Compile away: From Scrivener to Kindle
A week has flown by and I’ve been busy ‘editing’ the Admiral’s memoir.
Having tackled the structure – and awaiting instruction – I’m now reading for real, fixing punctuation and typos as I pass, and annotating the text with my queries.
To provide my Admiral with a taste of how the finished book might appear, I compiled the material that I’ve worked on so far. There are so many formats to choose from:
Kindle
I chose the Kindle format and emailed it to the Admiral as an attachment. This gives him the option to read the edited manuscript on screen, using the Kindle App on his desktop computer, or, as I do for documents that I need to read when I get a minute, he can forward my email with its attachment onto his Kindle address on his iPad.
To find out your Kindle address, open the App and select Settings (the cog wheel) – and you will see the send-to-Kindle email address. The inbox only accepts attachments from recognized senders, so you need to approve the senders. This is done in Manage your Content and Devices / Personal Document Settings on Amazon.
Do you compile some or all of the manuscript and ask your beta readers to road test it for you? Seeing the text on the screen just how it will appear when published for real makes for a better reader experience. It also means you’ll be trailing – like I am – how it all works!
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Amanda Fleet
26 February 2016 at 15:37I do Kindle-format my books for my beta readers. Sadly, I have the PC version of Scrivener which is a VERY poor relative (so poor, I wouldn’t actually recommend it; Mac version – fine) and have often resorted to using Calibre instead.
When I’m editing/proof-reading, I find it easier on a Kindle version, because I spot more things. Maybe because my brain already thinks of it as a finished book and not a manuscript?
anne.rainbow@btinternet.com
26 February 2016 at 15:58Good for you, but sad you are hampered by the PC version.
I was a dyed-in-the-wool PC user until about 2 years ago. I used to buy a new machine every other year, always top spec, but a series of house moves – and me taking my eye off that particular ball – left me with several machines all with Windows 95, and the option to jump to Windows 8. I decided the leap of faith to a Mac was less scary. So glad I did, and the household/office now boasts a MacPro (yes the one that died, but is now all okay), several iPads and an iPhone. So, at Red Pen, we are all synchronised.
Agree with you on it being easier to find typos on the ‘published’ page. I’ve flicked open many a text book only to spot a howler that got past everyone. In those days, it had to wait for a reprint. At least we now have the option to republish a corrected version straightaway.