E-Book Formatting Tips

I format E-books for authors - my services are listed HERE.

Today I want to give you some tips on formatting that will not only help you do it yourself but help the person who is formatting your E-book.

When writing your manuscript, never use the TAB key to set indents. These all have to be removed during formatting, and the only way to do it is one by one. Always use the Paragraph feature to set your indents.

The Paragraph feature is your friend! You can set alignment, indents, and line spacing all in one place.

Smashwords is the pickiest of the formats. They require left justification, Times New Roman (preferably size 12 font), and no more than three spaces between lines. (Which means that is your best hope of signifying a page break.) So removing all of the tabs, uneven line spaces, and wonky formatting is a must. This includes extra spaces, both before a new paragraph and after.

And don’t panic. EVERY author has a extra space or two at the end of paragraphs. It’s just a habit to hit the space bar. (When formatting, I can tell when the author is on a roll, because those tend to vanish.)

Finally, when formatting for Amazon or Barnes and Noble, use the Section Breaks - Next Page to signify a page break. Other breaks are often not recognized. You also want to save the manuscript as a Web Page, Filtered htm or html file if you want those page breaks to appear clean.

Hope that helps! If you are still overwhelmed with formatting, drop me line. I love to format books!

Promoting Tip - Get a Little Personal

After a whole month of publishing and promoting tips almost every day, I thought I would offer something a little more fun.

Online we need to maintain a level of professionalism, whether we’re a new writer or an established author. We have to be careful how much personal information we reveal. We all have beliefs and opinions, and we need to be careful how we express them. (And we also don’t want the weirdoes showing up on our doorstep.)

However, we still need to infuse some personality into our online presence and let our readers and fans know a little about us. So, I am going to give you a little insight into Spunky’s world.

By the time I was 14, I’d set four goals for my life:
- I didn’t want to go to college
- I didn’t want kids
- I wanted to be a professional photographer
- I wanted to be a published author
(All four accomplished - time to set new ones.)

I’m a total sucker for animated films and movies about animals.

I really wish I could sing. I can hit the right pitch when playing Karaoke Revolution, but I sound awful.

My husband is smarter and better at everything than me - except math. By the time he pulls out the calculator, I already have the answer in my head.

When I develop an interest, I go all out. I don’t just love riding roller coasters - I know all the manufacturers, the parks, the record-setters, etc.

I love black & white photography. It’s easier for me to see the world in B&W than color, as I am drawn to patterns, shapes, and textures.

I’m 5’3” and 120 pounds. Clothes shopping is a pain. My husband says I need to design a line of clothing and call it “Elfin.”

My husband is the hero of my life.

And finally, I am not ashamed to say I sleep with a stuffed tiger named Eddie. He’s my little body pillow.And he's named after comedian Eddie Izzard. (Cake or death?)

What fun, personal things are you willing to share?

***

I’d also like to thank Heather Gardner at The Waiting is the Hardest Part for giving me the Zombie Award.

I will pass it on to my helpers, Spunky’s Soldiers: Laura Marcella, Sia McKye, Golden Eagle, Clarissa Draper, Jo Wake, Tyrean Martinson, Gwen Gardner, Ida Chiavaro, Randi Lee, and Nancy LaRhonda Johnson.

A to Z Challenge Reflections and The Spirit of Nimue

We invite all participants of the Challenge to join us!
What did you enjoy about the Challenge?
What could we do better next year?
What issues did you encounter? (Word verification, unable to comment, long posts, etc.)
Did you encounter many non-participants? (With help from our minions, we tried really hard to clean the list this year.)
Theme or no theme – what seemed to work better? Did you find any great themes?
Did you have fun and will you participate again next year?
Your Reflections can be posted anytime from May 3 through May 10. We ask you to add the link to your post, not your website, once you have posted. The Challenge hosts read every one so we know where to improve for next year.

This year’s A to Z Challenge was a lot of fun - and a lot of work.

I’m thankful I had all of my post written and pre-scheduled by the middle of March.

However this year I went into the A to Z as a co-host, which meant posting at the A to Z Blog, visiting a section of the list, and spreading the word. What felt overwhelming last year doubled for me this year.

Fortunately, I had a wonderful team of helpers, and I’d like to thank all of Spunky’s Soldiers for their efforts:

Laura Marcella
Sia McKye
Golden Eagle
Clarissa Draper
Jo Wake
Tyrean Martinson
Gwen Gardner
Ida Chiavaro
Randi Lee
Nancy LaRhonda Johnson

Without their help, there is no way I could’ve kept an eye on my sections of the list by myself.

Keeping up with comments is always my biggest challenge. I would start the morning visiting a dozen or so of my favorite people. By the time I would return in the afternoon (I’m a business owner, and that comes first) it would take me the rest of the day to catch up with comments.

I enjoyed some of the themes this year. People are just so creative! I was pleased to see people enjoying my theme. Some came for the tips, some came for the photo - either way, it’s all good.

As for next year, I’ll be back. I’m not sure I’m up to hosting again though. I may be Hammy the Squirrel hopped up on energy drinks, but I can only do so much. I’ll make my decision sometime soon.

As for everyone who visited me last month, thank you! I have a lot of new followers and will now have time to visit you.

Remember to add the link to your exact post when entering it on the list!

I’m also revealing the cover of Donna Hosie’s upcoming book.

THE SPIRIT OF NIMUE will be released on Amazon on the 31 May 2013. It is the final book in THE RETURN TO CAMELOT trilogy.

Find it here:

GOODREADS
AMAZON.COM
AMAZON.CO.UK

The Insecure Writer's Support Group and Get Healthy Blogfest

It’s time for another edition of The Insecure Writer’s Support Group, hosted by Ninja Captain, Alex J. Cavanaugh.

The A to Z Challenge is over and I’d like to thank everyone who stopped by last month. My theme was publishing and promoting tips based on my latest book, How to Publish and Promote Your Book Now!

$14.95 Trade paperback ISBN 978-0-9827139-5-2
$4.99 Ebook ISBN 978-0-9827139-9-0

Purchase at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Amazon Kindle, Amazon Kindle UK, and Powell’s.

Through those 26 posts, I hope you found something that helped with your author journey.

Sunday our pastor talked about that big goal and dream that God placed on our hearts and told us “Go do.” And I thought back to what started me on my journey over 10 years ago:

To inspire others to achieve their dream.

I’ve done that over the years with my inspirational YA/NA series and two non-fiction books. I’ve done that as a motivational speaker and through my seminars. Sometimes I’ve lost sight of that, but I want to continue to inspire others to pursue their dreams and achieve their goals. The greatest joy is watching the spark return to someone’s eye when it hit - “Yes, I can.”

For me, it’s time to reinvent who I am, what I do as both speaker and author, and continue forth in Faith.

*Friday the Reflections List will open for those who participated in the A to Z Challenge and I will have it posted here.

Get Healthy Bloghop

Stephen Tremp, Alex J. Cavanaugh, Michael Di Gesu, and myself have teamed up for a Blog Hop that focuses on health. This is an issue with many bloggers who have expressed gaining weight over the holidays and other negative health issues that they are dealing with.

As writers, parents, lovers of a significant other, employees, and volunteers, we find ourselves overwhelmed with daily battles from this, that, and the other thing. And regardless of how fit we were at one time, time has caught up and overwhelmed many of us in the area of health.

Here is a Blog Hop that can help us make 2013 a year that we can help turn the tides!

The Objective: Share with everyone something you have done that affected your health in a positive way. You can share an awesome low cal low fat tasty recipe. Post simple tips to lose weight. Or a testimony on what has helped like joining Weight Watchers. Recommend a routine like P90X or Insanity. Or stretches one can do while sitting in their office chair working or writing. I'm sure people have countless great tips and ideas they would love to share.

Sign up below and join us on May 29: