Here are a few corrections and changes to the book (which I’ll correct within the book as soon as I can):
Kindle Create/ebook Section:
Kindle Create, which I have a small section about, has changed. As soon as I published the book they had an updated version of the software. Crazy. In any case, they made a change or two. The elements section on the right of the screen, at least part of it, got moved to the left side of the screen. It used to be you could place the cursor on the line next to your title on the title page you already had, and then click on “title” in the elements section (which was then on the right) and the title got designated as such (same with copyright, dedication, etc.). No More. The front matter elements got moved to the left of the screen at the top. Look in the upper left corner and you will see “Front Matter” and a plus sign (+). If you click on the plus sign, you’ll find the categories: Title page, Copyright, Dedication, etc. You now have to fill in boxes for each of these. The copyright box even has a bunch of standard jargon already in it. You just delete out what you don’t need. You’ll see backmatter category listed over on the left of the screen also (at the bottom). And I believe it just says “Body” for the middle section. Inexplicably, they left other parts of the elements category over on the right: Quotes, poems, etc. in “Standard elements” section.
I lambasted them for changing things unnecessarily. Probably an overreaction on my part. But in my opinion, they could have left things as they were; or at least had an option for doing things either way. I’m not certain whether they allow you the option of not using the boxes for the title, etc. if you have your own page. But since you won’t be able to designate your title page as such, there will more than likely be problems. They have bright red asterisks in the ‘fill-in’ boxes of title section which designate that you must fill these in.
I wasn’t happy about the changes, but it was bound to happen sooner or later.
Another change: They have done away with the ugly little brownish cardboard file icon that was what you clicked on to upload your final kindle ebook. Now it is just an icon similar to the K in blue circle icon that is the Kindle Create program. As much as I dogged out the little ugly brown file icon, I miss it. It sure was easy to spot when it came time to upload your final file. Oh well, just look for the K in the blue circle that has the .kpf extension. This is the file you now click on to upload your book.
Create Your Own Template Section:
Now, the correction I need to make is in the section where I state that you can keep copying and pasting chapters to make up your novel template. This doesn’t work. When I went to try using the chapters, beyond the first one, the page count got screwy. The page numbers just kept starting over at one and I couldn’t correct this. I ended up just deleting the extra chapters out. The first chapter setup worked just fine, so I just used it and then copied and pasted the next story (as my book was a short story collection) into place behind it. All I had to do was make sure I had a section break at the end of chapter one. Everything held fine. Trim size, margins, headers, page numbers, etc. all fell into place with few, if any exceptions. It was a breeze. Just wanted to let you know that I had it incorrect: The extra bits of chapters and all that I had set up beyond the first chapter simply screwed things up. But, like I said, all you need is the first one, really, to get the job done. You’ve got all your formatting in place (all that’s needed) in the template.
There is a way to set up a template using “bit parts,” or “part bits,” whatever it’s called. I wasn’t familiar enough with Word to use this. That’s why I just did it my way. There are probably experts out there who can show you how to use this function. If I can figure out how to use it at some point, I’ll update things for you.
Thanks for purchasing the book. I hope this helps.