Check a translated ebook before publishing: a quick guide

To check a translated ebook before publishing, open it in Amazon's free software called Kindle Previewer and look at it the way readers will: on a phone, a tablet and a Kindle device. A translated book has a few things worth checking in particular, like headings left in the source language, reading direction and images with text. Fifteen minutes of checking saves you a one-star review.

Why reading the file on your computer isn't enough

Because the reader won't be reading it on a computer. A digital book is usually "reflowable": the text rearranges itself to fit the screen and the font size the reader chose. What looks perfect in a Word file can look completely different on a phone.

And a translated book has another layer. The file has moved from place to place: from the original, to the translator, to the editor, to the typesetting. Something can get lost in each of those handoffs. Sometimes it's a heading, sometimes a footnote, sometimes a whole paragraph.

The tool: Kindle Previewer

KDP (Amazon's self-publishing platform) offers free software for your computer called Kindle Previewer. According to its help page, it shows how the book will look on three types of devices:

• Tablet, like an iPad or an Android tablet.
• Phone, like an iPhone or a Galaxy.
• Kindle device, like the Kindle Paperwhite.

The software runs on Windows 10 and up and on macOS 12 and up. There's also an online version inside KDP itself, which according to Amazon does the same basic thing, with fewer display options.

How to use it, in three steps

1. Open the file you plan to upload. It's usually an EPUB (the common format for digital books) or a Word file.
2. Switch devices and font sizes. In the Preview Options menu you can switch between tablet, phone and Kindle, between portrait and landscape, and between font sizes. Look at least at a phone with a large font, because that's where things break first.
3. Page through the whole book. In the Navigation area there's an option called Auto-Advance View, which pages through the whole book automatically. You just watch, and stop when something looks wrong.

Another useful option: the View All menu shows all the images, lists and tables in the book in one place. Instead of hunting for them across 300 pages, you see them all at once.

How to check a translated ebook before publishing, in particular

This is the list we recommend going through, in order:

• The table of contents. Does every chapter appear? Does every link lead to the right chapter? If a chapter is missing, you'll find out here.
• Headings. No heading was left in the source language. It happens more than you'd think, especially in chapter and part headings.
• Front and back matter. The copyright page, dedication, acknowledgments, "about the author." Are they translated? Are they updated for this edition? We wrote about these pages in front and back matter explained.
• Names. Search for the main character's name. Is it spelled the same way throughout the book?
• Images with text. A map, a diagram, a photo of a sign. Text inside an image isn't translated automatically.
• Reading direction. In a book that went from Hebrew to a left-to-right language, check that the pages, numbers and images run in the right direction. We explained it in when a book changes reading direction.

A fixed-layout book is a different story

If your book is fixed-layout, for example an illustrated children's book or a cookbook, it doesn't reflow. Every page looks exactly the way you designed it. The check is simpler here, but it matters to make sure the translated text, which is usually longer, doesn't spill out of the space set aside for it. The difference is explained in reflowable or fixed-layout ebook.

And the printed edition?

The printed book is checked differently: order a proof copy and hold it in your hand. A full list is waiting in the proof copy checklist for a translated book.

If you translated through a service that hands you a finished file, like Targum, it's still worth running the file through Kindle Previewer before uploading. It's your last check, and nobody else will do it for you.