KDP hogging my book

[Hopscotch]

I tried to download from KDP to my laptop a book ms (for which I cannot find the orig e-text but want to make some changes) and the KDP instructions don't let me do it.  What color goat do I sacrifice or is there a less messy way to do  it?

[Jeff Tanyard]

Are you using the link in the previewer?  Click "Preview on your computer" and it'll let you download the mobi.

[TimothyEllis]

Are you using the link in the previewer?  Click "Preview on your computer" and it'll let you download the mobi.

There is no mobi option anymore.

This was removed at the beginning of august.

All you can get is an html download, which is actually a zip full of files.

[Jeff Tanyard]

Are you using the link in the previewer?  Click "Preview on your computer" and it'll let you download the mobi.

There is no mobi option anymore.

This was removed at the beginning of august.

All you can get is an html download, which is actually a zip full of files.

Take a close look at that second screen cap I posted.  Those screen caps are from today.  I can assure you that I was able to download a mobi file of my book.  Maybe something is screwed up on your dashboard, but I can retrieve my own book files from mine.   

[TimothyEllis]

Take a close look at that second screen cap I posted.  Those screen caps are from today.  I can assure you that I was able to download a mobi file of my book.  Maybe something is screwed up on your dashboard, but I can retrieve my own book files from mine.   

Okay. I've asked KDP to put the option back.

But there is the chance that KDP is progressively removing this, and haven't got to you yet.

We'll see how they respond.

[Jeff Tanyard]

Okay. I've asked KDP to put the option back.

Good luck. 

But there is the chance that KDP is progressively removing this, and haven't got to you yet.

We'll see how they respond.

My guess--and hope--is that it's just a glitch on your end.  But you never know with Amazon.

[TimothyEllis]

Very quick response this time.

This is Ayanda from Amazon KDP support, I hope you are keeping well.

Unfortunately we no longer support MOBI files, we are extending support for reflowable eBooks in MOBI format through July 31 2021.

We recommend using the original source file (HTML, EPUB, DOCX, etc.) and upload it directly to KDP instead of exporting a KPF format.

After August 1, 2021, we will no longer support MOBI files when publishing new or updating previously published reflowable files. Please note MOBI files are still accepted for fixed-layout eBooks.

If you have reflowable eBooks published, you don’t need to take any actions unless you are updating the eBook files.

To learn more about this change, please check our Frequently Asked Questions: https://kdp.amazon.com/help/topic/GULSQMHU5MNH4EZM

Thanks for using Amazon KDP,

[Jeff Tanyard]

Very quick response this time.

This is Ayanda from Amazon KDP support, I hope you are keeping well.

Unfortunately we no longer support MOBI files, we are extending support for reflowable eBooks in MOBI format through July 31 2021.

We recommend using the original source file (HTML, EPUB, DOCX, etc.) and upload it directly to KDP instead of exporting a KPF format.

After August 1, 2021, we will no longer support MOBI files when publishing new or updating previously published reflowable files. Please note MOBI files are still accepted for fixed-layout eBooks.

If you have reflowable eBooks published, you don’t need to take any actions unless you are updating the eBook files.

To learn more about this change, please check our Frequently Asked Questions: https://kdp.amazon.com/help/topic/GULSQMHU5MNH4EZM

Thanks for using Amazon KDP,

All that is the usual boilerplate about uploading, though, not the downloadable previewer file.   

Maybe you should request a phone call.  That might be the only way to get someone there to understand what it is you're actually talking about.

[TimothyEllis]

Maybe you should request a phone call.  That might be the only way to get someone there to understand what it is you're actually talking about.

Unless you have an Australian phone number for that, that won't happen.

[Post-Crisis D]

All you can get is an html download, which is actually a zip full of files.

Change the .zip extension to .epub and see if an EPUB editor will open it.

[TimothyEllis]

All you can get is an html download, which is actually a zip full of files.

Change the .zip extension to .epub and see if an EPUB editor will open it.

How does that help?

Edit: The Kindle Previewer does open it. I'll try emailing it.

Edit2: The email side load doesn't accept an epub. Got an email rejecting it.

[LilyBLily]

See if you can get Calibre or D2D to turn the epub into a mobi for the sideload. That's apparently the only reason to have a mobi file anymore because a Kindle can't accept an epub.

[Lynn]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=G7NECT4B4ZWHQ8WV

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=G5WYD9SAF7PGXRNA

https://www.amazon.com/gp/sendtokindle/email

I've never tried sending a .zip file of html files to my Kindle, but the help pages say you can.

[TimothyEllis]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=G7NECT4B4ZWHQ8WV

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=G5WYD9SAF7PGXRNA

https://www.amazon.com/gp/sendtokindle/email

I've never tried sending a .zip file of html files to my Kindle, but the help pages say you can.

They're not accurate, or all inclusive.

There is a limit to how many files can be inside the html zip, and their own download is too many.

[notthatamanda]

I tried to download from KDP to my laptop a book ms (for which I cannot find the orig e-text but want to make some changes) and the KDP instructions don't let me do it.  What color goat do I sacrifice or is there a less messy way to do  it?

Did you ever have it on D2D? Their download was working a couple of months ago for me.

[Post-Crisis D]

If you still have a copy of KindleGen, you may be able to use it to convert an EPUB to .mobi.

[RPatton]

Thirty seconds and one google search later, here are some epub to mobi converters.

https://convertio.co/ebook-converter/ (They don't have a way to convert a word file to an epub, so you need to at least have enough technical know-how to create a mobi to begin with, but this is easy enough to do. Just change the .zip file extension to .epub and you will get the same files then convert it to mobi or azw.)


https://www.zamzar.com/ (Has a much larger library of documents they can convert, including word docs, but there is no promise that the azw or mobi is the same file as the one Amazon uses, for this reason, I would take the HTML files, change the file extension to epub and then convert the epub to the amazon file.)

https://calibre-ebook.com/download (This one is the one everyone recommends, but you have to know that it will change the css. On the surface, this isn't a problem, it basically takes the styles that are the same and converts them into a calibre named style. This is totally problematic if you actually use specific names in your css so that you can use the same css across all books and just make a few tweaks as necessary (I use a default CSS then open it up inside Sigil then make necessary changes for series branding, then just use that css for all the books in the series, calibre makes it difficult to do that with the renaming of styles.) I know people swear by Calibre for creating files, but I think Sigil is a better creator option and using Calibre for conversions.)

https://ebook.online-convert.com/ (No frills converter, but haws a massive amount of files they can convert.)

https://epubee-converter.software.informer.com/ (Hasn't been updated in a long time, but this one comes well-recommended because the publisher/creator also has a DRM remover that is one of the best out there. They also have a maker (converting epubs from word files).)