Amazon Kindle ebook formatting is not an easy task. If you have written an ebook before, you will testify that formatting the ebook before uploading is arduous. Especially when your ebook has graphics, bullet points, tables, etc.
Sometimes, you might want to try other Kindle ebook formatting software, and the result is the same.
Poor ebook formatting for Kindle can result in wacky spacing, entire sections or chapters bolded and italicized, paragraphs split up, text flowing behind pictures, and more. Etc.
It might affect your ebook’s readability as most of your audience will find it challenging to understand your Amazon ebook. Sometimes, it might lead to a bad review. Most Amazon reviews are based on the buyer’s experience while reading books. It is while proper Kindle ebook formatting is needed to drive massive book sales.
In this article, I will reveal how you can format your Kindle ebook for Amazon KDP publishing in MS Word. However, if you have not written your book, you can learn How to Write a Book in 7 Simple Steps or how to set up an Amazon KDP account.
Back to the topic, If your ebook has graphics, tables, or anything that requires coding, this tutorial might not work perfectly for you as you will need a solid knowledge of XHTML programming. Even at that, there are still Html Editors that you can use online to insert codes.
However, if your book doesn’t contain these Kindle ebook formatting issues that involve coding, these ebook formatting tips will work well for you.
Let’s get started.
Amazon Kindle Ebook formatting
Determine the Sections of your Kindle Ebook
The first step in Kindle ebook formatting is determining the sections you want to include. Most ebooks contain the following sections;
- Title page, including author’s name and publishing house (if applicable)
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Acknowledgments
- Table of Contents
- Foreword (if applicable)
- Introduction
- Body/Chapters
- Conclusion
- About the Author
- Appendices including Bibliography, Glossary, and Advertisements
- Index (only when using a professional eBook programmer
You will need to determine the ones you want to include and the ones you want to remove. Determining the sections will help in the organization of your ebook. The more organized your ebook is, the more readable it will become.
Type your Kindle Ebook Perfectly
When typing your Kindle ebook, try as much as possible to avoid grammatical errors. When typing, avoid mistakes like hitting the “enter” keys twice after a paragraph just to create extra space or paragraph. Use the default Setting in MS WORD. You can customize your settings to indent your paragraphs. Remember that the more errors you make, the more junk codes you enter into your ebook.
Justify Your text
It will make sure that your text is evenly distributed. To justify your text, click control A to highlight your text and click control J to justify your text.
Add page breaks when doing Kindle Ebook formatting.
Page break is very crucial when you are formatting a Kindle ebook. It will make your chapters/sections start on a new page. After writing each chapter, add a page break before beginning a new chapter. There are two ways that you can add a page break.
- Place your cursor at the end of the section you want to add a page break, or at the beginning of the section, hold the control key and click enter key.
- The second method is locating where you want to add a page break, clicking on insert at the header part of your MS word, and clicking on a page break. It will add a page break to the page.
Good Kindle ebook formatting requires Adding Styles.
It is vital when formatting an ebook. Adding a header style will help you when adding a clickable Table of content. You can add a header style to your ebook. To do that,
- Go to the header section of your MS Word,
- Under “home,” locate headers by the right.
- You can use “Header 1” for TITLES, “header 2” for SUBTITLES, etc.
The headings you choose will determine how your Clickable TOC will look if you are going to use my method. Use different headers so that your readers will clearly understand your ebook.
Italicize most of your keywords for easy understanding. Italicizing your keywords will make the readers understand how important such sentences or words are. It is perfect when you are adding quotes. It will differentiate your quotes from the usual write-up.
Use bolded sentences when making a strong point or when trying to quote someone. Use bolded quotes in some scenarios to express some situations.
Add Clickable Table of Contents
When doing ebook formatting for kindle, add a Clickable table of contents to help readers to navigate to any sections of their choice. Since you already added the header style, it is easy to add a clickable table of contents.
To add that;
- Go to the header section of your page
- Click on References.
- Click on the table of contents on the left,
- On the dropdown, click on any table of content you want.
It will automatically add a clickable table of content to your Kindle ebook.
Paragraph Indentation
Paragraph indentation is significant when formatting a Kindle ebook. It will tell your readers when a new sentence begins.
There are two ways that you can indent your paragraph. I will teach you the two of them.
First Method
The first method is to locate where you want to add your paragraph.
- Place your cursor where you want to add the paragraph.
- Click on the tab key. The tab key is beside the CAPSLOCK key. It will add a paragraph.
Second method
Read also, Amazon Kindle Publishing: Step by Step Guide on How to Upload Books on Amazon
The second method is with the ruler.
- Go to view – ruler and place your ruler on the page.
- Now go to the home tab. Place your cursor on the text that you want to insert a paragraph.
- Then go to editing at the right side of the page and click on “select.”
- On the dropdown, click on “select all text with similar format.” It will highlight all the text in a similar format.
- Move your ruler to the right of your desired paragraph.
The layout of your book
It is another place you should look into when doing Kindle ebook formatting. I recommend a layout of 6 inches (15.24cm) in width and 9 inches (22.86cm) in height in MS Word.
Still on the layout,
- Open your book in MS Word.
- Change the layout to 6 inches (15.24cm) width and 9 inches (22.86cm) height. To do that, go to layout – margin – custom margin – paper. Change the Width and height. Apply to the whole document.
- Then, go back to the same layout – margin – custom margin – margin. Change the Left to (0.9525cm) and right to (0.9525cm). You can convert to inches depending on your PC setup.
- Click on the dropdown under “multiple pages” and change it from “normal” to “mirror pages.” Then make sure it applies to the whole document and click OK.
Use a good Font when handling Kindle ebook formatting
I recommend Times Roman numerals, Arial, or Georgia. These three fonts will give your book a good look.
Use a good font size.
I recommend 12 or 14 so your book will be visible to readers. Don’t use a bigger or smaller font size that will not be visible to the readers. I will discuss why you should not use a bigger font size in the latter part of this course.
Kindle ebook formatting Spacing:
When doing Kindle ebook formatting, I recommend 1.5 spacing. Avoid using spacing that is too big or too small.
Convert to Mobi
If you have followed these steps, you will see that your ebook won’t have any other Kindle ebook formatting issues. Now you can use a converter tool to create your MOBI file. I usually use Scrivener. It is very easy to use. You can use it to create your MOBI file.
NOTE: Kindle Previewer app gives you the option to preview what your eBook will look like on multiple devices. However, it doesn’t always show everything the same way a real Kindle device will, so it’s always best practice to copy your MOBI file onto an actual Kindle and preview it that way. I preview my eBooks on my Kindle Keyboard and Kindle Fire to ensure they’re readable.
Uploading
Now that you have finished your Kindle ebook formatting, It is time to upload your book. Go to kdp.amazon.com and upload your ebook. After uploading, preview your book and check each page to ensure that there are no Kindle ebook formatting issues.
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