KindleGen & Kindle Previewer (Free apps from Amazon) [and a brief mention of Kindle Create] --------------- I ran across a post at MSFN that claimed that you could just drop KindleGen.exe into your %programfiles%\Atlantis folder and then magically be able to save documents such as .epub and .mobi. That sounded useful, even though we have other apps that can handle those documents perfectly well. I don't think that the statement he posted is correct, since KindleGen is a COMMAND LINE tool, but t These little apps might be useful anyway if you need to deal with or publish Kindle content, since they are officially recommended and supported by Amazon. EDIT: Well, I was wrong. KindleGen CAN integrate with Atlantis. See the next post below. More info at each of the links, this is just a "teaser," and as you can probably tell, there are other free tools available as well, from creating comic books, to getting your content published in paperback form. Most of the tools could probably also be made into apps, but I don't know if it makes sense to provide them in a package or not, since even Amazon doesn't do that, at least from what I can tell. I couldn't even find a complete list of everything available with my quick look around. I had to follow link after link. Anyway, the below is for your info and/or amusement: ============================================================================ KindleGen ----------------- KindleGen KindleGen is a command line tool which enables publishers to work in an automated environment with a variety of source content including HTML, XHTML or EPUB. KindleGen converts this source content to a single file which supports both KF8 and Mobi formats enabling publishers to create great-looking books that work on all Kindle devices and apps. KindleGen is officially supported by Amazon to convert files to the Kindle format. We recommend you use KindleGen to create content that is compatible with all Kindle devices and apps. Files created with third-party software may not work properly on current or future Kindle devices and apps. Highlights of KindleGen functionality Support for all KF8 functionality Generates a single file supporting both KF8 and Mobi format Support for multiple source formats including HTML, XHTML and EPUB System Requirements Windows XP, Vista or 7 Intel Mac OSX 10.5 or later Linux 2.6 i386 Downloads terms of use KindleGen v2.9 for Windows (XP, Vista, 7) KindleGen v2.9 for Mac OS 10.5 and above i386 KindleGen v2.9 for Linux 2.6 i386 ======================================================== Kindle Previewer ------------------------------- Kindle Previewer Kindle Previewer is a free desktop application that enables authors, publishers and eBook service providers to preview how their books will appear when delivered to Kindle customers, and makes it easy to audit books for different screen sizes, display orientations and font sizes. Kindle Previewer supports previewing your book with the latest typographic and layout improvements that come with Enhanced Typesetting. Some of these improvements include higher quality images, better table formatting and font alignments, smoother word spacing, hyphenation, kerning and ligatures. We recommend you use the latest Kindle Previewer 3 to review how your books look as a best practice while formatting and before publishing. With Enhanced Typesetting, Kindle Previewer provides a better reflection of your book layout as delivered to customers’ devices. You can get a bird’s-eye view of your book to quickly validate the overall layout, and selectively preview key aspects of your Enhanced Typesetting enabled book such as images, tables, dropcaps, links and lists without having to go through the entire book. Preview and validate books faster with Kindle Previewer. Preview key aspects of your book such as images, tables, drop caps and links. Preview how your book will look on different screen sizes, font sizes and orientations. System Requirements • Windows 7 or later • Intel Mac OSX 10.9 or later Downloads By downloading this application, you agree to terms of use Kindle Previewer 3.33 for Windows (7 and above) Kindle Previewer 3.33 (64-bit) for Intel Mac (OSX 10.9 and above) ... FAQ Q23. Kindle Previewer lets me preview and validate my eBooks before I publish them to Kindle. Does Amazon provide any tools for creating eBooks? A23. Yes, Amazon provides Kindle Create, Kindle Create Add-in for Microsoft Word, Kindle Textbook Creator, Kindle Comic Creator, and Kindle Kids’ Book Creator for creating eBooks in Kindle format. Each of these Kindle authoring applications lets you add unique reading features that are optimized for each book category. We recommend choosing the tool that lets you add the reading features that most closely match the reading experience you want to create for your readers. You can get to know more about these tools here . You can preview eBooks created with any of these authoring applications using Kindle Previewer 3. ... ======================================================= Excerpt from KDP Tools and Resources: ---------------------- ... Manuscript formatting resources eBook The tool you choose depends on your book and file format (DOC, DOCX, PDF), and whether you want to use a guide or downloadable desktop formatting tool. This decision tree can help you choose the best resource for your book. After you decide, click the links below the tree. Kindle Create | Step-by-step guide (Word for PC) | Kindle Kid's Book Creator | Kindle Comic Creator *We don't recommend PDF for text-heavy books. **Guided View technology allows readers to view a comic panel by panel on mobile devices in a way that mimics the eye's natural motion through the comic. ... ===================================================== Kindle Create -------------------------------------- Beautiful books, every time Professionally designed themes with chapter titles, drop caps and image placement options. Saves time so you can focus on writing ... Before you start Kindle Create is a free interior formatting tool that works well with most books you want to publish on Amazon, but there are requirements and supported features we want you to know about before you download. Step-by-step Kindle Create tutorial Get help with Kindle Create Frequently Asked Questions Download for PC Download for Mac ===============================================================================
Well, I was wrong. KindleGen CAN integrate with Atlantis. - See https://www.atlantiswordprocessor.com/en/help/ebook.htm#kindle ======================================================= Converting to Kindle By default, Atlantis creates eBooks in the EPUB format alone. But you might want Atlantis to save your source documents to both the EPUB and the MOBI format. Here is how to proceed: Download the kindlegen utility from Amazon. Extract the "kindlegen.exe" file from the downloaded kindlegen ZIP file to the home folder of Atlantis on your system (normally "C:\Program Files\Atlantis" or "C:\Program Files (x86)\Atlantis"), or to the "My documents\Atlantis" folder. Alternatively, save any document as eBook by choosing the "File | Save Special | Save as eBook..." menu command. Atlantis would check if the kindlegen utility is available on your system, and if unavailable would suggest to automatically download & install it: After this, Atlantis will not only create the corresponding EPUB file, but also a Kindle version of it, i.e. a file with the ".mobi" extension. As you might know, the "Go to..." menu of the Kindle devices has a command to display the "inline table of contents" of the displayed eBook: If your source document contains an inline table of contents, Atlantis will save your document as eBook with all the information required by the Kindle devices to locate the eBook's table of contents. The "Go to..." menu of the Kindle has also a "Beginning" command: When a Kindle eBook is created through Atlantis, the first chapter of the eBook is automatically marked as its "Beginning". And the "Go to... > Beginning" command of the Kindle will bring you to the first chapter of the eBook. This is normally done without user intervention. Atlantis automatically decides which locations in the source document correspond to its "table of contents" and "beginning". All you need to do is to create actual content in the source document, i.e. add chapters and generate the corresponding inline table of contents with the dedicated command of Atlantis ("Insert | Table Of Contents..."). But you can still instruct Atlantis to mark a different location in your document as "table of contents" or "beginning". This is done by inserting special bookmarks at the desired locations in the source document. Simply click in the source document at the location that you want later to be displayed by the Kindle's "Go to... > Table of contents" command, then press the ShiftAltB hot key in Atlantis, type "toc" (without quotes), and click the "OK" button: To mark a special location in your source document as its "beginning", click this location in Atlantis, then press the ShiftAltB hot key, type "start" (without quotes), and click the "OK" button: In this way, you could tell Kindle that the "beginning" of your eBook is not "Chapter 1" but the title page, or the prologue, etc. The kindlegen utility supports a number of command-line options. They can be used to control the MOBI generation. By default, Atlantis launches the kindlegen utility with no command-line options. But if you are familiar with the Windows Registry Editor utility (regedit), you can adjust the corresponding item of the Atlantis settings in the Windows Registry in order to add required kindlegen options: Let's take an example. By default, kindlegen puts a copy of the source EPUB ebook into the generated MOBI file. This is why your MOBI files are normally significatly larger than the corresponding EPUB files. If you do not need a copy of the source EPUB file in your MOBI eBook, you can add the "-dont_append_source" parameter to the KindleGen command-line of Atlantis in the Windows Registry: Important note: you should close all the running copies of Atlantis (if any) before editing the Atlantis settings in the Windows Registry. Testing eBooks When you have converted a document to the EPUB format, it is a good idea to test the resulting .epub file in as many eBook readers as possible. For this, use any available devices like iPad, Sony Reader, etc. You can also install Adobe Digital Editions, a free eBook reader, on your Windows system. eBooks in the Kindle format can be tested with Kindle Previewer. When you have successfully tested your eBooks in such a way, you can upload them to the available online eBook libraries, or publish them in any other way. Note that any EPUB file generated by Atlantis passes through the EPUB validation test. If you need assistance with creating eBooks, please contact us. We would be happy to help.
Haha, totally forgot, I had been packing this utility with Atlantis since v2.x. I put it Atlantis' My Documents location so you can call it from there. As it says, you either place it in Atlantis' program folder or Documents folder. I kept your post in mind, BP, for when I would update Atlantis again, only to find out again I had already been doing it for years
