Ebooks file naming scheme -- Books in a series Is there a best practice for naming books that come in a series?  What is the best practice keeping things straight?

Dilemma #1:  The book publication dates don't match the Chronological order of the action in the story.

Dilemma #2:  It sure would be nice to be able to view the books in chronological order (of the action within the series) on my storage device (in my case a Kindle)  Note: I am using Calibre for managing my storage.

Example, the Jack Reacher series from author Lee Childs, sorted alphabetical by title:

61 Hours (Jack Reacher Chron Order #15)
The Affair (Jack Reacher Chron Order #2)
Bad Luck and Trouble (Jack Reacher Chron Order #12)
Die Trying (Jack Reacher Chron Order #4)
Echo Burning (Jack Reacher Chron Order #7)

(etc... There are more than 20 books in this series...) This just feels clumsy.

What is the best practice for file / title naming scheme here?  Is there a "standard" here?  What does everybody else do?  Is there a way to easily display all the books in a series in the chronological order of the action within?

Many thanks.

If you are using Calibre, its database is already set to have each piece of information about a book in its proper field (i.e., there will be a field for the title, another for the author, another one for the series and series numbering, and so on), but I'm sure that you already know this.

So, within Calibre, you don't need (and you are not supposed) to change the title by including the series information; you can let Calibre rename those files on-the-fly when you export them to a given ereader by using its tool called Plugboard, that relies on the calibre template language.

Here is, in short, the recipe to use, pasted from MobileRead forums:

  I have been playing around with the Metadata plugboards to get the
  titles on a Kindle 3 to show series information. I used the following
  template:

  format: mobi
  device: kindle2
  template: {series}{series_index:0>2s| - | - }{title}
  destination: title

  This works very nicely for books that are part of a series e.g.:

  A Song of Ice & Fire - 01 - A Game of Thrones
  A Song of Ice & Fire - 02 - A Clash of Kings
  A Song of Ice & Fire - 03 - A Storm of Swords
  A Song of Ice & Fire - 04 - A Feast for Crows

The process is very easy to do but if you are not used to its workings it is a bit long to explain, so I'm linking some of articles that show you step by step how to do it.

The calibre template language
How To Use Calibre To Correctly Order Your Ebook Series
Kindle and Calibre Plugboards
Plugboard, template, and custom composite column recipes


Kindle "Time Left in Book" I have a Paperwhite, and I like to have 'percentage left' on the page as I am reading.  To switch this on, I have to go to Font size and select from a pull-down menu.  Once the Kindle switches off, I have to reset that when I start again.

Is there any way of making the 'percentage left' or 'time left in book' as a default?

When in a book, tapping in the very bottom left of the screen will rotate through LOC, Page, Time left in Chapter, Time left in Book, and off. When in any mode other than off, the percent completion will appear in the bottom right of the screen.

This is based on a 7th gen Paperwhite with firmware version 5.11.1.1.


Can I use a service like Scribd/Oyster with the Kindle eReader? I'm not talking about Kindle fire. The  $79 one.

It doesn't have to directly support it.

My thinking is:

If Kindle support the epub format
Scribd offers epub
There's software out there like Calibre that can convert between formats

I should be able to use services like scribd/oyster then. Is my understanding correct?

Yes, if you manage to download from somewhere an ePub file, then you can convert it to mobi format using a software as Calibre. This would allow you to read such books on a Kindle.


Is there an easier way to edit a .mobi file? I am used to creating and editing .epub files, usually with Sigil. Sometimes, however, I need to retouch a file in .mobi format for my wife.

My usual approach is to convert it in .epub with Calibre, edit it, and then convert it back to .mobi, but I wonder if there is a quicker way which does not involve two conversions.

As far as I know .mobi files can't be edited directly, they have to be converted first to another editable format. So, no, you can't directly edit .mobi files in just one step. See this thread on MobileRead forums for further reference.

Anyway, I think that there is an easy a solution to your problem. Please note that in providing the following informations I have assumed that you are interested in using your eBook files with a Kindle device. If it is not the case, maybe not eveything will apply to tour particular situation.

Maybe you are already aware of this since you are a Calibre user, but it now has an integrated ebook editor that can work not only with .epub files but also with .azw3 ones (also known as KF8), which are used on Kindle devices. Here is a link to the Calibre manual page about this feature, where you can check if this is a tool that will do for you. It is rather similar to Sigil both in appearance and in functionalities, so you will have no problem to sort it out.

I know that strictly speaking an .azw3 is not a .mobi, but both these formats are mainly used on Kindle devices; moreover, as far as I know, for practical reasons (even if not for technical ones) the .azw3 format is considered to be a successor to .mobi; so, if you need to retouch your ebooks and have a rather recent Kindle device (or app), it should not make any great difference which one of these formats you will use on it.

Here are also some links to various resources that you may find useful:

Difference Between Kindle Content AZW, AZW3, PRC, Mobi, Topaz
Mobi format, on Wikipedia
Kindle formats, on Wikipedia
The pages about MOBI, AZW and KF8 (AZW3) formats on Mobileread wiki.
The subforum about Kindle formats on MobileRead (which is, in fact, one of the biggest and more useful online resources about everything related to ebooks)
A question here on this site about the various formats used by Kindle devices.


Is it possible to only extract text from a PDF file for free? Even if I download books in mobi or epub format for my Kindle, I’ve noticed that files with lots of images/graphs disrupt the formatting.

Is there a way to delete all the images from a PDF file for free?

Yes, there is.
The program is called Calibre. There is even command line processing support which I have used to batch process multiple pdf files' 'extraction'. By adjusting the parameters, one can extract standard text. Of course, some pdf files are an assembly of images and contain no actual text. But give this 'a shot' :)


Transferring “copied to kindle” mobi ebook files from one iPad to another I just upgraded my iPad and have the kindle app on both. My problem is that I have a lot of ebooks stored on my old iPad that were sent to me as advance reader copies via bookfunnel etc. that were copied to kindle. They show up in my kindle library on my old iPad but are not shown by Amazon in my digital content, so they don’t automatically transfer over. They only exist in my old iPad’s kindle library. Does anyone have any idea how I can get these types of ebooks transferred to my new iPad? I really don’t want to lose these books when I set my old iPad back to factory settings for resale. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

Personally I keep my entire library on calibre, which is installed on my PC, and I make regular backups to ensure the books remain safe.

Easy to move them back and forth between devices.

See Related post here calibre


Create Kindle dictionary as KF8 / Floating images in a Kindle dictionary I'm working on a Game of Thrones Kindle dictionary and would like to float images in some of the definitions. (width 20%, floated right)

This is supported on newer kindles using the KF8 format however kindlegen suppresses KF8 support when an index is detected:

*************************************************************
 Amazon kindlegen(Linux) V2.9 build 1028-0897292
 A command line e-book compiler
 Copyright Amazon.com and its Affiliates 2014
*************************************************************

Info:I9007:option: -c2: Kindle Huffdic compression
Info:I9014:option: -verbose: Verbose output
Info:I9018:option: -donotaddsource: Source files will not be added
Info(prcgen):I1047: Added metadata dc:Title        "GOTDict"
Info(prcgen):I1047: Added metadata dc:Date         "2016-01-07"
Info(prcgen):I1047: Added metadata dc:Creator      "Various"
Info(prcgen):I1047: Added metadata dc:Description  "Kindle dictionary for A Song of Ice and Fire."
Info(prcgen):I1002: Parsing files  0000005
Info(prcgen):I1003: Parsing file     URL: title.html
Info(prcgen):I1003: Parsing file     URL: toc.html
Info(prcgen):I1003: Parsing file     URL: defs.html
Warning(parser8):W26001: Index not supported for enhanced mobi.
Info(prcgen):I1003: Parsing file     URL: contributing.html
Info(parser8):I12001: Enhanced mobi generation suppressed.
Info(prcgen):I1036: Mobi file built successfully
cp _output/gotdict.mobi _output/site/gotdict.mobi

Is there a way to force KF8 output, or to float images in MOBI7?

Is there a way to force KF8 output, or to float images in MOBI7?

Unfortunately, you can't generate KF8 dictionaries and it's unlikely that this situation will change anytime soon, because Amazon inherited the code from Mobipocket and has only implemented cosmetic changes so far:

Note the following KindleGen message:

Info(parser8):I12001: Enhanced mobi generation suppressed.

That's KindlGen's way of telling you no KF8 files.


How to read text files on nook? I can read text files directly on my Amazon Kindle, but apparently not
on my Barnes/Noble Nook.

Is there some setting/etc I can tweak to read text files on the Nook?

Or do I just need to convert them to EPUB/PDF?

According the FAQs plain text files are compatible with some Nooks such as the Nook Tablet and Nook Color. On others such as the Nook Simple Touch you will need to convert the text file to an ePub file first using a tool like Calibre.


How to save a PDF document without having to choose the file name each time? I'm reading academic papers in PDF format in Adobe Acrobat Reader. However, when I highlight text and save the document, Acrobat keeps asking me to re-choose the file, rather than just overwriting the existing document.

It takes a lot of time every time I save, especially when I am using many papers. Is there a way to just have Adobe Reader automatically overwrite the file? Or is there some other solution?

I often read PDFs in a cloud-based ebook reader such as Google Play Books (GPB). You can view GPB on a PC or on any android or IOS device).

GPB annotates epub files easily and saves the edits to the cloud quickly. But I just checked on a PDF -- and GPB doesn't allow annotation on PDFs.

You can try another cloud-based reader like BlueFire reading app. On my android device I annotated a PDF on Bluefire and it does not give me this prompt.

The Adobe Digital Editions app is another option. On my android tablet it annotates PDFs easily without requiring that you save. (ADE) also has a desktop app.

Adobe Acrobat Reader is a heavy app; ADE is newer and more portable (although it is more geared towards reading epub ebooks than PDFs).


is DjVu still useful as a format for ebooks? I found DjVu very useful as a format for saving scanned text, especially if together with a text layer processed with OCR so that text is searchable. For old books no more in commerce, that's often the only option available, albeit in a grey area.

I wonder however if the format is now dead for all practical purposes or not. Of course I can still use DjVu files for myself, and even compile source if necessary, but should I search for another format?

I have worked extensively with DjVu (and wrote the text extraction extension Calibre). I consider DjVu the better alternative for scanned multi-page documents, especially for efficiency reasons. Compared to the JPEG encoded pages you get in PDF or TIFF files you often have a 20x smaller file size.

For non-professional users this size difference often is not a problem, but for dessimination in the professional world it is. Just imagine having to buy 20x more storage and increased network capacity. Because a PDF reader is already necessary for many other documents (other than scanned), such users already have a PDF reader and I have seen a reluctance with non-professionals to install something just to be able to handle a more efficient file format.

DjVu is hindered by sub-par open source implementations of the encoder and AFAIK also by patent issues. My expectation is that at some point some replacement technology will become available that has all of the advantage and non of the problems, just like PNG replaced GIF. That will be a multilayer encoded image format.

As long as I will have some decent, commandline, conversion software for DjVu, PDF and any other format, I don't see any of that as a problematic. It would only be nice if I could tell Thunderbird which users only have a PDF reader so that I could attach DjVu and it would convert it to PDF before sending the email...


kindle not connecting to wi-fi Whenever I am trying to connect my kindle to wi-fi it shows no internet found. Once my kindle got discharged to 0. So is that the reason why my kindle is not able to find any internet. If no, then why my kindle is not able to find any internet? And if yes, then what should I do so that it finds wi-fi again.
This question is a duplicate of https://android.stackexchange.com/q/230597/334985

No. I don't think it's because of your kindle discharged to 0. Many times my kindle also goes to Zero percentage but it connected to wifi again once I charge my kindle. If you can reset your kindle I think it might solve your issue. Please find the link to how to Reset your kindle.
https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-reset-kindle-paperwhite?IR=T


Nook Simple Touch: erratic or unresponsive touch-screen I have had a rooted (with NookManager) Nook Simple Touch that worked perfectly until I went travelling across tropical countries. Since then, I have seen a progressive degradation of the touchscreen, specifically I noted the following:

Buttons/icons in the lower half of the screen, when tapped, do no respond. Instead, buttons/icons directly above them (on the upper part of the screen) do respond to the action.
When the keyboard is active and letters are tapped, you get one of these random behaviours:

the letter appears on the screen, but 2 or 3 of them, even if the letter is tapped once.
the letter above the one tapped, appears on screen: e.g. I press "q" and "a" appears on screen; I press "backspace" and the letter "p" appears on screen.

Following the recommendations of many forums, I cleaned thoroughly my screen, however this does not seem to resolve the problem. I also performed a factory reset and re-root, still the problem persists (though, after a new factory reset, the erratic behaviour is less frequent).

The only thing that changed is the fact that I am now travelling in hotter countries and maybe the Nook is sensitive to temperatures constantly above 30C.

Has anyone experienced similar problems?

Thanks

Marco

I found that the elastic straps of the cover I was using (one at each corner) had permanently deformed the nook st sufficiently to unalign the IR light grid over the screen. I'm now getting the nook to respond by bending the top front corners forward to realign the ir grid.(by placing my thumb at top front centre and my index and little fingers on the back of the two upper corners)
Awkward, but it works until I can get another Nook st.


Convert/Send Standalone EPUB from PC to Kindle via Menu/Command Line I have a number of EPUBs that I manage manually i.e. they are not in a Calibre library. These are in a Google Drive folder so Calibre is simply not an option.

I'd like an easy way to convert these EPUBs to MOBI and send them to Kindle via USB, on demand. This functionality is present in Calibre and it seems to me these should not be tied to the Calibre UI; so is there a way to do this via a script or something?

If this is a tall order, just conversion is still fine, I can manually drop the files in the Kindle after mounting it via USB.

I'm working with Windows 10 64-bit and a brand new Kindle Paperwhite.

You could use the Calibre ebook-convert command line utility. The following simple batch file should do the trick:

FOR %%f IN ("*.epub") DO (ebook-convert "%%~nf.epub" "%%~nf.azw3")
FOR %%f IN ("*.azw3") DO (copy "%%f" "E:\documents")

(The script assumes that your Kindle is mounted as the E: drive; change the drive letter if it isn't the E: drive.)

Copy the two lines to a text file, save it with a .cmd or .bat extension in the same folder as the .epub files and then double-click it.


Kindle's sleep mode: keeping last page on screen Since it is E-ink, is there a way to keep the last page read on screen instead of screensaver/ad?

(And if not, why not? it is a killer feature...)

You're right, there is no reason for it not being technically possible.  In other words, you can do that if the firmware lets you do that. Which, AFAIK, the native Kindle firmware does not. That leaves you with either a hack or jailbreak as your options, if you're feeling adventurous: I found a relevant thread on Reddit that could point you in the right direction. (Also, I have been educated it's called "off screen" not "screensaver", as it's not saving anything. Which... I don't agree with, see below.)

As for "why doesn't Kindle allow this", that's an interesting question.

I would theorize that it's for the same reason we used screensavers on CRT monitors: replacing a page of text with a picture helps to avoid ghosting/residual image and therefore extend the life of the screen.

I mean, aside from the obvious, which is "we gotta put the ads somewhere" ;)


Which ePub readers are available for Windows? On my Android devices I use Aldiko and Moon Reader Pro, depending on my mood.
On Windows, however, I am still stuck with FBReader and the reader bundled with Calibre, and I don't like very much both of them. (Adobe Digital Edition is a heavy program).
I would prefer a standalone program which runs on Windows 7 too, and I don't like browser extension since my browsers already use a lot of RAM. Any suggestions?

You can try IceCream Ebook Reader:

  Meet Icecream Ebook Reader, one of the best free EPUB readers that transforms your computer screen into a convenient top-notch ebook reader. The tool enables you read ebooks in EPUB, MOBI, FB2, PDF and other popular formats. Manage your digital library on your PC or Windows-based laptop. This program also features the ability to turn pages, use bookmarks, search your library, track reading progress and much more.


How to build ebooks from O'Reilly Atlas Projects? I can't find a way to get two ebooks to build. (Mastering Bitcoin, Mastering Ethereum)

Both projects are based upon asciidoc but using the O'Reilly build tool Atlas.

How can I build this without access to the Atlas tool?

First, kudos to learning about a new tool. (I never heard of it).

The content creation environment is in closed beta, so I wouldn't expect there to be any way to access the source code.

But the reading portal lets you view the full HTML which is generated by the HTMLBook source. I'm guessing that they have a tool to import asciidoc into HTMLbook, but I'm not sure if it only imports a subset of ASCIIDOC elements.

I think the whole point of Atlas is to make it unnecessary to have access to the source code, and to provide readymade templates and styles. Building for epub, pdf and mobi is complex, and it would be hard to recreate their toolchain on your own production environment.

Based on the video I've seen, it looks very impressive and hopefully will be a single source competitor to Adobe Indesign. It's unclear whether storing the source on the cloud will allow you to download an offline copy of the source.

I'm struck by the similarities between Docbook XML and the elements created through the editor. (Indeed, I suspect HTMLBook is based upon it). Even if you downloaded an offline copy on source, I'm unsure how you would build it yourself; (for example, it seems that Atlas uses a commercial  PDF processor from AntennaHouse, which most people wouldn't have a license for).

One thing is clear though. If you have access to the HTML output, you could probably import it into some desktop ebook creation tool and change the styles as necessary. The generated HTML is very clean, so I would expect it not to be that painful.

One example of a down-and-dirty export is to paste the HTML output into a MS Word doc, make sure the images are all there and then convert it into a PDF.


How to create ePub with title page from LaTeX source using pandoc I have a book written in LaTeX.  I can build an epub output file using pandoc, but I cannot get the epub title page right.  The final epub file is missing Title, Author and Date information.

$ pandoc -S -o mybook.epub --epub-cover-image=images/my_cover.png title.txt mybook.tex

I've tried a second book where the source is in markdown (not LaTeX) format.  The title page works correctly.

$ pandoc -S -o guide.epub title.txt part1.markdown part2.markdown

Is there a setting I am missing to get the YAML file (the title.txt file) correct when LaTeX is the source to pandoc?

I used LaTeX rather than markdown for the first book so I could use the sffms LaTeX document class.

I was able to work around the issue as follows:

$ pandoc -S -o mybook.markdown   mybook.tex
$ pandoc -S -o mybook.epub --epub-cover-image=images/my_cover.png  title.txt  mybook.markdown

By converting the LaTeX file to markdown, the second pandoc command was able to apply the Title, Author and Date information in title.txt to the epub file.


Send bought books to kindle as books and not documents I bought a book in another store "The Pragmatic Bookshelf" and I want to deliver the content to my Kindle as a Book. When I send to it, it is recognized as Document. Is there a way to do that?

I send the book to the email I set up on Amazon.

Documents and Books are treated almost identically inside the Kindle app or Kindle device. There are filtering functions to divide the view so you see only one type  or another type, but generally you can see both types together.

One thing: in Manage Content & Devices, (on the Amazon website) you need to specify Documents or Books, so you can see files you have uploaded or files which were bought.


How to build an epub starting from a bunch of HTML files? I have a number of short HTML files (actually they are XHTML) with small problems and answers, which I post on my blog every Sunday, and I'd like to merge some of them in an ebook.
I already did it once, just by stripping the headers and footers and merging them together; then I create the epub skeleton with Calibre and tweaked it with Sigil. But since there are a lot of internal links, it is a time-consuming process.

Is there a simpler way?

I assume you don't write the HTML directly, but use something like MarkDown or reST. But even if you do, you should look at Pandoc.

The program can read HTML and generate EPUB 2 or EPUB 3 (among others).


Can a Kindle Paperwhite show metadata? Can a Kindle Paperwhite show you the metadata on an e-book?  I do not mean to edit the metadata, but just to see it.  Or does just seeing the metadata already require special software like Calibre?

Or alternatively, can you see the metadata by connecting the Kindle to a PC, but without using editing software like Calbre?

The only metadata that is visible to the user in a Kindle Paperwhite is the title and author of the ebooks.

Connecting the Kindle to a PC does only help if you synced your Kindle with Calibre's library, because in this case you would have in the root folder of your Kindle a file called metadata.calibre that would contain the metadata of your ebooks in YAML format.


Is "soft DRM" a viable option? For "soft DRM" I mean a sort of watermark (for example, a section stating "This book has been bought by Jane Doe from ACME Inc") which does not protect the book from being copied but states who is the buyer.

Yes, I know that deleting the watermark is a piece of cake: I am not concerned with this. I am just wondering if this makes sense or not, and I have mixed feelings, but I can't tell whether it is the fact that with a physical book this does not happen or not. What are pros and cons, in your opinion?

I don't know if there are studies into soft DRM, but there are studies
on difference in behaviour between people that are anonymous and people that are not. The non-anonymous generally being more "honest".

Removing soft DRM would rely on the non-anonymous person to do so, before handing the ebook on to someone else. Not doing so would have her/him run the risk of the passed on ebook being made even more public with name identification attached. I can only assume that for some of the potential passers-on, this is a deterrent.

You also would have to trust the software that removes the watermarking. Removing metadata is not enough, since the watermarking could be added via steganographic approach. Some formats such as PDF, have a plethora of possibilities to hide information. And you would have to remove images from an EPUB file, or severely change them, as there are watermarks for images that survive some of the re-renderings of the images. And your name could be watermarked in any or all of the images included in a book.


Does Kindle (classic) support all embedded fonts in PDFs? I have PDFs using many embedded fonts from many alphabets.

Should I expect them to be viewed without any problems on Kindle, or only a part of them will be supported (for the most popular alphabets)?

Every font contains the instructions to render all glyphs contained in them, so as long the software/device can use embedded fonts, you should expect every of them to work.

I've checked it on my Kindle Classic. I've used the test I've made long time ago and described on my blog: Using dynamic fonts for international texts in iText. Both of the test PDF's available for download have been displayed completely and correctly. They contain Latin, Cyrillic, Greek, Chinese, Hangul as well as more 'exotic' fonts such as symbols, Glagolic, hieroglyphs and mahjong. The tiny problems with Armenian fonts come from some error in generating the document - they are exactly the same as on my computer in Acrobat Reader.


Taxes on money made publishing on Amazon by a non-US/UK resident I'm working on self-publishing a book on Amazon. I'm in South Africa, and don't have a bank account in the UK or US. I know Amazon will send a check. I'm curious if anyone knows anything about how this would be taxed - by America and S. Africa, or only by the local government?

Where you "are" is normally not decisive on where you pay tax, it is your country of residence (which might be South Africa or any other country) which determines where you pay tax. Having a bank-account in another country doesn't influence that, although where things get paid might have influence to the applicability of VAT, c.q. sales tax, or not. IIRC in the USA sales tax doesn't apply to sales outside of the states where the company (Amazon) has no offices, in the UK VAT rate for books is 0%.

If you have to pay income tax in your country of residence (there are only a few countries that not seem to tax you), you should probably declare that as income, as you would have to if you had bank accounts in the USA or UK.

The USA should not tax this (although they might ask for proof that you pay your income tax in your country of residence. I used to get special forms for that after moving from the USA to Germany).

Ask your tax advisor, to prevent double payment of tax.


Accessing Clippings Deleted from MyClippings.txt Is it possible to export old clippings after the MyClippings.Txt file has been deleted? I delete it because keeping every note I've ever saved would be messy.

A few months ago docs on my computer became corrupt. I couldn't repair them -- and I had already deleted the MyClippings.txt on my kindle. However, when opening a book on my Kindle -- I noticed that I could still see everything I had saved. However, browsing each book and manually inputting everything on my computer would take way too much time.

Is there a way to "re-export" the clippings I previously made? They're obviously still "there" on my Kindle Voyage -- but I just don't know how to re-export them.

Thanks for your time!

Another answer suggests they are available on a web interface, but only if they are books sourced from Amazon (and that you keep it connected to the internet).

If neither of these cases apply to you I may have serendipitously made a starter of a solution to the issue; on my Kindle Paperwhite there's a file under /Kindle/system/userannotlogsDir/ titled annotation_<Unix_Epoch_timestamp>, which I assume is used to determine where the shading for your highlights shows up (I don't know if this file sticks around on Kindles that get connected to wifi). If you download this to your computer, I wrote a perl script to format it as a proper .jsonl file.

From there, contentReference.guid is a permutation of the book title, and position.begin & position.end define the start and end of a highlight by the number of characters (might be bytes) in the ebook file, you may be able to find where your highlights were from there.
Another bash script to generate a spreadsheet of byte lengths of may help to find the exact location of the quotes by dividing by the total length, but it's not always 1:1 with the Kindle's percentage calculation (I suspect images embedded in the files may be the culprit).

Hopefully that's enough to get you started! Sorry it's not as simple as a toggle in the main menu.


How do I download DRM-free books from Amazon? In a previous question, When shopping for ebooks on Amazon how do I
tell if they have DRM?, it is explained that DRM-free ebooks on Amazon
are characterized by the "Product Details" item: "Simultaneous Device
Usage: Unlimited".

I was a bit surprised though that all such books I looked at also had:
"Lending: Not Enabled", which seems a bit contradictory. But this is a
side remark.

My problem is that I do not know how to download these (supposedly DRM-free) ebooks, once
acquired.

I did go to my Amazon page "Manage Your Content and Devices", where all my Amazon
books are listed, one book on each line.

There, it seem that to download a book. I must click it in the Action
column (the second square of the line), and then select an action,
which apparently should be "Download & transfer via USB".

But when I do, I get an error:

Download & transfer via USB
Select a device from the dropdown

            John - Android Tablet
            John's Kindle Cloud Reader

You have selected content that is not compatible with any of your registered
devices. Please remove incompatible content from selection for eligible devices
to appear.
Transfer Tip: After downloading, use your USB cable to connect your computer and
Kindle. Your Kindle will appear as a drive on your computer. Copy your downloaded
file from your computer to your Kindle's documents folder.

All I want is to get the MOBI file in my computer, as I do with other ebook sellers for DRM-free books.

I am running Linux, if that can be any help. But I do not own a Kindle, and my only devices are my PC (running Calibre on Linux) and an Android pad used by another person.

Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited is not a reliable indicator of DRM-free books. AFAIK, all free Public Domain books sold by Amazon Digital Services are DRM-protected.

For example, this free Amazon book is listed as Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited, however it's not DRM-free.

  I am running Linux, if that can be any help. But I do not own a
  Kindle, and my only devices are my PC (running Calibre on Linux) and
  an Android pad used by another person.

In that case you can easily test for yourself whether a book is DRM-protected:

Install the Kindle for PC app via Wine or Winetricks and register the app with Amazon by entering your logon credentials.
Send the book to your Kindle for PC app via Manage Your Content and Devices and open it.
Open a terminal window and enter the following command to locate the Kindle books folder:

cd ~/Documents/My\ Kindle\ Content
Right-click the .azw file and select Open with Calibre.
If Calibre doesn't display a DRM warning the book is not DRM-protected.


How to read .DOC with Kindle paperwhite It's said that only a few types of files are supported on Kindle including .azw, .azw1, .txt, .mobi, and .prc. However some of my .DOC files are still shown on Kindle, while other .DOC files are not.
Wondering why?
Are there some specifications to adjust to make it happen?

You are mistaken. If you upload a .doc to Amazon via Personal Documents Service, it should convert automatically -- no problem!
https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_pdoc_main_short_us?nodeId=200767340

Now it may not look great, but generally you are mainly interested in the text.


Where to go for ebook suggestions? I'm aware of Goodreads but would be interested in recommendations for where to go for book recommendations, across categories.  Certainly there were many articles and lists of books from the end of the year, but I'd be more interested in discussion forums.

I'm not entirely adverse to advertisements, but more interested in what books people suggest and discuss online.  Tastes vary, of course, and algorithms have their place as well (or AI if you prefer).

To take one website at random:  the Gutenberg press.  In theory a fantastic idea.  Yet whenever I've looked at their website it's just a needle in a haystack.  I'm sure they have an official blog or announcement system, but I'd be more interested in discussion or review.  Not specific to the Gutenberg press, again, conceptually interesting, but just looking for things to read.

(I'm a bit Kindle-centric having drunk the Amazon DRM kool-aid, so that would be my preference for focus should that be an issue.)

Your question is really too broad and unprecise to respect the usual
rules of Stack-Exchange.  However, I will try to answer it in a way
consistent with such rules.

There are many places where books are discussed, but they are usually
specialized in some way. And no one is going to list the
possibilities, not here.

My best advice is for you to search the web with a generaly search
engine, for comments on books or authors you have been interested
in. This should occasionally lead you to sites that have commented
these books or authors.  Then you can explore the site to see what
else they offer and suggest, and whether you want to use it as a
comment and reference source.

We all differ in our tastes and ways of doing things, and no one can
really do that for you.

You comment on Gutenberg Press does not carry a link (which it
should have). I tried to see which site you mean, but found only
Project Gutenberg. Its purpose is not to suggest e-books, but to make
them available.

The choice of a retailer (Amazon) is a strange focus for suggesting books, and I am not sure I understand the connection with DRM. DRM are
universally toxic, not just with Amazon, if that is what you enjoy.


Is it possible to emulate the firmware of ereader devices? I'd like to know if it is possible to emulate the firmware of the various available ereader devices, and run them from a personal computer.

I'd like to know this mainly to try and compare them and see all of their features in action.

NOTE: My interest is not limited to the brands that I've used for tagging this questions, it is just the limit of five tags.

It'd theoretically possible, but no device manufacturer (except for Amazon) bothered to develop and release emulators.

If you want to make sure that your epubs look OK on each device, you might want to check them with the desktop versions of Adobe Digital Editions, because all major eInk manufactures, except for Amazon, ship with an app that uses the same rendering engine. (All eInk device manufacturers that offer ADEPT DRM support are required to include RMDSK-based ePub apps, because no other ePub app will open ADEPT DRM-protected ebooks.)


Are ebooks on Google Play always encumbered with DRM? I'd like to know if ebooks bought on Google Play are always encumbered with DRM, even when the publisher is selling them in a DRM-free version1.
As an example, Newton Compton, an italian publisher, sells all of its ebooks in a DRM-free format (they just use a watermark).

As an example, let's take one of their books, Artemis by Andy Weir. They sell it DRM-free on their site, and also other stores respect this choice from the publisher, like IBS, Kobo, Bookrepublic, and surely others.

On Google Play it is instead listed as being protected with DRM, but it is not specified if this refers to the watermark or if they apply the hard Adobe DRM.

I usually buy from other sources, but I've received a coupon and I'd like to know what I will get if I buy from here.

1. In this context, when I speak of DRM, I am referring to the hard types, like Adobe DRM, and not about the soft ones, like the simple watermarks that don't cause any technical difficulties when trying to open and access them.

Google Play does supply non DRMed books.

I have bought ebooks from Google Play published by Baen who have never had DRM and I can downloaded them as .epub with no DRM.

It is up to the publisher and not the store to decide if the book is encumbered with DRM.

If a store says something is DRMed and it should not be ie the publisher says it is not then you should contact the publisher to giving the store details and the publisher will tell the store to change it.

In this case note the original publisher (Random House) of the English version of Artemis have asked for DRM. see here


Adobe Digital Editions not working Adobe Digital Editions seems to no longer transfer ebooks to my Kobo Glo (it worked fine in the past).

I have not changed devices.
I have not changed versions of Digital Editions.
I am not getting an error that the transfer failed.

When I start my device, the book I attempted to transfer does not show up.

Have you tried reinstalling Adobe Digital Editions?
Has the version of Adobe Air (needed by Digital Editions) changed? Try reinstalling that as well.
Have you tried transferring with another USB cable?

If none of those options seem to fix the issue, give Calibre a go to manage your ebooks. See if it works with that.


How do I publish a book permanently free on Amazon I have tried to publish a book permanently free on Amazon but I couldn't. I have seen many books on Kindle that seems to be permanently free. How do I publish a book on Kindle and keep it free forever?

If anyone knows how to set a book to free without subscribing to Kindle Select program it is also something I would like to know how to do and maybe it is linked to this question answer.

Amazon does still do the price matching, and that is the only way to get your book listed as free on their site. The advantage of Smashwords is in distributing to Apple and Sony. If you go to your e-book's details page on Amazon, you will see a link that says "tell us about a lower price". You can click that link and provide them a link to the product page for your free book at one of the other sites, and eventually they will match it. Again, this seems to be more effective with Apple and Sony. The process may take a week or two, so if you can get others to click that link and share the news, it will help speed things up.

If you want to make your book free for a limited time or on a specific date, I would definitely NOT recommend this approach. There is no way to control how quickly or when Amazon will respond, so you won't be able to determine the specific date(s). Also, if you think you may want to raise the price back up after a while, I would not recommend doing this. I have one title that I published under a pseudonym that has been free for months, in spite of the fact that I have raised the price on all other sites and tried repeatedly to get Amazon to raise the price.


EPUB Page number values According to the epub spec a page number can be defined as:

   …
   23
   …

And in the page-list:

    …

752

    …

Does the value of the page number need to be a integer value? In otherwords, will the following be valid:

   …
   i
   …

Will this cause issues on any of the popular readers?

Support for actual page numbers is practically non-existent on almost all e-readers. You've tagged this epub3—I'll point out that epub3 support is also practically non-existent...

I don't think using non-integer values is going to cause issues on many readers, because I doubt many of them will care. I also don't think many of them will break on the page, unless you have explicit css to force a page break.


What is the most readable font for an ebook? Occasionally when I download works from Smashwords there are several different fonts used in one work (seen in independent works that have not been professionally edited).  This mix match of fonts styles can make reading kind of bumpy, but it got me thinking, if the transition is difficult, is it because one of the fonts is less readable then another?

Is there any indication that any font style is more readable than another? If so does it very by device/screen type? Or is it just a matter of familiarity?

Generally speaking serif fonts are considered easier to read in long bodies of text, even if there are no definitive studies about why they should be preferred over sans-serif fonts.

Usually it is considered that serifs help the eye to go from a letter to another, creating something like a natural flow between words, but I personally think that this is a somewhat personal preference. In printed paper (books, newspapers, and so on) I have always seen serif fonts, while for web content (blog posts, forums, articles) sans serif seem to have the largest share.
Despite this, ebooks seem to largely follow the standards of printed paper, not of digital content: maybe because of something like a tradition, maybe because eink devices try to offer a look and feel resembling printed paper.

Anyway, any ereading device has at least some basic font customizing options, so in the end it is all in the hand of the single end users and their personal preferences.


is there any software available to directly write in mobi format? is there any software in which I can directly write so that the book directly can be saved as .mobi file WYSIWYG format?

I do not like to convert the book as it takes a lot of time and testing in kindle previewer. is there any solution maybe commercial or free or opensource?

Your question -- if I may restate -- is whether there are tools which allow you to create ebooks natively  for Kindle.

Probably not, although it does have some specialized creation tools (Kindle Textbook Creator, > Kindle Kids' Book Creator, Kindle Comic Creator, Kindle Previewer).

My guess is that only Amazon.com could create such a tool because the .mobi standard is a proprietary format and is updated fairly regularly.

Some  tools have features  which let you export  to .mobi format (from MS word, PDF, or .mobi),  that includes Calibre  https://calibre-ebook.com/ Sigil, and Adobe InDesign. usually it converts from epub to mobi -- though calibre lets you convert from MS Word to mobi. But it isn't always a good conversion.

The thing is, aside from being a binary file, the Kindle format is trying to align closely to the epub format, so it makes sense (in my opinion) to focus on developing and testing an epub file -- and then after the fact converting the epub to mobi (and testing it and maybe  the styles so it works well on kindle devices and apps).

It's crazy and a waste of time to do all this; it would be a lot easier if Amazon.com  had adopted the epub standard. Certainly that would be better for publishers. But Amazon has come half-way and said if something is a valid EPUB file, then our Kindle Previewer app can reliably convert it to mobi. That's better than nothing.

For long term use, it's best to have an epub file -- because in the future it will be easier to convert from epub than to convert from .mobi


How to handle footnotes when working with epub files I am trying to digitize a book into epub format based on a scan. I have come to a page with some footnotes attached at the bottom. Where would I put these in an Epub? At the end of the chapter?

Remember that you are trying to apply the expectations for a print book onto an ebook. That may be a mistake. You don't need to re-create everything; you just want something that approximates what you want.

A simple hyperlink to an End Notes section at the end of the book would satisfy the functional need even if it's not the same thing. Fast and easy to implement, and fast and easy to use.

For your specific page of text, a popup from an   might be the best solution. ibooks implements a fairly good solution here. http://sketchytech.blogspot.com/2014/03/practical-notes-on-using-pop-up-notes.html

Here's a long discussion of how to implement it in Kindle.
http://www.mobileread.mobi/forums/showthread.php?t=249033
(This thread is 3 pages long, and basically offers a way to have it work in e-ink devices as well as kf8). It does look pretty messy though.

By the way, from that thread is the interesting remark that the editing part of Calibre seems to support making footnotes.

Having a list of notes at the end of the book which you can link to directly from the text which will then point back to the text itself is probably the safest method you need.

I personally would wait until the Kindle Formatting Guide provides a specific supported mechanism for footnotes before you start messing around with popups.

But if you can easily manage one epub for ibooks and another epub for the current stable of Kindle devices, that should last you a while. I guess you would also need a simple epub where all the notes go to a final end notes chapter. The semantics for all three ebooks seem to be different, so maintaining three separate ebooks seems to be a pretty amount of work. If it were merely a matter of changing CSS between versions, that would be more manageable (although I guess you could make the text for asides hidden via css for non-ibooks epubs).

I suspect that PDF's output from InDesign can be configured to show footnotes on the bottom of printed pages.  If the ebook deliverable can be a PDF, then you wouldn't even need to worry about that.


PDF Compressor online / software I have a very large Ebooks I would like to Compressor their sizes and maintaining the highest possible quality.

Is there Best PDF Compressor software or online website that I can Upload my private Ebooks.

Note: I'm looking for a safe website that can't share my ebooks.

I'm not sure what you mean by best. Best is subjective and dependent on various factors such as type of PDF document and acceptability of quality loss.

However, Adobe Acrobat Pro DC offers an option to Reduce File Size.

Similar software also offer such an option. Example: ABBYY FineReader (p. 3 of Source).


How to add progress bar to Kindle ebook How can I add little tick marks in the progress bar to a Kindle ebook? Tick marks indicate where chapters are so we can tell how close you are to the next chapter.

If you mean the little dots that appear below the book name in the Kindle device/app library, you can't. Amazon determines how many dots to show, and they apparently do it based mostly on file size. There's no way to tell Amazon how many dots to use or that a particular dot corresponds to a particular portion of the book.

If you mean adding ticks to the progress bar on the bottom of the reading screen, that isn't possible. Authors don't have any access to those features of the device or apps.


E_ADEPT_DOCUMENT_TYPE_UNKNOWN error in fulfilling a .acsm file I bought an ebook from Google Play Books: I may browse it from within Google Play; I can download the .acsm file (either for epub or for pdf version); but when I try to open it in Adobe Digital Edition 4.5.5 for Windows I get the error

Error getting License. License Server Communication Problem:
E_ADEPT_DOCUMENT_TYPE_UNKNOWN:

Looking at the .acsm file I noticed the suspicious line

<distributor>urn:uuid:00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001</distributor>

which is quite different from the one I got when loaning ebooks.

The only thing Google makes in such a case is to refund the book, which is not an actual answer; any idea of what's happening?

It happened to me with an .acsm file, but from a different store (it was Kobo); I managed to resolve this problem by downloading the file again, and Adobe Digital Editions was able to import it.
I don't really know what really happened in the background, maybe some error prevented the creation of a valid .acsm file; I can't guarantee that this will help you, but maybe it is a starting point.

Another possible suggestion, if you can't solve that way, is to get the refund from Google and buy the book from another store (I usually shop on Kobo and on IBS, the latter for the italian market is excellent)

Said that, I highly respect and tend to privilege publishers that avoid all this stupid and bothersome DRM procedure (as a Linux user, I don't have a native solution to run ADE...); a policy that create problems only to paying customers is crap.


Are there good ebook management tools available for free? I have a collection of e-books and I am looking for a way to manage it from my operating system. What are the programs to manage e-books available for free? I use both Linux and Windows OS, can you suggest some good software?

Calibre is a free and open source e-book library management application available. You can download from here which is available for all operating systems.

Adobe Digital Editions is also one of the e-book manager by Adobe. You can access it from here.

Alfa Ebooks Manager features a lot of templates and options for library vizualization. Besides, it allows to update book data from multiple web sources (like Amazon, Google Books, Barnes & Nobel, etc). It's also good at file management and metadata extraction. You can download it from here.

Delicious Library's a bit different. Actually it's a software not just for books but for managing all stuff at your home. It's greates feature - entering books via webcam shot (it recognizes ISBN code). This feature makes Delicious Library the best software for collecting paper books. You can see the details from here.

And if you are a mac user Delicious Library is the best e-book manager but unfortunately it's not free. Second priority I will give to Alfa eBooks Manager.

Hope it will help!


Can Kindle's dictionary be disabled? I find Kindle's dictionary feature to be annoying - I've used Touch and Paperwhite, where I'm touching the screen all the time, and I frequently get an annoying pop-up definition I don't want.

Is there any way to disable the dictionary?

I think the only option you have is to delete the dictionary completely, thus disabling it. (Search for the dictionary on your device and remove it like any other book. You can re-download it later if there is the need.)


How to include SVG in eBooks How can one add .SVG files to ebooks in a way that is supported by major ereaders?

I've raked through the entire internet, and I find two things:

People bragging about including SVG in their eBook.
An absence of how-to guides.

This is obviously a well-kept secret. I'm making a reflowable ePub in InDesign with at least 200 illustrations, so I'd love to include .SVG.

The only workaround I found was this weird plugin for Indesign - that doesn't include export support if you don't have Adobe Indesign CS6.

I feel very passionate about this so feel free to shake me down for money or natural payments if you have the answer.

Love and thanks from a desperate author,

Wout

I don't know a lot about SVG, but I  have played around very superficially with svg in ebooks (about a year or two ago). What I found was that although my  simple svg worked in one or two epub readers, support on Kindle was very iffy.

If you look at the Amazon Kindle Publishing Guidelines, you will see about half a page on SVG support. It seemed very limiting. That probably accounts for the lack of interest in the topic -- especially because it's just as easy to make a jpg or png.

If there is SVG in an ebook, I'm guessing it is an ebook targeted to one specific reading system. (I suspect that academic publishers would be the one pushing for it most).

As ebooks become more graphics-intensive, ebook size will become a more important consideration, and scalable graphics will finally be important.  One crazy thing about KF8 format is that the max-width css attribute isn't supported -- making it hard or at least complicated for images to scale in an ebook predictably.

SVG is already supported in major browsers, and it can be frustrating not to see such features supported in ebook reading systems. But there is typically a lag between when something is supported in browsers and when the epub standard requires it -- and when reading systems decide to deploy that.


How to make Epub look good? I would like to design an ebook in InDesign but I am struggling with the formatting. The book it looks bad in epub format. I did research and I understand that flowing text will not be perfect because it will be adjusted by the user.

But how can I keep the basics like a line break after the paragraphs?

How to make the contents page look good besides just the blue links?

Are iPad dimensions the way to start designing or it does not matter what size I will start with because it will reflow anyway?

It will be published on Kindle and other publishing pages online. If it is not possible to do anything about the styling is it even worth to do it in InDesign?

Add this css to Indesign (this should be a text file but I'm not going to go through it and add four spaces to each line)

/*
This document has been created with Marked.app http://markedapp.com, Copyright 2011 Brett Terpstra

Please leave this notice in place, along with any additional credits below.

Title:  Manuscript
Author:  Brett Terpstra
Description:  Courier, Double-spaced
*/
body {
  -webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased;
  font: normal 1em/2.5em "Courier", monospace;
  margin: 4em 1in 1in 4em;
  width: auto; }

html > body {
  font-size: 12pt; }

h1 {
  text-align: center;
  font-size: 2.2857em;
  margin: .6563em 0; }

h2 {
  font-size: 1.7143em;
  margin: .875em 0; }

h3 {
  text-align: center;
  font-size: 1.5em;
  margin: 1em 0; }

h4 {
  font-size: 1.2857em;
  margin: 1.1667em 0; }

h5 {
  font-size: 1.15em;
  margin: 1.3em 0; }

h6 {
  font-size: 1em;
  margin: 1.5em 0; }

body, p, td, div {
  color: #111111;
  font-family: "Courier", monospace;
  word-wrap: break-word; }

h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 {
  color: #111111;
  font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
  line-height: 1.5em; }

a {
  color: #0d6ea1;
  text-decoration: none;
  -webkit-transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out;
  -moz-transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out;
  -o-transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out;
  -ms-transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out;
  transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out; }
  a:hover {
    color: #3593d9; }

.footnote {
  color: #0d6ea1;
  font-size: .8em;
  vertical-align: super; }

wrapper img {

max-width: 100%;
  height: auto; }

dd {
  margin-bottom: 1em; }

li > p:first-child {
  margin: 0; }

ul ul, ul ol {
  margin-bottom: .4em; }

caption, col, colgroup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr {
  border-spacing: 0; }

table {
  border: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.25);
  border-collapse: collapse;
  display: table;
  empty-cells: hide;
  margin: -1px 0 23px;
  padding: 0;
  table-layout: fixed; }

caption {
  display: table-caption;
  font-weight: 700; }

col {
  display: table-column; }

colgroup {
  display: table-column-group; }

tbody {
  display: table-row-group; }

tfoot {
  display: table-footer-group; }

thead {
  display: table-header-group; }

td, th {
  display: table-cell; }

tr {
  display: table-row; }

table th, table td {
  padding: 0 1em; }

table thead {
  background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.15);
  border: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.15);
  border-bottom: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2); }

table tbody {
  background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); }

table tfoot {
  background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.15);
  border: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.15);
  border-top: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2); }

figure {
  display: inline-block;
  position: relative;
  margin: 1em 0 2em; }

figcaption {
  font-style: italic;
  text-align: center;
  background: white;
  color: #666666;
  position: absolute;
  left: 0;
  bottom: -24px;
  width: 98%;
  padding: 1%;
  -webkit-transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out;
  -moz-transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out;
  -o-transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out;
  -ms-transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out;
  transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out; }

figure:hover > figcaption {
  /* background: rgba(0,0,0,1) */ }

.poetry pre {
  display: block;
  font-family: Georgia, Garamond, serif !important;
  font-style: italic;
  margin-left: 1em; }
  .poetry pre code {
    font-family: Georgia, Garamond, serif !important;
    word-break: break-all;
    word-break: break-word;
    /* Non standard for webkit */
    -webkit-hyphens: auto;
    -moz-hyphens: auto;
    hyphens: auto;
    white-space: pre-wrap; }

blockquote p {
  text-indent: 0;
  font-style: italic; }

sup, sub, a.footnote {
  font-size: 1.4ex;
  height: 0;
  line-height: 1;
  position: relative;
  vertical-align: super; }

sub {
  vertical-align: sub;
  top: -1px; }

blockquote+p {
  margin: 0;
  text-indent: 0;
  }

h2+p {
  margin: 0;
  text-indent: 0;
  }

p, h5 {
  margin: 0;
  text-indent: 1.5em;
  }

dt, th {
  font-weight: 700; }

table tr:nth-child(odd), table th:nth-child(odd), table td:nth-child(odd) {
  background: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.06); }

table tr:nth-child(even), table td:nth-child(even) {
  background: rgba(200, 200, 200, 0.25); }

@media print {
  body {
    overflow: auto; }

img, pre, blockquote, table, figure {
    page-break-inside: avoid; }

p {
    page-break-inside: auto; }

#wrapper {
    background: white;
    color: #303030;
    padding: 10px;
    position: relative;
    text-indent: 0; } }
@media screen {
  .inverted {
    background: #252a2a; }
    .inverted #wrapper {
      background: #252a2a; }
    .inverted hr {
      border-color: #333f40 !important; }
    .inverted p, .inverted td, .inverted li, .inverted h1, .inverted h2, .inverted h3, .inverted h4, .inverted h5, .inverted h6, .inverted pre, .inverted code, .inverted th, .inverted .math, .inverted caption, .inverted dt, .inverted dd {
      color: #eeeeee; }
    .inverted table {
      background: none; }
      .inverted table tr:nth-child(odd), .inverted table td:nth-child(odd) {
        background: none; }
    .inverted a {
      color: #acd1d5; }

::selection {
    background: rgba(157, 193, 200, 0.5); }

h1::selection {
    background-color: rgba(45, 156, 208, 0.3); }

h2::selection {
    background-color: rgba(90, 182, 224, 0.3); }

h3::selection, h4::selection, h5::selection, h6::selection, li::selection, ol::selection {
    background-color: rgba(133, 201, 232, 0.3); }

code::selection {
    background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.7);
    color: #eee; }

code span::selection {
    background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.7) !important;
    color: #eee !important; }

a::selection {
    background-color: rgba(255, 230, 102, 0.2); }

.inverted a::selection {
    background-color: rgba(255, 230, 102, 0.6); }

td::selection, th::selection, caption::selection {
    background-color: rgba(180, 237, 95, 0.5); } }


What commands can be given in the Kindle's search box? In this forum thread, a user explains that the Kindle's reading speed algorithm can be reset by typing ";ReadingTimeReset" in the Kindle's search box. The user states he was told by a member of Amazon's support team.
It seems obvious that this is a hidden mechanism for passing commands to the Kindle's software. What other commands can be given this way?

At least the following are supposed to work, although I haven't verified them:

;debugOn // verbose logging
;debugOff // non-verbose logging
~help
~usbNetwork  // starts a Dropbear SSH server
;ReadingTimeOff - switches off the reading time display
;ReadingTimeOn - switches on the reading time display
;ReadingTimeReset - resets the reading time computation
@author AuthorName keyword
@store keyword
@web keyword
@wiki keyword
@time

As @Tim pointed out in the comments, ~usbNetwork is non-standard, and some of the other "searches" on here may be hacks that require installation of additional software.

The following may be Touch-only; I can't verify this:

;dm - Dump messages to /documents
;dh - Dump cvm heap
;dt - Dump cvm stack
;shpm - set device to shipping mode
;urst - Reset user partition, deletes content of hidden System folder, Audible folder, Documents and tts folder.
        Before using do a complete backup of your device
;debugPaint - log painting functions
;debugPref - pref level logging
;dP - alias of ;debugPref
;311 - change carrier settings
;411 - server information
;611 - wan information
;711 - wifi information
;fc-cache - updates fontconfig's cache, then restart the framework
;setTime - sets kindle time to unix clock
;st - alias of ;setTime (format: yyyy-mm-dd HH:MM – e.g.: ;st 2012-07-22 17:59)
~ds - Never show screen saver   (then you cannot lock the kindle till next reboot.
                                 Rebooting the Kindle will restore the screen saver
                                 lock and, hopefully, everything goes fine!)

The following are apparently Paperwhite-only, but I can't verify this:

";dm" : "/usr/bin/dm.sh",
";dmcc" : "/usr/local/bin/dmcc.sh",
";dh" : "/usr/bin/dh.sh",
";dt" : "/usr/bin/dt.sh",
";wifipopup" : "/usr/local/bin/wifipopup.sh",
";sandbox" : "/usr/local/bin/sandbox.sh",
";sbx" : "/usr/local/bin/sandbox.sh",
";shpm" : "/usr/sbin/shipping_mode",
";lzzl" : "/usr/sbin/shipping_mode",
";urst" : "/usr/sbin/userstore_reset",
";usbnetwork" : "/usr/local/bin/usbnetwork.sh",
";un" : "/usr/local/bin/usbnetwork.sh",
";di" : "/usr/local/bin/indexerdisable.sh",
"`stopIndexing" : "/usr/local/bin/indexerstop.sh",
"`startIndexing" : "/usr/local/bin/indexerenable.sh",
"`disableIndexing" : "/usr/local/bin/indexerdisable.sh",
"`indexStatus" : "/usr/local/bin/indexstatus.sh",
";ddc" : "/usr/local/bin/dynconfig.sh",
";resetConfig" : "/usr/local/bin/resetConfig.sh",
";rc" : "/usr/local/bin/resetConfig.sh",
";twoFingerChromeOn" : "/usr/local/bin/altChrome.sh 1",
";homeKeyChromeOn" : "/usr/local/bin/altChrome.sh 2",
";normalChrome" : "/usr/local/bin/altChrome 0",
";debugOn" : "/usr/bin/debugOn.sh",
";debugPaint" : "/usr/bin/debugPaint.sh",
";debugOff" : "/usr/bin/debugOff.sh",
";debugPerf" : "/usr/bin/debugPerf.sh",
";dP" : "/usr/bin/debugPerf.sh",
";311" : "/usr/bin/311.sh",
";411" : "/usr/bin/411.sh",
";611" : "/usr/bin/611.sh",
";711" : "/usr/bin/711.sh",
";setTime" : "/usr/bin/dateTime.sh",
";st" : "/usr/bin/dateTime.sh",
"~ds" : "/usr/bin/ds.sh",
";toggleLight" : "/usr/bin/light.sh",
";fc-cache" : "/usr/bin/fc-cache.sh",
";htmlViewer" : "/usr/local/bin/htmlViewer.sh",
";installHtml" : "/usr/local/bin/installHtmlViewer.sh",
";merchant" : "/usr/local/bin/merchant.sh",
";updateCamp" : "/usr/bin/updateCamp.sh"

Source

Here is an interesting tutorial on how to root your Kindle (not directly relevant to the question, in that it's not just a list of search commands, but relevant to Kindle hacking generally).


How to split an EPUB into multiple files of one chapter? An EPUB book has multiple chapters. What method to split it into multiple files, each of them consist one chapter, effectively?

If each chapter is formatted as an h1-h6 tag or marked with a unique style, you could use Sigil to insert split markers. For example, if all your chapter headings are formatted as <h1> tags, you'd use:

Find:<h1

Replace:<hr class="sigil_split_marker" /><h1

Then select Edit > Split at markers.


Do epub 3.0 pagebreaks always require an id? Is it within the EPUB 3.0 specification to have a pagebreak span without an id?

I.e.
<span epub:type="pagebreak" title="2"></span>

Pagebreaks are usually used in conjunction with nav document page-list sections and since you need an id to refer to pagebreak markers in the book it'd be rather pointless to use pagebreaks without ids and a corresponding page-list section.

You can find an IDPF-approved sample epub3 book with pagebreaks and a page-list nav section here.


Is there a eReader app for Android, Windows and Linux? Is there an eReader application that runs under Windows, Android and Linux flavors? Someone just gave me a tablet but I also use MS Windows and Linux Mint. I could wade into searching online but I presume most work under only one OS.

FBReader and Cool Reader support all the operating systems that you have listed, but I don't personally use them, so I can't give you more insights. You can try them and see if they fit your needs.


Huge icons after update I upgraded to Calibre 3.4.0 (don't know what the old version was exactly 2.9?) and now my icons are huge.

I tried to follow the advice in this thread, but can't find find automatic scaling in the Preferences > Look and Feel.

I thought it maybe was Adjust for High Resolution, but when I try to deselect Automatic nothing happens (that interface is now as well huge).

How can I get normal icons back? I cannot use Calibre this way any more.

With "automatic scaling", this setting is indeed meant. It would have been more clear if that post had used the actual names, otherwise you can search a long time through the various tabs:

  Preferences > Look & feel > Main interface (first tab) >
                Adjust for high resolution screens >
         set to off.

That you cannot change the value is most likely because you extended Calibre to a second screen to see the buttons (I guess that is the case as your image has a width > 2K). You probably also have font problems when moving the whole preference window to that screen.

To get a functional button, there leave Calibre on the first screen, use the scroll bar at the bottom until you can see "Automatic", and change it to "Off". Calibre will prompt to restart and come back with normal sized icons.


Publishing blog posts as an ebook at Smashwords Is publishing an ebook through Smashwords allowed if the ebook consists of nothing more than blog posts you've originally written? For example, a collection of "Best of" posts with no extra material.
Reading their Terms of Service, in the Author's Warranties section, some points which collecting and publishing a collection of still up and publicly accessible blog posts may run afoul of:

9b. You further warrant that the Work contains no materials which:

[...]
contains advertisements for products or services, or is intended to act as an advertising or upselling vehicle for products or services
[...]
is an incomplete book for the purpose of promoting the purchase of the complete book elsewhere or on Smashwords.  Books priced at FREE are held to this same standard.
[...]

9c. You further warrant the book meets the following standards for originality:

[...]
your books do not and will not appear elsewhere on the Internet authored by people other than yourself or by pen names (pseudonyms) different from your pen name at Smashwords;

9d. You further warrant the book represents a complete work:

[...]
the uploaded file is not a partial sample or sample chapter, or is not a collection of sample chapters, or not simply a catalog advertising other books or products
the work is complete and self-contained, and does not try to upsell the user to purchase, or register for, access to information that should have been contained in the book
the uploaded book represents a complete story with a beginning, middle and end.  Exception: Serials are allowed.  Each serial cover image should be different, even if the only difference is a notation on the cover image about the serial's position or episode number in the series.  To avoid customer confusion, we recommend it should be clearly identified as a serial in the book description and the serial episodes should be linked together using the Smashwords Series Manager tool.

Given that a collection of blog posts are:

only selected articles from a blog, thus incomplete of the total blog archives
still available to read as you please
in itself is some kind of advertising for the blog
non-fiction and has no narrative

would such an ebook be publishable on Smashwords?

I can't speak for Smashwords, and this isn't legal advice, but I will say that none of the terms that you quote above seem to prohibit what you are describing.  I'm actually not sure what parts concern you.

They require a complete work; that doesn't mean you have to publish a complete copy of a blog's archives. They seem to be worried mostly about books that end with an upsell, like "Thanks for reading; to find out what happens to Joe and Susie, buy my other book for $99!"

None of the terms that you quoted prohibit publishing a book of material that you wrote that is available elsewhere.

If the purpose of the blog posts selected for inclusion is advertising for your site, then 9b above is a problem. But if the posts are substantive in their own right, 9b doesn't indicate to me that you can never publish anything if it might interest the reader in other stuff that you've written.

As for nonfiction, the Smashwords homepage has an entire category of nonfiction works. They clearly allow nonfiction as well as fiction.

If you are concerned about it, you can always just email them and ask. If you are really concerned about it, get a California lawyer to review the terms and give you their thoughts (the terms are subject to California law, under paragraph 15b).


iRiver Story stopped reading files I have no idea where to find an answer to this question, so i'll just throw it here hoping i'm not making anyone mad.

I've had an iRiver Story e-book reader for some time now; i think i got it as a present when it first appeared on the market and it's been working flawlessly since then. I mainly used it to read the books which were included on the SD card or various personal projects (PDFs, EPUBs, .txt etc.), to listen to music or to view photos.

The problem is that one day, about two or three months ago, it just stopped reading any document type except texts (.txt). If i try to open any kind of PDF or EPUB files it throws a "Failed to open file!" error and it even freezes for a period of time afterwards. It does this with all files, even those bundled with the device.

I tried looking everywhere on the web but to no avail! What's worse is that iRiver stopped making these a while ago and it also doesn't offer service anymore for it. It`s a shame, really, because it can still carry a full 6 hours of reading after all this time and it's also free of useless perks like wi-fi or touchscreen.

The FW is 1.61 and the S/W platform is 0.8.10, if it's helpful to anyone.

Thank you in advance for any advice regarding this mysterious issue!

At the risk of sounding flip and catty, ebook reading devices typically last for a few years -- maybe 5. Also, they are cheaper than ever. I wouldn't think it worth the effort to try to repair. E-ink devices just break down after a while; that's just what happens.

I'm not a fan of the Kindle universe, but their devices are incredibly cheap -- even the tablets.

I would focus instead on keeping an archive of content outside of your devices which you could load on all future devices. Keep the content in Dropbox, Google or a cloud-based reading system.

I personally favor an android tablet because 1)there's a lot to choose from, 2) you can download several different reading systems (including Kindle and Google Play Books and 3)FBReader. I personally don't like Kindle devices because they don't let you download alternate reading apps on them.

UPDATE: I see that the ebook store with iriver is Google Play Books. That's a further reason to find a device with the same GPB store, and you should be able to re-download your storebought content easily onto it. But you can also get the ios version of GPB if you want ipads/iphones.

With regard to troubleshooting, my best guess is that it's a file corruption issue. There's an outside chance that by swapping the sd card or resetting everything and reloading, you can fix it. But is it worth your time to try this?

RELATED: The mobileread forum about iriver https://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=219


Format for ebook that contains code What's a good format for making an ebook that contains code. Is markdown a good option or is there something better available? I may want to convert it to ePub/Mobi and PDF later.

Is it a good idea to add custom styles to markdown files? Would these styles play well with softwares like pandoc?

What other options do I have?

Edit

The book is about prolog and will contain mainly these types of structure:

Headings- h1, h2, h3 ...
Paragraphs
Tables (without headers)
Indented Text
Code Snippets
Big example code blocks which may contain text and code or just code (ranging from 15 to +100 lines). I need these parts to look different from code snippets.

Embedding code in EPUB can be accomplished with pure HTML and CSS. The <code> tag and monospace attribute will bring you most of the way. See https://github.com/oreillymedia/HTMLBook for a lot of detail.


Is there any ebook reader that can synchronize the bookmarks across PC(windows, osx), iOS, android devices? I am looking for a reader that can synchronize the bookmark at which we last read and can continue from where we left? I have a surface, macbook, ipad, and a samsung tab across which I would like to synchronize the books, and their bookmarks. Amazon Kindle app comes close but doesn't support epubs. Any suggestions?

Google Play Books is probably what you are looking for. It synchronizes data between all your devices, allows you to upload your own ebooks and it supports epub format.


Does Amazon provide subscription service for magazines? I would like to know if Amazon provides any subscription service for Magazines to be able to read on my Kindle devices!

Yes, I subscribe to a few tech mags not available in our area via my Android Kindle app, so I assume it is available on all kindle related apps and devices.


how to export images using abbyfine reader? Presently, I using the abbyfine reader for text extraction. Is there a way to export the images from abbyfine reader software? Please advise.

Yes you can export images in Abby Finereader when you convert PDF to HTML.

First abby will automatically determine images if not zone the image area manually.

Second in options menu (Top right) select save -> HTML -> select Keep Pictures, so when you save as html you will get all the images in one folder.


A nice platform for selling PDF books like Google Play. Any suggestions? I'm an author who are currently selling books on Google Play. The service works really good and has a wide support for mobile devices etc. The huge downside is its limitations when it comes to territory. It's only available in like 30 countries.

I have people in Israel, Nepal and other countries where Google Play don't reside and probably won't be for a while. So I'm looking for an alternative platform that does not have this limitation. However, I still have some requirements:

Prohibit download of the PDF - This is to protect it from being spread outside of the platform. It has happen before when I even had DRM support turned off on Amazon. Writing 700 pages trying to make a living out of it kinda sucks when someone simply spreads it for free.
HTML5 or Mobile App support - Since most of the readers will be using iPads and what not.
The book needs to be sold on that platform or a third party
Need to use PDF.

Is there any good platform for this except Google Books? I have searched like hell but all I have found is sites that provides the user with a download link.

Thanks in advance!

Have you had a look at Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing? It says Kindle in the name, but it is also possible to send the ebooks to tablets or smart phones and read them on there.


Kindle vs Hyperlinked Images I should have tested my first epub better before publishing it to Kindle. I just now discovered that Kindle apparently doesn't support hyperlinked images, which seems bizarre to me.

Can anyone tell me if there's any kind of workaround for this? My next epub is going to have hundreds of images, each one linked to a section where people can see its source and copyright status. If I can't link the images themselves, then I presumably have to include some text under each image that's linked to this section.

So many weird epub bugs!

(I assume you are talking about an internal, not external link. Is that right?)

Here are some helpful clues and semi-educated guesses.

The epub3 spec doesn't say anything about whether reading systems need to support this feature. Also, there is nothing in the Content Document spec which forbids this. So I wouldn't think that a hyperlinked image would cause a validation problem. (I could be wrong though).

By default, touching an area with a graphic in a reading system will simply enlarge the image. But currently vior for the the touchscreen reading systems I know is that when you click an image, it enlarges that image.  You would need some way to let the reader know that the image is also a link.

Here are some guesses:

1)the reading system would need to indicate dual actions for the image OR
2)you would need some scripting language that would permit the  opening of a link.

Personally, I see no reason why a reading system shouldn't include hyperlinked images; indeed, the hover action does seem to trigger actions in certain contexts on a tablet.  In contrast to web browsers, ebook reading systems don't seem designed to permit animation or interactivity. This could change.

One feature which is semi-supported on iBooks is aside popups. http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2015/best-practices-for-ebook-back-matter-footnotes-and-endnotes/ If the goal is simply to provide data for each art work, a simple popup might do the trick. Or you could add a caption to each image which shows the information you want.


Accessing Kindle Paperwhite With Shattered Screen I brought a Kindle last autumn. So far I have only loaded a few books onto it. However my partner has shattered the screen. Is there any way I can pull the books off - two are particularly important - so that I can put them on another device. The price I have been quoted suggests buying another eReader is more sensible.

You can just connect it to PC and move files from document folder as backup. Later you can restore them to new device. Anyways you books bought from amazon will be available on cloud


Kindle vs Kindle paperwhite, is the resolution really important for eyes? I'm trying to decide between buying a Kindle vs. a Kindle Paperwhite. The Kindle has a resolution of 167 ppi and the Paperwhite has a resolution of 300 ppi.

I don't care about the backlighting since I use a lamp. So the only question is, is the resolution on the Kindle bad for my eyes? Is it really better to have a higher res screen?

Here's a comparison of 300 ppi (Voyage, Oasis, 2015 Paperwhite) vs 221 ppi (2014 and earlier Paperwhite) vs 167 ppi (Classic Kindle).

Actual dimensions seem to be

1072 x 1448 (300 ppi)
758 x 1024 (221 ppi)
600 x 800 (167 ppi)

The 300 ppi can legitimately claim to be nearly indistiguishable from paper to my eye, once you factor in the natural fuzziness of eInk and the 16 shades of grey.


Apps to use for reading local e-books on Windows Surface Pro? Are there any apps available to use for reading local e-books on a Windows Surface pro 4 app? Kindle unfortunately doesn't allow me to do this.

The Microsoft Edge Browser has support for epub built directly into the browser.  Right click and "Open With.." if Edge is not your default browser.  I found it works well with local epub files.  Edge supports ePub


Can a custom column with "Date" type be added to the tag browser? In Calibre, I created a custom column with the type "Date". While it gets displayed as column in the ebook list, it does not appear in the tag browser.

Is there a way to have a date-based column as category in the tag browser?

It would be great to be able to filter ebooks by years, e.g.:

Year [7]
  1970s [4]
    [1] 1974
    [8] 1975
    [2] 1976
    [1] 1977
  1980s [2]
    [2] 1984
    [2] 1985
  1990s [1]
    [3] 1994

Yes, you can accomplish that using SubGroups in Calibre. The way to do a subgroup is described here (for user entered Genres) but I'll do the TL;DR below for how to do it with publication dates: https://manual.calibre-ebook.com/sub_groups.html

Create a custom column with desired lookup name (yearpub) and heading and give the column type "Column built from other columns, behaves like tags"
In the Template box, enter this code: {pubdate:'test($,
strcat(substr(format_date($,'yyyy'), 0, 3), '0.',format_date($,'yyyy')),
'Unknown')'}
Set "Sort/search columb by" to TEXT and mark a check in the "Show in tags browser".
After restarting Calibre, go to Preferences-->Look and Feel-->Tag Browser and in the entry "Categories with hierarchical items" enter your custom column's lookup name.

Now, what that all does is takes the Published Date data of that book/entry and puts it in the format of an hierarchical tag by decade.year which will now show in the Tags Browser under the lookup name you gave, then the decade, then the year. All without having to enter in any extra data! Just make sure the published date is correct. If no published date is given it will mark it as Unknown.

Enjoy!


ePub converter that saves in HTML5? Does anyone have an ePub converter that actually saves in HTML5?
I have tried Kotobee Author and Calibre but they save in HTML 4/XHTML. An update of the Mozilla Composer/SeaMonkey IDE (Internet Developer Environment) came out in Feb. 2018 but that also saves in HTML 4.
A lot of IDEs and ePub apps claim to support HTML5 but save to HTML 4.
Any suggestions?
I don't want to manually migrate my code to HTML5 and then have the ePub converter wrap it as HTML 4. Or am I making too big a deal of this?
Thanks, in advance.

Sigil supports both epub2 and epub3 books and one of the Sigil developers has published a plugin that'll convert epub2 books to epub3 books.


How to tell if an entire ePub ebook was downloaded for offline viewing? How can I check if an ePub ebook was fully and correctly downloaded onto my iPad or iPhone without being corrupted? I want to be sure to read it in those situations where I can't connect to the internet, like on a plane.

I don't have a recent ipad and I rarely buy things through the iTunes store, so my answer is based on knowledge and guesswork.

When you first try to read it, the reading system (in this case, iBooks) will download the complete ebook if it has not done so already.

There is a simple way to test this. Open the ebook, and then put your device in airport mode (ie. no network or wifi). You can quickly check that you can get to the last page. I know, some itunes ebooks have multimedia content; that is a different story. In some cases, the multimedia is embedded and available only online (i.e., youtube). In some cases, it is actually part of the ebook, so it would fully be available in offline mode.

When I have downloaded purchased items from Google and Amazon, occasionally the download will be interrupted, but usually the cover icon won't appear on the bookshelf (or it may only partially appear). I assume iTunes does something similar.


Question about vocabulary used on itunes paid ibook application form I'm in the process of applying for a paid ibooks account on itunes. I'm new to the publishing scene and was hoping someone could explain some of the vocabulary used in the form.
Terms I am unfamiliar with- active print catalog, digital rights and frontlist titles.

I've searched google, but the information is confusing (particularly about digital rights).

Question - what does active print catalog, digital rights and frontlist title mean in relation to this application form?

Update: My research

I've worked out Frontlist. Frontlist is a publisher's list of new or current titles.

I'm assuming digital rights is much like copyright. If I have digital rights to a book, I have copyright of that book?

You've pretty much sussed out "frontlist"--the older titles, by comparison, are all "backlist". And yes, digital rights are similar to copyright. Basically (and IANAL), the author has copyright to the created work, and can then assign/give/sell some or all of those rights to other people. So "digital rights" means that you either have copyright, or the author has assigned you the right to publish digitally. So it's not quite the same as copyright, but it does mean "yes, I'm allowed to do this".

Active print catalog simply means "how many print titles do you have in current rotation?" If you're doing exclusively ebooks, that number will be zero.


is there any way to keep captions of the images always with the image? I have written a book in Microsoft word with a lot of images. but I am facing issues that the titles that I have given are going in the next page. I understand I can resize the images but I wanted to tie the captions with the image. Even if I convert it to other format like mobi/epub.
maybe if it does not fit on the page let the image be scaled down in that format.

Is there any way to achieve this in word, epub or mobi file?

Ultimately, it depends on which ereader devices you want to support.

Unless you are making a fixed layout book, the only method that will work 100% of the time is to make the caption a part of the image. Since epub and mobi are reflowable document formats, there is always a possibility that the device being used to view the document will push a text caption on the next page. However, devices do not usually split images across more than one page.

While I have used the text-in-image solution in the past, I don't personally recommend it, since images can be displayed at many different sizes and resolutions depending on the device or screen. It may be difficult for readers to read the caption while viewing on their phone, but the caption may look unusually large compared to body text on a computer screen. People using an e-ink reader may find the image text grainy or difficult to read. I agree that it is undesirable for the caption to get orphaned from its image, but I think that most readers of ebooks are accustomed to these kinds of text-flow failures, and would prefer the text being on the next page over not being able to read the text at all.

If you would like to do the best you probably can, you could try wrapping your image and caption in a <div> with page-break-inside: avoid; styling, but support for this CSS property is not universal, so you are still at the mercy of the device.

Some people prefer to use page-break-before: always; before the image, but this also has drawbacks. (You can end up with only one or two lines of text on a page and then a forced page-break for the image.)

In the event that all of the devices you plan to support can handle SVG tags, you could wrap the image in <svg> and include the text caption inside the SVG tag with the image. I have heard this works very well (but it requires SVG support).

If you're still interested in other more complicated ideas, you can check this thread on the MobileRead forums.


Can I connect to eduroam using a non-touch Kindle? Eduroam is a network that allows members of universities or research institutes to use wifi in other universities or research institutes without having to register for a guest account. This utilizes WPA2 Enterprise authentification.

Connecting to WPA2 Enterprise networks was not supported on older Kindles (e.g. hacks needed to be used for Kindle 3 devices). With recent Kindles it seems to be possible at least for Kindle Touch and Kindle Paperwhite.

Is is also possible out of the box for "basic" Kindles with physical buttons (K4NT)?
If not: Are hacks needed and available?

You need to jailbreak your Kindle 4 NT and have usbnetwork installed. The following hack worked for me:

http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Kindle4NTHacking#Connecting_to_eduroam


Non collection books doesn't appear I have Amazon Kindle paperwhite 2018 edition. I have many collections and many books that I organized nicely in my old device. I always use the "collections" as my homepage. Whenever I download a new book, it used to appear as a non-collection book below the collections so that I can add it into a proper category.

However, I had to replace my Kindle with a new one (again ppw 4). Since then, the non-collection books do not appear on the collection page. Only the collections appear. I don't know if it is a setting or a firmware update but it really makes me lost my track.

Does anyone have an idea how to solve it?

Thanks in advance.

I solved it!

The reason why I didn't see at first place was that my collections were only on the cloud.On the tabs (ALL|DOWNLOADED   and 2 filters on the right corner), I was choosing "collections" instead of "all items" in the first tiny arrow. And the second tiny filter arrow didn't allow me to choose collections (but only recent/title/author). The "collection" selection was faded.

After I downloaded my collections, then choose "all items" on the first filter arrow, "collection" on the second filter arrow, I am able to see my collections as well as my non-sorted books.

I hope it helps for someone else :)


Fix broken eBook Table of Contents? The Table of Contents of this .ePub file seems to incorrectly link to one page previous to the desired page. For instance if 'Part 2' is clicked, it directs to the last page of 'Part 1'. I have looked over the source files, but it is unclear to me how I can rectify this issue.

Any help in fixing this file will be greatly appreciated

It looks like the anchor tags were put in the wrong place. If you unzip the .epub, you'll see that the link for Part 1

is at the end of the first (navigational TOC) file, 1250-h-0.htm.html rather than the file for Part 1, 1250-h-1.htm.html.

If you move each of those links to the beginning of the correct file (right after the  tag and before the
 would be a good place) then that should fix your problem.


what does the v5.0 in the name of an e-book file stand for? I have seen various e-books on the Internet that have a (v5.0) in the name e.g.

Charles Darwin - On the Origin of Species (v5.0).epub

Initially I thought this had to with the version 5 of the DocBook, but I have seen other versions (v3.4) that do not have a corresponding DocBook version.
I have also seen this for e-books in .html and .txt files. Nothing in the those or the .epub file points at DocBook in any way.

What does this (v5.0) stand for?

This is an indication of the quality of the ebook. (v5.0)  should be
close to retail quality:

v1.x: publication has been scanned and OCR-ed, but not spell checked.
v2.x: publication has been scanned, OCR-ed, and spell checked but not proofread.
v3.x: publication has been scanned, OCR-ed, spell checked, and proofread.
V4.x: publication has been proofread by multiple persons and is near retail quality.
v5.x: publication is of retail quality.

Minor version numbers are normally used for committed/uploaded changes.

I have not come across any (semi-)official website for these indications. I pulled these from my notes that I made while doing book scans myself. I think they came from some Usenet post.

Some v5 material still has a lot of errors (especially older publications where the fonts are not easily recognised by the OCR).


CSS: Spans vs Font Families I'm using Sigil to create epubs and iBooks primarily to preview them, and I have a recurring CSS problem that's driving me nuts. I'm not really sure if it's just a problem with spans or with a variety of nested elements, but here goes...

Imagine a div that has a CSS style specifying font families, either inline or in an attacked style sheet...

Text

If I put a span inside that div, it may or may not inherit the div's CSS properties. Most of the time, I think it inherits all the properties EXCEPT font families. If I give the span its own CSS rule, it still doesn't work. In the following example, all the text is relatively small (75%), as it should be, and the text in the span is red. But the text in the span has serifs, when it should look the same as the text surrounding it.

Text Red Text

I've tried various combinations of inline styles vs style sheets. It seems to be some kind of bug, because sometimes the text inside a certain element will look OK on one page, but the same combination of classes and styles doesn't work on the next page.

Things usually look OK in Sigil, but when I open my project in iBooks, the errors appear.

I should add that I haven't installed any fonts in my epub. About all I'm using are Arial and Verdana, which are installed in my computer and presumably in most people's computers.

Does anyone have a clue what's going on?

Before looking at anything, you might want to look on the available fonts for each device. What are serif and sans serif fonts on different ebook reading systems? It doesn't show iBooks as having Arial or Verdana fonts, so it will be unable to render these fonts. When you edit it in Sigil, chances are that the computer browser already has Arial and Verdana fonts loaded, so that is why it looks different on your computer vs. your device.

To be honest, I am perfectly fine with using  "font-family: sans-serif;" or "font-family: serif;" .iBooks and Kindle both have excellent fonts, and users often like to specify a favorite.  It can be maddening trying to specify fonts for each device unless you're embedded fonts for ALL devices. (This guide will get you started: https://github.com/JayPanoz/Soma/wiki/How-to-embed-fonts and here's a listing of some google font combinations which you could use for ebooks if you decided to embed the font: http://fontpair.co/  ).

I should stress again that embedding fonts is a complicated deal; I've started trying it myself with my ebooks. I am very taken with Google's Merriweather font for the body text.


Programming Sigil for importing annotations I was advised to use Sigil for manipulating an epub file.

My idea is to get highlighting from my Kobo ebook reader from its sqlite database and put it into the epub file so that I could see my annotations on my desktop computer.

Reading the Sigil home page I see that Sigil is an editor for epub files but I do not see how could I run a script to read the database file and put span tags to do the highlightig.

How can I program Sigil and in which programming language?

The Windows and macOS versions of Sigil are bundled with a Python 3 interpreter. (Linux users will have to manually install a Python 3 interpreter.) For more information on the Sigil Python API, see the Sigil Plugin Framework documentation.

If you have additional questions, you can post them in the official Sigil Plugin Delevopment thread.


How can you delete the books from 'Cloud' in Kindle PaperWhite? I'm using this Google Chrome Push to Kindle extension for reading articles on the kindle. In short it converts an article and sends it to your device.

It's very convenient, but I've collected a lot of article in my Kindle 'Cloud' and I can't find a way to delete them.

Tried in Amazon - Manage your device and content, but there I can see only the bought books.

Any ideas how to delete the cloud books?

Aha, I figured it out. You need to log in to your amazon account from a PC or laptop.

Go to MANAGE YOUR CONTENT AND DEVICES on amazon.com
Select MANAGE YOUR CONTENT.
For the dropdown labeled SHOW, change it from BOOKS to DOCS.

From there, you will see all your personal content and be able to delete content.


How to use the e-ink Kindle readers to display photos? The Kindle e-readers that lack full color displays also lack an app for displaying photos. Is there a way to get a series of photos to display? I realize they will be displayed in monochrome / greyscale, but it comes in handy for diagrams and illustrations.

Specifically, suppose I have a folder containing a bunch of JPEG images. How do I get them displayed in my Kindle?

Older Kindles

On older generation Kindles (with keyboard) it is actually possible out of the box. You just have to store them in a very specific way.

Create a folder named pictures in your Kindle's root directory.
Create folders with arbitrary names for the collections you want to create.
Copy the images into those collections.
Press Alt+Z to start the image viewer.

You can then use the following shortcuts:

q = zoom in
w = zoom out
e = reset zoom
c = actual size
f = full-screen
r = rotate
nav controller = pan
page forward and back = cycle through images

I tested this some time ago on a Kindle3 keyboard and it worked.

Newer Kindles

I found a post on the Amazon forums. It claims that a similar approach still works on the Kindle Paperwhite.

Create a folder named images (not pictures!) in your Kindle's root directory.
Create folders with arbitrary names for the collections you want to create.
Copy the images into the collection folders. Make sure that the extension is JPG and not JPEG.
Select your collection.

I do not know how to select the collections, but I assume that they are listed along with normal ebooks. Feel free to add information on whether this works for the K4NT.

Kindle 4th/5th Gen

Zip your images. Name the zip what you want the title of this collection to be.
Copy the zip file to your documents folder.
Eject the Kindle and you'll find that name in your list of books. Turn pages to browse through the different pictures.


Is it possible to take a screenshot from a Kobo ereader device? While answering another question, I had to post a couple of pictures of my Kobo Glo screen; these were taken by photographing it with my smartphone.

I was wondering if there is some way to take a screenshot from the device itself, I.E. by pressing some combination of keys.

Yes it is possible if you change the code of your Kobo a bit. A broad explanation and functions is explained in this forum post on another website: Mobile Read Kobo.

You must add the following code to the file Kobo eReader.conf, located in the {device_root_dir}/.kobo/Kobo/ directory:

[FeatureSettings]
Screenshots=true

Then everytime you press the powerbutton, you will take a screenshot with your Kobo Glo. This image is then stored as a PNG in the root directory.

Hope this helps a bit!