When it’s finished, it’s great-but if you wanted to, you couldn’t take that cake apart and get your ingredients back. When I tell people that, they naturally ask me, “but, if I want to make changes, how does that happen?” So, here’s the real deal on the basics between ePUB and MOBI:Ī MOBI file is a finished, completed product. What most folks don’t know is that a MOBI Kindle file is not editable. The exception to this is what’s called “Fixed Layout” or “Fixed Format,” but that’s a topic for another day.

So, by and large, it’s not twice as much for a company to give you both formats (and if anyone tells you that-find a different formatter!) it’s only a bit more money, as a large part of the work is the same. One of the things that I’m often asked is “ Why do I need an ePUB file? I only want to publish to the Amazon Kindle program, which uses MOBI, so why do I need to pay for an ePUB?” What is an ePUB File? What's in a MOBI File?Īs background, to address this, it helps to know that of all the major retailers, Amazon uses an eBook format called “MOBI,” and all the others (B&N, iBooks, KoboBooks, Sony, etc.) use the other major eBook format, “ePUB.” Basically, the eBook DNA of both formats is 98% identical only at the very end of the process does the bookmaker make the decisions that end up creating an ePUB file versus a MOBI file, or vice-versa. Some of them are about layout, some about functionality, and some are simply what seem to be practical questions, to the typical person or new eBook publisher. When we’re called by prospective clients, we’re asked a lot of questions. How Can A MOBI File Be Anything Like A CAKE?

Amazon mobi