You’d think publishing and selling on amazon in Kindle and Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format should be fairly simple if one already has the pdf files ready to go. It’s not.
Conversing with @Ginaschreck (twitter id) (Gina Schrek) we see to be at about the same place in terms of trying to decipher the best ways to get conversion and sales done. So, I’ve done this quick post so Gina and I, and others might share their experiences with publishing e-docs on amazon.
So far, I’ve been fighting with converting to the Kindle format. I have been using a simple 2 column document layout with a color/graphic header at the top. First tried uploading an html file + graphics, which displayed flawlessly in my browser. Packaged it all up in zip file. The conversion is terrible. It should work if it worked in the browser. No joy.
Tried a web archive file (*.mht) which I thought was allowed but it isn’t.
Tried a pdf file. Amazon warns the conversion from pdf to kindle is poor. It was the best of the things I’ve tried so far. Not great. But fairly close to usable. But not close enough to actually sell the document.
On the selling in the native Adobe Acrobat format, although I’ve come across several outdated posts on how to do this on amazon, (ie. through mobipocket, other options), Neither Gina nor I have been able to figure out how to do this. All amazon links regarding pdf files return to the kindle page.
So, if you have any experiences to share on this topic, leave comments. Perhaps we can crowd source a solution.
I’m going to update this regularly as I find out new things on publishing via amazon and other edoc/epub vendors.
Just an update that I’ve got an email in to the folks that do the e-pub stuff at Barnes and Noble. I figure it would be good to know what different retailers and distributors require before converting existing books and publications to e-formats.
Hi! Saw your tweet on this issue and thought I would pass on a piece of open source software I stumbled across the other day. It’s called “Calibre” and is an ebook converter. http://calibre-ebook.com/about
I hope this points you in the right direction!
Best~
April
Thanks. Calibre is a good ebook conversion tool, but the issue is how to get ebooks/docs up for sale on amazon and other retail virtual shelves. We’ve figured out the Kindle part, but what nobody seems to know is how to sell/market adobe acrobat pdf files on amazon, barnes and noble, etc.
Since that’s the format we and others have been using for a long time, we want to continue to do that plus make them available on amazon. But they’ve changed the process so many times, and now, cannot find anything relevant or definitive.
Have you tried the Amazon Digital Text Platform?
http://forums.digitaltextplatform.com/dtpforums/index.jspa
Amazon DTP supports several document formats for uploading and conversion (HTML, unencrypted .mobi eBook files, Microsoft Word (.doc), plain text (.txt) and Adobe PDF). Amazon DTP also fully supports eBooks created in the .mobi format if they are unencrypted. You can use the free MobiPocket Creator (http://mobipocket.com/en/DownloadSoft/ProductDetailsCreator.asp) and upload the resulting mobi file.
“We’ve figured out the Kindle part….” You’re a better man than I, Gunga Din. I’ve been belted and flayed, like Kipling’s character, by the Kindle DTP process. Frankly I’ve given up. I’ll wait for the new Apple slate (iPad?).
Directions are terrible, sample files won’t download, and the Word .doc conversion is ridiculous. I’m reminded of early days of computing, not what purports to be among the latest advances.
I expected more from Amazon.
Tailspin, I’d be glad to try to help, but I’m not familiar with word.doc stuff.
The whole think is amazingly simple on one level. Kindle and other ebook formats rely on reflowable columns so that one document can be read on various sized screens and ‘still work’.
And the format is really just the same as website stuff (html).
My source docs are in either pagemaker or publisher. I export the text to word, then save the word doc as html, then edit the html BY HAND in dreamweaver.
Then I convert it all using the mobipocket software to create a *.prc file which I then upload to Kindle.
The more complex the document, the tougher the work, and it’s tedious. And if you think html is a far cry from print in terms of flexibility, the kindle/ebook formats are even more restricted.
You’ll get the same prob for any e-format I’m afraid.
O
The entire Kindle conversion process is easy to use and quick until you try to convert a perfectly good PDF using their upload tool. My books, which use a variety of formats, look like Amazon DTP put them through a blender. The pages are out of order, and some are now oriented sideways. It’s not a converter tool. It’s tool of destruction. What a waste of my time.
Ha! I am not alone! There is a tremendous disconnect! Why can’t the world of goofy bookpeople just let us sell our fully-formatted PDfs? Like you, I went through the bother of converting my book to Kindle-html… adding their proprietary tags… used the Kindle preview… and they still messed it up. And now, looks like B&N wants me to convert the book to something called ‘epub’ — oh, please! Even for the NookColor, which should be able to show my PDF, but nobody knows how to get one to display. What a bunch of goofs.
But believe me, my PDF, and yours, display PERFECTLY on netbooks and iPads, PCs and Macs. With all our pictures and typography intact!!! Just remember to embed your fonts.
So where are we going? To drive the customers to our own web sites, and to hell with Amazon, B&N, Sony, etc. They just don’t get it. 2000 years of illustrated book development is in full flower right now — and we aren’t going to trade it in for their crappy useless technology!
Glad I stumbled upon this post. I really have a love hate thing for this Epub stuff. To me it ruins the beauty of a book, which technology should enhance and not reduce. There is no good reason PDFs should not be the standard format. Luckily Scribd. does not have such restrictions when it comes to PDFS and also makes a living web document.
I couldn’t agree more – what is needed is a way to take standard PDF and attach DRM to it (where required) and then make the exiting readers – which display it great now, even with atypical embedded fonts – smarter about using the embedded PDF info ( links, TOC, etc.). Why hasn’t this obvious need been solved by now?
There needs to be a way to sell PDFs not just for those who don’t want to go through tedious conversions, but also for those files & books that NEED to be PDFs and are not necessarily intended for ebook users.
For example, a crafts book with instructions, photos and full-page printable patterns, etc.
That is exactly what we need! We have teacher/student manuals with graphic organizers and text that is not appropriate for Kindle, but we want to sell as PDFs in addition to print. I am still looking for how to do this!!!! Frustrating!!!
this might be a bit off topic but with regard to your pdfs that you are selling, have you thought about adding in a resource page at the back of your book? You could then link to other related books/information/products from that page and you could embed an affiliate link and kind of monetize the back end? just a thought!..
Adobe still wins the heart of over a hundred and one book authors in Amazon on the E-book war. No offence but I wouldn’t go for anything less than Adobe.