No more MOBIs
Did you get the email from Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) about their accepted file types for ebooks? In case you missed it, or were confused by the changes, here’s what you need to know if you format your ebooks in Scrivener.
- For “reflowable” ebooks (see explanation below), Amazon no longer accepts MOBI files. They are asking for an EPUB or DOCX file, unless you’re using their Kindle Create program.
- “Reflowable” books are those like you’re probably used to reading on your Kindle or iPad. They allow the person reading to resize or change the font and spacing, and the text just adjusts (reflows) to fit the screen without distorting the layout. The opposite of this would be a fixed layout file like a PDF, where if you enlarge the text, it extends off the edge of the screen and you have to scroll around to read it. Scrivener’s EPUB format creates reflowable text.
- Any books you uploaded to KDP in the past are fine. Leave them alone.
- Any books you plan to upload (or upload again to update) to KDP in the future should be in EPUB or DOCX format.
Bottom line: This actually makes your life easier! EPUB is one of the simplest file types to compile in Scrivener, so I recommend this route. In fact, KDP has accepted EPUB files for a long time, and I’ve been uploading them instead of MOBI for years now.
If you want to get better at compiling for EPUB, DOCX, or any other file type, I have classes for that at ScrivenerClasses.com. 😉
I’m also working on a video-only version for Mark Dawson’s Self Publishing Formula (SPF) that should be out later this summer. The video-only Scrivener 3 overview is already live at SPF.
