Kindle and the New Self-EPublishing

Most successful authors have previously published works for which the publishing rights have reverted to the author. They'd like to see their books re-printed, but finding a traditional publisher to pick them up is pretty difficult. Re-printing a paper book is an expensive proposition for a book with a limited market.

Enter Kindle.

Kindle is widely regarded as the most significant forward-moving force. Probably true. But I think it's not so much Kindle as it is the Kindle Bookstore, which arguably holds more ebooks than any other source on the internet. People buy Kindles because of the enormous inventory of titles. And the reason for this is that Kindle opened itself up to the Independent Publisher. Essentially, this means ANYBODY.

This is the perfect opportunity for re-issues. The investment is tiny, and the author receives 35% royalties. Sales aren't huge, but they are growing, and supposedly Amazon will be hiking the royalties to independent publishers to 70% beginning this month. I'm not sure of the details, but since Kindle is the biggest market for ebooks, this would be nice. Many authors feel they can afford to set a more attractive price since they don't have to share with a publisher or agent.

WHAT YOU NEED TO PUBLISH A KINDLE BOOK:
Where: on Amazon.com, Kindle Store>In Sidebar, Publish on Kindle> On top line under Kindle Books, Small publishers and Authors... Digital Text Platform, DTP link>Sign In by following directions.

I suggest reading through FAQs and other information before starting. Some of it won't make sense at first, but when you reach that point in your process, you'll have an idea where to look for your answer.

Here's a list of the information you'll need to assemble for uploading your ebook. I suggest you get it all together before you start and save yourself a lot of back-tracking.

CHECKLIST:

#1 Enter Product Details
ISBN: You don't actually need an ISBN for your own Kindle upload. But if you already have one, or are planning on other ebook releases, get one. Don't use the same ISBN for print and electronic books.
Title:
Description: 4000 characters max
Publisher: That's you
Language:
Pub Date: I suggest about 5-7 days from current date. They may get faster in the future
Categories: e.g. Historical Romance
Authors:
search key words: look for as many appropriate words as you can think of
Product Image: min 1200 pix on smallest side I used 300 dpi, 6x9"
Edition Number: (optional)
Series Title: (optional)
Series Volume: (optional)

#2 Confirm Content Rights
Worldwide or Individual Territories
You'll later be asked to confirm or verify this. I sent the email letter granting release of rights.

#3 Upload & Preview Book
formats: Word, HTML, PRC, PDF (poor)
Preview- not easy if you don't know HTML but go through the whole thing anyway. Sometimes it looks fuzzy- I'm not sure if it would be fuzzy in the finished book. I did it over just in case it would improve and it did. You could be surprised at the things that show up in the preview, or don't show up. If all else fails, cancel (trash can) and start over. Before you do, though, make sure you have copies of all the info you put into the blanks and boxes.

#4 Enter Suggested Retail Price
I decided to price low. I can always raise it later.

wait 48-72 Hours while it's being reviewed.
You might not see your product description right away- up to a week.
Be sure to read the Amazon DTP Quick Start Guide, under Getting Started Guide

SETTING UP YOUR BOOK FOR EASY READING:

You can publish your book on Kindle in just about any layout you want. You don't even have to check for spelling errors. But if you don't want to irritate your readers, it's a good idea to make sure you understand what works well for reading on the Kindle.

Your book might already be in proper book layout for a print book. But this isn't necessarily the best layout for an ereader, especially Kindle. Kindle has no page numbers because the content is so adjustable. Depending on font size and other adjustments, the number of words per line, number of lines on the screen, and therefore the number of pages changes. So you want your content to flow easily for the reader.

The first thing you want to do is remove all headers, footers and page numbers. They take up screen space and irritate the reader, who just wants to get on with your story. And besides, remember, Kindle books have no pages, so headers, footers and page numbers mean nothing.

I suggest eliminating all page breaks between chapters. And since it's an irritation for readers to keep thumbing down through blank page after blank page, which is what you get if you have a lot of lines left before the beginning of the next chapter, substitute about 5 or 6 line returns for the page break. It won't seem like enough for you, the author. But those same 5-8 or so lines can take up a lot of space on the ereader. Do 2,3,4, or whatever you choose, but I suggest doing just enough to make it clear there's a new chapter coming up. I want the first lines of the new chapter to show on the same screen as the last words of the previous chapter.

Because I use Word Perfect, I've found it best to use the Reveal Codes feature to strip out all those little codes that don't seem to be there-until I change font, format or programs. But in Word, you can often get rid of such codes by highlighting the entire manuscript, then putting in the formatting that you want all through the manuscript. For instance, you might have some oddball font codes you think are gone, but will pop up sometimes if you do a backspace in the wrong place, or other such nonsense. Select and choose ALL. Then change the font to the one you want consistently, such as Times New Roman.

It's quite possible to scan a print book if you don't have an electronic copy. Most scanners have OCR (Optical Character Recognition) ability now and can convert to text document. But they're ‟sloppy", meaning they don't always get it right- ‟cl" often becomes ‟d", for example. The best way to do this is to take the book apart and scan each page flat so you don't get a ditch or gutter distortion. I haven't tried this, but I hear it's a bit of a pain. Still, better than re-typing!

If you work from a manuscript, you probably double-spaced, and used a five-space wide paragraph indent. Not good for e-reading. Select All and change to single spacing. Set your tab at .200" or .300". You'll even like the look better yourself.

Some people don't center chapter headings, but I prefer them. And I close down the spaces between scenes, separating them only with ***. Keep remembering, ereader screens are small.

WHAT ABOUT COVERS?
A good cover is very helpful for selling ebooks, although I rate it less important than a reduced price and known author name. You probably can't use a cover from a previous edition unless it's your own creation. Even then I'd suggest you use a different cover to separate yourself and your book from the previous edition under other publishers.

Covers can be simple or elaborate. You can pay an artist- we cover artists tend to work very cheap, but not all do. You can do it yourself, too. If you're not artistic, you can buy royalty-free photos from a number of sites online, and add your own lettering. You will need some sot of program to manage your graphic tasks. Often simple programs are shareware. Photoshop Elements is pretty good for basic work. You can have your 6 year-old kid color with crayons if you want. It's your book. You do want something that gets attention and makes a reader want to buy.

(I do cover art, in case you're interested. I can do simple for around $20-25 or complex, up to around $150. Sorry but I don't have time for anything more complex.)

Don't use copyrighted material without permission! Use your own photos or maybe a friend's but even with the friend, ask him to sign a release giving you permission to use it. If you buy art or photos from royalty-free sites, check the usage agreement. They are all a bit different.

Upload a good quality cover. This means a high resolution. If you swipe photos off the internet, chances are good they aren't good quality. So it's not even in your best interest to take them.

Who edits your book? Nobody but you, unless you arrange for it yourself. You are solely responsible for the quality of your book, so be patient with yourself and the process. Turn out a product you'd be happy to buy.

Now you're pleased with your accomplishment and the book is available on Kindle. Sales start trickling in. And new questions start trickling into your mind. How can I promote? How can I increase sales? And the newly intriguing question:

Is there more to this than just Kindle?

Sure, there is. But that's for another post. Coming up:
Smashwords Makes a Splash.
EPromo
And other things E.

The Day the Mountain Blew

In Southwest Washington State, most people who lived here thirty years ago are talking about what they were doing on May 18, 1980, the Day the Mountain Blew. It's etched in my memory too, but despite the fascination I've had for Mt. St. Helens long before that major eruption, the day I remember so poignantly was exactly one week before, May 11, 1980.

It was Mothers' Day that year, and the present I was given was a drive down from Olympia, Washington, where we lived then, to get up as close to the mountain as we could, and see what it looked like. Changes were happening. It was venting, rumbling, even bulging on one side. There were barriers up marking the Red Zone, and signs encouraging people not to go closer. But we saw no sign of the State Patrol.

There wasn't all that much we could see anyway, for it was a very typical Northwest spring day, rainy temperate, with thick, low clouds. Not until we were about to leave did we actually get a glimpse of the mountain, and I was shocked at how close it seemed. We should have been about ten miles away. Or was it really that big?

Disappointed in how little we saw, we fooled around in the stream beds and picked at unusual rocks in road cuts. I found one I've never identified for sure, with tiny, very pale bluish green crystals arranged in globules. My son, in an attempt to get a better glimpse of the mountain, climbed to the top of the nearest ridge, a good thousand or better feet above the stream bed where the rest of us foraged for agates. (It was everyone's ambition to see the mountain "blow", but few if any of the people there had any real comprehension of what that meant). He got his glimpse, but only barely, before the clouds closed in again.

So we didn't get everything we wanted, yet it had been one of those wonderful little adventures we cherished so much.

Exactly one week later, we heard the news. My husband was working overtime in Tacoma, and I had gone with him, just because, well, newlyweds do that kind of thing. At 8:32 a.m., Mt. St. Helens had erupted. Blown out almost the entire north side of the mountain. Ash billowed five miles into a bright blue sky, turning the world around the mountain dark as night, and carried eastward through the entire state and into Idaho . Super-heated pyroclastic flows rushed down the valley up over what is now named Johnstone Ridge after geologist Dr. David Johnstone who died there, down the far side, and up the next, blowing everyone and everything off the ridge where my son had been standing. In the valley below, the Toutle River became a rushing torrent of hot, deep, ashy mud, carrying huge boulders and chunks of ice from the mountain's flanks.

We'd been told the Red Zone was 10 miles from the volcano. At that location, it was barely more than 3 miles.

If we had taken our trip one week later, we would all have been wiped out. There is no out-running such an explosion. That isn't likely, really, although if we had not been able to go that Sunday, we would have gone the next. Nor is it really likely, with about a three hour drive from Olympia and up the Spirit Lake Highway, we would have reached the area before the eruption. Yet when we think of the mountain, we can't help but realize, when it comes to such forces of nature, just how helpless we human beings are.

It was five more years before we were allowed to return to the volcano, and then only from the east side, up a winding mountainous road that was only cleared wide enough for one lane of traffic. The ash in the air was choking, for the line of cars slowly snaking up the mountains to the lookout point seemed endless. And at the lookout on Mt. Margaret, we suddenly realized the devastation we had we had traveled through getting to the viewpoint, was beyond anything we had comprehended in all the time since the mountain blew. Even in future years, we couldn't identify where we had been before. What had been Elk Rock, where my son had stood, was swept bare. Nothing survived there.

I have some pictures from that trip, and one old Polaroid from the May 11 trip, but my scanner isn't working. Perhaps I'll post them another time. We've been up the New Spirit Lake Highway a number of times in the last twenty years, and always look forward to going again. We love to take visiting friends and family. The pictures here are the ones from our last trip. Spirit Lake has completely changed its shape, but it lies like a sapphire against a malachite background of tall firs, as if it had always been that way. It's hard to imagine now the immense devastation of thirty years ago, when the Toutle River ran so fast and hard, its bridges were washed away and buried in the flow of muddy ash and rock. But close to the volcano, the deeply slashed, vertical-walled trenches through barren gray ash can still be seen. From the volcano's mouth on the north slope, where for some reason no one had given the slightest thought the mountain would explode, a thick flow of mud, rock and ash protrudes like a giant lolling tongue.

Thirty years, and the mountain has found again new awesome beauty, yet is completely changed from what it had been. And for all that, the signs of the eruption are everywhere. In milennia to come, this eruption will still show its scars, just as past eruptions can still be seen.

MOTHERHOOD IS THE NECESSITY OF INVENTION

That was the title of a book I intended to write a number of years ago. The kids were small. Life was rough, and income scarce. So bad that we were on the regular cut-off list for the electric meter man. One day I saw him coming and ran out to meet him, paid receipt in hand. "Oh, sorry," he said. "I guess it just got to be a habit."

I was thinking about all the things I did to adapt, make ends meet. And I'll admit, the way I made things did have a lot of people amazed. I thought myself quite clever, clever enough to write them in a book. But it never got done. Being clever while raising five kids takes a lot of time, you see. And when I finally decided if I hoped to ever get out of the poverty cycle, I'd better get back to school and get my degree, book writing was set aside for some future time.

That was my "Blaze of Glory" period- as in, "Might as well go out in a Blaze of Glory." Because that's what going to college full-time while raising five kids, baby-sitting for other moms and selling home-baked bread to neighbors is.

Side-tracked, there. That's only tangential to my point. My point is, I see my daughters, as mothers, doing the same thing. When something can't be done, they find a way to do it. Does it mean sewing a garment you can't afford to buy? Getting a degree to get a better job while working and raising kids? Writing a book? Painting a watercolor? Building a gadget to do something better? Working a night shift or getting a tele-commute job, finding a way to help a step-child develop great study habits? Making grueling internet searches and bid to find the cheapest air tickets to Disney World for a mini-family reunion?

That's what moms do. They invent a way.

The book cover I'm posting here is a mock cover- the actual cover hasn't been designed yet. But more on LADY WICKED at the bottom of this post.

You might have noticed the new look. This design came about backwards, from a book cover design, which I then was told by a fairly large number of people was a book I should write. Yes I know, usually the book idea comes first, not the cover. But sometimes not so for me.

My original cover design was titled 10,000 YEARS, but my editor thinks 1,000 YEARS is better, and that then triggered improved plot thoughts. And then in the meantime, I needed a new website design, so I borrowed the elements from the cover design.

So now I'm in the process of remodeling both the blog and the website, and all that while in the middle of contest coordinating hell. The Royal Ascot is right at the point of assigning entries to the judges, which is the most annoyingly complex and confusing part of the entire contest. Later, when the entries return from the judges, it's pretty complex, but there's really nothing like getting them to the judges in the first place.

I should be through with this phase of the contest by Wednesday. I've got some interesting blogs coming up for you. But the website will take a bit more time because...

The exciting part! I've got my galleys for LADY WICKED and have only about 10 days left to complete them! We're moving so fast on this book, I think it just may get a release date before the end of the year! I don't think I've been so excited about a book release since the first one, FIRE DANCE, back in 2000. FD remained my favorite of all my books for years, but LADY WICKED has long since surpassed it.

The Indomitable Agostina Zaragoza: Maid of Saragossa

By all accounts, Agostina of Zaragosa was a woman of humble birth, one of those who might have passed her time in history unrecorded, had not circumstances beyond her control brought out her amazing strength of character.

Most of the population of the entire Continent of Europe felt helpless against the might of Napoleon's Grand Armee. Most great cities just capitulated when they saw him coming. Few battles were fought without enormous casualties on those defending armies. Napoleon invaded Spain, a country still largely locked in its own impoverished medieval past, something different happened. There isn't much positive that could be said about Spain's army or its generals, and the weak monarch and royal family could do nothing but flee. But the people were something else. In the end, it was the "Spanish Ulcer" that oozed the blood of the Napoleonic forces, keeping them tied up in Spain and unable to join the emainder of the armies in battles elsewhere.

Saragossa, or Zaragoza, was one of those small Spanish cities that lacked sufficient fortification to repel invaders, and to the French, it must have looked like easy prey, being surrounded by low, insubstantial brick walls, and only a few old cannons. The usual story of a siege was that once inside the city walls, the battle was over. But not at Saragossa. Inside the walls were many fortified convents and houses, so that the city was like a fortress comprised of many small fortresses.

There were actually two outstanding heroines at Saragossa. Countess Burita, said to be extraordinarily beautiful, had even more courage and determination than beauty, for she organized and led the city's women in resistance against the French. Agostina, a woman of low birth was among them. Initially the women provided assistance to the men, the usual carrying of water and ammunition. (Black powder was manufactured locally, so the people of Saragossa had the knowledge necessary to manufacture all they could use.)

When Agostina came upon a battery that was unattended, its men either dead or just gone, she took over firing herself, thus shaming the men who had abandoned the gun into returning. And let me tell you, just one person firing a park-size cannon is a pretty hard job. Normally a minimum crew of four is required for even a small cannon.

But Agostina didn't just quit when the guys came back. She kept on firing her cannon, and stayed with it until the French finally gave up the siege. Her true story was so inspiring that poets like Byron and Southey wrote about her and artists like Wilkie painted her. She was awarded medals and honors, and when asked to choose her own reward, wanted only two things: To take the name of her city as her own, becoming Agostina Zaragoza, and to continue fighting against the French. She was given both honors.

There is much more to the Siege of Saragossa, which the people, led by their hero, garrison commander Joseph Palafox, with the women continuing to pour their all under the Countess Burita's leadership. The indomitable city held out against the second siege for over 50 days. Eventually the city did fall to the French, but the survivors had forced the French to reasonable terms instead of complete annihilation. If you want to know more about this amazing city and its even more amazing women, this is one of the best descriptions:
http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=morris&book=spanish&story=saragossa

Women Heroines: Susanna Dalbiac, Heroine of Salamanca

Today is the first of my Women Heroines series, which will deal largely with historical women who broke the traditional women's mold by moving into traditionally male activities. I think I'd also like to emphasize men who encouraged women to step out of the shadows, but we'll see where this leads us. Susanna Dalbiac was definitely one of those women, and her husband Charles did not fail to support her.

***

SUSANNA DALBIAC: HEROINE OF SALAMANCA

The photo to the left may possibly be apparently Susanna Isabella Dalbiac, the heroine of my story here, but I doubt it because the dress is more typical of the 1860s, and it appears Susanna died in the early 1840s. The one below is more likely her daughter, Susanna Stephania Dalbiac, despite the apparent late 18th century dress. I'll explain more later. Above is a painting of the Battle of Salamanca, showing the 4th Light Dragoons charging.

Susanna was born in 1787 and married James Charles Dalbiac, who had joined the 4th Light Dragoons as a cornet in 1797 and made them his lifelong career. Charles joined the Portugal campaign in April 1809, and when he fell ill of a fever, Susanna rushed to his side to nurse him, and thereafter stayed with him.

According to William Napier, "This gentle lady has followed her husband through two whole campaigns in the Spanish Peninsula. She has been by his side in every danger- in every vicissitude she has borne her loving share. In all the thrilling movements of the past few days she has ridden close to her husband's regiment. Again and again has he urged her to seek security but as often she has refused to leave him."

On the night before the Battle of Salamanca, Susanna and her husband slept beneath the stars, she wrapped in his greatcoat, when a thunderstorm struck, stampeding the terrified cavalry horses. Charles snatched up his wife to safety atop some artillery pieces, and he climbed up after her, but there were many of the dragoons who were trampled, Thirty horses were still missing the next morning.

Despite such an inauspicious start to the day, Wellington found the advantage he needed in the audacious mistake of his counterpart, Marmont, who thought he was seizing an opportunity to outflank the British-Portuguese Army. But he didn't know Wellington had judiciously hidden Pakenham's 3rd Division behind the hill, at an angle to the main force, the very place where Marmont's troops hurried to attack and turn the British flank. As the French over-extended themselves to trap their foe, Pakenham lunged, cutting off a good part of the French forces. Then Le Marchant's Heavy Cavalry came at the enemy in a wild and brutal assault that left the French in ruins and their commander, Thomieres, dead.

The 4th Light Dragoons were a part of Le Marchant's assault, and Susanna rode after them. As described by Major Elliott, "The cannon shot of the enemy flew past her, the French shells burst all around. Leaden bullets pierced her riding habit in many places.. . The cavalry trumpets rang out an order, the horses broke into a rapid trot, she drew aside her horse, for she knew that a desperate charge was at that moment to be delivered."

As the cavalry rode into their own cloud of dust, Susanna spotted a color guard with an arm wound gushing blood, and she bandaged it and gave him wine from her flask. From then on, she raced about from one wounded man to another offering aid, and when her wine was gone, she bent to a stream to refill her flask, bullets flying all around her and splashing water in her face.

It was many hours later, hunting through the thousands of dead, dying and wounded, not knowing if he lived or had died, before she finally caught up with her husband again, and they embraced on the battlefield. "As the regiment was dismissed from its ranks, all its remaining men gathered around the brave lady with demonstrations of deepest admiration and respect."

Susanna stayed with her husband until they returned to England, and never returned to the campaign again. In 1814, she gave birth to her daughter, Susanna Stephania Dalbiac, who later married the Scottish Duke of Roxburgh. Many years later, Charles spoke of his wife, "Of this incomparable wife I will only add that a mind of the most refined cast, and with the frame of body alas too delicate she was, when in the field, a stranger to personal fear."

In looking for pictures of Susanna, I could find nothing at all. Then I came upon a family genealogy site which showed a picture of her husband James Charles Dalbiac, in his later years, still in uniform, and one of her daughter. But to me, there's something wrong with that photo. Most of you can probably spot it quickly. The young woman in the photo- probably a photo of a painting- is wearing a dress of the very late 18th or very early 19th Century, when the elder Susanna would have been a young woman. The younger Susanna was not born when this style was in fashion. So I thought perhaps the similarity of names fooled someone, and likely the younger Susanna's husband was better known. I have since my original posting about Susanna talked with a descendant, Pelham West, who provided a portrait of Susanna Isabella in mid-Victorian dress. He tells me this portrait of the younger Susanna hangs in Floors Castle, the ancestral home of the Duke of Roxburgh, who the younger Susanna married. He doubts if the duke would have had the portrait of his mother-in-law hanging in his home, and also notes the portrait was identified by a cousin who was more or less contemporary with the older Susanna, and may have met her.

So perhaps this is one of those paintings in which the subject posed in costume, perhaps representing a more famus figure. I wonder if those precise folds in the garment are meant to indicate a dress that was carefully folded and stored away, perhaps a dress of an earlier era, belonging to the heroic ancestor, Susanna Isabella Dalton Dalbiac. But I still think it is more likely the older woman. Pelham West suggests I get n touch with Floors Castle, or perhaps even go visit to see for myself. That sounds like an excellent idea.

Surprise Snow 2009

The weather folks seem to be caught off guard with the first snow every year. Last year it actually came on Christmas, the first snow I've ever seen in the Northwest on Christmas Day. This one is quite lovely. It was supposed to rain, with temp around 37. This started about an hour ago and is already over an inch deep. Temp about 34, so it's very wet. The flakes are giants, about 2 inches across or more. In the photos they are the indistinct white blobs that look like spilled white paint.


Jinx (above) and Frankie (left) have opted to take naps instead of trying out the snow. Frankie seems to have fallen in love with my hand mitt project.