Kindle Formatting: The Complete Guide to Formatting Books for the Amazon Kindle
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< This matches the start of a word.
> This matches the end of a word.
x This allows you to use a character x that would otherwise have a special meaning. For example, . would be interpreted as an actual period and not “any character.”
[...] This indicates a set of characters, for example, [abc] means any of the characters a, b or c. You can also use ranges, for example [a-z] for any lower case character or [0-9] for any number.
[^...] Anything except the characters in the set. For example, [^A-Za-z] means any character except an alphabetic character.
^ This matches the start of a line (unless used inside brackets, see above).
$ This matches the end of a line.
* This matches the preceding item 0 or more times. For example, Sa*m matches Sm, Sam, Saam, Saaam, etc.; [a-z]* matches any number of lowercase letters.
+ This matches the preceding item 1 or more times. For example, Sa+m matches Sam, Saam, Saaam, etc.
Appendix C
HTML Character Entities
Below you will find a list of common Latin-1 characters as well as some of the special symbols that are supported on the Kindle. Each character includes the decimal, hexadecimal and/or named HTML entity that should be used when formatting that character in your eBook. On page 155 there is a master list of the Unicode character sets supported on the Kindle.
… … … ellipses
‘ ‘ ‘ open single quote
’ ’ ’ close single quote
“ “ “ close double quotes
” ” ” open double quotes
• • • bullet
· · · middle dot
– – – en dash
— — — em dash
˜ ˜ ˜ tilde
™ ™ ™ trademark
® ® ® registered trademark
nonbreaking space
† † † dagger
‡ ‡ ‡ double dagger
¡ ¡ ¡ inverted exclamation
¿ ¿ ¿ inverted question mark
§ § § section sign
¶ ¶ ¶ paragraph sign
ƒ ƒ ƒ function
‰ ‰ ‰ per mill sign
° ° ° degree sign
± ± ± plus or minus
× × × multiplication sign
÷ ÷ ÷ division sign
¹ ¹ ¹ superscript one
² ² ² superscript two
³ ³ ³ superscript three
µ µ µ micro sign
¢ ¢ ¢ cent sign
£ £ £ pound sterling
¥ ¥ ¥ yen sign
¼ ¼ ¼ one-fourth
½ ½ ½ one-half
¾ ¾ ¾ three-fourths
À À À uppercase A, grave
Á Á Á uppercase A, acute
  uppercase A, circumflex
à à à uppercase A, tilde
Ä Ä Ä uppercase A, umlaut
Å Å Å uppercase A, ring
Æ Æ Æ uppercase AE
Ç Ç Ç uppercase C, cedilla
È È È uppercase E, grave
É É É uppercase E, acute
Ê Ê Ê uppercase E, circumflex
Ë Ë Ë uppercase E, umlaut
Ì Ì Ì uppercase I, grave
Í Í Í uppercase I, acute
Î Î Î uppercase I, circumflex
Ï Ï Ï uppercase I, umlaut
Ð Ð Ð uppercase Eth, Icelandic
Ñ Ñ Ñ uppercase N, tilde
Ò Ò Ò uppercase O, grave
Ó Ó Ó uppercase O, acute
Ô Ô Ô uppercase O, circumflex
Õ Õ Õ uppercase O, tilde
Ö Ö Ö uppercase O, umlaut
Ø Ø Ø uppercase O, slash
Œ Œ œ Capital O-E ligature
Š Š Š Capital S, caron
Ù Ù Ù uppercase U, grave
Ú Ú Ú uppercase U, acute
Û Û Û uppercase U, circumflex
Ü Ü Ü uppercase U, umlaut
Ý Ý Ý uppercase Y, acute
Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ uppercase Y, dieresis
Þ Þ Þ uppercase THORN, Icelandic
ß ß ß lowercase sharps, German
à à à lowercase a, grave
á á á lowercase a, acute
â â â lowercase a, circumflex
ã ã ã lowercase a, tilde
ä ä ä lowercase a, umlaut
å å å lowercase a, ring
æ æ æ lowercase ae
ç ç ç lowercase c, cedilla
è è è lowercase e, grave
é é é lowercase e, acute
ê ê ê lowercase e, circumflex
ë ë ë lowercase e, umlaut
ì ì ì lowercase i, grave
í í í lowercase i, acute
î î î lowercase i, circumflex
ï ï ï lowercase i, umlaut
ð ð ð lowercase eth, Icelandic
ñ ñ ñ lowercase n, tilde
ò ò ò lowercase o, grave
ó ó ó lowercase o, acute
ô ô ô lowercase o, circumflex
õ õ õ lowercase o, tilde
ö ö ö lowercase o, umlaut
ø ø ø lowercase o, slash
œ œ œ oe ligature
š š š lowercase s, caron
ù ù ù lowercase u, grave
ú ú ú lowercase u, acute
û û û lowercase u, circumflex
ü ü ü lowercase u, umlaut
ý ý ý lowercase y, acute
ÿ ÿ ÿ lowercase y, umlaut
þ þ þ lowercase thorn, Icelandic
Useful Special Symbols
■ ■ ■ Big black square
□ □ □ Big white square
▪ ▪ ▪ Small black square
▫ ▫ ▫ Small white square
▲ ▲ ▲ Big black triangle
△ △ △ Big white triangle
▶ ▶ ▶ Small black arrow right
▷ ▷ ▷ Small white arrow right
▼ ▼ ▼ Big black arrow down
▽ ▽ ▽ Big white arrow down
▾ ▾ ▾ Small black arrow down
▿ ▿ ▿ Small white arrow down
◂ ◂ ◂ Small black arrow left
◃ ◃ ◃ Small white arrow left
◊ ◊ ◊ Diamond
○ ○ ○ White circle
● ● ● Black circle
← ← ← Left arrow
↑ ↑ ↑ Up arrow
→ → → Right arrow
↓ ↓ ↓ Down arrow
↔ ↔ ↔ Relation
≅ ≅ ≅ Approximately equal to
≈ ≈ ≈ Asymptotic
≠ ≠ ≠ Not equal to
≡ ≡ ≡ Identical to
≤ ≤ ≤ Less than or equal to
≥ ≥ ≥ Greater than or equal to
⌘ ⌘ ⌘ Command key
⏎ ⏎ ⏎ Return symbol
★ ★ ★ Black star
; ☆ ☆ ☆ White star
☺ ☺ ☺ White smiling face
☻ ☻ ☻ Black smiling face
☼ ☼ ☼ White sun with rays
♀ ♀ ♀ Female sign
♂ ♂ ♂ Male sign
♠ ♠ ♠ Spade
♣ ♣ ♣ Shamrock
♥ ♥ ♥ Heart
✓ ✓ ✓ Check mark
♩ ♩ ♩ Quarter note
♪ ♪ ♪ Eighth note
♫ ♫ ♫ Beamed eighth note
♬ ♬ ♬ Beamed sixteenth note
♭ ♭ ♭ Flat sign
♮ ♮ ♮ Natural sign
♯ ♯ ♯ Sharp sign
Supported Character Sets
Below are the Unicode character sets supported on the Kindle. For more information about these character sets and what they include, go to http://www.unicode.org/charts/.
Basic Latin (U+0020 - U+007F)
Latin-1 Supplement (U400A0 - U+00FF)
Latin Extended-A (U+0100 - U+017F)
Latin Extended-B (U+0180 - U+Q24f)
IPA Extensions (U+2050 - U+20AF)
Spacing Modifier Letters (U+02B0 - U+02FP)
Greek and Coptic (U+0370 - U+03FF)
Latin Extended - Additional (U+1E00 - U+1EFF)
Greek Extended (U+lF00 - U+IFFF)
General Punctuation (U+2000 - U+206F)
Superscripts and Subscripts (U+2070 - U+209F)
Currency Symbols (U+20A0 - U+20CF)
Letterlike Symbols (U+2100 - U+214F)
Number Forms (U+2150 - U+218F)
Arrows (U+2190 - U+21FF)
Mathematical Operators (U+2200 - U+22FF)
Miscellaneous Technical (U+2300 - U+23FF)
Enclosed Alphanumerics (U+2460 - U+24FF)
Geometric Shapes (U+25A0 - U+25FF)
Miscellaneous Symbols (U+2600 - U+26FF)
Dingbats (U+2700 - U+27BF)
Private Use (U+E000 - U+F8FF)
Alphabetic Presentation Forms (U+FB00 - U+FB4F)
Appendix D
Links and Contacts
This is a compilation of contact information for Amazon, links to informative websites, and helpful tools for your Kindle formatting experience.
Amazon Contacts and Links
DTP technical support:
dtp-feedback@amazon.com
The Digital Publishing Department:
digitalpublications@amazon.com
The Digital Rights Group:
digitalrights@amazon.com
Contact them if you want to make your book available as a free download on the Amazon Store.
The Digital Text Platform (DTP):
http://dtp.amazon.com
This is the publishing system for Amazon books.
DTP Forums:
http://forums.digitaltextplatform.com/dtpforums
These are the official discussion forums for the DTP and Kindle publishing.
Other Websites, Blogs, and Forums
Microsoft Word help:
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/stylesms
http://editorium.com/
Automated Proofreading with ErrNET:
http://www.errnet.net/
I have a contract with ErrNET. If you want to use their service at a discount, drop me a line.
Mobipocket Creator Download:
http://www.mobipocket.com/dev/
Mobipocket Creator Instructions:
http://www.mobipocket.com/dev/article.asp?BaseFolder=creatorpublisher
Notepad++:
http://notepadplus.sourceforge.net
Kindle-specific Websites:
http://www.kindleboards.com/
http://ireaderreview.com/
http://kindlereader.blogspot.com/
http://kindlehomepage.blogspot.com/
http://www.blogkindle.com/
eBook and Independent Author Websites:
http://www.teleread.org/
http://publetariat.com/
http://www.aprillhamilton.com/iaguides.html
Differences between Kindle 1 and Kindle 2:
http://kindleformatting.com/blog/2009/02/kindle-2-review-formatting-perspective.php
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1. Getting Your Content into a Useable Format
Chapter 2. Formatting your book in Microsoft Word
Chapter 3. Introduction to HTML
Chapter 4. HTML Cleanup
Chapter 5. Formatting Your Book
Font Formatting
Bold and Italics
Underline
Big and Small
Superscript and Subscript
Strikethrough
Span Tags
Code and Other Mono-spaced Text
Paragraphs
Default Paragraph Formatting
A Note about Measurements
No-indent Paragraphs
Left-Aligned Paragraphs
Right-Aligned Paragraphs
Centered Paragraphs
Hanging Paragraphs
Poetry
Break Tags
Division Tags
Block Quotes
Lists
Definition Lists
Headings
Margins
Tables
Borders
Images
Dimensions
Colors
Resolution
File Type
File Size
Rotation
Handling Different Kinds of Images
Inserting Images
Anchor Tags
Special Links
Bookmark Links
Horizontal Rules
Comments
Page Breaks
Special Characters and Inserting Symbols
Foreign Languages
Non-breaking Spaces
Hyphenated Words
Special Combination Letters
Conclusion
Chapter 6. Formatting Examples
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Headings
Pull Quotes and Sidebars
Footnotes and Endnotes
Indexes
Chapter 7. Creating a Mobipocket eBook
Chapter 8. Previewing and Publishing
Conclusion and Formatting Services
Appendix A. Supported HTML and CSS
Appendix B. Regular Expressions
Appendix C. HTML Character Entities
Appendix D. Links and Contacts