Smashwords Premium Error Message--Please help

indiriverflow · Aug 3, 2011

My book was uploaded to Smashwords and passed the Autovetter, but failed Premium approval for the following reason:

Every instance of "ff" is rendered as a "?". Please correct this issue. When you're finished correcting your book, go to Dashboard: 'upload new version' to upload the new version. Thanks.

I have looked at my basic file as well as my e-pub version but I don't get it. This error doesn't seem to be there. I did a search for "?" and they are all legit.
What the heck are they talking about? I don't see the error in my master .doc either.
If someone who knows what they are doing would like to examine these files and give me a hand, I would be most grateful and of course will give a free copy if you'd care for it.

I am stymied.

Deirdre · Aug 3, 2011

Your ff characters are rendering as an invalidly-coded ligatured ff (e.g., ﬀ). In other words, instead of two characters, it's been translated to a single invalid character for that character set.

indiriverflow · Aug 3, 2011

Okay, that makes sense. It's probably because I made the .doc from the PDF. What do you suggest? Should I copy/paste a pair of ff's from the doc into search/replace and zap them all?

And thanks. Let me know if you want the coupon code. Otherwise, you have my gratitude.

Deirdre · Aug 3, 2011

I'm not sure that searching on the two-character version of ff would find them. I don't know quite what to do -- think of a word that uses two fs like Banff, then search for the first part, copy the ff, then do a global search-and-replace on the character?

That's the only thing I can think of offhand.

James D. Macdonald · Aug 4, 2011

From the HTML version of your book:

It turned out that the men breaking into his home were thirty-one members of various police agencies, including LA County Sheriﬀs, DEA, National Park

Note the character in "Sheriﬀs," cut and paste that character into search and replace, replace it with ff wherever it appears, and see if you're good to go.

indiriverflow · Aug 4, 2011

Thanks Uncle Jim! It's an honor to have you help answer my question.
We'll see if this works. I have a feeling it will.

James D. Macdonald · Aug 4, 2011

Please note too:

Not only is Oﬃcer Sam ﬁlling the scales of justice with fraud, he is tampering with the balance, putting more weight on the drugs than their gravity justiﬁes.

As shown in the HTML version, ffi in Officer is a single character. I don't know what else is hidden in the file; you may need to go through the entire HTML version to find them all.

Deirdre · Aug 4, 2011

Possibly you also need to look for ffl, too, as well as perhaps some others on this list such as fl.

indiriverflow · Aug 11, 2011

Finally accepted to Premium distribution today, after:

Replacing both ff and ffi in the .doc
Converting font to Times New Roman

Thank you all! Couldn't have done it without you. This can be locked as far as I am concerned.

Deirdre · Aug 11, 2011

Congrats!

James D. Macdonald · Aug 11, 2011

I hope you sell a million copies.

indiriverflow · Aug 11, 2011

James D. Macdonald said:
I hope you sell a million copies.

Why, thank you, Uncle Jim. I'll be happy if I give that many away.
A review would help tremendously (hint, hint).

Smashwords Premium Error Message--Please help

indiriverflow

Deirdre

practical experience, FTW

indiriverflow

Deirdre

practical experience, FTW

James D. Macdonald

Your Genial Uncle

indiriverflow

James D. Macdonald

Your Genial Uncle

Deirdre

practical experience, FTW

indiriverflow

Deirdre

practical experience, FTW

James D. Macdonald

Your Genial Uncle

indiriverflow