Sunday, August 27, 2017
A Small Gang of Authors: Golden Book Award Contest #OurAuthorGang
A Small Gang of Authors: Golden Book Award Contest #OurAuthorGang: The Award Contest is open to any genre book published between 2010-2017 The submission deadline is December 15, 2017 Read more on...
Golden Book Award Contest #OurAuthorGang
The Award Contest is open to any genre book published between 2010-2017
The submission deadline is December 15, 2017
Read more on the contest's website page:
Saturday, August 26, 2017
Practical Steps Before You Start to Write
Many authors plot and plan their books, build character profiles, draw maps, and yet they don't consider the actual formatting of the document.
I was a book designer for 10 years back in the day, when we were still transitioning from layouts on paper to designing on the computer screen. (Oh, the joy of no more cuts on every fingertip!) Computers made my job easier, but when the author insisted on following his/her own rules, it made more work for me. While back then I worked in QuarkXPress, today I just use Word and Publisher to produce books.
While there's nothing inherently wrong with just sitting down and writing your story, you can make your formatter's or designer's job easier by setting up a paragraph format before you begin. I say formatter, but the person who's fixing up the document could also be the book designer. I'm just going to say formatter.
There's a few simple rules to follow even if you don't set up a paragraph format in advance.
First, one space after periods. Two spaces leave a large, visually jarring empty chunk of page before the next sentence starts. Your formatter is going to take out that extra space anyway, so why waste time by putting it in?
Second, no tabs. Do not use a tab to indent your paragraphs. Again, your formatter will take them all out, probably swearing under his/her breath.
Third, no five space indents for paragraphs. Again, the formatter will take them out and will charge you extra for the time it takes.
Fourth, do not use "justified" text. Just let it flow as a ragged right. If you justify the text (make it stretch from margin to margin), and then publish the book as an ebook, the words will s-t-r-e-t-c-h to fit the space. Instead, let the words just flow onto the page.
Fifth, do not insert page numbers, footers or headers. They don't play well with ebook formatting.
Last, but not least, unless you're deliberately using a block paragraph format, do not put a space between paragraphs. That's just one more thing for your formatter to fix.
To set up a paragraph format in Word, simply open your paragraph dialogue box. Set the Alignment at "Left" and the Outline level at "Body Text." Leave the Indentation at "0." Under Special, set the First line at "0.5." Spacing is also set at "0" and line spacing at "Single." You can increase the line spacing slightly if the page feels crowded, for example, if the text size is 12, you might set the Line spacing at "Exactly" and "14." In general, "Single" will suffice. The screen shot below shows the settings.
There may be times that you want to use a block format. You can see the settings on the screen shot below.
By setting up your paragraph format from the beginning of your document, your paragraphs will automatically indent when you hit "Enter." In addition, once you've set up the basic paragraph format, type a few lines. Then look at the top of the page for Styles. Right click on "Normal" and click on "Update Normal to Match Selection." Now if your document gets off track, just highlight the section/paragraph and click on Normal. That will restore your paragraph formatting.
Hopefully, these simple formatting instructions will help you, especially if you are going to self-publish your ebook. I highly recommend using the Smashwords Style Guide (FREE!) to format your book. https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/52.
Once you've done the initial formatting, just do a "save as" and save your book as [working title] – smashwords, or [working title] – kindle, etc, then make the small changes needed for each edition. That would usually be the front matter and Table of Contents.
As for me, I studied fine and commercial art in the days before they started calling it Visual Communications. Today, I'm a working writer and occasionally design a book cover, fliers, directories and other items. I write articles for online publications and have four books published under my own name and one under a pen name. My latest book is 50 Fabulous Tomatoes for Your Garden. https://www.amazon.com/50-Fabulous-Tomatoes-Your-Garden-ebook/dp/B01CRYKR86/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1502896494&sr=1-1&keywords=50+fabulous+tomatoes+for+your+garden
I'm working on my fifth novel, which will be the first one I actually finish, LOL! You can get a sneak peek at what I'm working on at www.ruthdj.weebly.com.
I was a book designer for 10 years back in the day, when we were still transitioning from layouts on paper to designing on the computer screen. (Oh, the joy of no more cuts on every fingertip!) Computers made my job easier, but when the author insisted on following his/her own rules, it made more work for me. While back then I worked in QuarkXPress, today I just use Word and Publisher to produce books.
While there's nothing inherently wrong with just sitting down and writing your story, you can make your formatter's or designer's job easier by setting up a paragraph format before you begin. I say formatter, but the person who's fixing up the document could also be the book designer. I'm just going to say formatter.
There's a few simple rules to follow even if you don't set up a paragraph format in advance.
First, one space after periods. Two spaces leave a large, visually jarring empty chunk of page before the next sentence starts. Your formatter is going to take out that extra space anyway, so why waste time by putting it in?
Second, no tabs. Do not use a tab to indent your paragraphs. Again, your formatter will take them all out, probably swearing under his/her breath.
Third, no five space indents for paragraphs. Again, the formatter will take them out and will charge you extra for the time it takes.
Fourth, do not use "justified" text. Just let it flow as a ragged right. If you justify the text (make it stretch from margin to margin), and then publish the book as an ebook, the words will s-t-r-e-t-c-h to fit the space. Instead, let the words just flow onto the page.
Fifth, do not insert page numbers, footers or headers. They don't play well with ebook formatting.
Last, but not least, unless you're deliberately using a block paragraph format, do not put a space between paragraphs. That's just one more thing for your formatter to fix.
To set up a paragraph format in Word, simply open your paragraph dialogue box. Set the Alignment at "Left" and the Outline level at "Body Text." Leave the Indentation at "0." Under Special, set the First line at "0.5." Spacing is also set at "0" and line spacing at "Single." You can increase the line spacing slightly if the page feels crowded, for example, if the text size is 12, you might set the Line spacing at "Exactly" and "14." In general, "Single" will suffice. The screen shot below shows the settings.
There may be times that you want to use a block format. You can see the settings on the screen shot below.
By setting up your paragraph format from the beginning of your document, your paragraphs will automatically indent when you hit "Enter." In addition, once you've set up the basic paragraph format, type a few lines. Then look at the top of the page for Styles. Right click on "Normal" and click on "Update Normal to Match Selection." Now if your document gets off track, just highlight the section/paragraph and click on Normal. That will restore your paragraph formatting.
Hopefully, these simple formatting instructions will help you, especially if you are going to self-publish your ebook. I highly recommend using the Smashwords Style Guide (FREE!) to format your book. https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/52.
Once you've done the initial formatting, just do a "save as" and save your book as [working title] – smashwords, or [working title] – kindle, etc, then make the small changes needed for each edition. That would usually be the front matter and Table of Contents.
As for me, I studied fine and commercial art in the days before they started calling it Visual Communications. Today, I'm a working writer and occasionally design a book cover, fliers, directories and other items. I write articles for online publications and have four books published under my own name and one under a pen name. My latest book is 50 Fabulous Tomatoes for Your Garden. https://www.amazon.com/50-Fabulous-Tomatoes-Your-Garden-ebook/dp/B01CRYKR86/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1502896494&sr=1-1&keywords=50+fabulous+tomatoes+for+your+garden
I'm working on my fifth novel, which will be the first one I actually finish, LOL! You can get a sneak peek at what I'm working on at www.ruthdj.weebly.com.
Thursday, August 24, 2017
My Book Promo Tricks #1 with #OurAuthorGang
What I learned from trying different book promo methods
by
The first step of promo for authors is to find the best ways to get readers' attention and then show them why they should read the book.
There is a fine line between being pushy and a successful book promotion.
Let me tell you about a few tricks I learned that makes promotion easier and more successful.
Posting links on social sites, websites, and blogs
Amazon links
Most authors post their Amazon links when promoting their books, but they're not always doing it the right way. When sharing your Amazon sales page link, always use the short version of your book link.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00XM68LRS
But, never use this long link that you get by typing your book title in search: https://www.amazon.com/Ancestors-Secrets-2-Book/dp/B00XM68LRS/ref=sr_1_5?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1503525871&sr=1-5&keywords=the+ancestors%27+secrets+series.
I'm not sure why, but book reviews, when readers linked in from the long version to post their review, are more likely to have their reviews deleted.
You can link directly to your book’s "Look Inside" free preview pages. Readers more likely will read the free pages if you post the direct link than sending the potential readers to your sales page, hoping they will click “Look inside.”
This is how you can get the link:
Click on your short book link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LNBSKIY
On the right next to the social site share buttons click "Embed"
Copy the URL link: https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B00LNBSKIY&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_VYFNzbS8SWR04
But don't post this long link.
Shorten the link and post like this: https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B00LNBSKIY&preview
Readers like to read a few pages before they buy the books
I found my flip-book style Author Magazine and book preview magazines very useful. I post the short link, usually with pictures I made for promo posts. Readers can read the preview pages and chapters, click on buying links, listen to audio book samples or watch videos.
If you'd like your own author magazine and need help making it, click on this link:
Have a great week and Happy Reading!
Next time I'll tell you other tricks that I learned about book promotion.
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