# Kindle text format



## Judith (Jan 5, 2009)

I have put several word documents on my Kindle and I noticed that sometimes after being sent, whole paragraphs of text are occasionally indented.  

I thought that maybe it was just the way they were formatted in my word document, but I have noticed it also on several purchased books.  

There is also often lots of space between paragraphs where there is a space the same size as the text line (if that makes sense) -- it seems to double the size.  I was just curious if there is a rule of thumb in these conversions.  Does a certain font or size of font work best?  Also the Kindle didn't seem to recognize some symbols that were in the word document.

Is there anything I should do before converting more stuff.

Judith


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

I have yet to determine how to get a really good conversion out of anything. I tried a rich text file, it was a mess. A PDF; not so good either. I tried converting a PDF with MobiPocket Creator yesterday, the lines and indents were all screwy too.

It's disconcerting to read. I bought a copy of one of our author's books, Deadly Vision, and the formatting is mostly good, but the whole book is indented an inch from the left side of the Kindle. 

When I have some time, I will have to do some research into best conversion methods.


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## Mikuto (Oct 30, 2008)

I haven't been able to figure out the formatting either, sorry to say. I tried saving my WIP in rtf, pdf, doc, etc, and lost my paragraph indentations every single time. .doc seems to work the best, it retains italics and other formatting, but no indentations at all


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## kindleformatting (Oct 30, 2008)

Hey, everyone! The Kindle's foundational format is HTML, so whenever you upload a Word, RTF, PDF, etc. file to Amazon the system tries to convert it into HTML using an automated process. That _always_ creates problems, and you will very rarely run into a case where the text is not messed up in some way. The best way to create a Kindle book is to convert the file to HTML yourself and make the changes necessary to make it look good before sending it off.

Of course, not everyone knows or even wants to know HTML, and that is why I work with authors to make their books look great on the Kindle. I know the format well (I'm actually the resident expert on the subject), so dealing with the issues most authors run into is not difficult for me.

If you need help or have questions about the format, please let me know. Also, be on the lookout for my book about Kindle Formatting, which will be released in the next few weeks.

- Joshua Tallent
http://kindleformatting.com


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## Mikuto (Oct 30, 2008)

Thank you for your help! 

I hope it's not a hard question to answer, but even when I save in .html, I lose my paragraph indentations. Do I need to actually write in the breaks in word to keep them?


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## kindleformatting (Oct 30, 2008)

Mikuto,

The Kindle automatically formats each paragraph with a 0.25 inch first-line indent. However, sometimes the Word styles can overwrite that. To ensure you have no issues, you need to have a simple

tag without any other styles in it. That should look great.

Also, if you are looking to take off that first-line indent, you can use

or

.

Hope that answers your question, but please let me know if it does not!

Joshua
http://kindleformatting.com


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

kindleformatting said:


> http://kindleformatting.com


Oooh, like the blog.... I have added you to my blog listing at this thread.....

Do you have any good tips for converting PDF?


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## Anju  (Nov 8, 2008)

Hi Kindleformatting - boy is it super nice to have you here, not that I will be putting documents or formatting for the kindle I know lot of folks will enjoy your blog and book!

Have you go to Into/Welcome yet? or did I miss it - hope you have time to join the book klubs.


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## Judith (Jan 5, 2009)

Wow, Kindleformatting!  Great information -- but complicated and I haven't digested it yet.  I have however put your link in my favorites.  I'm sure I will be visiting often. I just didn't realize it was so involved.  So, in other words, if I buy a book from Amazon that has goofy margins, the publishers did not follow the correct HTML formatting? 

Thanks again,
Judith


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## kindleformatting (Oct 30, 2008)

pidgeon92 -- PDF files are a bear to convert. They are built for printing, not for text archiving, so there are always some fun issues you have to deal with. If you have access to Adobe Acrobat Professional, I suggest that you convert the PDF into Word, then from that into Filtered HTML. Otherwise, you can use Mobipocket creator to get the text into HTML. The first method will give you some decent, if messy, output. The second method will also give you some decent output, but you will probably be missing some formatting. Both methods, as with all eBook conversions, will require at least a little bit of fixing and tweaking.

Anju -- Thanks for the warm welcome! I have been a member on the board for a while, but I just haven't had the time to get involved.

Judith -- That is exactly right, the formatting issues you see in books is a result of someone not working through the document thoroughly. Unfortunately that is an all-too-common issue. However, I have a list of past projects on my website covering a wide variety of topics and styles, and I can assure you that they look great.

Joshua
http://kindleformatting.com


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## Vegas_Asian (Nov 2, 2008)

hello kindleformatting!! checked out your site and saw a couple of books I may check out. later


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## Dori (Oct 28, 2008)

Thank you Thank you Thank you!  I have put your blog in my favorites.  I don't know that I will send anything to my Kindle but it is nice to know where I can go for help.  I thought I was an expert because I have HTML for dummies on my bookshelf.


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## Guest (Jan 18, 2009)

Joshua, thank you so much for the info. I have a book I downloaded in .pdf that had some weird formatting which was rather distracting. After reading that HTML was the way to do correct formatting for translation, I cranked up Mobicreator. It is working like a charm, but will be a time consuming process. In the end I should have a very readable file. 

Plus, I will have to teach myself some HTML, luckily I already know some BBS which seems similar to me.


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## Suzanne (Nov 3, 2008)

Thank you so much, Joshua. I have bookmarked your site and will be using your tips. I quite often email Word documents to my Kindle and this will help make them a bit more readable.


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## stevene9 (Nov 9, 2008)

I have found that Word files translate the best. Text files do not translate so well for me.


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## Jaderose (Dec 19, 2008)

Joshua, I've also added your blog to my favorites.  What a great wealth of information.    Thanks!!

Hoa


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## Michael R. Hicks (Oct 29, 2008)

Hey, Joshua! Good to see you here!

Cheers,
Mike

P.S. I hope you're getting a little spinoff business from my "how-to" book.


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## Linda Cannon-Mott (Oct 28, 2008)

Thanks so much Joshua and welcome to KB!


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