Compile for Kindle - some basic help

First of all, let me apologize in case the answers to this question resides somewhere among the forum threads. I’ve tried searching individual topics but haven’t found anything quickly.

I am first time testing a compile of of a novel (in progress) to the Kindle mobi format.

I notice that when I do this, and I’ve been able to do it, it fails to convert ITALICIZED text, instead it UNDERLINES it. Is there something I need to do before compiling in order for the KindleGen application to properly convert the text?

ALSO, How DO you change the Cover Photo image in the E-Book Cover page in Scrivener. I’ve failed to understand or follow any directions in the Scrivener Manual - and believe it is possible to both change the picture/image and the text for the Front Matter, and E-pub COVER sections of the book. How do I change the text from the generic My NAME MY GREAT NOVEL, to the text I want, and change the image.

Thank you very much.

Paul

It sounds like you might have started with the novel template, as that is set up to export a submission standard manuscript by default, not a finished book. Many editors still prefer italics to be depicted as underscores because it is much easier to see an underscored range of text than an italic one. Just switch that off in the Transformations compile option pane in the “Rich Text” section. In fact, you might find better results by just changing the “Format As” preset at the very top of the compile pane to “E-Book”. That provides a more sensible set of defaults for publication.

Next for the cover, all you need to do is drop your cover graphic into the binder. Anywhere is fine it doesn’t have to be anywhere special. Once again in Compile, switch to the Cover option pane and choose the graphic you imported. You should see it pop up in the preview area once you’ve done that.

Okay, now for the title and author, you can set that up in the Meta-Data compile option pane, but by default that just pulls from another place (that is also used to populate the title page when creating a paperback or manuscript style output, so you might as well set up the source). From the Project menu, choose “Meta-Data Settings” and click on the “Project Properties” tab. Fill these in, and that should fix both the e-book catalogue meta-data and the title page.

Thank you, Amber. I will look into these answers and learn. :smiley:
https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/compile-for-kindle-some-basic-help/21497
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