Hi. I compiled a project into a kindle ebook in the .mobi format. I opened the mobi file in Kindle for PC by double clicking on it, but if I open up the contents list by clicking on the hamburger icon to the left edge of the screen and then click on the “contents” link in the side panel that pops out, it shows the cover image and not the contents list page. However, I can bring up the contents page by navigating the pages the usual way by clicking on the left and right navigation/page turning arrows. This problem does not occur if I don’t include a cover image to the compiled mobi file in scrivener. The other kindle books that I bought and which I have in the kindle app for PC don’t have this problem; when I click on the contents link on the contents side panel it shows the contents page for these books. Am I supposed to do something special in the compile stage in scrivener to make it work correctly? P.S. This problem does not happen with the kindle previewer app for the PC, only with the Kindle app for the PC. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
Scrivener version I am using: 1.9.7.0
Windows OS: Windows 10 Professional
Kindle for PC version: 1.21.0
KindleGen version: 2.9
I have the exact same issue and have not found a solution. It is worth noting that a cover image should not be included in the .mobi file uploaded to Amazon since they want it separate and will include it during processing. So it might be a non-issue for ebooks that are sold there. Have you tried that yet? I’m not far enough along to have uploaded anything to KDP yet.
It should also be noted that the Mobi file produced by KindleGen is optimised for upload to the KDP, and not representative of the result that a reader will get when buying the book and having the Kindle Reader software download it from Amazon. The thing KindleGen produces and the thing you upload actually contains two different eBooks in it (which is why the file is roughly twice as large as it should be): one for older Kindles and the other for newer ones.
I don’t know if including a cover in the metadata is ill-advised, if it is, they very oddly warn against omitting a cover file in the KindleGen log output itself, but like I say it has been known to cause problems when trying to read the .mobi file like a normal book, so maybe that’s the source of this advice.
“Don’t include your cover image in your manuscript file. When you publish or re-publish your book, we’ll automatically add your cover image to the inside.”
From: kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G200645680 in the ‘Building your book’ section. That’s specifically talking about Word, but it would seem to apply broadly since they talk about updating covers and manuscripts as separate actions in the other help sections.
So it is odd that KindleGen throws a warning about there not being a cover image in the compile settings.
Oh okay, given that clarification and the wording they are using, I wouldn’t say they are talking about .mobi files at all. They are referring to how one might mistakenly think it is a good idea to paste a graphic on page one of a word processing file, which would have the result of there being two cover pages—the real one that gets inserted into the slot we insert it into when you compile with a cover, and then a graphic file with the same image as a page in the front matter. Or if they paste it on page one and then fail to include a separate image, thinking they’ve handled that themselves, they’ll end up with a book that doesn’t have an actual cover. Looking at their documentation, it is uniformly Word-centric.
Maybe it’s worth asking for clarification from them if you aren’t sure about it, but I don’t think they would create a tool that is designed specifically to generate Mobi files for KDP upload that (a) has a feature they then advise you not to use and (b) warns you for not using the feature they don’t want you to use, and leaves the warning in the tool for going on at least eight years now that I’m aware of.
It’s also worth noting that in all of that time I don’t think I’ve ever heard of one case where someone got their book rejected or ran into issues with including a cover in the KDP upload.
It might even be a Kindle-for-PC-only thing. KDP explicitly tells you to check the output in their Kindle viewer on the web or on a Kindle, not using a Kindle emulator on a Mac or PC as the result on those may be different. When you upload to KDP the cover image should be uploaded separately. If you want a replica of the cover image in the beginning of your book, so it can be viewed without closing the book, include it in the front matter, without saying that it is a cover image.
The only time you need to include a cover image in compile is if you want to create an ebook that is NOT to be distributed by Amazon or iBookstore or Smashwords.
Yeah, think the main concern is/was that the file may not be compiling correctly. I’m okay with uploading a .mobi without a cover included and testing it later. Especially since they just increased the cover image size limit to 50MB.
Lol. Sorry guys. I didn’t even realize I didn’t reply to your suggestions and questions. I have not tried compiling without including a cover image in scrivener. I will try when the opportunity arises and let you guys know how it goes. Thanks!
