Saturday, August 20, 2011

So You've Decided to e-Publish Part 2

   First, an apology to the previous commenters. My blog lets me post, but won't let me comment on comments. Is this normal? I feel I've fallen in Blogger Never-never Land.
   Back to the subject: Why is it so important to go through the steps of the Smashwords Style Guide before e-pubbing, even on Amazon.com? Because our marvelous software programs do TOO many things for us, like automatic spelling correction, aUTO mATTIC caps lock correction, lotsa good stuff. But the things they fix don't necessarily carry over into the final form, and may be undone in the e-pub final form.

   Things to look for:
1. Open your manuscript and click the paragraph sign to make hidden commands show. If you see a little reverse arrow where you've hand-indented a paragragh, remove it and get the indent by using the Enter key from the end of the previous paragraph. Every time. Throughout the whole book.

2. Remove extra paragraph signs. More than 3 confuses the system. You don't need them for an e-reader anyway. The Insert--> Page Break is the correct way to move to a new chapter or force a page move, as in the beginning dedication, acknowledgement, and title pages. Be sure there is at least one space before and after the Page Break.

3. Spaces show up as a tiny dot. Remove extra spaces. Look for them at the ends of paragraphs. Remember when we were taught to put 2 spaces between sentences? Now it's one. Do a Find and Replace: "type" an invisible 2 spaces in the Find blank, and only one in the Replace blank. Since a colon (:) requires 2 spaces, do a Find for :(one space) and Replace :(two spaces). Unless you're sure you don't have a single colon in your book.

4. Got italics? It's possible to have italics run from there to the ever lovin' end of the book! Just insure that there is a space after the italic word/phrase/sentence.

5. Do you use the Styles feature of Microsoft? I never did. I just set up a manuscript every time. Smashwords Style Guide says to select your whole manuscript (Contr-A), take away the style, then set up a new style specifically for your manuscript so the whole thing is in the same style. I found this difficult with Word 10 because each item must be de-selected. I compromised on some of the choices, and it worked out well.
6. Identify each chapter title by going to each one, selecting, and then click on the Style you want--font, bold, type size, center or left margin, however you want it to look. If you want to define a new style and name it "Chapter Titles", use the small arrow toward "New Style" and make yourself happy.

6 b. If you ever decide your manuscript font needs to be changed in font name or size and Select All to make that change, it will change the chapter titles as well. I've had to do them over. Bite the bullet, breathe deeply. It doesn't take that long. Use the number or title search to move quickly through the pages.

Now what type file does your target e-publisher require? For example, CreateSpace needs PDF files. Easy. Just "Save as..." Just so I didn't send them the wrong file, I saved as "LovesSecondVerse pdf.pdf". No changes to the original file, and I can see the PDF formatting with the title. Sometimes I have to trick myself into not making mistakes.

Remember, you have a choice. You can pay someone to do this for you. For Amazon's Kindle file conversion, the price is $69, but that doesn't seem to include all the above formatting. For their CreateSpace, it's $169. For Smashwords, their army of approved freelancers on Mark's List have fees starting at $20/hr, and it will take a few hours depending on what you deliver to them. If you would rather write than format, the option exists. If you really can't deal with your own software to do the formatting, pay someone else.

So much of this has been like learning a new language, which I've done 9 times. I don't remember much Arabic because, when I left Saudi Arabia, I never intended to return. Formatting for e-publishing has been like solving a puzzle, though, and I'd like to do it again.

Questions? Type in a comment. If I can't comment on your comment, I'll just post an answer. That seems to work today.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

So You've Decided to e-Publish !

   Years ago, when home computers were not so common and e-mail wasn't happening (okay, so we lived in Jakarta, Indonesia, and I was out of the loop) I found any attempt at computer use to be guaranteed frustration. I considered giving up the whole idea, like deciding not to learn skateboarding. A strange flight of imagination winged through my brain: a grandchild passing through my room with a playmate, saying, "That's my grandmother. She doesn't know how to use a computer."
   My children were in high school. Where did that scene come from?
   So I took inventory of my abilities and traits and determined to learn how to use a computer. As if this were a one-time endeavor. Ha! Like the day my husband and son bought our first computer and I felt the pinch of the $1,100 purchase. But I "knew" that since we had bitten the bullet and made the investment, it would be good for a lifetime. That was a Commodore 64, as in 64 KB hard drive.

   Fast forward to the present: I just took the dive into e-publishing. I had a novel with pristine grammar and spelling, gripping plot and characters. My agent had done nothing with it (if you don't count misspelling my name and garbling the proposal). I released him as gently as possible and talked to my darlin' daughter, e-publishing genius for a certain ABA publisher. She gave me the courage and just enough instruction to be dangerous.

   Today, that book, "Love's Second Verse", is e-pubbed on Amazon for Kindle, on Smashwords for every other format of e-publication, and now in the final throes of real book publication through Amazon's Print on Demand (POD) branch, CreateSpace.
  The learning curve was, at times, steep. In order to maximize the benefit of those tense hours, I hereby volunteer free information to others who stand on the brink. Let me take your hand. It's going to be all right.

   FIRST STEP:  Do whatever it takes to be sure that your manuscript is well-written, spelled correctly, and with excellent grammar. Not that your characters always conjugate verbs perfectly, but the narrative is as perfect as you, your critique group, and/or a professional can make it. I'm going to assume hereafter that your manuscript is ready for the world to read.
  
   SECOND STEP:  Go to the http://www.smashwords.com/ site and download its free formatting guide by Mark Coker. You may have no intention of publishing with Smashwords (there are pros and cons) but they have the best possible guide to preparing your manuscript. If you have a Kindle, download it free to your Kindle. If you don't, you can read it online, print what you need most (it's 72 pages), or download a free "Kindle for PC" or "Kindle for Mac" program. The web address for this is in the post below concerning downloading my book.
   Then go to Smashwords and get the Smashwords Style Guide at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/52 .
   What? You say your manuscript is perfectly formatted? Go get the guide. I'm just sayin'....
   That's enough for a Sunday afternoon. We're open for discussion. Please.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Proof Copy Arrives!

After a tremendous battle with the cover, "Love's Second Verse" was uploaded to http://www.createspace.com/ for its Print on Demand (POD) version. That is, for people who want to hold a REAL book rather than an e-reader, copies may be ordered from Amazon.com.

So the next step after the upload's review and approval was to order a proof copy. Did that. Paid the rush fee. And it came on Friday! A solid book in my hand, pretty cover and all. Was I pleased? Yes, for a while. But the font I chose was a little, well, light. And its brief italic passages, mainly direct thoughts of the main characters, were just too curly.

I read parts, passed it around to friends at dinner that night, welcomed comments. They were happy for me, excited about the book, but honest about the font. And the spacing of the lines. I could have less than 1.5 spacing, larger and better font, and still stay below the dreaded 400 page count. So at 10:30 last night, I reformatted the text. And fixed another couple of things I had found.

Today the review pass came in an e-mail, and I ordered another proof. Could have skipped that part, but I did that once, years ago in Brazil, and lived to regret it. Nope, we need to see another proof. More rush postage. It should arrive on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, my brand new Kindle arrived Friday, also. And the e-book looks great on the Kindle. It has been a long learning curve, folks, but I feel ready to help others avoid my mistakes. Feel free to ask. I'm open.