KindleGen basics

[Oldpilot]

Hitch, does that drag&drop pull the images along with it, even if they're in a different directory? The resulting azw file contains the illustrations?

[Hitch]

Oldpilot: Assuming that your linking schema is done correctly, yes. I've used this a number of ways; I've D&D'd html files; I've D&D'd ePUBs, and I've D&D'd OPF files. All work. ;-) I started out way back using the OPF for KG, when I graduated from ye olden MBPC to mobi, (because when I first started, I'd explode an ePUB and then double-click the OPF to launch MBPC, it feels like eons ago), and, honestly, I forget how I even stumbled on it, but yup, it works.

OTOH, you could just stick with Previewer, which has a number of advantages as well.

HTH,
Hitch

[AThirstyMind]

Thanks everyone...I understand the opf, html, epub stuff, and will practice dropping (probably html) into Kindlegen.exe program directly. Just takes a little practice on my part. Just when you think you've mastered the technology...it changes!

[sarafnikit]

Hitch, Can you help me understand how does KindleGen actually works? Can you help me with the documentation of the conversion process employed by KindleGen.
It would be of Great Help!!
Thanks in advance.

[Oldpilot]

Originally Posted by Hitch

I've D&D'd html files; I've D&D'd ePUBs, and I've D&D'd OPF files. All work. ;-)

But not zip files, I gather?

I tried to drag&drop yesterday without success. I saw a flash of a dos-like command screen, which then vanished, and I can't find anything remotely resembling my html file in the Kindlegen directory. (Same thing happens if I left-click on kindlegen.exe--a glimpse of blue, then it's gone.)

Incidentally, are all those dozens of gif files really necessary, or are they part of the welcome/readme files? Makes it hard to find anything in that directory!

(I'm using Windows Explorer to drag&drop, from one directory to the other. Is that what I'm supposed to be doing?)

Thanks!

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Oldpilot

But not zip files, I gather?

I tried to drag&drop yesterday without success. I saw a flash of a dos-like command screen, which then vanished, and I can't find anything remotely resembling my html file in the Kindlegen directory. (Same thing happens if I left-click on kindlegen.exe--a glimpse of blue, then it's gone.)

Incidentally, are all those dozens of gif files really necessary, or are they part of the welcome/readme files? Makes it hard to find anything in that directory!

(I'm using Windows Explorer to drag&drop, from one directory to the other. Is that what I'm supposed to be doing?)

Thanks!

OP:

Actually, I have no idea, as I never use them. I mean...an ePUB is a zipped file, and it works a treat on KG. I pretty much went from originally making prc's way back directly to epub, thence to KG/Previewer; I never went the "zipped html folder" route, myself; we all work fairly directly in xhtml-->ePUB-->mobi. I don't see why KG would not accept a zipped file, actually, but it mightn't be a supported file format. (In the alternative, drop the OPF on KG--I know that works and shouldn't be very different than what you're doing--should actually save you...3 steps, I think).

@sarafnikit: Sorry--what is it you are asking? There are others (try the mobiunpack thread) who are FAR more expert than I in the inner, proprietary workings of KindleGen/Previewer/mobi.

HTH,
Hitch

[Kratos]

I'm using Kindlegen v2.4 to convert an epub and getting the error message the book title was not set. Please set the title before generating the mobi

I also tried C:> kindlegen filename.epub -o NAME but get the same error. Notes don't mention how to set it.

The epub has passed the epub validation check.

How do i set the title?

[DiapDealer]

It's probably talking about the Title metadata... part of the ePub's OPF file. Title and Language are required, I believe.

[Kratos]

I would have thought Indesign automatically added them. I'm not proficient with CSS. Do you know where I can find out how to add them?

I copied this from my opf.

 <package xmlns="http://www.idpf.org/2007/opf" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" unique-identifier="bookid" version="2.0">
	<metadata>
		<meta name="generator" content="Adobe InDesign"/>
		<meta name="cover" content="frontcover.jpg"/>
		<dc:title></dc:title>
		<dc:creator></dc:creator>
		<dc:subject></dc:subject>
		<dc:description></dc:description>
		<dc:publisher></dc:publisher>
		<dc:date>2012-04-09</dc:date>
		<dc:source></dc:source>
		<dc:relation></dc:relation>
		<dc:coverage></dc:coverage>
		<dc:rights></dc:rights>
		<dc:language>en-GB</dc:language>
		<dc:identifier id="bookid"></dc:identifier>
	</metadata>
	<manifest>

[DiapDealer]

I don't know anything about setting metadata using InDesign. I would assume it's possible (but surely not automatic—since I'm guessing it's not quite psychic ). Your title is indeed not set. It doesn't look like you've defined any metadata to tell the truth.

<dc:title></dc:title>

It should look like:

<dc:title>The Title of My Book</dc:title>

For future reference... none of this has anything to do with CSS.

[Kratos]

That worked a treat -thanks!

When I converted the file with the official plugin for Indesign the file came 6.2 MB. Now i've converted it with the official Kindlegen software it is 9.7Mb! Nearly a 50% increase in size which means Amazon take a bigger cut (because they charge publishers more the bigger the file is).

Is there anyway I can download the previous version of the software?

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Kratos

That worked a treat -thanks!

When I converted the file with the official plugin for Indesign the file came 6.2 MB. Now i've converted it with the official Kindlegen software it is 9.7Mb! Nearly a 50% increase in size which means Amazon take a bigger cut (because they charge publishers more the bigger the file is).

Is there anyway I can download the previous version of the software?

The file produced by Kindlegen is larger because it contains the older mobi version for older devices, plus the new KF8 version for Kindle Fires and the apps that support it, plus it contains the original source code (the ePub). The source gets stripped out and only the version that can be supported is being delivered to the customer... not the entire 9.7Mb. I believe the delivered size of the file is what is being used for what Amazon charges in wireless delivery fees.