How to Format Your eBook for Kindle Sales

Screen Shot of the author's eBook up-loaded to Amazon's Kindle Sales using Google Docs

So you've written your first e-book that you want to offer it for sale on the Kindle. Amazon allows you to sell e-books through their Digital Text Platform for the Kindle. IIf you have saved your e-book in a PDF format, it may not convert properly to the DTP format because of the complexity of the PDF file. You can use Google Docs to convert your e-book to a zipped HTML file, which can then be switched to the DTP format on Amazon.

Things You'll Need

• Internet Access

Instructions

1. Go to the Google Docs website. Either create a Google account or login with your username and password.

2. Click the "Upload" button, then choose "Files" from the dropdown menu. Browse to the file for your e-book. Choose the file and click open. Google Docs is able to import the following file types: HTML (.htm, .html), Text (.txt), Microsoft Word (.doc), Rich Text (.rtf), OpenDocument Text (.odt), StarOffice (.sxw), and PDF.

3. Review your e-book in Google Docs to ensure the book's formatting has not been altered during file upload. Once satisfied, save the file by selecting the "File" then "Save" from the menu options.

4. Download your e-book as a zipped HTML file by selecting "Download file as" and choose "HTML (Zipped)."

5. Go to the Kindle Direct Publishing website and login with your Amazon account. Click "Add New Title." Fill out the information about your book and browse to your file. Click "Upload Book." Once the upload is complete, preview the DTP formatted e-book to check for potential errors from the translation process.

Tips & Warnings

• Plan ahead and use Google Docs throughout your writing process to avoid having to import and export your e-book multiple times.

• Google Docs has a 10 MB file size limit for importing PDF files.

References

• Kindle Direct Publishing
• Google Docs