Formatting EBook For Kindle on WPS Writer
I tried using Libre Writer to format an eBook for Kindle and gave up! Libre Writer has better Excel worksheets than WPS Writer, but to create a workable eBook file for Kindle, WPS Writer is better. Also, if you’re familiar with Microsoft Word, WPS Writer is set up real close to how Microsoft Word is set up.
If you’re a Linux Ubuntu user use the latest version of WPS Writer and don’t rely just on the one in the Linux repository. You can get the latest version online. Choose the Deb package if you’re a Linux Ubuntu user.
To format a book for Kindle using WPS Writer you do the same thing as you would if you were using Microsoft Word (see above). However, you will run into some challenges doing the Table of Contents, because WPS Writer’s Table of Contents is set up somewhat differently than Microsoft Word.
After you have highlighted all the chapter titles in your book and made them all “Heading 1”, you are ready for the next step. Make sure that nothing else besides chapter titles have “Heading 1” or they will show up in your Table of Contents as a chapter!
Insert your table of contents near the beginning of the Word document:
o Left click once where you want your table of contents to appear. This should come just
after your front matter (title page, dedication, etc.)
o Type “Table of Contents” and press Enter
o In WPS Writer, locate the “References” tab at the top and find “Table of Contents” in the ribbon to the left.
o Click “TOC Level” and choose Level 1. Then click “Insert TOC”, which will cause a dialogue box to appear.
o On the dialogue box, uncheck the boxes that say “Show Page Numbers” and “Right Align Page Numbers” (since this is an e-book and page numbers don’t apply).
o Set the “Show levels” box to 1. Click on Options and uncheck “Outline levels”. Also remove any numbers from the boxes to the right, except for the number 1 in the box for Heading 1. Click OK for Table of Contents Options (dialogue box will close), then click OK again in the Table of Contents dialogue box, which will then close. The Table of Contents should appear automatically.
Set a bookmark so Kindle can find your Table of Contents:
Kindle offers readers the option to “Go To” certain places in a book such as the table of
contents, cover, or the opening passage (such as chapter 1), from anywhere within the book.
These places are known as “Guide Items.” To identify your table of contents as a guide item,
follow these steps:
o Highlight the words “Table of Contents” in your document
o Click on the down arrow in the Menu in the upper left, a drop down menu will appear. Put your mouse’s arrow over “Insert”, and another drop down menu will appear.
o Select “Bookmark” at the bottom, a dialogue box will open.
o In the “Bookmark name” box, type “toc” (without the quotes). Sort by name will be chosen by default (leave as is).
o Click “add”.
Unfortunately, with my LInux Ubuntu set up neither Libre Writer or WPS Writer allows me to save the file as filtered HTML. So I have to use Calibre to create an EPub file or use an online converter to create an HTML file from the docx file I created with WPS Writer. It seems using an online converter (from docx to html) automatically filters it for you (i.e. removes the WPS mark up language in the html file). The way you can tell if your HTML file will work on Amazon is to preview it online using any browser like Google Chrome, Firefox, Brave, etc. When you click on the chapter titles in the Table of Contents it should bounce straight to the chapter whose chapter title you clicked on. If not, something went wrong somewhere.
I used GIMP to create the cover using the guidelines above:
Use the Kindle Previewer at KDP Amazon to look at the book to make sure everything’s okay. Also, when you are filling out the book’s information at KDP Amazon, don’t choose public domain unless you want your book to be free for every one and don’t plan to enforce the copyright on the contents.