Editio Self-Publishing discussion

I recently saw an item in the Kindle Direct Publishing newsletter about books "longer than 20 pages" being required to have a logical table of contents. I've recently updated several of my books and have one in draft form for preorder, and I've never included a TOC in the source file in any way. Does the conversion process insert some acceptable TOC, or have I just not been caught yet? I'm particularly nervous about any last-minute hitch in the book that's on pre-order, whose final version is due in a little less than two weeks. (I followed a link to instructions for using Word to add a TOC and its links, but found it quite confusing. If anyone has or could send me to idiot-proof instructions, I'd much appreciate it!)

I am a professional epub creator. I have 3 years experience in epub field. Ill create ebooks like fixed, mobi, kf8. I deliver books in correct time and good quality in low cost. Anyone want to create ebooks contact me my id kamalandece@gmail.com. TOC creation is not a bigger one. can you give sample means i will do.

Hi Karen,

There are two types of TOCs in ebooks, a "logical" (NCX) file and a "content" (HTML) TOC. Kindle's Go to Table of Contents links to the content HTML file; the sidebar TOC you see in Kindle apps displays the NCX TOC. The latter is also used by the ereader to place "page" markers in the ebook when displayed in the ereader.

The content TOC can be built in your manuscript and is exported along with it when you Save as Web Page, Filtered to convert to HTML.

The logical TOC is, strictly speaking, not mandatory because Amazon still accept Word docs and HTML files for conversion; these cannot include a logical TOC, which is a separate file within the ebook archive (all ebooks are actually file archives, like a zipped file). Only epubs uploaded to Amazon for conversion (or properly built mobi files) can contain a logical TOC.

As long as Amazon continue to accept Word docs and basic HTML files, the NCX cannot be mandatory because such a provision contradicts KDP's policy of accepting these files. However, the presence of the NCX TOC does separate the amateurs from the professionals.

Full details on how to build both TOCs are included in The Global Indie Author: Your Guide to the World of Self-Publishing, 3rd Edition.

Thanks, M.A.! I may tackle the NCX TOC during the next lull.

M.A. wrote: "Hi Karen,

There are two types of TOCs in ebooks, a "logical" (NCX) file and a "content" (HTML) TOC. Kindle's Go to Table of Contents links to the content HTML file; the sidebar TOC you see in Kin..."