ePub Error

Scrivener Scrivener for macOS
1

Hi, have compiled to ePub for Smashwords and get ePub error per attached.[attachment=0]Screen Shot 2020-10-09 at 11.48.23 am.png[/attachment]

Thoughts?

Seems to compile fine and opens in Calibre

2

Looking at the default CSS stylesheet in eBook compile format those font size values are used for some of the styles. If the book compiles OK, and opens in Books and other reader software OK, it may just be Smashswords having a particular standard they adhere to. Has you book got any sections of text that have styles assigned or that differ from the main body?

3

Smashwords prefer that manuscripts are delivered as Sord files, not epub. If epub is used, they have rather strict rules as to what is permitted or not.

4

Update. Same 3 errors reported by KOBO. With Kobo it’s not a fatal error whereas it is with Smashwords. Should try with Apple

5

No styles throughout. Cannot find anything unusual

6

May well be Smashwords; standards then. Could be best to contact them or provide them with a different file type, as the other user who commented mentioned. If they tell you what specifically to change then I can help you through that with Scrivener but I’m afraid I don’t know Smashwords particular processes.

7

Are you using Preserve Formatting on the text throwing the error? I’ve seen a CSS validation error like this before coming from the way the ePUB converter is generating the deprecated Preserve Formatting style using a shorthand “font:” property, which the validator doesn’t like. If that’s the problem, there are two ways to fix it:

  1. Change the “Preserve Formatting” sections within the project to use a custom style instead–use Find by Formatting to find each instance of Preserve Formatting, select the text, deselect Preserve Formatting, then use Format > Style > New Style From Selection… and save all formatting, including both checkboxes for font family and font size. (Naturally if some of the preserved formatting uses the same formatting, you can just apply an already-created style.) It will look exactly the same once compiled, but the CSS generated will use “font-family” and “font-size” etc. specifically, so it should validate without issue.

  2. Edit the compiled EPUB file and change the line indicated in the validation error to use the specific properties rather than the shorthand, i.e. change “font: 1.08rem monospace;” to “font-size: 1.08rem; font-family: monospace;” (using whatever the appropriate font-family or other font setting is, according to your particular formatting).

The first fix is the best in the sense that it’s what you want to do moving forward and will prevent the problem recurring in this project every time you compile, but if you’re ready to go with the publishing and just need to to fix those few lines in the otherwise perfect ebook, the second may be faster to just finish out this particular project.

8

I take it you mean Word files. Yes, however for some reason known only to them they will not accept generated TOC, requiring instead a tedious manual bookmarking within Word to generate the TOC. I don’t have the time or willpower to go down that rabbit hole at the moment. I did get to bypass the issue by submitting a .mobi file, though I believe that means it will nit be available from them in any other format.

9

I bit the bullet and edited out the three errors using Calibre. ePub check showed all good and ITunes Connect accepted the book as having no errors, so all good.

Can’t for the life of me find what caused the error, but as all seems okay will just keep an eye out for future incidents.

Thanks for the help.

10

Glad to hear you were able to fix it! It would be nice though if we could trace what had caused the issue in the original compile. Would you be willing to send a copy of the project that’s compiling incorrectly to mac.support@literatureandlatte.com so we can attempt to sort it out? Also, what was the CSS of the original line and what did you change it to in order to resolve the issue?

11

I made the edits as suggested in 2 above, more or less.

I’m certain it’s a stuff up on my part during editing though haven’t figured just what yet. I’ll pop a message.