Support for Indie Authors discussion

Hi all,

I'm about to release my first book on kindle and paperback next week. I've had to reformat the book differently for Kindle so things like drop caps and chapter breaks aren't as pretty, but look more professional when they're converted.

My problem that remains is the map I have at the beginning for my fantasy world. In the .docx file the size of the map looks fine at 4x7 inches, but once it gets "converted" for kindle, the map shows up pretty small. I've played with size and settings, but it always seems to convert to this random size.

I've attached a screenshot for perspective --has anyone else had this problem?

Readers can make the image larger to view it. The only way to get it to size differently would be to use the children's book, text book, or comic creator, but those are limiting.

I have not had to work with this issue, so I don't know what settings you might need in the mobi file. But I imagine that even if it is full-size, it will be difficult to see details and it may not be useful to readers. What about dropping a web link to a map graphic on your website that they can zoom in on in their browser?

That's good to know re: can view larger, it's been frustrating that each tablet or kindle device shows things so differently.

P.D. Workman (Pamela) wrote: "I have not had to work with this issue, so I don't know what settings you might need in the mobi file. But I imagine that even if it is full-size, it will be difficult to see details and it may not..."

That's an interesting idea, Pamela, thank you! I'll look into it.

I've read many fantasy books with maps (almost exclusively digitally) and all of them are small and hard to see. With that being said, it's easy enough to enlarge the map by tapping on it and it is no inconvenience for readers.

Yep! Your readers can enlarge the map by double tapping it in their kindle, and can even zoom in by pinching outward. It's not recommended to make your images wider than 7" in the kindle doc.

The problem is that where a map is a raster image it won't resize on kindle, but of course it only has to be one size on paper.

In theory it is possible to embed vector graphics, which will resize, in mobi, but so far I haven't worked out how to do it.

R. wrote: "The problem is that where a map is a raster image it won't resize on kindle, but of course it only has to be one size on paper.

In theory it is possible to embed vector graphics, which will resize..."

It will resize. They specifically make images resizable so that readers can zoom in on the details.