Easy Kindle: Create a Kindle format eBook using Mobipocket Creator

Please note: This article was written 03/08/11.
It is left here because it still contains useful information.
Mobipocket Creator is no longer being supported by Amazon.
Amazon has upgraded software to the point that it is now better to upload your MS Word file directly to the Amazon KDP.
Other articles on this site tell you how.

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See Notes at end of this article.

Download Mobipocket Creator
Other Formats, HTML, PDF, and Text
Add "Go To" Anchors (Guide Items)

Here is the easiest way I've found to create a Kindle format eBook, starting with an MS Word doc.

It's important to understand that Mobipocket is a versatile program, and offers many options that do not apply to the Kindle.

Please keep that in mind, and just ignore the miscellaneous information and options as you go through this little exercise.

Also, to keep things straight, and so I don't have to keep saying "your own file name, of course", please use file name "cjs_pie.doc".

OK... let's go:

When your book is ready to be published, create a folder for it on your Desktop, and copy your file and its cover to that folder, like this:

[cjs_pie_folder]
cjs_pie.doc
cjs_pie_cover.jpg

Then, open the cjs_pie_folder to display at half-size and leave it open at the left side of your screen.

Open Mobipocket Creator and leave it at half size on the right side of your screen.

Now, just grab "cjs_pie.doc" with your mouse, and drag it across the screen to Mobipocket Creator, and drop it on the little red book at the right of Mobipocket's page.

Mobipocket will immediately go to work, then display:

"Welcome to the Import File Wizard"
Import from MS Word Document **

Next will be four lines of options and settings; We are going to ignore them for now.

Just below those lines is the "Import" button.

Click "Import"

If your file is seriously flawed, Mobipocket will either just sit there, doing nothing, or abort with an error message.

If all is well, Mobipocket will import your file, then direct your attention to the left side of your screen, where you will see a red book, then a stack of selections under the title "View".

I call this the "View Stack".

One of the selections in the View Stack is "Cover Image"

Click "Cover Image"

A button named "Add a Cover Image" appears just to the right of the "View Stack".

If you didn't know where your Cover Image was, you could click that button and browse to find your cover image.

But you do know where your cover image is:

It's in the folder that is open on your screen, the folder we named "cjs_pie_folder".

Grab your cover, "cjs_pie_cover.jpg", with your mouse, then drag and drop it onto the "Add a Cover Image" button.

Your image will pop open and display, quite possibly larger than life, at the center of your screen, with an Update button just beneath it.

Click "Update".

If your image is ok, Mobipocket will accept it without comment.

Choose "Build" (icon with a couple of gears) from the blue ribbon at the top of your screen.

Now... Towards the center of your screen you will see some blank progress bars, with a "Build" button above them.

Click "Build".

(There are two places you must click Build... at the gears in the Blue Ribbon, and this Build Button.)

Mobipocket now goes to work to build an HTML file, then it will build your PRC (Kindle format) file.

It will inform you of each step as it builds, checks, and cleans your HTML file.

If Mobipocket Creator finds errors, it will stop and show you a list where you can look for your errors.

Often these errors are "Unable to resolve hyperlink"... and it tells you which hyperlink it could not resolve.

These may be no more serious than that you forgot to rebuild your table of contents after making a change. 


This is a great and wondeful feature of Mobipocket, as it finds errors that could cause you much grief later.

If all goes well, Mobipocket will display:

"Build Finished" at the upper right, near the View Stack.

It will give you some options for viewing, with "OK" beside Mobipocket Reader.

Click "OK" to view your file in Mobipocket Reader.

Mobipocket Reader is not perfect, but does provide a quick and easy way to find major errors in your Kindle format eBook.

Your Kindle format (*.PRC) file is now finished, and can be found in your My Documents\My Publications folder, like this:

My Documents\My Publications\cjs_pie\cjs_pie.prc

If all is well, you are now ready to upload your file (filename.prc) to your Shelf at your Amazon Dashboard at Amazon DTP.

To find the Kindle format (PRC) eBook you and Mobipocket Creator just created, look for this folder (named with your file name, of course)

My Documents\My Publications\YourFileName\YourFileName.prc

Inside the YourFileName folder (whatever you named your file), you will find several files, among them, “ yourfilename.prc”.

Be sure to get the file with the PRC extension.

That’s the file you will upload at your Amazon Shelf at your Amazon Dashboard at Amazon KDP.

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* Note:

If you don't already have it, download Mobipocket Creator/Reader:

http://www.mobipocket.com/en/downloadsoft/ProductDetailsCreator.asp

Be sure to get the Reader as well as the Creator... and be sure to get the "Publisher Edition".


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** Note:

Use this same procedure, no matter the format of your input file... whether it is DOC, HTML, PDF, or Text.

When you drag and drop your file to Mobipocket, as described above, if your file is in HTML format instead of Doc format, Mobipocket will display:

"Welcome to the Import File Wizard"
Import from HTML Document

That's right... it doesn't matter whether your file is in DOC, HTML, PDF, or text... Mobipocket will figure it out.

If you try to give it a file it can't use, such as a DOCX file, it won't blow up, or give you an error message, it just sits there, doing nothing.
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Note ***
To add the "Guide Items" required by the Kindle's "Go To" Menu feature, enter "Guide Items" into the Search box just under Birds on a Tightrope.