# Help with Smashwords issue: "You are missing Chapter 1 in your NCX"



## 41352 (Apr 4, 2011)

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## katherinef (Dec 13, 2012)

I was missing a chapter once. I fixed it by deleting the chapter title and the pagebreak in front of it and adding it all back again. If you're using a heading style, be careful that you didn't mark any spaces around the chapter title because that can cause errors.


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## 41352 (Apr 4, 2011)

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## Mark Philipson (Mar 9, 2013)

It sounds like a heading conflict.The Meatgrinder is the worst conversion software I've ever used. I uploaded a book to SW that rendered all em dashes as question marks in Adobe Digital Editions.


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## 41352 (Apr 4, 2011)

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## Mark Philipson (Mar 9, 2013)

Are all Chapter titles formatted as with H prefix and page break set in format dialogue box.


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## 41352 (Apr 4, 2011)

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## Mark Philipson (Mar 9, 2013)

I think SW uses hybrid of Calibre to convert files. It searches through a document for headings. Like H1 and up. The NCX document stores these as navigation links. A conflict could arise if headings are numbered differently. Just one thing that could go wrong.


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## 41352 (Apr 4, 2011)

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## 41352 (Apr 4, 2011)

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## Carradee (Aug 21, 2010)

Are there spaces in your bookmark names? I've noticed using underscores or hyphens instead of spaces tends to fix that issue for me.


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## 41352 (Apr 4, 2011)

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## Carradee (Aug 21, 2010)

Chrystalla said:


> In the chapter headings I have spaces, but not in the bookmarks (or did you mean in the chapter headings?)


I did mean the bookmarks, but&#8230; What are you using to produce the file? If you're using Scrivener, I think the NCX is produced from the document names.


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## 41352 (Apr 4, 2011)

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## Mark Philipson (Mar 9, 2013)

Smashwords is working a direct publish that accepts valid .epub files. The last I looked it was still in beta and files weren't eligible for Premium Catalog.


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## Nathalie Hamidi (Jul 9, 2011)

If you want you can send it to me babe, I'll check it for you.
Hugsssssss


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## RM Prioleau (Mar 18, 2011)

It sounds like you might have hidden bookmarks in your manuscript. Sometimes they appear randomly. Word is wonky like that.


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## Carradee (Aug 21, 2010)

@Mark, you can direct publish EPUBs to Smashwords now.

@Chrystalla: Check the "invisible" formatting surrounding your chapter 1. Make sure it matches the other chapters. (Easiest way will probably be to copy the page break before chapter 2 through the return after "2", pasting it over the chapter 1 equivalent, then replacing the "2" with "1".)


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## Nathalie Hamidi (Jul 9, 2011)

It's very strange, I cannot edit the Bookmarks in the file. The link in the Word document works fine...
Still investigating.

ETA: Nope, not working. Grmblz.


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## Quillhill (May 14, 2011)

Hi Chrys. Haven't heard from you in a while. Smashwords publishing can be notoriously frustrating. If you want me to take a look at your file, send it over.--Jeff


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## 41352 (Apr 4, 2011)

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## 41352 (Apr 4, 2011)

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## Greg Banks (May 2, 2009)

Mark Philipson said:


> Smashwords is working a direct publish that accepts valid .epub files. The last I looked it was still in beta and files weren't eligible for Premium Catalog.


I've got several epubs uploaded to SW that are epubs.


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## 41352 (Apr 4, 2011)

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## Nathalie Hamidi (Jul 9, 2011)

Chrystalla said:


> Just an update: I submitted the book despite the autovetter error and it was accepted in the Premium catalogue without any issues.


Yay!


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## Tim C. Taylor (May 17, 2011)

I've had several problems with Smashwords over the past few weeks with autovetter reporting errors that didn't really exist. Had to contact Smashwords support to sort them out (who were helpful, but I'd rather not have the problem in the first place). Might be a coincidence and not saying that was the case here, but if I've understood it, you submitted a book that was marked as having errors and it got in anyway... It's a stab in the dark, but I'd guess they've updated something with their Meatgrinder process that's confusing autovetter.


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## 41352 (Apr 4, 2011)

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## Nathalie Hamidi (Jul 9, 2011)

Chrystalla said:


> No idea why it worked out.
> 
> On the other hand, my other book which had no autovetter errors is still in review for the Premium Catalogue.


Ok that's funny and not funny at the same time!!


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## 41352 (Apr 4, 2011)

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## 41352 (Apr 4, 2011)

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## JRHenderson (Dec 4, 2011)

RM Prioleau said:


> It sounds like you might have hidden bookmarks in your manuscript. Sometimes they appear randomly. Word is wonky like that.


People sometimes think that this is a strange thing to say, but in my experience, word processors that _aren't_ made by Microsoft (e.g. Apple's Pages, OpenOffice, AbiWord, etc.) seem to produce much better-behaved ".doc" files than the word processor that _is_ written by Microsoft.

Maybe the other guys try harder to stick to the .doc "standard".... and Microsoft just does whatever it wants.


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## Julie Harris (Sep 25, 2012)

JRHenderson said:


> People sometimes think that this is a strange thing to say, but in my experience, word processors that _aren't_ made by Microsoft (e.g. Apple's Pages, OpenOffice, AbiWord, etc.) seem to produce much better-behaved ".doc" files than the word processor that _is_ written by Microsoft.
> 
> Maybe the other guys try harder to stick to the .doc "standard".... and Microsoft just does whatever it wants.


Atlantis word processor costs about $30, opens Word files, saves as .doc and ebook. The epubs pass epub2 validation, the program has less bells and whistles, you can have it on a usb drive and take it pc to pc, and the only things it won't do, yet, are tables. It looks a lot like earlier versions of Word and is far easier to use.


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## 41352 (Apr 4, 2011)

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## horse_girl (Apr 9, 2010)

Chrystalla said:


> Honestly, if the other books in the series weren't already published with Smashwords...
> 
> The book with no errors was pending review a week after it was submitted (while the one with the "error" was accepted almost immediately into the Premium Catalogue).
> Finally today something changed: I got a message the book has an error - the TOC isn't in the front of the book. Seriously?
> ...


This is the same sort of issue I've been having with Smashwords on my last two stories and it seems to be getting worse with each new story I upload. Honestly, I may end up going with D2D from here on out. I can't tolerate SW errors. The latest is when I changed my price on an older book (which was updated a few months ago and passed inspection, but I have an error message saying it's not 100% compliant while being accepted in the premium catalog. When I emailed CS, they said I uploaded a new version, which is what it shows in the versions listing. I only changed the effin' price! I sent a reply back--no response. I'm getting completely FED UP with SW. I even sent a complaint some time ago but no one acknowledged it. I guess Mark doesn't want to hear about the problems arising. If he doesn't fix them, though, he will end up out of business.


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## JRHenderson (Dec 4, 2011)

Julie Harris said:


> Atlantis word processor costs about $30, opens Word files, saves as .doc and ebook. The epubs pass epub2 validation, the program has less bells and whistles, you can have it on a usb drive and take it pc to pc, and the only things it won't do, yet, are tables. It looks a lot like earlier versions of Word and is far easier to use.


Thanks for the info, Julie. I checked out Atlantis and it looks like a neat little app and a really easy way to turn a manuscript into an ePub. If my old Tosh laptop was running Windows 2000, I could give Atlantis a try -- alas, it's still stuck on Win 98 and my main computer is a Mac.



Chrystalla said:


> Honestly, if the other books in the series weren't already published with Smashwords...


Chrystalla, from what I've read in the WC, a few authors have put their books through the D2D process while the very same titles have been available through SW. The SW versions have been taken down only after the D2D versions have appeared and reviews have been transferred across.


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## 41352 (Apr 4, 2011)

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## JRHenderson (Dec 4, 2011)

Chrystalla said:


> Huh, this is very interesting! Is it done automatically then?


Automatically? I don't think there's anything which prevents the SW version and the D2D version co-existing on the same vendor's site.

But if it's the review stuff you're referring to, Aaron confirmed that PubIt reviews are brought across from the SW version to the D2D version without any author intervention...
http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,137808.msg2035159.html#msg2035159


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## 41352 (Apr 4, 2011)

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## 41352 (Apr 4, 2011)

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## Carradee (Aug 21, 2010)

Chrystalla said:


> Book is still in review.
> 
> If it's not published by Friday, I will take the book down and publish it with D2D. This is really unbelievable...


Have you e-mailed them? My last submission went through within a few days.


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## 41352 (Apr 4, 2011)

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## 41352 (Apr 4, 2011)

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## Nathalie Hamidi (Jul 9, 2011)

Chrystalla said:


> Got an email yesterday saying they'd just approved the book.
> Today it still says "pending review".
> 
> Just how long does it take for an approval to go through?


SEEK AND DESTROYYYYYY


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## 41352 (Apr 4, 2011)

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## 41352 (Apr 4, 2011)

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## beccaprice (Oct 1, 2011)

I put books in Smashwords on the 6th and they're still not shipping yet. Definitely my next book is going to D2D.


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## 41352 (Apr 4, 2011)

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## JRHenderson (Dec 4, 2011)

Keep us updated, Chrystalla! It will be interesting to see how D2D compares with SW...


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## JRHenderson (Dec 4, 2011)

How's it going Chrystalla? Are you having more success with D2D?


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## 41352 (Apr 4, 2011)

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## NicWilson (Apr 16, 2011)

Ugh. Dealing with something similar right now... My ToC was working, and hasn't been changed, but now they've said it's totally disabled. I think they changed something in the Meatgrinder. I'll probably have to try to format it with Calibre at home, but I'm not happy about it.


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## JRHenderson (Dec 4, 2011)

Chrystalla said:


> Books uploaded fine so far on D2D and available on B&N and Kobo. Waiting to hear from Apple...


Wow, already available on B&N and Kobo! How long did that take... two days?


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## beccaprice (Oct 1, 2011)

I've been waiting for 6 days for any action from Smashwords. My next release will definitely be D2D.


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## 41352 (Apr 4, 2011)

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## tkepner (Jun 13, 2013)

Okay, for all those who have problems with your files making it through Smashwords' Autovetter, get this (it's free): http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/247453

It has a simple solution to the ToC problems that will work every time (and indices, footnotes, etc.).


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## JRHenderson (Dec 4, 2011)

Chrystalla said:


> Oh no, it took less than 1 day. But I went and changed something about the covers and reuploaded, hence the 2 days.


That's incredible. And no complaints about your first chapter or your ToC...


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## 41352 (Apr 4, 2011)

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## JRHenderson (Dec 4, 2011)

Chrystalla said:


> Final update: books were approved by Apple, too, and were published without a hitch. Already started selling. So... Very happy I switched.


Chrys, you said that your "books" were approved and selling. Are you referring to just the recent titles that were struggling to get through the SW system, or are you putting all of your titles through D2D now?


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## 41352 (Apr 4, 2011)

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## Nathalie Hamidi (Jul 9, 2011)

I'm leaning towards D2D too. I am tired of SW shennanigans.
I just changed the frakking cover and now there is an auto-vetter error that wasn't there before, and the frakking support takes eons to answer.
REDRUM REDRUM REDRUM


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## 41352 (Apr 4, 2011)

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## Nathalie Hamidi (Jul 9, 2011)

Chrystalla said:


> D2D buddies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Could someone send me a screenshot of the nice parts in D2D, like the reports pages? Blaking the sales part of course! 
Make me dream... I'm so tired of SW.
I just need a little push...


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## Nathalie Hamidi (Jul 9, 2011)

I signed up...


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## 41352 (Apr 4, 2011)

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## JRHenderson (Dec 4, 2011)

Chrystalla said:


> I was referring to the recent two titles that SW was rejecting, but I am slowly putting all my books through D2D. My UF serial will be uploaded next week, too.


Ah okay, I can't say that I'm surprised. D2D's system seems to just do the job without any hassle. Anyway, thank you for answering all of my questions. I'll stop being so nosey now!


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