Curved Space to Corsair is all safely installed in the online stores, so whatever your preference in ereader, you can go ahead and pre-order with confidence!
Please help with the launch
Even if you don’t want to read it yet (why?) if you are looking for a blog post, I’d really appreciate it if you felt like joining in the launch. All the information and links are available for you to copy here. If you have any trouble, just drop me a comment and I’ll help you sort it out. The resources include:
- cover picture
- blurb
- excerpt
- my biography and picture
- buying links
- rafflecopter code for $20 gift voucher
If you want to send me a suitable social media link for the rafflecopter, your post will you get a slot on the entry form.
A New Jemima
Talking of biogs and pictures, there was a post circulated by the Story Reading Ape last week about the need to update your headshot. It’s that fine line between the person you want to present to the world and the person that turns up at personal events. Since there was a really nice pic of me at the Bloggers Bash last year, I’ve decided to use that, at least for any works outside the Princelings series. I’ll be using this one progressively in new work.
This is the full size version; I’ll do some cropping before I get going with it in blogs and so on.
Tackling the new ebook technology
Given I’ve been talking to people about ebooks and the trouble of paying people to format their books, I was interested to see how much trouble uploading Corsair to KDP and Smashwords would be. As you may remember, I’ve changed to using Mac, and both KDP and Smashwords want Word docs for upload.
I can export my Mac file to Word, but judging from last year, it’s a painful process. It seems that even more things get hidden in the Word file than usual, and then I have to try and sort that out on my old computer.
I gave it a go this time, and the epub and mobi files both had weird random enlargements of words and sentences. There was no apparent reason for this, and just changing the source file again didn’t help. Then I realised that Smashwords accepted epub formatted files. I could export my Mac file into epub. Even better, I could reformat my work to how I wanted it to look, export it to epub, and it looked exactly how I wanted it.
So I sent those files to KDP and Smashwords – and that worked very easily.
Although I did revert to a plain text file, just to start clean before my super-format. That was choose the font, put chapter headings in ‘heading’ style, do bold and italic with cmd-b or i (ctrl-b or i), and add my links and contents (which is much easier on Mac than Word).
So I’m not going anywhere near Word in future!
ARC copies
Having downloaded the epub (and mobi) file from Smashwords to check, and the mobi file from KDP to check, I have copies to send to anyone that I fancy sending one to. I really don’t understand why people are paying other people to format their work badly, and load it up to KDP, and not downloading their check mobi file for their own use for freebie copies. It’s very simple, and it took me half a day from the edited manuscript to live on the stores (including the diversion into Word that didn’t work).
Maybe I’m just a control freak. But I am ready to launch!
So – advance review copies of Curved Space to Corsair are available! And they look good. Just ask me for one and tell me where you’ll be posting your review.
Pre-order Curved Space to Corsair at Amazon, iTunes, B&N, Kobo. Also available at Smashwords on launch day, 22nd January.
Lovely new pic, Jemima, although I do miss your guinea pig. 😉 My TBR pile is much too big right now so I’ll pass on your ARC offer, unless you wouldn’t mind about a year’s delay in the review. I’ve taken a break from my own writing as I deal with finding a job on top of keeping house and carrying for family. Forgive me
Thanks, Suzanne. I think there are times when we just have to devote our energies to things like job or house-seeking and family. Writing will still be there. I hope 🙂
My only pics of guinea pugs with me at present are in the morning with me unkempt, unwashed and in my dressing gown! Bertie is particularly fond of selfies , as was Kevin. I didn’t really appreciate the depth of wrinkles displayed! I’m keeping the guinea pig one for the Princelings books and on Facebook for now.
I had noticed the new avatar popping up – very nice!
Thanks, Anabel. I think sunnies may be the best way to go 🙂
I’ll help with release day. Email me at patricialynne07 @ gmail with all the details.
The text is on its way. If you need to redo links or anything, all the details are in the drop-down from ‘Contact’ on the menu bar – Book Launch Resources. http://jemimapett.com/contact/book-launch-sign-form/
That cover is glorious! And I’m impressed with your knowledge and willingness to take the time to format and control the e-book technology. The idea gives me headaches and could prevent me from wanting to publish my next novel. Some of us just don’t ‘have it’ like you do. Many congrats – fun to follow you on your ride.
Thanks! It’s lovely to link-up with you, too!
Hey, I have internet for a few days, so I’ll pop up a post for the 22nd (I think I can even get at a real computer so I can format it).
About using the Mac for doing books and ebooks, I use Word for Mac and haven’t had any problems (as far as I know. You might have another opinion!). But for the print books with CS I’ve always had to export a PDF version and upload that. I know that the first few times I formatted an ebook it was torture, but it’s gotten to be pretty easy for me. I don’t know why you get weird artifacts in it, though!
The weird artefacts are to do with embedded codes that get further jumbled when converting in Mac to Word. Exporting the Mac file to ePub and then uploading it was a cinch.
I used to do my CS books in one of their templates and didn’t get problems with that. Now I do them using Blurb, which gives me different problems, but mainly due to my stupidity and their not-quite sensible rules from the authors pov, although it makes complete sense from a publishing systems pov.