While looking up information on how to cite Kindle books in research papers, I noticed that one key bit of info seems to be missing (or at least I couldn’t find it anywhere): the actual length of a “location,” which is the unit of measurement Amazon uses in its ebooks.
A commenter on this MobileRead thread says one location equals 128 bytes of data, so 8 locations for every 1 kilobyte of file size. However, this doesn’t match my own tests–in two sample texts I prepared, the one with the smaller file size but longer word count actually had a higher number of locations, and neither one had anywhere near the number of locations that his 8:1 ratio predicts.
My best guesstimate, after playing around with both word and character counts, is that one location is equivalent to approximately 122-125 characters including spaces, or 22-23 words. In my tests, the character count was a better predictor than word count, although I suspect Amazon also includes other spacing that I’m not taking into consideration–especially on widely spaced sections like a copyright page, which always had more locations assigned than I could predict.
More thoughts on locations for those who are really interested…
Why does Amazon use locations in the first place? The simple answer is because page numbers are meant for printed pages, and ebooks don’t have printed pages.
You need a static, physical object to use page numbers. Since the text in an ebook can be displayed in a near infinite array of font sizes, screen widths, and font faces (assuming it’s not a PDF), page numbers would almost never be the same from one version to the next, and so would be useless.
It seems to me it would make more sense to cite works using line numbers or paragraph numbers, or even word count, because then the reference point is attached to the essential text and not to whatever format it’s in, but Amazon has gone a different route. The reason for this, as far as I can tell, is so that non-textual elements such as cover images and front matter can be referenced–locations 2-7 might be the copyright page or table of contents.
You might wonder (as I did) why Amazon doesn’t just use percentages, which would make it easier to compare an ebook edition with a print edition. The trouble with percentages is that they relate only to the current text, so they can’t tell you anything about how long a book is relative to another book. The 30% mark in a 50,000 word text is nothing like the 30% mark in a 110,000 word text. By comparison, location 827 is the same distance in for both ebooks (approximately 18,000 words in), and you know immediately that a book with 2000 locations is twice as long as a book with 1000 locations.
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By Steven Lewis December 2, 2010 - 3:31 AM
Thanks for answering that, Chris. I did a quick search when I got my Kindle to try to understand locations, couldn’t get a straight answer and regretfully moved on but it has nagged at me. I don’t like seeing a measurement every time I open my Kindle that I don’t understand. Extraordinary that Amazon doesn’t explain something so fundamental.
By What is a “location” in a Kindle ebook? | Kindle Writers December 2, 2010 - 3:40 AM
[...] But how long exactly is a location? Chris Walters has the answer in How long is a location in a Kindle ebook? [...]
By jesse January 2, 2011 - 10:07 PM
If there’s a particular line or sentence in a Kindle book that I want to take note of, how do you find that particular sentence’s location number? (not just a range)
By Chris Walters January 2, 2011 - 10:19 PM
@jesse, Highlight the passage and save it to your “Notes & Marks” document. (On the Kindle, just highlight the sentence and press the center button on the d-pad.) Then, while the book is still open, press the Menu button and scroll down to “View My Notes & Marks,” and you’ll see the highlighted sentence along with its location number.
Your highlights are also synced with Amazon, so you can log in to kindle.amazon.com and see your highlights there as well as the related location number.
By The Kindle: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly « Rash Elvis Chants January 16, 2011 - 8:41 PM
[...] Nowhere can I find a good explanation of what the length of a location is, although I found one blogger who has considered the topic in some detail. I’m sure in time I’ll get some intuition [...]
By memetichazard July 17, 2011 - 2:54 PM
Each byte typically contains one character, unless you’re dealing with foreign languages that use unicode. Hence 128 bytes to a location would be approximately 128 characters. Some additional space may be taken up for formatting (italics, smallcaps, font changes, etc.) File size is, of course, not a good indication of actual length – the total size includes not only the words of the book, but also images, and possibly other content.
By Kindle 3 – Tips and Tricks « I think therefore i blog September 14, 2011 - 11:27 AM
[...] via calibre, booksprung & [...]
By Vykintas December 27, 2012 - 9:59 AM
I don’t agree to this: “page numbers would almost never be the same from one version to the next, and so would be useless.”
It’s not useless at all. Once you’ve set the desired font, size, margins, etc. your book becomes as “static” as a paper one. So you could have page numbering as usual just to have a reference of how big is the book overall and what’s your progress in it, so you don’t have to do the math out of percentage given. Even if the layout get’s changed you still can have the page numbering updated accordingly to have the said info.
I don’t get how such simple thoughts and arguments didn’t cross develeopers’ minds yet and I’m so unpleasantly surprised by not seeing awkward and useless locations instead of page numbers.
By AlanM February 5, 2013 - 3:50 AM
I did a comparison of an ebook in its raw format with locations, and I have determined that a location amounts to 150 characters. Sometimes this is pure text, when there is no markup. But all of the eBook formats basically embed HTML in them, so every paragraph, every italic, every hyperlink, every heading, etc, will include some HTML to mark them up. Thus, a table of contents, which has lots of HTML markup, takes up lots of locations, while a long paragraph will be divided into pure 150-character segments (counting spaces).
When you jump to a location (use the menu inside a book), you will sometimes notice that the formatting of text will change. For example, if you look at locations that fit inside the table of contents, a particular chapter might lose its hyperlink, or the whole table will be messed up. That’s because the Kindle will start reading at the location boundary, and any formatting that it missed up to then is lost.
So, the word on the web is that a location is 128 characters, counting markup, but I have found that I can predict with great certainty the start of a location if I count 150 characters, counting markup.