At first, the new format was just a minor change from the original, but with each new iteration new features were added and it began to drift further and further away from the original MOBI specifications. Amazon bought that company in 2005 and adopted the format as its own for a number of years, but eventually switched to the Kindle File Format (with the extension. The original MOBI format was created by a company called Mobipocket back in 2000. To explain why, it actually helps to know a bit of the history of the MOBI file, so let’s go over that VERY BRIEFLY. The issue is that while Amazon has gotten rid of the format in one place, they still require it in another.
So let’s dig into the facts and figure out what’s really going on here, because while it may be true that MOBI’s days are numbered, if you plan to continue sending free copies of your book to Amazon readers in the hopes of getting reviews, it’s premature to be turning your back on the format completely. And when that happens, I figure it’s time to add a new entry to our old rumor busting blog series. Unfortunately, as is so often the case, the reality of the situation is complicated and perhaps a bit half-baked, leading to misinformation and confusion among authors.
Often the question is backed up by the claim that even popular software like Vellum recognize the recent obsolescence of the format and thus no longer create MOBI files, making it harder for the author to provide them.īoth of these claims are technically untrue, but I can see why the facts are being interpreted this way. Thus the article below is now out of date, but I’ll leave it for historical purposes as it was originally written in October 2021, which means it was more than half a year where Amazon’s support for the MOBI format was inconsistent)įairly recently, I’ve started getting the occasional email from authors asking why they still need to provide their ARC in the MOBI format, given that “Amazon no longer supports it”. (UPDATE – – Yesterday, Amazon sent out an email that as of August 2022, MOBIs would no longer be supported via the send to kindle process and that effective immediately, EPUB files ARE supported for that process.
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