Why format your Kindle book with HTML?

A Kindle book can be formatted using HTML. Simply put, a Kindle book is composed as an HTML document. All you need is a plain-old text editor and a Web browser. HTML turns out to be an excellent choice for formatting a Kindle book because of the following reasons.

1. HTML provides a reliable and predictable way to format and display your book consistently across all Kindle devices and applications. This alone is a good enough reason to choose HTML over Microsoft Word as a tool of choice for formatting your next Kindle book. 
2. An HTML-formatted Kindle book has a smaller download size than the same book formatted with Word. 
3. There are countless free and commercial HTML authoring tools available. 
4. HTML is easy to learn and use for Kindle book formatting purposes. Contrary to popular belief, a mastery of HTML is not required. You only need to know a small subset of HTML tags to format your Kindle book.

Reference

Authoring tools for formatting a Kindle book with HTML

You will need the following three tools to format your Kindle book using HTML.

1. Text or HTML editor

You may use a plain-text editor, such as Notepad++ or TextEdit, to type in the content of your book. Or you may use an HTML editor that allows direct input of HTML tags. Even IDEs, such as Visual Studio or Eclipse, can be used to compose an HTML document for your Kindle book.

2. Web browser

Since the source of the Kindle book is nothing more than an HTML document, you can use your favorite Web browser to get a rough preview of your work. The Web browser will show fully formatted version of your book except for pagination.

3. Kindle Previewer

The Kindle Previewer for Windows and Mac is a free application provided by Amazon that allows you to preview your book as it would appear on a variety of Kindle devices and applications. The Kindle Previewer can be download from http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000765261

Reference

An HTML template for formatting a Kindle book

I have put together an HTML template you can utilize to jump-start the formatting your own Kindle book. The template can be downloaded from https://github.com/sal-razzaq/kindle
The template comprises of the following sections.

• Front Matter
  • Title Page
  • Copyright Page
  • Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Book Chapters
• Back Matter
• Bibliography
• Appendix
• Notes
• Glossary
• About the author

You may rename, move, or delete sections as needed.

Reference

Download template: https://github.com/sal-razzaq/kindle