Amazon Digital Text Platform Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 10:55:25 +0000

Amazon DTP FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

1-1 What is Digital Text?
Digital text is text that exists in a "digital" electronic format which you can read on a computer. This can include plain text files (.txt) and word processor files (.doc), among others.

1-2 What is Digital Text Platform?
Digital Text Platform is a fast, easy self-publishing tool that lets you publish your digital text content for the Amazon Kindle wireless reading device. Simply upload your content, enter sales copy and pricing information, and publish in minutes.

1-3 How does Digtal Text Platform work?
Digital Text Platform converts your digital text so Amazon Kindle owners can download and read it. It also collects basic details about your content, including author, content type, cover image, and list price, and makes that information available along with your content on the Kindle Store.

1-4 Do I need any special skills to publish with Digital Text Platform?
Digital Text Platform does the basic work for you, but if your content contains a lot of special formatting, a bit of HTML may come in handy. Our Formatting Guide can help.

1-5 How do I sign up for Digital Text Platform?
If you already have an Amazon.com account, you're ready to go. Just visit the Digital Text Platform home page and sign in. If not, click Sign Up to create an account. For detailed instructions, see Create an Account.

1-6 What are the Digital Text Platform terms of service?
Click here for the Digital Text Platform Terms & Conditions.

1-7 Can my content include graphics?
Absolutely. Digital Text Platform can process graphics in .GIF, .PNG, .BMP, and .JPG formats.

1-8 Can I get information about the customers who purchase my content?
Amazon.com does not share customer information with any vendor. You can view up-to-date sales information in the My Reports tab of the Digital Text Platform Dashboard.

1-9 Can customers download my published content to their computer?
At this time, content purchased from the Kindle Store can only be downloaded to the Amazon Kindle wireless reading device. However, Amazon.com may choose to offer your content through additional avenues in the future. For more information, see our Terms and Conditions.

1-10 What percentage of the list price do I, as the publisher, receive?
As a publisher, you receive a set percentage (see our Terms and Conditions) of the list price that you set yourself. In the event that the Kindle Store opts to discount your title, you still receive that percentage of the list price, and the Kindle Store retains the remainder of the discounted price.

1-11 What are the requirements for publishing with Digital Text Platform?

Agree to and comply with the Digital Text Platform Terms and Conditions.

1-12 How does Amazon.com protect against "inappropriate" content?
Amazon.com has a number of mechanisms in place to ensure the integrity of the site. For more information on Amazon.com policies with regard to inappropriate content, please see the Digital Text Platform Terms and Conditions.

1-13 I have physical inventory. Can I still sign up for Digital Text Platform?
In order to publish with Digital Text Platform, you'll need to start with digital content. For example, a physical (printed) document or book would need to be scanned or typed, or the digital source file obtained, in order to upload the content into Digital Text Platform and publish it for sale on the Kindle Store.

1-14 Can I sell my title if it hasn't been published/released yet?
Your content becomes available on the Kindle Store when you publish it with Digital Text Platform. It usually takes around 12 hours for your content to become available in the Amazon Store.

1-15 Where will my content be listed for sale?
Your published content will appear on the Kindle Store for sale to owners of the Amazon Kindle wireless device. Amazon Kindle owners will access the store directly from the device or via the web.

1-16 Why should I publish my content on Digital Text Platform?
If you are a publisher or author, Digital Text Platform is the simple, direct and profitable way to sell your content on the Kindle Store, where readers can purchase it for download to their Amazon Kindle wireless reading device.
The Kindle Store provides the business, marketing, and vendor support you need to maximize your sales. Titles published on the Kindle Store are eligible for automated merchandising and personalization, SearchInside[tm], Amazon.com's excellent Customer Service and order fulfillment services, and much more.

1-17 Who determines the price of my content?
As the publisher, you set the "list price" for your content. This is your suggested retail price, and determines how much you will be paid for your content, per our Terms and Conditions. Amazon.com reserves the right to set the retail price to customers at our sole discretion. We also require that a title's list price not exceed the lowest suggested retail price or equivalent price for any physical edition of the book. Additionally, to be accepted in the DTP program, digital books with a file size greater than 3 megabytes up to 10 megabytes must also have a list price of at least $1.99, and digital books with a file size of 10 megabytes or greater must have a list price of at least $2.99.

1-17b Why is the price of my book higher in other countries than in the US?
There are a number of reasons why prices for Kindle titles may vary from region to region, including taxes and other operating costs. We understand your concern about prices and we share that concern - we will continue our efforts to reduce costs and offer the best possible prices to customers in every region.

1-18 Can I download, save or export a report?
It is not currently possible to download, save or export a report.

1-19 I don't have an ISBN. Do I need one?
An ISBN (International Standard Book Number) is not required to publish content with Digital Text Platform.

1-20 How does the Kindle Store handle customer returns? Am I affected?
The Kindle Store will provide refunds for up to 7 days for customers unsatisfied with their ebook purchases. Refunds will appear as a negative transaction on your Transaction Report, and will be deducted from your payment amount.

1-21 You haven't answered my question. What now?
Visit the Knowledge Base for detailed information and instructions, and check out the other sections of the Community Forums for even more answers. If you need further help, please contact Amazon Customer Support.

2-1 What are the sign up requirements?
Anyone can sign up for a Digital Text Platform account; all you need is Internet access and an email account. In order to publish your content with Digital Text Platform, you'll also need to meet the following requirements:

Agree to and comply with the Digital Text Platform Terms and Conditions

2-2 Can I use my existing Amazon.com account to sell on DTP?
If you have an Amazon.com account, there's no need to create a separate Digital Text Platform account. Just visit the Digital Text Platform home page, sign in with your Amazon.com username and password, and get started!

2-3 What account setup information is required?
Click here to view the required account setup information.

2-4 Why do you need a social security number/taxpayer ID for US publishers?
In order to pay US publishers for sales on the Kindle Store, federal law requires us to collect taxpayer information and report sales income to the federal government.

2-5 Is tax withheld for publishers outside the US?
Royalties paid to a foreign entity or person are subject to tax withholding in the U.S. A foreign entity or person is someone who is not a resident or citizen of the U.S. or a green card holder. The general rate of tax withholding is set by U.S. tax rules and regulations and is currently 30% of royalties paid. This withholding tax rate can be reduced if the recipient (you) is a resident in a jurisdiction that has a valid income tax treaty with the U.S. This reduced rate is only available if we receive the appropriate documentation from you. Without this documentation, the 30% withholding tax rate will apply. This documentation is either Form W-8BEN or Form W-8ECI issued by the Internal Revenue Service and includes a valid U.S. tax-payer identification number (obtained by filing Form W-7 or SS4). For more information on these forms and instructions and description of which form may be appropriate for you, please refer to the Internal Revenue Service website at www.irs.gov. We are required to receive a new form from you every three years. If you are eligible for reducing your tax withholdings, please contact us with the appropriate forms.

3-1 What are the guidelines for product description?
The inclusion of any of the following information in detail page titles, descriptions, bullet points, or images is prohibited:

Pornographic, obscene or offensive content.

Phone numbers, physical mail addresses, e-mail addresses, or website URLs.

Availability, price, alternative ordering information (such as links to other websites for placing orders), or alternative shipping offers (such as free shipping).

Spoilers regarding Books, Music, Video or DVD (BMVD) listings (information that reveals plot elements crucial to the suspense, mystery or surprise ending of a story).

Reviews, quotes or testimonials.

Solicitations for positive customer reviews.

Advertisements, watermarks on images or videos, or promotional material.

Time-sensitive information (i.e., dates of promotional tours, seminars, lectures, etc.).

What to include in a book description:

Describe the story and characters without giving away details that are crucial to the suspense, mystery or surprise ending of the story. A good example of an appropriate book summary is the kind you often find on the inside flaps or back cover of a physical book dust jacket. If you do provide information from the book cover, be sure you have all necessary rights to the book description you provide.

Focus on the book itself, but you may also include references to other comparable books and/or authors.

3-2 Can I remove content (unpublish)?
Check out the knowledge base article on how to Unpublish your Content.

It takes upwards of one week after you have un-published an item for it to be completely gone from the Amazon storefront.

Please note that you cannot 'trash' an item that has previously been live.

3-3 Can I change or update my content's information after publication?
Yes. Just visit the My Shelf tab and edit the allowed fields in the Details form, then click the Publish button to republish your content.

3-3a: But what do you do when the title no longer appears on My Shelf after you publish?

When the title no longer appears on My Shelf after you click 'Publish' you cannot edit its information until it has gone 'Live.'

You should be able to go back after uploading and previewing. Try to reload the page if the Upload button is grayed out for some reason.

Now that content is Live, you can edit it and re-publish, if necessary.

3-4 What formats can I upload to Digital Text Platform?
Digital Text Platform accepts content in HTML, .mobi, Microsoft Word (.doc), Plain Text (.txt), Adobe PDF (.pdf), and Zipped HTML (.zip) formats. The supported formats page provides more details. The preferred format for Amazon DTP content upload is HTML. Please refer to the uploading & converting content page for more information on how content is uploaded and converted.

3-5 Do I need digital rights to publish content?
In order to publish content with Digital Text Platform, you must own the rights to that content. Check the DTP Terms and Condition for more information.

3-6 I'm an Advantage Author. Can I list the books I have listed already?
Not at this time. Please check back for this functionality . We're working on it!

3-7 How can I format my content (e.g., bold, italics, headers)?
Digital Text Platform will handle most basic formatting for you as it converts your content. You can format your content in your source document (e.g. Microsoft Word or HTML) and DTP will convert that formatting.
For more information, see the Formatting Guide.

3-8 Who will be able to buy and read my content?
Amazon Kindle owners can purchase your content on the Kindle Store and download it for reading on the Amazon Kindle wireless reading device.

3-9 Where can readers find my content?
Amazon Kindle owners can find your content on the Kindle Store, either via the Amazon Kindle device or via their computers.

3-10 How much does it cost to publish content?
There is no charge to publish your content on the Kindle Store with Digital Text Platform. For more information, see the Terms and Conditions.

3-11 Where can I find out how my content is selling?
You can view up-to-date sales information on the My Reports tab of the Dashboard. Just sign in to Digital Text Platform to get started.

3-12 How do I enter the author name for my content?
Use the "Contributors" field in the Details form.

3-13 Can I change the country-specific content rights on publications I have already published?
Yes, you can. Simply select the title from the My Shelf tab, navigate to Confirm Content Rights, select the territories, click Save entries, and click Publish.

3-14 What is Digital Rights Management (DRM)?
You may choose, on a per title basis, to have us apply DRM (Digital Rights Management) technology which is intended to inhibit unauthorized access to or copying of digital content files for titles. DRM is a one-time option. This setting cannot be changed once selected.

3-15 Can I enable DRM for my existing titles?
Books published before the launch of DRM in DTP were loaded without digital rights management. For these titles, you may make a one-time selection of the DRM option. You may choose, on a per title basis, to have us apply DRM (Digital Rights Management) technology which is intended to inhibit unauthorized access to or copying of digital content files for titles. Enabling this feature will not affect sales or search result rankings. Click here for instructions.

4-1 Why doesn't my cover image show up?
Some users have reported issues with cover images not displaying. Please make sure that your images follow these specifications to reduce the likelihood of problems:

Make sure your cover image conforms to the Amazon 'product image' rules
Use RGB - not CMYK - as the color standard when saving your files. This is normally an option in the File saving dialog in image manipulation programs such as Photoshop. RGB color may also be called 'True Color' in some programs. If in doubt, try to open a JPG inside Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Safari. If a JPG opens fine inside a web browser, it's most likely OK to use as a cover image.
Make sure your image is saved without color separation. This is usually a pre-press or color palette option. Use your image manipulation program or image analysis tool (some are freely available online) to verify that your image file doesn't have color separation.
If the file type you are using supports compression, make sure that as little compression is possible is enabled, e.g. none for TIFF.

4-2 Can I use frames inside HTML for uploading content to DTP?
It's important that the HTML you upload doesn't contain frames. Some electronic books have a frame (e.g on the left side of the page) with bookmarks or chapter information, and the content in a frame on the right.

If you upload HTML, the ideal content is in a single HTML file, with references to additional image files in the same folder (zipped up).

4-3 What characters are supported in DTP?
Amazon Digital Text Platform supports text in the 'Latin-1' format and all characters in that character set. The only characters from that set not currently supported are: spades, clubs, hearts, up-arrow, down-arrow, alpha, beta, gamma.

That character set includes the most characters found in western European languages and many associated glyphs such as the 'copyright' mark, superscript (power of two) and German umlauts. You can see a list of all supported characters here. An image showing all those characters can also be seen here.

Please note that the Amazon DTP interface will not automatically recognize 'illegal' characters in your input, such as Eastern European characters, Japanese letters, Russian characters, etc. You will therefore be able to enter unsupported text, especially in the fields for authors, content title, and other product information.

When previewing your content after uploading it, illegal characters will not be displayed correctly in the content body. They will, however, be ignored in the product information (see above). This means that it is possible for you to accidentally enter unsupported characters in the product info and make your content available for purchase, displaying incorrect or garbled characters on the Amazon Kindle Store product page.

Please be sure to check that all the text you enter in the product info is therefore compliant with the Latin-1 character set.

4-4 Why doesn't the conversion look exactly like the PDF?

There are a number of differences between the PDF format and the format Amazon DTP uses to display text on-screen. We will use this post to explain how to best deal with PDF conversion.

First, if you own the source from which the PDF was generated (such as a Microsoft Word .doc), we strongly suggest that you use the program you originally used to create the document to export or save the content as HTML. If HTML saving isn't possible, try to export or save the content in a format where you can open it with Microsoft Word, and save it as HTML from there. If you cannot get your content out of the PDF format, the following answers may help to explain the results you are getting.

Why doesn't Amazon DTP retain the exact layout of my content in PDF format?
Conversion usually cannot retain exact formatting because PDF is a fixed layout format designed for printing and Amazon DTP uses a reflowable format designed to be displayed on screens that differ greatly in size and width / height ratio. For an explanation on reflowable versus fixed layout, please read this article.
Why is so much of the formatting lost?
The problem is that PDF is a "destructive" format in the sense that you lose all high level information. PDFs store characters and coordinates for each character or word. The information contained is very much like a scan of the printed pages. The notions of words, lines, paragraphs don't even exist in the format. Much less the flow of text (what follows what). So to convert the PDF document to a reflowable format which you can view on different screen sizes using any font size, our software has to apply "Artificial Intelligence" - like algorithms that simulate the way a human reader with knowledge of western typographical conventions would read the text. Using these algorithms, it reassembles characters into words, words into lines, lines into paragraphs, paragraphs into columns, etc... Even though we use a lot of complex algorithms, some ofthe formatting is lost. The goal of our software is to extract the text from the PDF without corrupting it and retain a minimum of formatting which is already an achievement.
Why are tables not converted?
As mentioned in the previous paragraph, all the information about paragraphs, columns, tables, etc. is lost in PDF files. For instance for tables, you have lines that are drawn at various locations on the page. As of today, our software is not able to determine that these lines drawn on the page form a table.
Why are images not the same size as in the PDF?
The pictures that are not the same size are either because they were of different DPI (dots per inch - screen resolution) in the PDF or because the conversion process had to resize them the keep the size of the file reasonable.
Wouldn't third party tools do a much better job at converting PDF to HTML?
If you are dissatisfied with the conversion results, we suggest you try other tools to convert your PDF content to HTML yourself, as it is possible that you may get better results. As said before, if you own the original format that the content was created in, try to use that to "Save As" or Export the content as HTML, and upload the HTML to Amazon DTP instead.
Is there anything I can do to get better results?
Use the source document whenever possible. If your PDF was produced by converting a Microsoft Word or RTF document for instance, use the Word or RTF import feature, it will give much better results. If your document was created with another publishing tool, try to find a "Save as" or an "Export" feature. If you can export either as HTML, RTF or Microsoft Word, re-importing that in the Creator will give much better results than importing the PDF file.
Why does PDF conversion lose so much information about formatting?
When storing digital assets, the key point is to store as much information as possible. The PDF format stores very little information and is not editable. As a general rule, be sure to have your digital assets in a structured format (XML, XHTML, Microsoft Word, raw text, etc.). This will allow you to reuse them in different types of electronic publications.

4-5 Can I use tables inside HTML?
Tables are not supported by Amazon DTP and will not display properly on the Amazon Kindle. If you have tables inside your HTML, Microsoft Word or PDF documents, the conversion process may result in malformed content.

4-6 How can I get better document conversion results?
Use the source document for your content whenever possible. If your PDF was created from a Microsoft Word document for instance, use the original Word file instead of the PDF. If your document was created with another publishing tool, try using the "Save as" or "Export" feature to export as HTML or Microsoft Word.

4-7 What types of images are supported by Amazon DTP?
You can use jpg, gif, bmp and png files inside your HTML files. For best results, we suggest that you have your images in PNG format, as this offers a good compromise between size and quality.

BMP files will be very large in comparison to the other size formats, and GIF files have many built-in limitations. If you cannot have your files in PNG format, JPG is the preferable second choice, followed by GIF.

Amazon DTP does not support images in TIFF format inside HTML files (as part of your content), but TIFF images can be used for the product image as part of your DTP product details.

Note that if you add an image file to a PDF or DOC, they become part of the entire document and don't count as supported images, as described above. This means that you could, for instance, insert a TIFF image into a Word .doc file. That .doc file would then display the inserted TIFF image in Amazon DTP. However, please remember that adding images in that way is likely to greatly increase the size and conversion complexity of your Word and PDF documents.

4-8 How do I get plain text (.txt) files to convert well?
There are several things you need to keep in mind when uploading plain text (.txt) files to Amazon DTP.

Make sure all of the text inside your file is arranged in paragraphs. As the text is re-flowed depending on the device screen and font size, any hard line breaks (that you insert into a text file by hitting 'Enter') will make your text display poorly. This means that you should ensure that every paragraph of text is actually one long line, without any hard line breaks anywhere in it. Use two line breaks('Enter' twice) to separate those lines of paragraphs.
Any HTML tags inside a text file will be ignored and displayed as plain text, showing the actual HTML code. You can't mix HTML and plain text.
Remember that even though plain text using unusual characters and glyphs may display fine on your computer, it won't necessarily convert well to Amazon DTP. Check the list of supported characters to make sure.

4-9 Why doesn't the conversion look exactly like the Microsoft Word Document?
If you have your content in Microsoft Word format (.doc), we strongly suggest you use Word to first convert ("Save As") it to HTML. Word 2007 and later (.docx) formats are not supported - save your content as HTML or Word 97-2003 (.doc) first.

The wording in the "Save As" dialog changes between Microsoft Word versions, but the best results are usually achieved with "Filtered HTML" saving. Review your content in Word after you've saved it as HTML and make any necessary changes, saving it again. Then upload the HTML file in Amazon DTP.

If you cannot save your content as HTML, be aware that the conversion from .doc to Amazon DTP's format will inevitably lose some formatting information in the process. Microsoft's .doc format comes with a few quirks and not all file format details are well-documented.

Lists in Microsoft Word documents, especially nested lists with sub-categories, will not convert well.
If you change list numbering between numerals and letters (e.g. I, II, III, a, b, c, 2.1.3), the conversion may also provide less than satisfying results.
If you use tables of contents in your files, page numbers will not be updated correctly (since the text size and page 'numbers' in a reflowable format don't mean the same thing as in a fixed-display format). Make sure to use the standard Microsoft Word heading styles and Table of Contents insertion for best results.

4-10 Does Digital Text Platform support XML stylesheets?
Not at this time.

Message was edited by: dtpadmin

Support Forums: Message List - Amazon Digital Text Platform Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Amazon Digital Text Platform Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Amazon DTP FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

GENERAL QUESTIONS

ACCOUNT CREATION

PUBLISHING

FORMATTING DOCUMENTS