Saturday 3 September 2011

Teresa's Adventures in Kindleland - Part 1

I don’t mind admitting that my eyes glaze over and my mind wanders off somewhere all on its own when it comes to matters of technology, but Kindle – well now. It is simple I was told. Easy as pie. Well I can make a pie along with the best of them.

So I chose a book to e-publish – one that I had in a new version of Word, already published as a pocket novel and by Linford Romance. Book chosen, I set about designing my cover at which point I learned that designing book covers isn’t easy. Easy, that word again.

I set up my account and decided to ignore the bit where it said about downloading this-and-that to convert the file so Kindle could read it. In my poor little mind I had heard that it was easy to publish straight from Word and so I thought this was what I would do. Just like that.

Oh dear.

I know patience is a virtue and all that, but I only have a small supply and I’d used it all up so I uploaded my book and checked the preview. Hm. Well some of the Tabs were there. Some weren’t. It looked terrible. No one would want to read something so badly set out. So I deleted it and went back to the drawing board where I learnt that you should save your Word file as an html (web) document before uploading.

This I did. Better. The tabs were there, but some were big tabs of several spaces and some were small ones of just a couple of spaces. Still I had ignored the advice about downloading this-and-that.

This is just the beginning of the Kindle story – I hope! I’ll let you know how I get on in part 2.

Part 2

There you weren’t expecting it to be that quick were you? Neither was I!

I downloaded this-and-that – this being Mobipocket Creator and that being Kindle Previewer. And what I found was that my book was full – nay heaving – with hidden stuff and that about three chapters at the end were underlined. No matter what I did it was still there, but only in the html copy. I don’t do well with html.

My beloved suggested I save the Word document as plain text which I did, then re-saved it as a new Word document and there it was, without all the unwanted bits.

So there it is. I think I sorted out the formatting – I hope I did because I published two books to Kindle with my own home made covers. Gulp! They looked okay on the preview anyway. Yet still I managed to make a mistake. I set the price higher than I intended because I forgot to take into consideration that they add VAT, but I’ve put that right now

One thing I have learned from this experience – no, not the good old “Read the manual” thing, I will never make life easy by doing that – is that I will always endeavour in future not to overload my Word docs with formatting. Now I understand why publishers ask for things to be presented in a certain way and I have no wish to give editors stress, angst and headaches!

Now don’t laugh, but I’ve put a link to the Kindle books at the side on the right. So far so good. All I need now is for someone to be kind enough to buy them – cue hysterical rather desperate laughter. And now I think I need to go and lie down to recover and ruminate a little on the wonders of technology.

29 comments:

  1. Tips for self-publishing technical errors smartly shared in this article by the author. Your clues and views are helpful for those who involve. God Bless You and Best of Luck for your Book Launch.

    astuteabode.blogspot.com

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  2. Well done for doing it! I'm sure it will be easier next time.

    I was thinking of putting my pocket novel on Kindle to keep it available, but so far haven't summoned up the willpower to navigate through all those technical bits. My attention just seems to switch when faced with jobs like that. I think I'd rather clean the fridge - and that's saying something.

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  3. Terrific news, Teresa - both are currently winging their way to my Christmas Kindle and I'm very much looking forward to reading them.

    And well done for all the technical bits.

    XX

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  4. Thank you, Sivakumary - I enjoyed my trip over to your blog.

    Ooh please do, Joanne. It really isn't as difficult as I made it for myself and I'd be happy to help - not that I think for one minute you'd need it, but I spent a lot of time on google checking up on things just to be sure.

    awww Suz - bless you, thank you, thank you - I hope you enjoy them. I haven't got a Kindle - yet - never say never. I have got Kindle on my PC though xx

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  5. Well done, Teresa - the covers look good. I'll be adding them to my kindle soon! When I tried it a while ago (once only so far!), I followed the very good instructions a friend gave me - yes: mobipocket and kindle previewer! But it does take time, and patience, doesn't it?

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  6. Well done getting on top of it in the end!

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  7. I'm speechless. I didn't understand much of what you said but I think you're absolutely brilliant. The very thought of all that totally terrifies me. I haven't mastered all that Word can do yet! Well done. :o) xx

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  8. I e-published a small recipe book some time ago and I had all the same problems. As you discovered, the solution is to get rid of all that formatting that Word puts in without us even realising it.
    I used GIMP for the cover which made it really easy.
    Good luck with the books!

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  9. Well done Teresa. Hope you get lots of sales.
    I know from other Kindle authors how trying the formatting can be, but they too said that once they used the Mobi item it became much simpler.

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  10. Thank you Teresa. Just so I know how much time I need to earmark for when I get round to trying this myself, did it take you hours, days or weeks? However long it took you I will probably have to double it. But if I have a vague idea then I can put it on my 'to do' list for the dark days of winter when I'm stuck indoors.

    I must first get that Kindle version for PC so I can read yours!

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  11. Well done for persevering, Teresa. Sometimes it seems like creating the story is the easy bit.

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  12. Thank you Rosemary (and you're being very kind about the covers, bless you!)

    THank you Jenny!

    Don't worry, Sue - I don't understand much of what I say either!! Thank you :-)

    Thanks, Gail. I haven't a clue what GIMP is, but I'm now off to look it up.

    Thank you, Carol. I hate downloading anything (I'm such a wimp) which is why I tried to do it without Mobi, but it was so straight forward once I did.

    It took me a couple of hours at most, Joanne - once I knew what I was doing. Message me on FB if I can help.

    Thanks, Keith - Oh yes, I'd agree with that!

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  13. It's great to hear that you've created with Kindle, Teresa. I use mine for reading, more and more. The publishing option obviously has a lot of potential.

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  14. I am impressed at the way you negotiated your way through that lot Teresa! I used to design and build websites but far from giving me the confidence to go ahead and publish through Kindle, it has held me back. Knowing how Word and HTML work or don't work always makes me think it will take an age. Maybe I will give it a go sometime soon now :-)

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  15. Read them both this morning, Teresa and have only one complaint - couldn't put them down so nothing else got done :0)

    Please hurry up and put more of your work on there - my Kindle is poised.

    XX

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  16. Well done you! I've just read a sample of you novel and my computer. I shall put an order in for the whole book soon. I've got a few other books to read by my bed first. I not sure how falling to sleep with my laptop in my hand going to work as I don't have a kindle yet.

    :-)

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  17. Thank you Teresa - again. A couple of hours is encouraging. That means it might take me two days! It's the kind of thing I need to build up to doing, but will let you know if (when) I get stuck!

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  18. Thank you, Martin. When I read thick books that make my wrists ache, a Kindle looks very attractive!

    With your background I can't see you having any problems, Deborah! Go for it!

    Thank you, Suz - you are a sweetie :-)

    Thanks, Jarmara. Hm, yes, going to sleep with a laptop could be a problem!

    You'll do fine, Joanne :-)

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  19. Hi Teresa - well done on joining the Kindlers! I managed a while back to put my first 5 novels on there. The rights had reverted to me so it seemed daft not to. I keep wondering what I have done wrong, as I just uploaded them as Word docs and Amazon seemed to convert them without any problems. No, I'm not bragging - just worried that I might have missed something! They looked OK on the previews, and quite a few people have bought them ... so I hope I was just very lucky! Good luck with yours. I think it's definitely the way to go. Love, Sheila

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  20. Thank you and yes I remember, Sheila - you were one of those who inspired me to try (thank you for that too) :-) You didn't do anything wrong - I did by having my docs full of hidden codes!!

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  21. Also meant to say Sheila - I love the term Kindlers!

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  22. And I love 'Kindleland', Teresa!
    Let's hope we both have lots more adventures there!

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  23. Well done for peservering. My own method for dealing with technical problems is to glare at the computer and mumble (or shout) That doesn't always work.

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  24. But it does work sometimes, Patsy, doesn't it?!

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  25. I always feel it's worth a try.

    I've tagged you over on my blog - hope that's OK. You can always pretend you didn't see this comment if you don't want to do it.

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  26. Thanks Patsy - I'll make that my next blog :-)

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  27. Wow, it sounds like a great adventure...ooh the possibilities! Best of luck with it all!
    On a different topic, you have a new fan, my teenager, who has recently got into writing in a big way, has just read 'Proper Grown-Ups' in WW, out loud to me, which was lovely.
    At the end we both said 'Aww' Then she said 'Wow, That was great, I loved that one!' (Praise indeed)
    :)

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  28. You are a smart cookie! I'm impressed with your perseverance. Will definitely go and check it out. Well done Teresa x

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  29. That is brilliant penandpaints - give that gorgeous teenager a big hug and wish her good luck with her writing from me :-)

    Thank you, Diane :-)

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