Using Kindle Create with LibreOffice on Microsoft Windows

By Bill Thompson

If you need a reliable reference guide for Kindle Create with all the necessary information conveniently in one place then this is the book for you. This book is a full-bore, step-by-step guide that walks you through all the important aspects of creating quality reflowable ebooks, fixed format ebooks or paperback books using Kindle Create with LibreOffice or OpenOffice on Windows.

This book will:

1.  Explain the pros and cons of using Kindle Create.

2.  Show you, in detail, how to prepare a problem-free Word doc for Kindle Create using either LibreOffice Writer or OpenOffice Writer.

3.  Describe, step by step, how to use Kindle Create to finish-off your ebook or paperback book.

4.  Show you how to properly test your Kindle Create ebooks and books.

5.  Show you how to recover your Kindle Create master files after a disaster.

6.  Give you extra helpful advice on workflows including tips, current bugs, best practice advice, troubleshooting advice and much more to help you quickly become an expert with Kindle Create.

Using Kindle Create with LibreOffice on Microsoft Windows will describe and show indie publishers how to create reflowable ebooks, fixed format ebooks and paperback books using the standalone app version of Kindle Create on Windows. Please also note that this ebook does not cover how to create comic books using Kindle Create

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rambutan Free Press
• Release date: Aug 16, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393401780

Book preview

Title_New

BILL THOMPSON

USING KINDLE CREATE WITH LIBREOFFICE ON MICROSOFT WINDOWS

Copyright ©2020 William Thompson

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any storage information and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the author or publisher.

The information in this book is distributed on an 'As Is' basis without warranty. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, neither the author nor the publisher shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the instructions contained in this book or by the computer software or hardware products described in it.

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CONTENTS

Title Page

Copyright

About the Author

Other Books

DEFINITIONS

INTRODUCTION

PART I ~ About Kindle Create

1. All About Kindle Create

Limitations of this Book

How to Use this Book

Why Use Kindle Create?

Useful References

Requirements and Preparation

Enabling Access to All Kindle Create Functionality

What is KFX Format?

Pros and Cons of Creating a Reflowable eBook

KPF Upload or Word doc Upload for Kindle eBook?

Pros and Cons of Creating a Fixed Format eBook

Reflowable eBook or Fixed Format eBook?

Pros and Cons of Creating a Paperback Book

KPF Upload or Direct PDF Upload for Paperback?

PART II ~ Prepare a Word doc for Kindle Create

2. Preparing a Word doc Using LibreOffice Writer

Detailed Workflow

Standard Layouts Used in Books and eBooks

How to Prepare and Insert High Quality Images

How to Reduce Total File Size

Creating Lists that Work Well in your eBook

How to Create a Clickable TOC

Another Way to Prepare Tables

Understanding the Look Inside Version of Your eBook

Avoiding Problems with the Look Inside

Saving your Work

Checking your Word doc

Create a Cover for Your eBook

How to Format Poetry

LibreOffice Formatting vs. KC Formatting

LibreOffice Writer Formatting Tips

PART III ~ Using Kindle Create

3. Create a Reflowable eBook

What is a Reflowable eBook?

Detailed Workflow

Manipulating Text, Pages and Sections

How to Use the Heading Styles in the Elements Tab

Simplest Way to Format Headings and Create a TOC

How to Prepare and Insert High Quality Images

Resizing Images in Kindle Create

Why you should Always Avoid Using Dropcaps

How to Format Poetry

How to Reduce Total eBook File Size

Saving Your Master Project Folder and KPF Upload File

Understanding the Importance of the KCB Project File

Create a Cover for Your eBook

Current Bugs

4. Create a Fixed Format eBook

What is a Fixed Format eBook?

Font Size Warning

Saving Your Word doc as a PDF file

Detailed Workflow

How to Prepare and Insert High Quality Images

How to Reduce Total File Size

Saving Your Master Project File and KPF Upload File

Understanding the Importance of the KCB Project File

Understanding the Look Inside Version of Your eBook

Create a Cover for Your eBook

Current Bug

5. Create a Paperback Book

Creating just a Paperback Book

Creating an eBook and a Paperback Book for a Novel

Automated Tasks on Upload to KDP Print

Manipulating Text, Pages and Sections

How to Use the Heading Styles in the Elements Tab

Simplest Way to Format Headings and Create a TOC

How to Prepare and Insert High Quality Images

Resizing Images in Kindle Create

Saving Your Master Project File and KPF Upload File

Understanding the Importance of the KCB Project File

How to Format Poetry

Create Your Wraparound Book Cover

Current Bugs

6. Testing Your KPF file

Testing Your Reflowable eBook

Testing Your Fixed Format eBook

Testing Your Paperback Book

7. Kindle Create Best Practice Advice

Dos and Don'ts

8. Recovering Kindle Create Master Files

Recovery from a Reflowable or Paperback KPF file

Word doc Recovery from a KPF file using Calibre

Word doc Recovery from a Fixed Format PDF File

9. Troubleshooting Q & A

Questions and Answers

DEFINITIONS

doc TOC: The Table of Contents in the document.

em: This is a font size measure where each unit is represented as a decimal fraction or multiple of the width of the letter 'm' from the current font. Hence the name: 'em'.

fixed format ebook: Refers to an ebook where each ebook page has been converted and digitized into a photographic image(jpeg) of the page. A print replica ebook is similar; this is when each page in the published imprint book version is turned into an individual photographic jpeg image for the ebook version so that the ebook version looks exactly like the imprint or paperback version of your book.

Fx: Abbreviation for fixed format

jpg or jpeg: A bitmap file format used for storing images.

Interactive TOC: This is the TOC on the Kindle e-reading device(aka NCX TOC or Logical TOC). It is not a reference to the TOC in the document.

KC: Abbreviation for Kindle Create.

kcb: The Kindle Create project file extension.

KDP: Abbreviation for Kindle Direct Publishing.

KFX: Kindle's own proprietary version of fixed format ebook and reflowable ebook format that is used in Kindle Create.

KP: Abbreviation for Kindle Previewer.

KPF: Kindle package format file extension. This is the file format that is used when you create and save a Kindle Create doc for upload to KDP.

LITB: The Look Inside the Book version of a Kindle published ebook that is used as a preview for most ebooks found on Amazon.com.

LO: Abbreviation for LibreOffice.

Logical TOC(aka Nav TOC or Interactive): The Logical TOC is the TOC that is created and displayed only on the Kindle device itself(it is not a reference to the doc TOC in your ebook).

LW: Abbreviation for LibreOffice Writer

multi-level or multi-indented TOC: This is a TOC that contains both main headings as well as indented subsection headings.

OO: Abbreviation for OpenOffice.

OW: Abbreviation for OpenOffice Writer

pixel or px: A measure which is normally used for setting the height/width size of images

print replica: A print replica ebook is when each page in the published imprint book version is digitized into an individual photographic jpeg image for the ebook version such that the ebook version looks exactly like the imprint or paperback version of your book on computers, tablets and mobile phones.

pt: Abbreviation for the 'points' measure which is yet another measure for setting font size.

reflowable ebook: An ebook that relies only on html text displays where the text reflows to accommodate all the different-sized device screens. This is also the reason why page numbering and page headers are not allowed in reflowable ebooks.

single level TOC or Level 1 TOC: This is a flat TOC that is not multi-indented and which only displays the main headings based on the Heading 1 style only.

TOC: Abbreviation for Table of Contents.

INTRODUCTION

One of the main reasons I decided to write this book was to help the LibreOffice community. LibreOffice is Opensource software that is free for anyone to use. For a long while, I've also used many other free Opensource applications including apps such as Sigil, InkScape, FreeFileSync and GIMP just to name a few. So this book is really a tribute in appreciation to both the Opensource and LibreOffice communities. For far too long there has been a lack of good books on Amazon which would help LibreOffice users create ebooks and books using various kinds of software with LibreOffice. I hope that this book helps to change that.

The main purpose of this book is to give the reader a complete and convenient step-by-step companion guide – with all the necessary information in one place – on how to create ebooks for fiction and non-fiction novels as well as describing how to format and create paperback books using Kindle Create. This book will, descriptively and visually, show new Kindle Create users all the necessary and basic steps required to create text-heavy, reflowable ebooks(e.g. fiction or non-fiction novels) by loading a Word doc into Kindle Create and will also show the user how to produce image-dense, fixed format ebooks(e.g. travel books or cookbooks or books of poems) using a PDF document in Kindle Create. The user will be shown how to format and create a paperback book using LibreOffice Writer and Kindle Create. This guide also includes useful tips and advice on how to avoid and resolve formatting/layout problems and also includes advice on how to speed up your Kindle Create workflow to successfully publish a quality ebook or paperback book. However, take note this book does not describe how to format or publish comic books using Kindle Create.

I should also be clear that there is no chapter or section within this book that is solely dedicated to fully describing and showing the layout and usage of all the widgets and bits and bobs within the Kindle Create application itself. In my own mind, simply describing the layout and usage in words and images in any how-to book is really not going to help the reader to quickly and instinctively learn how to use any new software application.

I learned how to use Kindle Create by loading a Word doc or PDF file into KC and playing with the widgets every day until the app layout and usage became completely instinctive and second nature to me. But I've also read about some first time indie authors who, believing that Kindle Create was a breeze to use, and after formatting their book or ebook in LibreOffice Writer, loaded their Word doc into Kindle Create for the first time ever with the expectation of successfully finishing-off their ebook and publishing in record time without any problems at all. This is really the worst way to do it! In my opinion, any indie publisher who takes that route and who is unwilling to take time out to thoroughly learn how to use an essential tool of their trade – and learn it well – deserves all the formatting hell and angst that they get. The only way to really learn the layout and usage of Kindle Create – or any new software application for that matter – is to play with it and practice, practice, practice until you become an expert user.

Lastly, I will be using and referencing Kindle Create version 1.40.6.1 for this book, which is the most current version at the time of publication.

PART I.jpg

1. All About Kindle Create

I remember using Kindle Create(KC) for the first time when it was first released in early 2017. I was quite intrigued and excited because it was the first