Publishing on Kindle: Guidelines for Publishers

Revision History
Revision Revision Notes
Number

 Updated 2.1.1 Kindle Create to add comics and update the language support.
2018.3
 Updated 2.2.1 KindleGen to revise requirements.
 Updated 2.2.2 Kindle Previewer to add Enhanced Typesetting.
 Deleted 2.2.3 Kindle Textbook Creator.
 Updated 8.1 Testing Kindle Books to add Kindle Create and remove sideloading.
 Updated 9.3.12 Footnote Guidelines to include guidance for footnotes or endnotes without
numbers or symbols.

Kindle Publishing Guidelines Amazon.com 2

 Publishing on Kindle: Guidelines for Publishers

Table of Contents
PART I. GETTING STARTED .................................................................... 8

1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 8

2 Paths to Getting Your Content on Kindle ....................................................................... 8

2.1 Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing Platform ................................................................... 8
2.1.1 Kindle Create .................................................................................................. 8
2.2 Creating Kindle Books In-House Using Kindle Publisher Tools ............................................ 9
2.2.1 KindleGen ...................................................................................................... 9
2.2.2 Kindle Previewer .............................................................................................. 9
2.2.3 Kindle Comic Creator ......................................................................................... 9
2.2.4 Kindle Kids' Book Creator ................................................................................. 10
2.3 Third-Party Conversion Services .............................................................................. 10

3 Comparing Formats ................................................................................................ 10

PART II. GENERAL BEST PRACTICES ..................................................... 14

4 Cover Image Guidelines........................................................................................... 14

4.1 Marketing Cover Image Is Mandatory ........................................................................ 14
4.2 Internal Content Cover Image Is Mandatory ................................................................. 14

5 Navigation Guidelines ............................................................................................. 15

5.1 HTML TOC Guidelines .......................................................................................... 15
5.1.1 Using a Nested HTML TOC ............................................................................... 16
5.2 NCX Guidelines .................................................................................................. 16
5.2.1 Creating a Logical TOC Using a toc nav Element .................................................. 17
5.2.2 Creating a Logical TOC Using NCX ..................................................................... 18
5.3 Guide Items ....................................................................................................... 19
5.3.1 Defining Cover and TOC ................................................................................... 19

6 HTML and CSS Guidelines ....................................................................................... 20

6.1 Constructing Well-Formed HTML Documents (XHTML) ................................................... 20
6.2 Avoid Using Negative Values .................................................................................. 20
6.3 Avoid Using Scripting ............................................................................................ 20
6.4 Avoid Nested <p> Tags ......................................................................................... 20
6.5 File References Must Match Case and Spelling of Source ................................................ 20
6.6 Other Encodings Are Supported ............................................................................... 20
6.7 Use Supported Characters and Spaces ...................................................................... 21
6.8 Design for a Good eBook Experience ........................................................................ 21

7 Hyperlink Guidelines ............................................................................................... 21

7.1 Internal Link Guidelines ......................................................................................... 21
7.2 External Link Guidelines ........................................................................................ 22

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