Review: Negative and hopelessly convoluted
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 05 30, 2012
After reading the introduction, I almost trashed this little pamphlet!  Why should I read about publishing Kindle books from someone who has just told me how stupid I am for even thinking about doing it?  I'm sure I don't think publishing Kindle books is a get rich scheme, but neither do I think it is a waste of time.  I just want some guidance on the complexities of formatting them correctly.  My goals may be entirely different from what the author is trying to destroy.  I'm still mystified by this approach to introducing a book.  It's like saying, "You're a fool for believing in God, but let me show you how to construct good prayers!"Okay, once the author actually gets to his subject, more doubts arise.  I'm reading this on my Kindle Touch, which I dearly love, but the formatting of this book is impossible to use on this format.  Screen shots are unreadable.  Side notes in different and smaller fonts are difficult to read.  So, I'm getting advice on formatting my book for a Kindle from a book that isn't formatted so that I can read it easily on my Kindle?  Something is seriously wrong here.Since I am still looking for guidance on Kindle formatting, I can't say how accurate the content is.  But, the presentation is overwhelming with technical details of delving into HTML formatting, with advice to ignore Amazon's guidelines, and numerous "side notes which you can ignore."  There is nothing simple about this approach.  I dabble in HTML coding for specific uses, but if I have to go into the detail suggested by this book, then I may never publish!  And, I can't remember the last time I had to go into my computer's command line to run programs, as the author recommends here.  All I can say is that this seems like an extremely daunting approach to formatting ebooks.  Of course, I really won't know until I try it.  It may very well be that I will come back to this book to solve a prickly formatting problem, so I will reserve judgment on that - IF I can figure out what the author is saying.There is also a section at the end on how to format for the Nook readers.  This also comes after another negative introduction about why one should NOT publish for ANY other format other than Kindle.  The author may be right, but many successful authors would also disagree.  At least the information is there.  So, this goes on the virtual shelf to gather virtual dust which I may have to blow off someday.