Formatting problems....

[gigerzombie]

Hello everybody.  I know people have posted this question before, but reading through them on this forum, I'm still terribly confused by the answers.  I've just downloaded my first title through Publt!, but when it appears on the Nook, the formatting is a mess.  There are strange paragraph breaks here and there, line breaks in the middle of sentences and paragraphs, and many paragraphs that aren't indented.  I'm not saying the book is unreadable, but as an avid reader, I'd have to admit that my patience would be sorely tried when trying to read through this.  I loaded the book from Word 2007, double spaced and in regular manusript format.  Now, please, if anybody can offer me any bit of help or advice (and I will greatly appreciate it if anybody does), please understand that I'm not a formatting or HTML scientist.  Answers in layman's terms that a Word user can understand would really be helpful to me.  Thank you in advance for your help!

[sayndee]

I have already posted this several times, but to save you having to hunt for it, I will write it again. In Word, save document as 97-2003, not in a newer one. You can do this when you click "save as". It will give you choices.  No forced tabs! Tabs should be set at no more than .25. DO NOT DOUBLE SPACE! Never skip more than one line. If you do, it can cause entire pages to be blank on an ereader. And only skip a space at new chapters or breaks in your story. I do hope this helps. No page numbers either, as different ereaders are different sizes and the numbers will not come out correctly.

[gigerzombie]

Thank you, Elaine!  It's taking a bit of time going through my Word doc and deleting all the forced tabs, but between that and the single spacing, I can already see the Nook preview version shaping up.  Thank you very much for your help....

[sayndee]

You do not have to delete them individually! Go up to Find...and in Find write ^t.  Then CLICK ON REPLACE...but LEAVE IT BLANK. Then click on replace all. That will correct all your forced tabs.

To save yourself a lot of trouble in the future...When you begin or even now...go up to the "Normal" square. Right click...then left click on "Modify", set your font at Times New Roman...

Then make sure spacing  at "before and after" is set to 0

Then set line spacing to single

In the little square that says "By" write in .25. For your automatic tab.

Check "Don't add space between paragraphs" and hit okay. This way your format should be perfect.

Hope this helps.

[gigerzombie]

Awesome instructions, Elaine, I owe you one.  Thank you.  The only thing I couldn't find was the "Normal" square to right click on, but all your other instructions worked great.  MUCH appreciated!

[sayndee]

You are more than welcome. I have Word 2010. A little different, I am sure.

[SHARIPY]

"NORMAL" IS FOUND AT THE TOP. UNDER SUBTITLE 'HOME' YOU WILL SEE A SQUARE WITH THE ABC'S.. THE FIRST SQUARE IS 'NORMAL".

[Fletcher777]

Hi Elaine,

Thank you for all your helpful advice --- it has helped greatly.  One last question --- I used all your advise and when I bring my book up on nook preview there appears to be a space amount after every sentence.

It appears to be a natural space like that's just how the Nook is going to look after all  your suggestions --

I did read some responses that commented on how the epub naturally has a space after every paragragh -- does that have something to do with it the justification?

Thx, Fletcher

[ArJohn]

This has been very helpful, but, as the new guy -- I need to ask a simple most likely asked a million times question.... When I download my book (I'll be using an rtf) can I SEE it in epub?? Can I correct in that format or do I need to keep changing and redownloading??

[Mrs-Smith]

ArJohn

Unless you have an epub editor you'll have to correct in rtf then re-upload each time you want to change something. This epub editor is the most easiest one to use, I use it and I know several others also use it. I've also said this in other threads, but you really need to have a Nook/Kindle to check your final product. Do not rely on their online previewers. They are not accurate. 

Any more questions, just ask

Melissa

[ArJohn]

Thanks.... Editor looks confusing but hopefully I can figure it out. As far as checking it out on nook or Kindle -- then I need to down load it -- buy it and then check it -- meaning others could buy it not ready to see??

[Mrs-Smith]

No, no. Inside pubit, after you've uploaded your file and pubit converts it, you download an epub copy from there to view inside Sigil. Once you're satisfied or think you have it finished, you then sideload onto your nook and check your final formatting there. If anything needs correcting you go back into sigil and fix anything that needs correcting before re-uploading to pubit and hitting publish.

Hope this helps

Melissa

[Mrs-Smith]

Oh, and its actually super easy to use. If you need a walk through just send me a message (you see the white envelope by your name at the top) and I can help

Melissa

[ArJohn]

Oh THAT was easy ---- I am getting the hang of it already ---- They will be getting a donation from me too for making this editor!

[Mrs-Smith]

YEA! I'm so glad you've gotten the hang of it! Yup, I too hit that little red heart and gave a donation for such a great bit of software. It just makes publishing so much easier.

Again, if you need any help, just ask

Melissa

[Tami_]

Hi Elaine, I have tried everything and I still have problems with formatting. The worst problem is sentences that start on one line but then there will be a line break and it shifts to the next line. It's readable but looks unprofessional and can be confusing.

The other problem is getting my chapters to begin on a new page.  Can you help me with this?

[SF50]

For anyone that ultimately decides figuring out the formatting is not worth their time..

eB Format

http://www.ebformat.com

Inexpensive, personal service.

[ArJohn]

As a novice myself here - can I ask a question? Do you see the break while in WYSIWYG or when you transfer to your ereader?

[Mrs-Smith]

ArJohn-

You'll see the break on the reader.

Tami-

What are you uploading into pubit? If its word, try saving your document as a 97-2003 doc. It seems to play nicer with pubits conversion software. Then if you look above you'll see that I gave a link for an epub editor. Its super easy to use and navigate for someone who's new to all of this. Using Sigil will give you the ability to start your chapters on a new page.

Again, if either of you need any more help, there are several of us here to help!

Melissa

[Tami_]

Hi Melissa,

Thank you for the reply to my problem. It is a Word doc and I did save it in 97-2003 after I read the other post, but that didn't solve my problems. I also went to the sigil site but I'm afraid that I didn't understand any of it. I'm really not an idiot, just a 61 year old grandmother who is trying very hard to understand all of this tech stuff. I just want to get this up and get back to writing.

The problem shows when I go to the edit page and view my file in the nook color preview. I saw where it said that what you see in the preview isn't always what you see in the actual nook, so went out looking at nook readers today. After figuring out that the nook color is what I need, I found out that a new nc2 may be coming out soon. Now I'm afraid to buy one and a week later they release the 'new improved' model (went through that with my iPod - frustrating to say the least).

I am very frustrated and appreciate any help you can give. I promise to try really hard to understand. Thank you so much ~ Tami