[DM-MUG] Kindle via a Mac

[Matthew Nuzum]

I looked into the self publishing thing about a month ago. By the way, if
you want your work to also appear in the iPad ibookstore and other markets,
you should also publish to "smashwords[1]" in addition to Amazon. Doing
those two together will get you on about every e-book store out there.

The common denominator is that the common epub format should work well. epub
is like HTML with most of the extra features removed. Much like RTF is to MS
Word. And, as you'd expect, if you don't get too clever, you can convert
from DOC format to epub. The trick is not getting to clever, which by
definition implies that Text Edit should be a good fit.

If you go to Amazon's help site you can find a template to download in MS
Word format [2] (see it on the right side as an attachment). It seems to
open perfectly in Text Edit. PDF is OK but in my experience it does not
convert as well to mobile formats. I've tried converting from PDF to epub
and it's not great. Amazon also publishes a list of formats that you can
convert from [3]. I'd stick with Text Edit. I'd also check out smashwords
and see what their recommendations are. They'll get you on iBooks, kobo,
sony, barnes and noble and more.

I've never actually done it, only read about it. So take this with a grain
of salt. If you do it, I'd love to hear a report of how it goes. :-)

[1]
https://itunesconnect.apple.com/WebObjects/iTunesConnect.woa/wo/2.0.0.9.7.3.1.3.1.MZDCBookContentProviderSignupRequirementsPage.1

[2]
http://forums.kindledirectpublishing.com/kdpforums/entry.jspa?externalID=114

[3]
http://forums.kindledirectpublishing.com/kdpforums/entry.jspa?externalID=21&categoryID=29

On Sun, Apr 17, 2011 at 4:34 PM, Clara D Reger <cdreger at grm.net> wrote:

>
> Well yes, of course, Amazon's software, which is notoriously Mac
> unfriendly. It *could save me a lot of time* knowing how to format,
> because (my understanding is that) RTF is out and it must be a Word doc
> file. Otherwise, things get scrambled.
>
> Can I use Text Edit and save that as Word? Or is a PDF OK? What about
> photos and illustrations? If anyone else out there has sailed these
> uncharted waters, plz say hello. Yes, I have tried to research online but
> I may not have tried the right places.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Darlene "Publish or Tear Hair Out Trying" Reger
>
>
>
>
> On Apr 16, 2011, at 10:19 AM, Geoffrey Stevens wrote:
>
>
>
> With Amazon's *Kindle Direct Publishing* free software.
>
> ------------------------------
> From: cdreger at grm.net
> Date: Fri, 15 Apr 2011 21:21:46 -0500
> To: dmmug at dmmug.org
> Subject: [DM-MUG] Kindle via a Mac
>
> Does any one have experience publishing to Kindle from a Mac? Advice from
> someone who has successfully done this, would beat trolling through all the
> PC advice on the Amazon and related sites, trying to find the Mac friendly
> info. The problem is well defined — formatting issues. The successful
> solutions — needed. Anyone?
>
> Darlene Reger in MO.
>
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-- 
Matthew Nuzum
newz2000 on freenode, skype, linkedin and twitter

"My aim has always been to get to the truth rather than to support some
position. And in criticizing others, I have always tried to understand what
their
position was and not to misrepresent it. I have never been interested in
cheap
victories." -Ronald Coase
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