Smashwords' .DOC file format requirements can be tricky to meet, and sometimes it takes a while before you find out if they didn't like something in your file — either from "Autovetter", the Premium status check that comes later, or the dreaded, inscrutable "epubcheck errors." Not to mention there is no way to learn about these problems before your book goes live on Smashwords, possibly putting you in a time pinch to fix the issues before too many people buy the live book. This purpose of this page is to help you find some of the possible problems before you upload your .DOC file to Smashwords (and has helped us figure out many of those pesky "epubcheck" errors). These checks are certainly not perfect, but it's helped us a lot at ReAnimus Press.

To use this Possible Problem Checker, we need to look at a different format of your file (since .doc files are cumbersome to analyze with software), so please do the following:

1. Open your .DOC file in Microsoft Word.

2. Do "File" / "Save As" and choose the save-as type called "Web Page" (NOT the one called "Single File Web Page" or "Web page, filtered"), which will create a file called "your-file-name.htm".

3. EXIT OUT OF WORD. Yes, quit the program, right now. Otherwise you might forget that you're no longer editing your "real" .doc file, but this web page copy — edits you make at this point will possibly get lost (because you'll possibly forget you were editing the web page file at the time!), so, trust me, it's just easier to EXIT OUT OF WORD RIGHT NOW. :)

4. Browse to and Upload the ".htm" file you just created here: