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The change coming on October 27 sounds to me like Amazon is saying Starting Oct 27, if you try uploading a file that contains formatting that is disallowed in Enhanced Typesetting, such as any HTML/CSS crap, you can expect a big fat error message with a convenient auto-log entry that you can peruse to discover the uber-techy reason your file got rejected. Maybe Amazon might offer an option to upload a file without enabling Enhanced Typesetting; but then of course you risk your ebook looking like the second-class cousin with the bad haircut.Gessert Books said:This makes some sense in that if they want to push ET it seems normal that they'd prefer epub, so that they can run the conversion themselves. Of note too that large tables are known for breaking ET, which is likely why they're mentioned here.
At this point I'm wondering, skeptically, why Amazon are pushing Enhanced Typesetting so hard. For uploading ebook files, Amazon has changed a bunch of stuff within the last 30 days. It appears all directed toward compliance with Enhanced Typesetting. ET is not so bad, it has better rendering and better typesetting, and it's reflowable.
That would be fine, except for two things. To my knowledge Enhanced Typesetting runs only on the new KFX format. KFX replaces the older AZW and AZW3 (KF


And KFX has DRM encryption. Which I believe is built-in, whether the publisher (us) wants the ebook DRM-free, or not? Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Amazon has not updated Kindlegen in at least seven years; it's been stalled on version 2.9 forever. Plus, Amazon no longer offers Kindlegen as a standalone download. Third-party ebook formatting programs like Jutoh and Vellum have to use the Kindlegen inside Kindle Previewer.
Conversely, Amazon's Kindle Create has been getting updates and Amazon recently has been herding self-publishers to use it:
With the latest release of Kindle Create, you can now upload your Kindle Create file to KDP as both an eBook and paperback of any trim size, creating both digital and print versions of your book simultaneously!
Routine but challenging paperback tasks like margins, page numbers, left/right side page layouts, widow/orphan treatment, and table of contents creation are also handled automatically.
Ready to publish your next book? Or ready to publish one of your eBooks in paperback? Download the latest version of Kindle Create today and get started.
https://the-digital-reader.com/2020/09/29/kindle-create-now-outputs-pod-book-files/
Call me a conspiracy theorist, but it seems possible that Amazon's using the better rendering etc of the Enhanced Typesetting features (which really are not that much better than AZW3, imo) as a sales-pitch pretext to funnel publishers into abandoning the old KF8 format for the new KFX format. With KFX Amazon has much more control. KFX is not as open a format as KF8. And KFX has DRM encryption.
Which I suppose would mean that formatting's going to get more complicated, for everybody.