Support for Indie Authors discussion

Ok my first book is 343 pages and when I uploaded it to Amazon it says 343 pages (for both the paperback and physical) My second book is 254 pages (both per me and per Createspace) and when I looked at the Amazon pre-order page it says it is 149 pages ???? I'm confused I reviewed it like 100 times and I formatted it the same as the first book (font size, type, and margins) All of the story is there so why is it so different? Has anyone else had this problem?

I still have no idea how Amazon figures out a book's page count, and as far as I can tell, that's how they want it. Here are the page counts for my books from amazon and createspace. Maybe we can figure out a trend if enough people share theirs.
Book1- Amazon/246 Createspace/318
Book2- Amazon/276 Createspace/412

Keep in mind my second book had a few extra pages of front content, and I don't think Amazon counts those in ebook format.

I think it has something to do with the Kindle file being based on "locations" not "pages," and there must just be something funny in the conversion. Neither of my books line up at the same "page count" either, but the differences weren't as dramatic as yours.

Pages mean nothing in an ebook. Users can adjust the font size changing the page count. Only word count matters,

Martin wrote: "Pages mean nothing in an ebook. Users can adjust the font size changing the page count. Only word count matters,"

Yes the font size can be changed, but mine were 12 point in both formats when I submitted. Amazon has an algorithm that gives ebooks a page count called Kindle Edition Normalized Page to track pages read for kindle unlimited.

The KENPC is different from the "estimated pages" that's listed on the book's Amazon page. You can check the KENPC from your KDP bookshelf if you click on the "Promote and Advertise" button (an odd place, I know).

I had an issue with my last book where I released the Kindle edition first and then paperback a week later. The estimated page length on Amazon was much less than the actual number of paperback pages. I contacted tech support and they fixed it within a day.

Same happened to me! I'll wait until I put up physical book and see if it changes ..

My novella was published through Createspace (the edition is now retired) and it was listed with a page length of 108 pages. On Amazon however, it was listed as having 138 (the correct number of pages).

I've since republished through Blurb and have no issues with page count or any other inaccurate physical descriptions for that matter.

Jon wrote: "Martin wrote: "Pages mean nothing in an ebook. Users can adjust the font size changing the page count. Only word count matters,"

Yes the font size can be changed, but mine were 12 point in both fo..."

Thanks for the info Ken,

I just checked and found that my first book was off by a hundred pages, and the second by two-hundred. I have contacted Amazon about it, but I am worried that this may have had an effect on reported pages read. If not that, then I may have lost potential readers because they may have thought the book was too short.

OK I am just going to watch it and see if adding the print version changes anything. If not I am going to contact customer support. Thank you everyone for your help :)

Jon wrote: "...but I am worried that this may have had an effect on reported pages read..."

Jon, as I mentioned earlier, the "page length" reported on the Amazon web page and the book's KENPC (which is used to calculate royalties for books in Kindle Unlimited) are two completely different things. I wouldn't worry about it. Just check your KENPC on your bookshelf.

I believe their page count is based on a 250 words per page. I only know this because a fellow author that has a children's picture book was told he was measured on a different scale.

Martin wrote: "I believe their page count is based on a 250 words per page."

That's the number I see in a lot of comments here, but I just checked my own longer works and for me it varies from 330 - 400 words a page.