide for the whole book when viewing in portrait mode. Two or three words. A little better in landscape, but still doesn't use the full width of the screen. If I look at it in the AZW3 editing preview screen, it looks perfect. Didn't think to look at it in the Caliber view screen before I deleted it, but I don't think that would matter since it doesn't render well on the Kindle. Oh, well...it was worth a shot. Jim.

In the:
body (css) if you want it everywhere otherwise put that in the specific class (selector)
background-color: black;


p{
color: white; (the letters are implied foreground)

[Coolmeadow Kid]

Originally Posted by theducks

In the:
body (css) if you want it everywhere otherwise put that in the specific class (selector)
background-color: black;


p{
color: white; (the letters are implied foreground)

Will that get it to work when loaded onto a Kindle Fire? What I did in EPUB works great when in the Calibre view screen and the live preview of the edit screen. Just didn't translate to the Fire. I thought since even my wife's regular Kindle reader could be turned to night mode, that it would work in the Kindle Fire. There is a spot right after this that I was able to make the text fade from light grey to normal black and it works on the Fire.

I know most of my issue is not understanding HTML. But this old body revolts at new things these days. Guess we'll see how serious I am at making this happen like I envision. Jim.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Coolmeadow Kid

Will that get it to work when loaded onto a Kindle Fire? What I did in EPUB works great when in the Calibre view screen and the live preview of the edit screen. Just didn't translate to the Fire. I thought since even my wife's regular Kindle reader could be turned to night mode, that it would work in the Kindle Fire. There is a spot right after this that I was able to make the text fade from light grey to normal black and it works on the Fire.

I know most of my issue is not understanding HTML. But this old body revolts at new things these days. Guess we'll see how serious I am at making this happen like I envision. Jim.

I have no idea what the Fire will do. I have a K4 NT (I am touch challenged).
I learned about and to edit CSS after I joined MR in 2010. I have been mostly retired for years
CSS is really easy once you wrap your head around the Box Model

[Coolmeadow Kid]

Maybe when I retire I'll have the incentive to learn it. Then I can go back and fix all the issues I've got hitting me right now. I'm still trying to wrap my head around trying to write books in the first place. It's really strange for someone who doesn't really enjoy reading! Thanks for your help. Jim.