[Claudia King]

I've recently updated all of my titles with my back catalogue, and after doing so I noticed the "look inside" preview wasn't showing paragraph indents for any of them. It doesn't seem to be a problem in the actual ebook version and everything shows up just fine on the preview when I upload.
Has anyone else had this? Or know of any possible fixes? I'm using a custom paragraph style for my indents which *should* have them all showing up, and as mentioned it seems to work fine with everything apart from the Amazon "look inside".
It bugs me to think there might be prospective readers taking a peek and dismissing my stuff because it looks like it's badly formatted.

 

[Honeybun]

Yes... this is a somewhat recent issue but one A Lot of authors have been having.  Many have contacted Amazon about it but I haven't heard of any solid support from Amazon on the issue.

 

[Maggie Dana]

These threads might be helpful:

https://kdp.amazon.com/community/thread.jspa?threadID=76802&tstart=0
https://kdp.amazon.com/community/thread.jspa?threadID=76108&tstart=0

The indent problem isn't just with previews and Amazon's "Look Inside" feature; it's all about how you upload you books to KDP. The only bullet-proof method is to upload a perfectly formatted .mobi (or ePub) file. In other words, don't trust Amazon to convert your Word docs. They will look good on some Kindle readers, and horrible on others.

Take the time to read threads by formatting experts. Learn HTML and CSS or else hire a professional.

 

[Honeybun]

My file upload was a .mobi but I still ended up with the indent and block formatting in the Look Inside.

 

[Claudia Lefeve]

The only bullet-proof method is to upload a perfectly formatted .mobi (or ePub) file. In other words, don't trust Amazon to convert your Word docs. They will look good on some Kindle readers, and horrible on others.

I'm one of those with the same issue, and I uploaded a .mobi file, so it may not just be a Word conversion problem.

 

[Maggie Dana]

I'm one of those with the same issue, and I uploaded a .mobi file, so it may not just be a Word conversion problem.

How did you create your .mobi file?

What method did you use, i.e., Word --> HTML --> Mobi ... or Word --> Mobi? Did you save your Word doc. as Web Page filtered? If so, this often results in bloated code that can cause problems.

 

[folly]

I, too, uploaded a mobi file(word, html, mobi) and had issues. I did what Claudia did and asked them to turn off the LITB feature while they are trying to fix it. they said it seems to be a browser issue but they are working on it.

 

[Claudia Lefeve]

How did you create your .mobi file?

What method did you use, i.e., Word --> HTML --> Mobi ... or Word --> Mobi? Did you save your Word doc. as Web Page filtered? If so, this often results in bloated code that can cause problems.

I used Scrivener. Pages (I have a mac) to Scrivener to Mobi. Now, I uploaded a short story (using the same method) since then and it comes out fine on the preview and Look Inside feature. I am still waiting to hear back from Amazon per their follow-up questions.

 

[Honeybun]

I also used Scrivener (mac) but it's not a Scrivener (mac) specific problem.  There are a Bunch of folks that have been having these issues.  In other threads, there was a comparison of what was being used to create the files.  I didn't follow closer than to ascertain that it wasn't an issue specific to Scrivener (mac).

 

[Claudia Lefeve]

I also used Scrivener (mac) but it's not a Scrivener (mac) specific problem. There are a Bunch of folks that have been having these issues. In other threads, there was a comparison of what was being used to create the files. I didn't follow closer than to ascertain that it wasn't an issue specific to Scrivener (mac).

That's what I heard too. Hope they figure it out!

 

[Maggie Dana]

That's what I heard too. Hope they figure it out!

If you mean 'they' as in Amazon, don't hold your breath! I seriously doubt Amazon will bother to solve our formatting issues. If they do, I will be pleasantly surprised.

Going from Word, Scrivener, or InDesign into HTML can be fraught with bloated code. The cleanest way to create a .mobi file that works across all Kindle reader is very clean HTML, CSS ... dumped into Sigil where you create an ePub file that passes the strictest ePub validation (such as that required by iTunes). Then run this file through Calibre or Kindlegen (I only know Calibre and can't vouch for Kindlegen) to get a .mobi file that Amazon will not, hopefully, choke over or turn into a mess.

 

[Honeybun]

Scrivener uses Kindlegen to create its .mobi files.

 

[Claudia King]

Blargh, what a pain.
Oh well. As far as I know it's just my previews that're suffering rather than the ebooks themselves, but I'll try a mobi or ePub upload some time and see if that makes any difference.

Thanks for all the responses!

 

[Claudia Lefeve]

If you mean 'they' as in Amazon, don't hold your breath! I seriously doubt Amazon will bother to solve our formatting issues. If they do, I will be pleasantly surprised.

Oh, I'm all too familiar with Amazon They were actually very helpful in downloading the file (and finding no errors) and have asked for additional info to figure out why it is working fine on all devices, but not the online previews. At least they were quick to respond this time around and didn't give me a canned response.

 

[JGrover]

I agree with T.L.
This just happened to me too on Saturday, I uploaded to stories and each one lost all the indents. I re-uploaded them that night and they both came back up fine.

I'd trying uploading again. It will take the Look Inside feature some time to catch up. One of them didn't reset until this morning.

 

[Speaker-To-Animals]

Did those of you with issues download a test file from KDP and what did it look like in the current downloadable viewer?

 

[Claudia King]

Ooh, thanks for that. Re-uploading was actually the first thing I tried (the turn-it-off-and-on-again approach), but if it takes a few days to update I guess I'll cross my fingers and sit tight for now!

 

[Claudia Lefeve]

We did. Every book we format gets tested before it goes to the client, and there, they looked fine. After we became aware of the problem, we actually bought the books that were affected (thankfully, there were only two), and they were fine. We're cross platformed here - Glendon's Windows, I'm Mac, plus we have iPhones, a Fire, a K3, and Craig has a tablet, too. We scrambled to check the files on all those, and they were fine. Doesn't help the Look Inside browsers, though. We were trying to figure out what was going on - was it a problem with the code, etc - and we just by chance re-uploaded to see what would happen while we worked on it. It fixed it.

I think Amazon rolled out something new (which is usually what happens with these glitches), and they broke something.

I did the same check before hitting publish (kindle device, nook device, kindle/nook apps, iPhone app) and everything came out looking fine. I even downloaded the samples from Amazon and iTunes after hitting publish and all was good. It was just the Look Inside feature that had that problem.

And I agree, I think Amazon did something new or else why all of the sudden are folks having this issue with the Look Inside feature?

 

[folly]

i did reupload, and it didn't work for me.

 

[Honeybun]

It takes awhile for the Look Inside feature to get updated.  Sometimes days.  And, in my case, they never did update my Look Inside feature.  It's been over a week.  And, I know they didn't update it because I moved around some of the frontmater info.

Anyway, give the Look Inside info a bit longer to update than just the publishing process.