Text overlapping in kdp

[Shirley27543288jmaw]

Hi, I've seen a few posts on this but I'm not understanding why it's happening. I exported my book as an Epub file from ID, uploaded to Kindle but in the previewer it looks a mess with text overlapping  and the justification is gone. Is it something to do with fonts that aren't supported by Amazon? In which case,  can I change the font on the original file and upload again, that should work? I'm vexed because I did a lot of research on the best font to use for an ebook. Another thread mentioned something about sigil but I didn't really understand it. Can you help?

Thanks!

[Derek Cross]

Producing Refllowable ePubs is not intuitive. For example, no page sizes as such, you need to use Paragraph (and Character) Styles, best not to justify text, images need to be anchored, no folios, the reader can change the font and size, Master/Parent page content is not implemented and a knowledge of HTML and CSS can be helpful.
LinkedIn Learning have an excellent tutorial you might consider taking: "InDesign CC to EPUB" by Anne-Marie Concepción (you can get 30-days free access).

[Shirley27543288jmaw]

Another tutorial...I've watched so many! But thanks, I'll definitely try it. I guess it's a learning process! 😊

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

When you find tutorials, videos, training, etc. the first thing you should do is determine their age. The EPUB/Kindle/e-book world is absolutely swamped with old, outdated, no longer relevant material that the guru doesn't bother to take down, update or at least flag as possibly out of date. It's easy to go down a long, complicated road that... goes nowhere, now.

Things change continually in this spectrum, nowhere moreso than in the specifics of how InDesign manages EPUB export etc. You have to stay current. (Derek's recommendation is a good and current one.)

[Shirley27543288jmaw]

Yes, I'm finding out the hard way! 😭 I suppose it's good as it's getting
me exploring the software...

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

Coming up to speed on ID as a whole or some subset of its features has to rest on a triad of (1) reading the actual help and reference material on the relevant features (which can be very encapsulated and disconnected from an overall method and practice); (2) finding a few good tutorial or how-to pages (video if you insist) on, well, the actual how-to (which can vary in quality and be completely outdated if you aren't paying attention); and (3) the essential step of just rolling up your sleeves, digging in and applying all that info until it makes sense and you can get the results you want.

I think there are some — not meaning you (necessarily/alone) — who minimze step 3, and believe enough tutorials will make them an expert from the first attempt. I think even the best and most savvy here need to wade in, make mistakes, figure things out by try-again, etc. to understand and master some new feature or capability.

But old tutorials are always the snake in the grass, here. 🙂

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

What your research should have told you is not to try to specify a font for ebooks. 🙂

Seriously, ebooks of all kinds are best left with generic font definitions so that the reader (app or device) has maximum flexibility to apply its own font control, as adjusted by the user. To try and specify fonts only accomplishes three things, all bad: it bloats the file size (which can cost you as a seller); it often produces problems with a clean presentation, even if you "fix" the problem you first see (as the reader keeps "fighting" to use its own styles and settings); and it's against the nature of the medium, which is to give the reader a flexible, adaptable book that will be displayed to them in an optimized way.

Redo your book with simple, generic fonts such as Calibri and Cambria, or Arial and Times New Roman, and do not embed fonts in the file. Let the Kindle reader handle the presentation. The pairing of serif and sans-serif, each in four faces (regular, italic, bold and bold-italic) should be all the styling your book needs.

[Shirley27543288jmaw]

Thank you! I've changed the text now and hopefully this will work! 😊