Shelfari

My Bookshelf

Friday 29 August 2014

Tables & Text Boxes in eBooks

Tables and Text Boxes are apparently a huge no go area for eBooks.  This could cause considerable pain for for some authors, and I would hope their is a way around it.

Apparently tables and text boxes are to complicated so of course being me; set off on another journey of discovery and research to see what I could find to alter two text boxes and a table so they would would and the book be approved for online publication.

Where to go, how to look, someone must know something and google generally has the answer.  I typed in the search page "Why don't Tables and Text Boxes work in eBooks?"   Well it didn't answer the why, though it did show a way which may work.  One I had sort of used, though of course I had to be slightly more complicated.

Turn the table or text box into an image (jpeg)  Eureka I cry.  Well no actually I just thought, well typical, as I said I'd already done this sort of with the text boxes, though not brilliant I now know the correct way to do them.   "Take a Screen Shot."

Now for the next learning curve...How to take a screen shot, i've never been sucessful yet, though with my sheer determination I will this time.  No more problems for me, just make sure things that don't work in eBooks are images and ..........yay.

Last Question

I re-inserted an image that wouldn't open in e-book format (epub & mobi) Now it has disappeared altogether, guess I may have to re-draw the picture and then do a screen shot.   Grrrr.

Thursday 28 August 2014

Girlie and the War of the Wasps

Time to share again.

This is my latest work, a book for young readers or parents to read to their child.  It depends on the ages, though I have also aimed the story to be enjoyed by adults as well.  After all there is a child in all of us.

Girlie is a bright blue ladybug, not the usual red.  One thing I have discovered with this story is the many different colours of ladybugs, green, yellow, orange, blue, purple and even pink.  I wonder what they think when they meet up.

Anyway Girlie is a young blue ladybug who is walking through the village green with her family, since she loves to look at everything, Girlie gets left behind.  A sudden buzzing noise makes her hide, a scream and over her head flies a nasty wasp with her best friend in it's clutches.  Poor Grassi.

The adventure begins.  Will Girlie save the day and her friend, Who will she meet along the way, will they all be friendly or not.

I look forward with sharing more of this story with you.

Tuesday 5 August 2014

Then Business Bloomed

Welcome to my blog.  I thought it was time I told you all about my latest venture which I have been building on over the last 10 weeks.

As you all know I love to write, hate to edit, love to format and publish.

During one of my sessions at the local writers group I got to introduce myself and tell them what I was doing, what I was writing.  It was very exciting for me to share my experiences with everyone, including handing out my writing business card.  It was great and I think I may start doing some talks with various groups at some stage.

One of the other participant later contacted me and asked if I would format their book for them.  Well why not I thought, I can do this.  From that moment on my business was born.  Not that I knew it then.

Welcome to Plaisted Publishing House Limited  :D



http://plaistedpublishing.wix.com/self-publish-service

The book was formatted, an article in the local paper.  Two weeks later I had my own article in the paper and I can honestly say I've not looked back only forward.  I have had around 12 contacts in the past 8 weeks.  I have 8 clients, several who are soon to be published at online book stores world wide.  Most are local to where I live in Rotorua, the other is in Gisborne.

The most frustrating thing so far though is the lack of cheap Print on Demand (POD) in New Zealand, it is slowly getting here though still extremely expensive.  At present I print overseas.

The best thing is helping others to achieve.  My daughter is doing a graphic design paper and my proofreader is part way through her training to.  It is all go.

My clients are delighted with the work so far and are getting excited about holding their own books.  My next learning curve is Marketing.   HELP

Until next time!