Re: Amazon support for EPUB3 ???

Hi Ruth

Amazon only convert EPUB to reflowable ebooks.

Their guidelines<https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G200634390> are pretty poor but do state "We support fixed format books in MOBI that meet the specifications outlined in the Kindle Publishing Guidelines.
For reflowable eBooks, upload a EPUB, DOCX, or KPF file instead."

So, for fixed layout ebooks, Amazon’s guideline mean that the KF8 file is still to be used. A fixed layout KF8 for Amazon still has a .mobi suffix.

I have asked many times for more information and would love to hear from someone at Amazon about their support for EPUBs features both in reflowable and fixed layout ebooks. Especially in regards to accessibility and interaction.

FYI my company’s tool CircularFLO<https://www.circularsoftware.com/circularflo> generates both a Fixed-Layout EPUB3 plus the Amazon file KF8 as two different outputs from InDesign. This means that illustrated publishers can get around the issues of no KF8 support for SVG, transparencies, font obfuscations, audio, video, accessibility and interaction features by providing Amazon with a different, simplified print replica.

Thanks
Ken

Ken Jones
Director
Circular Software Limited
circularsoftware.com<https://www.circularsoftware.com/>

ken@circularsoftware.com<mailto:ken@circularsoftware.com>
@CircularKen<https://twitter.com/CircularKen>
linkedin.com/in/kenjones<http://linkedin.com/in/kenjones>

On 12 Apr 2024, at 13:50, Ruth Tait <artbyrt@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello CG members,

I think there is an enormous gap between the news<https://www.theverge.com/2022/5/2/23053408/amazon-epub-kindle-ereader-file-format-kf8> that Amazon is supporting EPUB3 and the reality of what support is there.

A recently published valid epub3 fully accessible FXL book from our small press, served through an aggregator, is being rendered essentially as ‘garbage’ by the Kindle app.


  *   There is no support for SVG format. There are several diagrams in the book which, for file-size considerations were built in SVG. Adding fallback .png files would considerably increase book size.
  *   Many of the CSS styles (such as 'list-style-type: none’) are ignored
  *   The FXL format is turned into a flowable book, breaking book narrative continuity
  *   The ‘hidden’ embedded image description text is made visible (also CSS clip styles ignored)
  *   The CSS style positioning on image description links is ignored
  *   CSS line-height and padding/margin on headings are ignored

Essentially, if you want to make a book that is not merely a ‘wall of text’ but has design built in to provide readability affordances—you cannot rely on Amazon to give a good result.

After all the years, effort and work by members in development of this specification, I personally am affronted that Amazon—such a huge player in the market—consistently breaks the model that is set out and is currently well delivered by Apple, Vital Source Bookshelf and Thorium.

Amazon: for shame!

Ruth Tait