My daughter has asked me to format some of her stories so that they can be sold through Smashwords. Unfortunately Smashwords won't accept ebooks in ePub; they insist that the text be in doc format but formatted in pernickety ways, and then they feed this doc file into their Meatgrinder to produce the ebook. So I need to do a crash course on formatting with Atlantis.
I'd like to set up a template into which I can copy the text of her stories, but am having difficulty knowing where to start.
Is the Atlantis help available as a stand alone document so I can study it off line?
Is anyone else using Atlantis to format texts for Smashwords?
Atlantis and Smashwords
Atlantis and Smashwords
Regards, Alex
Hi Alex,
I have had a look at the Smashwords Style Guide (http://www.smashwords.com/books/downloa ... -guide.rtf).
Things are actually very straightforward: you need to keep your source document as simple as possible. Concentrate on content, avoid using fancy font or paragraph formatting, keep the layout as simple as possible. Have a look at the sample RTF documents available from the Smashwords site, in particular at “the-mating.rtf” (https://www.smashwords.com/books/downlo ... mating.rtf). It is formatted in the simplest way, almost as if it has been created in a pure text editor.
You can achieve the same formatting (or absence of formatting) in Atlantis. Simply start typing a paragraph in. When you have finished, press the Enter key. Type another paragraph in. And so on.
When you feel the need to add some vertical spacing, press the Enter key twice instead of once between paragraphs.
If you have chapter titles, associate the corresponding paragraphs with an appropriate style. In “the-mating.rtf” sample file, the chapter headings are centered and are naturally associated with a style whose properties include a centered alignment for the associated paragraphs (see screen capture below).
Since page breaks are not used in the Smashwords sample documents, you’ll probably be safer avoiding them too. So do not press “Ctrl+Enter” to create manual page breaks. Keep your text freely flowing from one paragraph to the next. This is why it is preferable to use the Atlantis “Draft View” to create such documents. This viewing mode (“View | Draft”) ignores document “pages” as such. You will be able to concentrate on the free flow of text. The page breaks, if any, will be added by the Smashwords converter.
HTH.
Cheers,
Robert
I have had a look at the Smashwords Style Guide (http://www.smashwords.com/books/downloa ... -guide.rtf).
Things are actually very straightforward: you need to keep your source document as simple as possible. Concentrate on content, avoid using fancy font or paragraph formatting, keep the layout as simple as possible. Have a look at the sample RTF documents available from the Smashwords site, in particular at “the-mating.rtf” (https://www.smashwords.com/books/downlo ... mating.rtf). It is formatted in the simplest way, almost as if it has been created in a pure text editor.
You can achieve the same formatting (or absence of formatting) in Atlantis. Simply start typing a paragraph in. When you have finished, press the Enter key. Type another paragraph in. And so on.
When you feel the need to add some vertical spacing, press the Enter key twice instead of once between paragraphs.
If you have chapter titles, associate the corresponding paragraphs with an appropriate style. In “the-mating.rtf” sample file, the chapter headings are centered and are naturally associated with a style whose properties include a centered alignment for the associated paragraphs (see screen capture below).
Since page breaks are not used in the Smashwords sample documents, you’ll probably be safer avoiding them too. So do not press “Ctrl+Enter” to create manual page breaks. Keep your text freely flowing from one paragraph to the next. This is why it is preferable to use the Atlantis “Draft View” to create such documents. This viewing mode (“View | Draft”) ignores document “pages” as such. You will be able to concentrate on the free flow of text. The page breaks, if any, will be added by the Smashwords converter.
HTH.
Cheers,
Robert
- Attachments
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- Style Centered.jpg (302.4 KiB) Viewed 10181 times
That's so much, Robert, that's most helpful and I really appreciate the trouble you've taken.
I still have several questions though:
- Given that I won't be typing in the text (my daughter has sent me the doc version of her story and wants me to format it for Smashwords) I'd still like to know how to prepare a template into which I can copy and paste her document. Any suggestions on that? How can I set up and save the template? I'd like all the paragraphs in the template indented except those used for headings which would be centred.
- Or would it be better to take her document and go though it paragraph by paragraph to clean out the gunk?
I still have several questions though:
- Given that I won't be typing in the text (my daughter has sent me the doc version of her story and wants me to format it for Smashwords) I'd still like to know how to prepare a template into which I can copy and paste her document. Any suggestions on that? How can I set up and save the template? I'd like all the paragraphs in the template indented except those used for headings which would be centred.
- Or would it be better to take her document and go though it paragraph by paragraph to clean out the gunk?
Regards, Alex
Here is how I would go about this. Don’t panic, it is actually a lot more simple than it looks!
1. Open Atlantis.
2. Pull the drop-down attached to the Clippy Bank green icon, and click to check the “Collect Plain Text” option (see screen capture below).
3. Click the Clippy Bank green icon itself to activate the “Clippy Bank collects clipboard data” mode (see screen capture below).
4. Press “Ctrl+Alt+F8” to empty the Clippy Bank if it isn’t empty.
4. Open your DOC file in Atlantis.
5. Press Ctrl+A to select the whole document.
6. Press Ctrl+C to copy that whole selection to the Windows clipboard, and send it automatically to the Atlantis Clippy Bank as pure text.
7. Press F8 to open the Atlantis Clippy Bank if it isn’t already displaying.
8. Press “F12” to save the Clippy Bank contents as a “.doc” file.
9. Press “Ctrl+O”, and open the file you just saved.
10. Click the Clippy Bank green icon again to deactivate the “Clippy Bank collects clipboard data” mode. I assume you don’t need this mode any longer.
10. Press “F6” to display the Atlantis Control Board if it isn’t already displaying.
11. Click to display the Control Board “Styles” panel.
12. Select the “Normal” style.
13. On the toolbar at the bottom of the “Styles” panel, click the second icon from the left to open the “Edit Style” dialog.
14. In the “Edit Style” dialog, press the “Paragraph” button.
15. In the “Paragraph Format” dialog, pull the drop-down attached to the “First Line” box, and click to select “Indent”. This will set a default first line indent for all the document paragraphs associated with the “Normal” style (currently all its paragraphs). Note that as I understand things only first line indents are accepted by the Smashwords “Meatgrinder”. Do not specify any other type of paragraph indent.
16. OK out of all dialogs to validate your changes.
17. In the “Styles” panel, select the “Heading 1” style.
18. On the toolbar at the bottom of the “Styles” panel, click the second icon from the left to open the “Edit Style” dialog.
19. In the “Edit Style” dialog, press the “Paragraph” button.
20. In the “Paragraph Format” dialog, pull the drop-down attached to the “Alignment” box, and click to select “Centered”. This will set a default centered alignment for all the document paragraphs associated with the “Heading 1” style (currently none of its paragraphs). OK out of the “Paragraph Format” dialog.
21. Still in the “Edit Style” dialog, click in the “Hot Key” box. Type any suitable hot key. You will use this hot key to associate any target paragraph with the “Heading 1” style in a handy way.
21. OK out of all dialogs to validate your changes.
22. Now you need to associate all the document headings with the “Heading 1” style. This has to be done manually. If your document headings are chapter titles, and they all start with “Chapter”, it will be easy to navigate to each of them, maybe even to select all of them (use the Ctrl+F” dialog). If your document headings have different captions, you’ll have to locate each of them manually.
23. In any case, you can associate the document headings with the “Heading 1” style by clicking within the heading and pressing the hot key you assigned to the “Heading 1” style. Associating a paragraph with the “Heading 1” style will automatically center it since you defined this to be a property of that style.
Of course, this is all suggested rather abstractedly. We could make more adequate suggestions if you sent your document, or part of it to contact@AtlantisWordProcessor.com. We will respect your privacy in every way.
HTH.
Cheers,
Robert
1. Open Atlantis.
2. Pull the drop-down attached to the Clippy Bank green icon, and click to check the “Collect Plain Text” option (see screen capture below).
3. Click the Clippy Bank green icon itself to activate the “Clippy Bank collects clipboard data” mode (see screen capture below).
4. Press “Ctrl+Alt+F8” to empty the Clippy Bank if it isn’t empty.
4. Open your DOC file in Atlantis.
5. Press Ctrl+A to select the whole document.
6. Press Ctrl+C to copy that whole selection to the Windows clipboard, and send it automatically to the Atlantis Clippy Bank as pure text.
7. Press F8 to open the Atlantis Clippy Bank if it isn’t already displaying.
8. Press “F12” to save the Clippy Bank contents as a “.doc” file.
9. Press “Ctrl+O”, and open the file you just saved.
10. Click the Clippy Bank green icon again to deactivate the “Clippy Bank collects clipboard data” mode. I assume you don’t need this mode any longer.
10. Press “F6” to display the Atlantis Control Board if it isn’t already displaying.
11. Click to display the Control Board “Styles” panel.
12. Select the “Normal” style.
13. On the toolbar at the bottom of the “Styles” panel, click the second icon from the left to open the “Edit Style” dialog.
14. In the “Edit Style” dialog, press the “Paragraph” button.
15. In the “Paragraph Format” dialog, pull the drop-down attached to the “First Line” box, and click to select “Indent”. This will set a default first line indent for all the document paragraphs associated with the “Normal” style (currently all its paragraphs). Note that as I understand things only first line indents are accepted by the Smashwords “Meatgrinder”. Do not specify any other type of paragraph indent.
16. OK out of all dialogs to validate your changes.
17. In the “Styles” panel, select the “Heading 1” style.
18. On the toolbar at the bottom of the “Styles” panel, click the second icon from the left to open the “Edit Style” dialog.
19. In the “Edit Style” dialog, press the “Paragraph” button.
20. In the “Paragraph Format” dialog, pull the drop-down attached to the “Alignment” box, and click to select “Centered”. This will set a default centered alignment for all the document paragraphs associated with the “Heading 1” style (currently none of its paragraphs). OK out of the “Paragraph Format” dialog.
21. Still in the “Edit Style” dialog, click in the “Hot Key” box. Type any suitable hot key. You will use this hot key to associate any target paragraph with the “Heading 1” style in a handy way.
21. OK out of all dialogs to validate your changes.
22. Now you need to associate all the document headings with the “Heading 1” style. This has to be done manually. If your document headings are chapter titles, and they all start with “Chapter”, it will be easy to navigate to each of them, maybe even to select all of them (use the Ctrl+F” dialog). If your document headings have different captions, you’ll have to locate each of them manually.
23. In any case, you can associate the document headings with the “Heading 1” style by clicking within the heading and pressing the hot key you assigned to the “Heading 1” style. Associating a paragraph with the “Heading 1” style will automatically center it since you defined this to be a property of that style.
Of course, this is all suggested rather abstractedly. We could make more adequate suggestions if you sent your document, or part of it to contact@AtlantisWordProcessor.com. We will respect your privacy in every way.
HTH.
Cheers,
Robert
- Attachments
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- First Line Indent.png (8.95 KiB) Viewed 10159 times
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- Collect Clipboard Data.png (2.34 KiB) Viewed 10159 times
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- Collect Plain Text.png (1.84 KiB) Viewed 10159 times
Sorry, Robert, when I tried to work through the long set of instructions you gave me the other day I just got overwhelmed.
I was able to do my daughter's short story by working through each paragraph and section, and she was able to upload it to Smashwords and have it accepted. She was very pleased with herself and with the formatting.
The next ebook she wants me to do will be longer, and have chapters, and an acknowledgement section at the end. I'm pretty sure I can get the chapters to start on a new page, but I'm not sure how to start the Acknowledgements section on a new page. If I understand the Smashwords Style Manual correctly formatting something as a heading will make it start on a new page, but I don't understand how to do that. I can put the word 'Acknowledgements' in a centred paragraph on its own line, but how do I make it a heading?
I was able to do my daughter's short story by working through each paragraph and section, and she was able to upload it to Smashwords and have it accepted. She was very pleased with herself and with the formatting.
The next ebook she wants me to do will be longer, and have chapters, and an acknowledgement section at the end. I'm pretty sure I can get the chapters to start on a new page, but I'm not sure how to start the Acknowledgements section on a new page. If I understand the Smashwords Style Manual correctly formatting something as a heading will make it start on a new page, but I don't understand how to do that. I can put the word 'Acknowledgements' in a centred paragraph on its own line, but how do I make it a heading?
Regards, Alex
Hi Alex,
Unsurprisingly, paragraphs associated with either a “Heading 1”, “Heading 2”, “Heading 3”, etc. style are deemed to be “headings”.
Associating a paragraph with a “Heading N” style is done in this way:
1. Click within the paragraph you want to associate with a “Heading 1” style. This will place the insertion cursor within that paragraph, and show Atlantis which paragraph the next command should be applied to.
2. Display the Atlantis Control Board Styles panel if it isn’t already displaying (F6 > Styles).
3. In the Control Board Styles panel, double-click the “Heading 1” caption.
The paragraph you have selected in the document window will automatically be associated with the “Heading 1” style.
HTH.
Cheers,
Robert
Unsurprisingly, paragraphs associated with either a “Heading 1”, “Heading 2”, “Heading 3”, etc. style are deemed to be “headings”.
Associating a paragraph with a “Heading N” style is done in this way:
1. Click within the paragraph you want to associate with a “Heading 1” style. This will place the insertion cursor within that paragraph, and show Atlantis which paragraph the next command should be applied to.
2. Display the Atlantis Control Board Styles panel if it isn’t already displaying (F6 > Styles).
3. In the Control Board Styles panel, double-click the “Heading 1” caption.
The paragraph you have selected in the document window will automatically be associated with the “Heading 1” style.
HTH.
Cheers,
Robert
Hi Alex,
If the Smashwords Meatgrinder does not automatically create page breaks before “Heading 1” styles, you need to include the “page break before” attribute as a property of the “Heading 1” style in your source document. Here is how this is done:
1. Press “F6” to display the Atlantis Control Board if it isn’t already displaying.
2. Click to display the Control Board “Styles” panel.
3. Select the “Heading 1” style.
4. On the toolbar at the bottom of the “Styles” panel, click the second icon from the left to open the “Edit Style” dialog.
5. In the “Edit Style” dialog, press the “Paragraph” button.
6. In the “Paragraph Format” dialog, click to display the “Line & Page Breaks” tab.
7. On the “Line & Page Breaks” tab, check the “Page break before” box.
8. OK out of all dialogs to validate your changes.
Just cross your fingers, and hope that the “Meatgrinder” will recognize this attribute of your “Heading 1” style...
HTH.
Cheers,
Robert
If the Smashwords Meatgrinder does not automatically create page breaks before “Heading 1” styles, you need to include the “page break before” attribute as a property of the “Heading 1” style in your source document. Here is how this is done:
1. Press “F6” to display the Atlantis Control Board if it isn’t already displaying.
2. Click to display the Control Board “Styles” panel.
3. Select the “Heading 1” style.
4. On the toolbar at the bottom of the “Styles” panel, click the second icon from the left to open the “Edit Style” dialog.
5. In the “Edit Style” dialog, press the “Paragraph” button.
6. In the “Paragraph Format” dialog, click to display the “Line & Page Breaks” tab.
7. On the “Line & Page Breaks” tab, check the “Page break before” box.
8. OK out of all dialogs to validate your changes.
Just cross your fingers, and hope that the “Meatgrinder” will recognize this attribute of your “Heading 1” style...
HTH.
Cheers,
Robert
Hi Alex,
I have several ebooks in premium distribution through Smashwords. In every case I have used page breaks (Ctrl+Enter) to delineate chapters. The Smashwords Meatgrinder conversions honored the page breaks with no difficulty.
While the Smashwords style guide decries the use of page breaks, it does not actually prohibit them.
Typical behavior when (for example) a Kindle encounters a page break created in this manner, is to not display the white space between chapters but rather to bring the new chapter to the top of the new page.
Regards,
Paul
I have several ebooks in premium distribution through Smashwords. In every case I have used page breaks (Ctrl+Enter) to delineate chapters. The Smashwords Meatgrinder conversions honored the page breaks with no difficulty.
While the Smashwords style guide decries the use of page breaks, it does not actually prohibit them.
Typical behavior when (for example) a Kindle encounters a page break created in this manner, is to not display the white space between chapters but rather to bring the new chapter to the top of the new page.
Regards,
Paul