Please Tell Me How I Can Insert a Link to My Old EBook Someone Else Formatted

[lorio]

Hi Everyone,

First time posting on this site. (Used to be on the other.) I published a few books online 3 or 4 years ago and paid someone to format them. I didn't publish for the last couple years while caretaking. Now I have my own time again and am back to writing. With less income, I'm formatting on my own.

So...I just used KindleCreate for the first time and uploaded a book (Volume 2 of essays about my experience with alternative healing) on Amazon. I'd like to put a link to it in Volume 1 (and then promote), but I'm not sure how to do it. I have the epub and mobi for Vol. 1, which the formatter gave me in 2015. I've done some research that says I should download Sigil and revise epub on there. I went into Sigil and my brain fizzled. Not sure what to do first there. It seemed like there were a lot of options and I couldn't quite translate.

Any suggestions for me?

Thanks so much.

[Arches]

Probably the easiest way to insert the hyperlink is to add it to the word processing file before using any program to create an epub or mobi version. If you don't have the word processing file, you probably can edit the epub version with Calibre. That text editor seemed easier to use than Sigil back when I was learning to format my own ebooks.

[lorio]

Thanks, Arches! Yah, I was kinda thinking I might have to go back to the original doc.

After I posted my formatting question, but before I saw your response, I read a sample of a book I downloaded recently. I don't usually read fiction. I did for years, but lately I'm into non-fiction by or about shamans, energy healers, etc. The book description mentioned Chicago (I lived there all my life until two years ago) and I like books with a Chicago connection. I came across the title in a signature line here.

Anyway, I read the sample and thought, Wow, this guy can really write. The writing is crisp and fun and tight.

What are the odds it turned out to be yours?! (Our Last Hope). I'm going to download the entire book later.

For now, it's back to fixing Volume 1. I'll get my books on a signature line here later. By the way, I've written books with a Chicago area backdrop, although the only one that sold a little was a trilogy called Winnetka Road (pen name J.S. Sheridan).

Thanks again. Lorio

[Jeff Tanyard]

What are the odds it turned out to be yours?! (Our Last Hope). I'm going to download the entire book later.

I love seeing author/reader "connections" like this.   

[lorio]

Me, too! So meant to happen.

[RPatton]

This actually isn't as complicated as it first seems.

First, you're gonna have to toss the mobi. It's proprietary and cracking it open is an exercise in futility.

Start Sigil.
Open the epub in Sigil.

You should have the book browser window open and the WYSIWYG window open (I think the TOC is also open by default, but not sure).

In the book browser window, look under text. Depending on how the formatter did it, you should either have one giant file or several small files/chapters.

If you already have a back matter page, use that page and just update a line.

Or you can add a brand new page.

Go to File > Add > Blank HTML Sheet

Don't worry you can change the name.

Now you probably also have a style sheet (hopefully it's separate). Create some basic HTML (there are online HTML Editors available to use for free), copy and paste it into that new file, use the existing styles in the style sheet and voila, you have an updated ebook. Change the name if you want. Hit save.

You probably want to add it to the TOC, but that's not too difficult. You can add it in through the WYSIWYG window, then flip to the code side and add a link. Again, hit save or save as, and you have an epub you can upload to KDP without a problem. (Amazon will convert the epub into a mobi and if the only thing you are changing is a page in the backmatter, it shouldn't be a problem.

Sigil only looks complicated. But once you step back and see what it does for you (it will update the content file automatically) and how you can make changes on the fly, it fast becomes a tool you wonder how you ever lived without. Seriously, I embed fonts with Sigil, make fast edits in Sigil, update backmatter pages in Sigil, pretty much all of the upkeep gets done in Sigil. Plus, Sigil is a great place to test out a CSS file or to find stupid mistakes that you can't quite figure out why/how they happen.

[lorio]

Thank you so, so much! You are an absolute doll to write all this out for me.

I stayed up last night (before you posted this) and formatted the original document I referenced in earlier posts, added the link and uploaded. Now I've got that down pat, so hooray. I'm glad I learned.

I paid for formatting for a total of 10 books. No more. Only the trilogy and the alternative healing book sold. A little. I live and learn.

I so appreciate all this info on Sigil. I need to go back to the old books and change the back matter on them all. I know I just have to be patient and take the time to familiarize myself with the look of the site, the language and the M.O.

Thank you again. You are great.

Lorio