tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79752608569970620282024-03-13T03:35:38.343+00:00Patrick SamphireWriter. E-book and web designer.Patrick Samphirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06237050782966284577noreply@blogger.comBlogger59125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975260856997062028.post-42896313200338215612023-05-14T13:17:00.006+01:002023-05-14T13:17:54.771+01:00Phrozen Sonic Mini 8kS Review Vs Original Mini 8k - Cheaper and Better<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>It's amazing what budget 3D printers can do these days. Look at this one.<br /></p><p></p><p><iframe frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://youtube.com/embed/pM4CHhyUEx0" width="480"></iframe></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">
This post by Patrick Samphire. First posted at http://patricksamphire.blogspot.com/</div>Patrick Samphirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06237050782966284577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975260856997062028.post-25037005791029433812023-05-03T22:36:00.002+01:002023-05-03T22:36:20.043+01:00Uniformation GKtwo - BEST 3D Printer 2023 - Uniformation GK TWO Review<iframe frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://youtube.com/embed/ZUo-jEt8-5Y" width="480"></iframe><div class="blogger-post-footer">
This post by Patrick Samphire. First posted at http://patricksamphire.blogspot.com/</div>Patrick Samphirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06237050782966284577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975260856997062028.post-80058947192161206162013-04-18T19:27:00.002+01:002013-04-18T19:27:46.169+01:00Today I have been mostly...Today I have been mostly blogging on <a href="http://onefourkidlit.wordpress.com/">this group blog</a>.<br />
<br />
It's mainly an introduction blog entry, so if you already know me, you probably don't need to see it. If you don't already know me, well, hello!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://onefourkidlit.wordpress.com/2013/04/18/patrick-samphire-secrets-of-the-dragon-tomb/">Here's the blog entry</a>.<div class="blogger-post-footer">
This post by Patrick Samphire. First posted at http://patricksamphire.blogspot.com/</div>Patrick Samphirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06237050782966284577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975260856997062028.post-3871906864410381132013-04-18T12:53:00.000+01:002013-04-18T12:53:00.919+01:00New cover: In the Morning Light, by Sarah WilloughbyThis is just a quick blog post to show off a recent ebook cover I did:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZxXnD-a9grw/UW_dj1pdo5I/AAAAAAAAAgc/UixzOjkmwZw/s1600/In-the-Morning-Light-cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZxXnD-a9grw/UW_dj1pdo5I/AAAAAAAAAgc/UixzOjkmwZw/s400/In-the-Morning-Light-cover.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
<br />
Here's the blurb from Amazon:<br />
<br />
In the Morning Light is a collection of stories inspired largely by time spent in the Middle East. It is made of the dreams of new brides, the love in older marriage, as well as the feelings of sadness, loss and hope in everyday life.
This is the tale of seven couples:<br />
<br />
A stagnant marriage.<br />
A woman's need to be with her children again towards the end of her life.<br />
A tale of hope in adverse circumstances.<br />
A young woman married to an older man after her divorce.<br />
A woman alone at the end of a marriage.<br />
An idyllic marriage that may end too soon.<br />
An affair.
<br />
<br />
You can find it at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/In-the-Morning-Light-ebook/dp/B00CC5Z3OO/">Amazon US</a> | <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/In-the-Morning-Light-ebook/dp/B00CC5Z3OO/">Amazon UK</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">
This post by Patrick Samphire. First posted at http://patricksamphire.blogspot.com/</div>Patrick Samphirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06237050782966284577noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975260856997062028.post-68232788083597055482013-03-29T13:31:00.000+00:002013-03-29T13:31:12.122+00:00Cover MadnessEver since I sold <i>Secrets of the Dragon Tomb</i> back in December, the thing I've been most ridiculously excited about is seeing the cover. Even more so than the interior illustrations (and you would not believe how excited I am about them...)<br />
<br />
Now, I know that it's going to be ages until I've got a cover. The publisher has to hire an artist, work with them on what the cover is going to be, go through revisions, approvals, input from marketing and sales and so on and so on.<br />
<br />
Thing is, I can't wait. I just can't.<br />
<br />
Every time I take a look <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16172967-secrets-of-the-dragon-tomb">on goodreads</a>, that sad blank, grey cover looks back at me, mocking me.<br />
<br />
Well, I'm afraid I gave in.<br />
<br />
I bought a rather nice image on a stock photo site, cropped it, and slapped some text on.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IFGUFNjCLWg/UVWXFp_-ioI/AAAAAAAAAgM/iLX2imSvAb0/s1600/secrets-of-the-dragon-tomb-temporary-cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IFGUFNjCLWg/UVWXFp_-ioI/AAAAAAAAAgM/iLX2imSvAb0/s400/secrets-of-the-dragon-tomb-temporary-cover.jpg" width="285" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not the real cover...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
I was tempted to spend ages making it look like a real cover, but Steph quite sensibly gave me dire warnings about the confusion that it might cause.<br />
<br />
So, it doesn't look like a real cover. But at least when I look at goodreads, I don't have that horrible blank giving me the evil eye.<br />
<br />
And if you're on goodreads, feel free to add the book: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16172967-secrets-of-the-dragon-tomb">http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16172967-secrets-of-the-dragon-tomb</a> ;)<div class="blogger-post-footer">
This post by Patrick Samphire. First posted at http://patricksamphire.blogspot.com/</div>Patrick Samphirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06237050782966284577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975260856997062028.post-32529956075028474622013-03-14T16:31:00.002+00:002013-03-14T16:31:46.588+00:00Creating Your Ebook the Right Way: Part 5You can read the previous parts of this Ebook conversion series here:<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<a href="http://patricksamphire.blogspot.com/2013/01/creating-your-ebook-right-way-part-1.html">Part 1</a> | <a href="http://patricksamphire.blogspot.com/2013/01/creating-your-ebook-right-way-part-2.html">Part 2</a> | <a href="http://patricksamphire.blogspot.com/2013/02/creating-your-ebook-right-way-part-3.html">Part 3</a> | <a href="http://patricksamphire.blogspot.com/2013/03/creating-your-ebook-right-way-part-4.html">Part 4</a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In the last part, we finally finished the lengthy process of cleaning up the Word document so that it could be converted to a flawless ebook.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And it was a lengthy process. Which is why, before I show you how to turn the Word document into an ebook, I want to take a quick moment to introduce you to a way of speeding the process up.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If you're likely to ever convert more than one ebook, it would be utterly crazy to plod through every step I've outlined, one at a time. You'd never get finished.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Which is why Macros were invented.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
A Macro is simply a recording of bunch of actions that you take in Word. Here's what you do:</div>
<div>
<ol>
<li>Start to record a Macro.</li>
<li>Carry out the formatting actions in exactly the same way that you normally would.</li>
<li>Stop recording the Macro.</li>
<li>Now, whenever you want to repeat those actions, you play the Macro, and Word carries out the actions automatically <i>exactly</i> the way you recorded them.</li>
</ol>
<div>
Sadly, Macros aren't suitable for every bit of the process of creating an ebook, otherwise this job would be trivial. But you can use them for the parts that you repeat over and over again in exactly the same way.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
For example, remember when we converted all our bolds and italics into weird code? Then later we fixed some issues regarding spaces and line breaks in the weird code and converted back to bolds and italics? Those two processes would each make a good Macro. They were a pain to carry out, but the process for each will always be identical.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So, you'd record those two Macros, one at a time, and save them as something useful (such as 'ConvertBoldItalictoCode' and 'TidyUpandConvertBacktoBoldItalic'. Or whatever. In my version of Word, at least, you can't have any spaces in the names.)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Things that <b>wouldn't</b> be suitable for Macros:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
- Removing multiple spaces and multiple line-breaks (because you have to repeat these actions until you get no more replacements)</div>
<div>
- Copying your text from Word to a text editor and back again (because those actions don't only use Word)</div>
<div>
- Searching for and fixing apostrophes at the beginning of words (because you need to confirm these manually).</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Hopefully, you can go through and figure out what you can save as a Macro and what you can't.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
Recording a Macro</h3>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Go to Tools > Macro > Record New Macro...</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BZe6uH6ItsE/UUH4p5IdFqI/AAAAAAAAAfU/3ZmHCjF_SFE/s1600/love-stories-29.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BZe6uH6ItsE/UUH4p5IdFqI/AAAAAAAAAfU/3ZmHCjF_SFE/s400/love-stories-29.png" width="280" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Enter a name for your Macro (no spaces!) and hit OK.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AGMrzm-qnwc/UUH4u9kDO_I/AAAAAAAAAfc/gxANHniwH5U/s1600/love-stories-30.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AGMrzm-qnwc/UUH4u9kDO_I/AAAAAAAAAfc/gxANHniwH5U/s1600/love-stories-30.png" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
You'll know the Macros is recording because you'll see a little thingy pop up with pause and stop option. Now just go ahead and carry out the formatting actions exactly as you want them to happen.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ptyW1orAs6c/UUH40y1LZ4I/AAAAAAAAAfk/VpFJPCSHohs/s1600/love-stories-31.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ptyW1orAs6c/UUH40y1LZ4I/AAAAAAAAAfk/VpFJPCSHohs/s1600/love-stories-31.png" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
To stop recording the Macro, just press the stop button.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J-BjfGtgD1c/UUH44w1nIjI/AAAAAAAAAfs/eqc66hYWGmY/s1600/love-stories-32.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J-BjfGtgD1c/UUH44w1nIjI/AAAAAAAAAfs/eqc66hYWGmY/s1600/love-stories-32.png" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
As usual, expect this to look slightly different on your version of Word. But you'll have the facility in there.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
How to Run a Macro</h3>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Go to Tools > Macro > Macros...</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-q0BIgfXdVGc/UUH5ELwWDUI/AAAAAAAAAf0/827wronNLUo/s1600/love-stories-33.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-q0BIgfXdVGc/UUH5ELwWDUI/AAAAAAAAAf0/827wronNLUo/s400/love-stories-33.png" width="280" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Choose the Macro from the list. Click Run. It will now perform all the actions you've recorded in a tiny fraction of the time.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tW1-l5QzleM/UUH7QcIpuWI/AAAAAAAAAf8/loqu2ROzq7o/s1600/love-stories-34.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="357" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tW1-l5QzleM/UUH7QcIpuWI/AAAAAAAAAf8/loqu2ROzq7o/s400/love-stories-34.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Learn how and when to use Macros, and they'll save you hours.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
That's it! Next time out, we'll actually be making the ebook, and all this will seem worthwhile.</div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">
This post by Patrick Samphire. First posted at http://patricksamphire.blogspot.com/</div>Patrick Samphirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06237050782966284577noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975260856997062028.post-58048935849076796242013-03-08T18:50:00.002+00:002013-04-04T17:02:12.194+01:00Creating Your Ebook the Right Way: Part 4This is a series of blog posts teaching you how to convert a <b>manuscript</b> (novel / short story / story collection) into an <b>ebook</b> suitable for selling through all the major ebook stores. You can find the previous parts here:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://patricksamphire.blogspot.com/2013/01/creating-your-ebook-right-way-part-1.html">Part 1</a> | <a href="http://patricksamphire.blogspot.com/2013/01/creating-your-ebook-right-way-part-2.html">Part 2</a> | <a href="http://patricksamphire.blogspot.com/2013/02/creating-your-ebook-right-way-part-3.html">Part 3</a><br />
<br />
Apologies for the delay in getting to this latest instalment. Too busy working! But we're back.<br />
<br />
So, last time I left you, we'd just finished clearing out all the extraneous junk that had crept into our Word document when we'd written our story. We've got a few more things to do in Word before we head over and turn this into an ebook.<br />
<br />
<h3>
The few more things</h3>
<br />
We need to make sure that the punctuation turns out the way we expect it when we get to the ebook. The things we're going to cover today are:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>ellipses</li>
<li>em dashes and hyphens</li>
<li>inverted commas and apostrophes</li>
</ul>
<div>
This is a much shorter process than the one I covered in the last part.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
Ellipses</h3>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If you don't know what an ellipsis is, it looks like three dots, and it's used to show where a word or words is omitted from a sentence. Basically, this is it:<br />
<br />
…<br />
<br />
It is also used to indicate a pause or the trailing off of a sentence.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
For example, </div>
<div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"I'm … not sure," he said.</blockquote>
</div>
<div>
When most of us type this while writing, we tend just to hit the period (full stop) key three times.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
However, an ellipsis isn't generally just three periods (full stops) one after another. It's actually a single typesetting mark.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The problem with using three periods is that they may end up being split over the end of a line, and that looks pretty unprofessional. To avoid that, we are going to replace the periods with a proper ellipsis.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
First, though, you need to check how you are actually typing the ellipsis. Like I said, most people just hit the period key three times, but some people leave spaces between the periods, and you may have your own way of doing it.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So, how do we get the ellipses?</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
First, we need to find an ellipsis symbol. This is fairly easy to do. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
Open a blank document. Then go to the 'Insert' menu and click on 'Symbol...'. (Standard disclaimer: your version of Word may look a bit different, but they option will be fairly easy to find.)</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-82LiAkrTUow/UTnHxSESRoI/AAAAAAAAAd8/oZDsRTvBH48/s1600/love-stories-22.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-82LiAkrTUow/UTnHxSESRoI/AAAAAAAAAd8/oZDsRTvBH48/s1600/love-stories-22.png" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<br /></div>
<div>
<br />
When the Symbol dialog box is open, select the ellipsis symbol and click on insert.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hpzNG3ovIfc/UTnIBvi-_JI/AAAAAAAAAeE/ciza-J73qko/s1600/love-stories-23.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="303" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hpzNG3ovIfc/UTnIBvi-_JI/AAAAAAAAAeE/ciza-J73qko/s400/love-stories-23.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div>
You now have an ellipsis symbol in the document. Copy it.<br />
<br />
Now, go back to the document you are formatting. Select 'Replace...' (Edit > Replace... in the menus).</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In the 'Find what' box, type in whatever you use to represent an ellipsis when typing. For example, three periods.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In the 'Replace with' box, just paste the ellipsis symbol you have just copied.<br />
<br />
Click Replace All.<br />
<br />
Done!</div>
<div>
<br />
Now, many of you will have set up Word to automatically convert three periods into an ellipsis when you type your book (look under Tools > AutoCorrect), and you may think that means that Word will have sorted it out already. Well, in most cases it will, but in a few cases, it won't have. You can't rely on it 100%, so follow this easy step and you'll know you've got it right.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Em dashes and hyphens</h3>
<br />
There are basically three types of punctuation mark that look like dashes. The hyphen (-), the en dash (–) and the m dash (—).<br />
<br />
The hyphen is used to, well, hyphenate words. For example:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The well-known author.</blockquote>
(<a href="http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/hyphens.asp">Full rules on when to use a hyphen</a>.)<br />
<br />
The en dash is used when stating a range of time, and it is used to replace the word 'to'. For example,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
1939–1945</blockquote>
The em dash is used as a form of parenthesis or to indicate the abrupt change of thought. In dialogue, we often use it to show a sentence abruptly cut off.<br />
<br />
For example:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"I'm never going to—"</blockquote>
Or:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I thought—I really did—that this would soon be over.</blockquote>
(<a href="http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/dashes.asp">Full rules on when to use en and em dashes</a>.)<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, the only type of dash that you'll see on your keyboard is the hyphen. When we're writing, most of us use the hyphen to represent both the hyphen and the en dash, and use two hyphens (--) to represent the em dash.<br />
<br />
The en dash is rare enough that you can go through and replace instances manually, if you need to (although many authors don't bother, and these is one of the cases where I think it really doesn't matter that much; punctuation police may disagree, but the visual distinction is slight, and you won't use en dash very often in most cases).<br />
<br />
So, what you really need to do is deal with em dashes.<br />
<br />
We're going to do this in exactly the same way as the ellipses.<br />
<br />
In a blank Word document, go to Insert > Symbol. In the 'Symbol' dialogue box, choose 'Special Characters'. Click on Em dash and then Insert.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F0aTqBMyWCQ/UToDllbzATI/AAAAAAAAAeU/EbYEXbWYemQ/s1600/love-stories-24.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="303" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F0aTqBMyWCQ/UToDllbzATI/AAAAAAAAAeU/EbYEXbWYemQ/s400/love-stories-24.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Copy the em dash symbol, return to your main document, and Find and Replace the double hyphen (or whatever you use) with the em dash symbol you copied.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Inverted commas and apostrophes</h3>
<br />
Our final bit to fix up is the inverted commas (quotation marks) and apostrophes.<br />
<br />
Typographical purists will tell you that an apostrophe is not the same thing as a single inverted comma. While this is true, they are as close to identical in appearance as to make no real difference, and I'm going to treat them as the same. If you want to use different typographical marks for them, good luck to you. Life's too short...<br />
<br />
Rather like em dashes or ellipses, most keyboards do not have individual keys for left and right inverted commas. This means that, by default, when you type you get straight, rather than curly, inverted commas and apostrophes. (The ones you'll see reading this blog post are straight). These are, to be frank, a bit crappy and amateur-looking. We want curly ones.<br />
<br />
Which is why word processors, such as Word, have smart quotes functionality, which automatically replaces the straight quotes with curly ones.<br />
<br />
We can leverage this very helpful behaviour to make sure we've got curly quotes. (Chances are you already do, but just in case, let's run through how to get them with your completed document.)<br />
<div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
Go to the Tools menu, then choose 'AutoCorrect...', like so:</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aY_YkmV6nWI/USZI5iWy_xI/AAAAAAAAAcc/xVpMvS8qeII/s1600/love-stories-20.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aY_YkmV6nWI/USZI5iWy_xI/AAAAAAAAAcc/xVpMvS8qeII/s1600/love-stories-20.png" style="cursor: move;" /></a></div>
</div>
<br />
Again, different versions of Word have things in slightly different places, but the options are always there.<br />
<br />
There are two tabs you want to look at. 'AutoFormat as You Type' and 'AutoFormat'. In both cases, make sure that the "Straight quotes" with "smart quotes" option is checked. Click OK.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bekOQNMKNms/UToHera3-qI/AAAAAAAAAek/wlDT2U7ZPqk/s1600/love-stories-25.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bekOQNMKNms/UToHera3-qI/AAAAAAAAAek/wlDT2U7ZPqk/s400/love-stories-25.png" width="389" /></a></div>
<br />
Now, all you need to do is go back to Find and Replace.<br />
<br />
In the Find box type a double (straight) quotation mark. In the Replace box, type exactly the same quotation mark. Now click 'Replace All'.<br />
<br />
Every time a quotation mark is replaced, the AutoFormat will kick in and insert the correct left or right curly quote.<br />
<br />
Do exactly the same with single straight quotation marks in both Find and Replace boxes.<br />
<br />
Now you've got lovely curly quotes everywhere.<br />
<br />
<h3>
A problem</h3>
<br />
In 90% of the cases, your curly quotes will be lovely. But there is one problem. If you have an apostrophe at the beginning of a word, for example:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Go get ‘em.</blockquote>
Or:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Back in ‘45.</blockquote>
The AutoFormat will have replaced it with a left single curly quote, as you can see above, while all other apostrophes will be right single curly quotes, like this:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Don’t do it like that. Do it like this.</blockquote>
If you have these incorrect apostrophes at the beginning of words, you have two choices. You can either leave them the way they are and not care much, or you can fix them.<br />
<br />
If you want to fix them, here's what you need to do. Go to the two AutoFormat tabs (see above) and <b>uncheck</b> the "straight quotes" with "smart quotes" option in both.<br />
<br />
Once again, in a blank Word document, go to Insert > Symbol and insert a single right curly quote ( ’ ). Copy it and head back to the main document.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iTZRma-fWqA/UToYNIzFrvI/AAAAAAAAAe0/aD3tTOI-70Q/s1600/love-stories-26.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="302" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iTZRma-fWqA/UToYNIzFrvI/AAAAAAAAAe0/aD3tTOI-70Q/s400/love-stories-26.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Go to Find and Replace. In the Find box, hit the space bar then type a single straight quote. In the Replace box, hit the space bar then paste the single right curly quote in there.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-id8g2J304bM/UToYSgSSl8I/AAAAAAAAAe8/0ml8dlPszdo/s1600/love-stories-27.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-id8g2J304bM/UToYSgSSl8I/AAAAAAAAAe8/0ml8dlPszdo/s400/love-stories-27.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Unfortunately, you can't do everything automatically, and this is one of the times where you've just got to get your hands dirty. If you click Replace All, then you will also replace any opening single inverted commas that you might need.<br />
<br />
If you know <i>for sure</i> that you don't need any opening single inverted commas, then Replace All. Otherwise, you'll need to go through one at a time by clicking Find Next and checking each to see if you want to replace it.<br />
<br />
When you've done that, you'll need to do the same with any of these apostrophes that come at the beginning of a line. In the Find box, type ^p followed by a straight single quote. In the Replace box, type ^p and paste in the single right curly quote. Again, replace each individually where you need to.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GyPjjIww-B4/UToYX3AiQ9I/AAAAAAAAAfE/MvCj4cn1bDI/s1600/love-stories-28.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="196" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GyPjjIww-B4/UToYX3AiQ9I/AAAAAAAAAfE/MvCj4cn1bDI/s400/love-stories-28.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
That's it.<br />
<br />
Now, you've fixed all of the formatting issues you might need to. You're ready to create a perfect Word document to upload to Smashwords or Amazon, or to create a proper ebook in epub and mobi format. That's what we're going to be doing next.<br />
<br />
See you then!<br />
<br />
<b>Part 5 is now available:</b> <a href="http://patricksamphire.blogspot.com/2013/03/creating-your-ebook-right-way-part-5.html">read part 5 here</a>.<div class="blogger-post-footer">
This post by Patrick Samphire. First posted at http://patricksamphire.blogspot.com/</div>Patrick Samphirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06237050782966284577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975260856997062028.post-89119546083553272732013-02-28T14:18:00.002+00:002013-02-28T16:03:24.363+00:00Cover Case Study: Dueling Magics, by Stephanie BurgisOccasionally, when I put together a new ebook cover for a client, I like to give a little bit of insight as to how it came about what I did to make it, for those of you designing your own covers.<br />
<br />
My latest cover is for a short story called Dueling Magics, by Stephanie Burgis, and here it is:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--anFPp9VcL0/US89fjEwZ0I/AAAAAAAAAdM/tHAr0qE_EBA/s1600/Dueling-Magics-cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--anFPp9VcL0/US89fjEwZ0I/AAAAAAAAAdM/tHAr0qE_EBA/s1600/Dueling-Magics-cover.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
Dueling Magics is a short story set in the time between two of Steph's novels, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Kat-Incorrigible-Stephanie-Burgis/dp/1416994483/">Kat, Incorrigible</a></i> and <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Renegade-Magic-Kat-Incorrigible-Quality/dp/1416994505/">Renegade Magic</a></i> (published in the U.K. as <i><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1848770073">A Most Improper Magick</a></i> and <i><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tangle-Magicks-Unladylike-Adventures-Stephenson/dp/1848774702/">A Tangle of Magicks</a></i>).<br />
<br />
The Kat, Incorrigible books are middle-grade magical adventures in Regency Britain, with lots of humour and romance (for the older characters). Kat is a fantastically sparky, headstrong heroine for the series, and it was important to show that in the cover.<br />
<br />
Very luckily (for me), back when Steph's first book was being prepared for publication, the publisher commissioned a beautiful cover by artist Barnaby Ward, but they eventually decided to go with a different style with the cover. This was the original cover:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephanieburgis/3969115735/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="The Full Jacket for A Most Improper Magick by Stephanie Burgis, on Flickr"><img alt="The Full Jacket for A Most Improper Magick" src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2569/3969115735_54a184bf80.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
Barnaby Ward was kind enough to allow Steph to re-use this artwork for her short story.<br />
<br />
Now, we could simply have chosen to take the front cover of this and change the title, leaving us with a fantastic cover.<br />
<br />
But, the cover was designed primarily for a print book that would be in bookstores, where it could be picked up and examined at full size, with all the texture and weight of a print book. <i>Dueling Magics</i> is an ebook, and with ebooks, the thumbnail is absolute king. I wanted the cover to have more impact at thumbnail size.<br />
<br />
The solution was pretty simple: zoom in on Kat. After all, Kat is the absolute centre of the story. The artist has captured her perfectly.<br />
<br />
So, that was what I did. I cropped the image right in close. (I also changed the background, although now you don't see so much of it.)<br />
<br />
Now that image really pops:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cZjepq3fr_g/US9XCQlYgPI/AAAAAAAAAdk/6-sbBgAjwjk/s1600/dueling-magics-image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cZjepq3fr_g/US9XCQlYgPI/AAAAAAAAAdk/6-sbBgAjwjk/s1600/dueling-magics-image.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
Okay, but it's not done. We need the text.<br />
<br />
Ideally, with a cover, you want a fairly blank space to add the title and author. We don't have any completely blank spaces that are large enough here, but that's okay. The focus points of the image are Kat's face and her magic mirror. We need to leave these clear, but otherwise, we've essentially got blank space.<br />
<br />
We also need to consider where we want to draw the eye on the cover. Well, the most important bits are going to be (probably in this order): the title, Kat's face, the author's name, the series title, and the magic mirror.<br />
<br />
I've designed the text to make this emphasis work.<br />
<br />
Now, I've talked before about the need for subtlety in the effects you add to the text on covers. In general, you don't want to go for enormous drop-shadows, outlines, colour gradients, outer glows and so on. Except when you do.<br />
<br />
In this case, we're dealing with a middle-grade story. That's for readers who are anywhere between about 9 years old to 12 years old (or a year or two on either side). Subtlety is a lot less important in that group. In fact, it can actually be a disadvantage.<br />
<br />
Things need more impact for this age range. Strong colours and big effects are what appeal to them.<br />
<br />
<b>But</b>... it should probably go without saying that you need to do these well, or it'll be a disaster.<br />
<br />
Here's how I chose to actually use the text in the final image:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--anFPp9VcL0/US89fjEwZ0I/AAAAAAAAAdM/tHAr0qE_EBA/s1600/Dueling-Magics-cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--anFPp9VcL0/US89fjEwZ0I/AAAAAAAAAdM/tHAr0qE_EBA/s1600/Dueling-Magics-cover.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
As you can see, I've chosen a pretty heavy effect on both the book title and the series title, to make them stand out against their backgrounds and (for the story title) to pop out of the page.<br />
<br />
Take a look at some commercial middle grade covers (particularly in the younger middle-grade range) and you'll see the designers following the same principles.<br />
<br />
By the way, if you want a copy of <i>Dueling Magics</i>, right now it's <b>free</b> as an <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/289806">ebook in all formats on Smashwords</a> (for now, at least). If you prefer to use Amazon to get your ebooks, the story is available on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dueling-Magics-Incorrigible-Short-ebook/dp/B00BL6SU7M/">Amazon.com</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dueling-Magics-Incorrigible-Short-ebook/dp/B00BL6SU7M/">Amazon.co.uk</a> (as well as the other Amazon international stores), although it isn't free there (but it is the cheapest possible price; Amazon doesn't usually allow authors to make their stories free on Amazon).<br />
<br />
Enjoy the cover, but much more importantly, enjoy the story!<div class="blogger-post-footer">
This post by Patrick Samphire. First posted at http://patricksamphire.blogspot.com/</div>Patrick Samphirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06237050782966284577noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975260856997062028.post-58735849808893082042013-02-08T13:27:00.000+00:002013-03-14T16:27:20.603+00:00Creating Your Ebook the Right Way: Part 3This is part 3 in my series of blog posts about how to turn your novel / short story / collection of stories into an ebook suitable to be sold in all the main ebook stores, such as Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Smashwords, Kobo, Apple iStore and the like.<br />
<br />
If you missed the first two parts, you can find them here: <a href="http://patricksamphire.blogspot.com/2013/01/creating-your-ebook-right-way-part-1.html">Part 1</a> | <a href="http://patricksamphire.blogspot.com/2013/01/creating-your-ebook-right-way-part-2.html">Part 2</a>.<br />
<br />
When we last left off, we had just wiped out all of the formatting from our Word document and copied it into a text editor, such as Notepad. Here's what my document looks like in the text editor:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-blQTT5XyVys/UQ5PDa-eeHI/AAAAAAAAAY0/ynno6ymxc2E/s1600/love-stories-10.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="146" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-blQTT5XyVys/UQ5PDa-eeHI/AAAAAAAAAY0/ynno6ymxc2E/s400/love-stories-10.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
I'm using a code editor called 'Sublime Text 2' for my text editor, which is more high-powered than you need right here. (I use it because it's what I use for other things, like website development. You will be fine at this stage if you're using Notepad or TextEdit.)<br />
<br />
Now that we've got the text in a text editor, we've effectively removed all of the crud that we managed to fill it with when we first wrote our story in Word. But we still need to tidy it up, and then, if we're going to upload a Word document to Smashwords or Amazon, or if we're going to create a PDF version of our ebook, we're going to have to reformat it all.<br />
<br />
That means going back to Word again.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Tidying up</h3>
<br />
Just a glance at the story I'm formatting shows that it's still a bit messy. For instance, there's a space before the © symbol, and a blank line after the copyright line. We don't want those.<br />
<br />
At which point, you might be saying, "Huh? Don't want blank lines? Won't that make everything look crap?*" (*You may choose not to swear, of course.)<br />
<br />
Well, it would. Except blank lines can make a real mess of ebooks. Smashwords suggest that you don't have more than four paragraph returns (four presses of the 'Enter' key) to create space. I'm going to go further: don't have any at all. We have a far better way of creating the space we need, and we'll come to that later.<br />
<br />
Right now, we're going to get rid of all the unnecessary stuff like extra spaces and blank lines, and do some other tidying-up and conversion at the same time.<br />
<br />
At this point, I should note that Smashwords has <a href="http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/52">an excellent and thorough guide for formatting documents for Smashwords</a>. If you are going to upload a Word document to Smashwords, you should familiarise yourself thoroughly with it.<br />
<br />
But we want to do more here. We want Word versions for Smashwords and Amazon, and we also want epub and mobi versions, so we'll go about things a little differently.<br />
<br />
First thing, though, is to get back to Word.<br />
<br />
Open a brand-new, blank document in Word.<br />
<br />
Copy all the text from your text editor, and paste it into the blank Word document. Now save it.<br />
<br />
It should look something like this, depending on how your blank template is set up in Word (mine has double line spacing and indented paragraphs; yours may be different; it doesn't really matter at this stage):<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Xqfc71qkOk4/UQ5Tzj2R-WI/AAAAAAAAAZM/TFDHo0hM7t8/s1600/love-stories-11.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="253" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Xqfc71qkOk4/UQ5Tzj2R-WI/AAAAAAAAAZM/TFDHo0hM7t8/s400/love-stories-11.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Right now, it probably doesn't look much different from the way it did when you last had it in Word, which might make the process seem a little redundant. But you can be absolutely sure now that there are no lingering, ugly bits of formatting that would mess you up at a later stage.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Tabs</h3>
<br />
Some people indent their paragraphs using the 'tab' key. Even if you don't usually, there might still be a few places where you've done that.<br />
<br />
The process we've followed so far won't have got rid of your tabs, and we don't want them in our ebooks, so let's get rid of them first.<br />
<br />
Open up the 'Replace' function in Word. In the Find box, type exactly this:<br />
<br />
^t<br />
<br />
The Replace box should be completely empty.<br />
<br />
Make sure you don't have any formatting options, like bold or italic, still set in these boxes from earlier in the process. If you do, clear that formatting first.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Your Find and Replace should look like this:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mId5mlNS5NY/UQ5X9XJ4VQI/AAAAAAAAAZs/kS8SEtVH9qM/s1600/love-stories-13.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mId5mlNS5NY/UQ5X9XJ4VQI/AAAAAAAAAZs/kS8SEtVH9qM/s400/love-stories-13.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<br />
Click 'Replace All'.<br />
<br />
Your tabs should now all be gone.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Extra spaces</h3>
<br />
Next up, we want to get rid of any extra spaces that we've got. These might be at the beginning or end of lines, or you may be in the habit of typing two spaces after a full-stop (period). Maybe you use spaces to indent your paragraphs. Or you might just have stuck some in by mistake or to space things out.<br />
<br />
Whichever, we don't want them. Not in ebooks.<br />
<br />
<b>Multiple spaces</b><br />
<br />
First, we'll get rid of any multiple spaces.<br />
<br />
Again, go to 'Replace' in Word.<br />
<br />
Make sure there's nothing at all in either the Find or Replace boxes. No formatting. No typing. Nothing. Put your cursor in each of the boxes in turn and delete anything in there.<br />
<br />
Now, go to the Find box and hit the space bar twice.<br />
<br />
Then, to go the Replace box and hit the space bar once.<br />
<br />
Click on 'Replace All'.<br />
<br />
You may well have to do this several times. Keep going until Word finds nothing more to replace. I had to do it three times with the document I'm working with before Word said it found 0 replacements.<br />
<br />
<b>Spaces at the end of lines</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
In general, spaces at the end of lines won't cause you too many problems, because they'll be ignored. But to be really sure, let's get rid of them anyway. It won't take long.<br />
<br />
'Replace' is your friend again.<br />
<br />
As before, make sure there's absolutely nothing typed in the Find or Replace boxes, and no formatting.<br />
<br />
In the Find box, hit the spacebar once, then type the following exactly:<br />
<br />
^p<br />
<br />
In the Replace box, type the following exactly (without any spaces):<br />
<br />
^p<br />
<br />
So:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iNiOooHp2NI/UQ5bGQOtB8I/AAAAAAAAAaE/65xx_yeA9OU/s1600/love-stories-14.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="196" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iNiOooHp2NI/UQ5bGQOtB8I/AAAAAAAAAaE/65xx_yeA9OU/s400/love-stories-14.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Then click 'Replace All'. The ^p that you typed is the symbol for a paragraph return in Word. We are searching the Word document for any paragraph return that is preceded by a space, and then we are replacing it with just the paragraph return, <i>sans</i> spaces.<br />
<br />
<b>Spaces at the beginning of lines</b><br />
<br />
More important are the spaces at the beginning of lines, like the one I've got at the beginning of the copyright statement. These will make a mess of your formatting. The procedure is very similar.<br />
<br />
Go to 'Replace'.<br />
<br />
Clear out everything that's in there, including spaces.<br />
<br />
In the Find box, type ^p and hit the spacebar once.<br />
<br />
In the Replace box, type ^p without any spaces.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Lzt2M_P2ksI/UQ5cHMcKxcI/AAAAAAAAAaM/Qve7NKcB3bU/s1600/love-stories-15.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="197" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Lzt2M_P2ksI/UQ5cHMcKxcI/AAAAAAAAAaM/Qve7NKcB3bU/s400/love-stories-15.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Click 'Replace All'.<br />
<br />
I had a lot of these spaces at the beginning of lines. (Tut-tut!). Now I have none. (Yay!)<br />
<br />
This time, we are searching for any paragraph returns that are immediately followed by a space (at the beginning of the new paragraph), and we are replacing them with just the paragraph return. No space.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Blank lines</h3>
<br />
Remember we don't want blank lines either. So, we're going to get rid of them.<br />
<br />
The way we do this is, as usual, with 'Replace'. Open up the Replace function in Word. In the Find box, type exactly this:<br />
<br />
^p^p<br />
<br />
In the Replace box, type exactly this:<br />
<br />
^p<br />
<br />
Like so:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XWg1zDNA0I4/UQ5VIeI4HxI/AAAAAAAAAZU/VDDQw4cWGGE/s1600/love-stories-12.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XWg1zDNA0I4/UQ5VIeI4HxI/AAAAAAAAAZU/VDDQw4cWGGE/s400/love-stories-12.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Replace All.<br />
<br />
Remember, the ^p that you typed is the symbol for a paragraph return. Twice means that there are two paragraph returns, one directly after the other, which means a blank line. We replace the two paragraph returns with a single one.<br />
<br />
You need to repeat this process until there are no more results of the Find and Replace. If you've used a lot of paragraph returns at various points, this might take a few goes.<br />
<br />
When you're done, have a quick scroll through your document. There shouldn't be any blank lines anywhere.<br />
<br />
If there are any, and you've followed all of this, that probably means there's some other formatting in the way. Click on the show / hide formatting symbol in the toolbar on Word. It looks like this:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1rsgJdiVhcs/UQ5dK5k_-0I/AAAAAAAAAaU/6EFlAqdThC8/s1600/love-stories-16.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1rsgJdiVhcs/UQ5dK5k_-0I/AAAAAAAAAaU/6EFlAqdThC8/s1600/love-stories-16.png" /></a></div>
<br />
Scroll through and look at the formatting. Paragraph returns are shown with the above symbol. If you have two together anywhere, just manually delete one.<br />
<br />
Hopefully, you won't have to do that. I find that my version of Word makes me do this if there are two paragraph returns right at the end of the document. Who knows why?<br />
<br />
<h3>
Sorting out italics</h3>
<br />
Now, you'll recall that we replaced our italics with placeholders, so that we could easily reinsert them. Everything that should be italic starts with <em> and ends with </em> (or whatever other placeholder you chose. We need to reverse that.<br />
<br />
But first, we're going to tidy up any poor formatting around the italics.<br />
<br />
We want to make sure that the text and only the text (and any spaces <i>in between</i> words) are italicised. For example, we want to make sure that no spaces at the beginning or end of the italicised text are also included. And we want to make sure the paragraph returns aren't within the italics. Doing this will mean that, when we convert to epub later on, there are fewer issues to deal with.<br />
<br />
We're going to use Find and Replace again, of course.<br />
<br />
First up, in the Find box type the following:<br />
<br />
<em> and then hit the spacebar.<br />
<br />
In the Replace box, hit the spacebar then type the following:<br />
<br />
<em><br />
<br />
Replace All.<br />
<br />
Next, in the Find box hit the spacebar then type:<br />
<br />
</em><br />
<br />
In the Replace box type:<br />
<br />
</em> then hit the spacebar.<br />
<br />
Replace All.<br />
<br />
Now the line breaks.<br />
<br />
In the Find box, type:<br />
<br />
^p</em><br />
<br />
In the Replace box, type:<br />
<br />
</em>^p<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Im2muqeej1o/UQ7Oz9TweiI/AAAAAAAAAas/iim9H8FUM5E/s1600/love-stories-17.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Im2muqeej1o/UQ7Oz9TweiI/AAAAAAAAAas/iim9H8FUM5E/s400/love-stories-17.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Replace All.<br />
<br />
And finally...<br />
<br />
In the Find Box, type:<br />
<br />
<em>^p<br />
<br />
In the Replace Box type:<br />
<br />
^p<em><br />
<br />
Replace All.<br />
<br />
Phew. That was kind of exhausting.<br />
<br />
Now do exactly the same with bold. (Remembering that we used <strong> and </strong> to wrap the bold text.)<br />
<br />
<h3>
Getting back the italics</h3>
<br />
We've tidied up the italics, but now we actually have to turn them <i>into</i> italics again. This may appear a little more complex, but it's really quite easy. Just type exactly what I show, and it'll work.<br />
<br />
As usual, go to 'Replace' in Word.<br />
<br />
In the Find box, type exactly this:<br />
<br />
\<em\>*\</em\>
<br />
<br />
Click on the down arrow (if you haven't already) to show the further options. Click on the 'Use wildcards' checkbox, to make sure it is checked. (Remember, your version of Word may do this differently, but you'll be able to select 'Use wildcards' as an option somehow. Use your 'help' button if necessary.)<br />
<br />
In the Replace box, type exactly this:<br />
<br />
^&<br />
<br />
Still in the Replace box, choose 'Font' from the 'Format' dropdown, and then click on Italic and OK.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ERSakAmiPIM/UQ7SP-fhBOI/AAAAAAAAAa0/XMZh_hDvcb0/s1600/love-stories-18.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="363" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ERSakAmiPIM/UQ7SP-fhBOI/AAAAAAAAAa0/XMZh_hDvcb0/s400/love-stories-18.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Replace All<br />
<br />
The appropriate parts of the manuscript should now be italicised. You'll note, though, that we still have the <em> and </em> markers:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9yh4c_xw0SE/UQ7StRMW4ZI/AAAAAAAAAa8/5HU0iwTQ-mM/s1600/love-stories-19.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="97" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9yh4c_xw0SE/UQ7StRMW4ZI/AAAAAAAAAa8/5HU0iwTQ-mM/s400/love-stories-19.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Good old Find and Replace will sort that out.<br />
<br />
In the Find box, type:<br />
<br />
<em><br />
<br />
In the Replace box, clear the formatting (click the 'No formatting' button, or similar) and delete everything that is in the box, so it is blank (not even spaces).<br />
<br />
Replace All.<br />
<br />
Do the same, but with </em> in the Find box.<br />
<br />
Sorted. You now have italics back, without any errors at all in the formatting.<br />
<br />
You need to do the same with bold. You can probably figure out how. (Hint: in the Find box, you'll be typing: \<strong\>*\</strong\> ).<br />
<br />
There's some more tidying up to do before we style this document, but this has been a long entry, so let's leave if for next time.<br />
<br />
If you're getting stuck or confused, feel free to ask questions in the comments!<br />
<br />
<b>Part 4 is now available: </b><a href="http://patricksamphire.blogspot.com/2013/03/creating-your-ebook-right-way-part-4.html">read part 4 here</a>.<br />
<br />
(<i>Note: if you are interested in hiring me for ebook cover design or ebook formatting, you can see samples of my work here: </i><a href="http://www.50secondsnorth.com/ebooks/">http://www.50secondsnorth.com/ebooks/</a> <i>and see details (including cost) of my services here: </i><a href="http://www.50secondsnorth.com/ebooks/details-rates.html">http://www.50secondsnorth.com/ebooks/details-rates.html</a>)<div class="blogger-post-footer">
This post by Patrick Samphire. First posted at http://patricksamphire.blogspot.com/</div>Patrick Samphirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06237050782966284577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975260856997062028.post-57824206036097429552013-02-05T20:57:00.001+00:002013-02-05T21:03:18.155+00:00Secrets of the Dragon Tomb!And another one! (<a href="http://patricksamphire.blogspot.com/2013/02/thrilling-martian-tales.html">See previous post</a>.)<br />
<br />
This time for <i>Secrets of the Dragon Tomb</i> itself.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7F7VOqoPfok/URFxWpbFbWI/AAAAAAAAAcE/8c6dozTh2H8/s1600/secrets-of-the-dragon-tomb-pulp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7F7VOqoPfok/URFxWpbFbWI/AAAAAAAAAcE/8c6dozTh2H8/s1600/secrets-of-the-dragon-tomb-pulp.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
Thanks again to <a href="http://thrilling-tales.webomator.com/derange-o-lab/pulp-o-mizer/pulp-o-mizer.html">Pulp-O-mizer</a>. (Yes, I could do this all day...)<br />
<br />
(<i>Secrets of the Dragon Tomb</i> will be published by Christy Ottaviano Books (Henry Holt / Macmillan) ... in the future.)<br />
<br />
Also <a href="http://www.stephanieburgis.com/blog/an-alternate-cover-for-renegade-magic.php" target="_blank">check out the cover I did for Steph's middle grade fantasy novel, Renegade Magic</a> (<i>Kat, Incorrigible</i> book 2) which is out now in hardcover and in mass market paperback on March 5, 2013.<div class="blogger-post-footer">
This post by Patrick Samphire. First posted at http://patricksamphire.blogspot.com/</div>Patrick Samphirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06237050782966284577noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975260856997062028.post-60424611501752165742013-02-05T18:08:00.000+00:002013-02-05T18:08:06.632+00:00Thrilling Martian Tales!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wwReXYEvDu4/URFJtdPrnmI/AAAAAAAAAbs/yBcpIUg3si4/s1600/thrilling-martian-tales-cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wwReXYEvDu4/URFJtdPrnmI/AAAAAAAAAbs/yBcpIUg3si4/s1600/thrilling-martian-tales-cover.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
So, in my upcoming middle grade novel, <i>Secrets of the Dragon Tomb</i>, there are frequent references to a fictional pulp magazine called <i>Thrilling Martian Tales</i>. My protagonist is a bit obsessed with it, and with the British-Martian spy, Captain W A Masters, who stars in it.<br />
<br />
When Steph tweeted a link to the incredibly awesome <a href="http://thrilling-tales.webomator.com/derange-o-lab/pulp-o-mizer/pulp-o-mizer.html">pulp-o-mizer</a>, I thought it was a fantastic chance to mock up a cover for the magazine.<br />
<br />
Sadly, you can only order the magazine on Mars in 1816. Get out your clockwork time machines and go buy it!<div class="blogger-post-footer">
This post by Patrick Samphire. First posted at http://patricksamphire.blogspot.com/</div>Patrick Samphirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06237050782966284577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975260856997062028.post-79801721409870887242013-01-31T14:48:00.001+00:002013-03-08T18:33:47.322+00:00Creating Your Ebook the Right Way: Part 2In <a href="http://patricksamphire.blogspot.com/2013/01/creating-your-ebook-right-way-part-1.html">the previous part of this series</a>, we collected together all of the material we are going to use in our ebook and figured out all of the different types of formatting we were going to need.<br />
<br />
Now, we're going to utterly destroy it.<br />
<br />
<h3>
The Patented, Double-Nuke Destruction</h3>
<br />
The thing is, Microsoft Word (and other similar word-processing programmes) fill your document with vast amounts of crud. You probably aren't noticing, because it's hidden from plain view, but it's there, and if you don't get rid of it, your ebook is going to be a mess.<br />
<br />
So, we're going to get rid of it. Violently and permanently. And we're going to get rid of all of our formatting at the same time.<br />
<br />
Then we're going to put the formatting back in properly.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, we're going to end up repeating our actions a few times in this process. That's because we're going to be producing both a Word document that can be used for Smashwords (and Amazon, and a PDF) as well as the mobi and epub versions. If you've decided only to create the mobi and epub versions, some of this will be redundant. It should be fairly easy to figure out which bits those are.<br />
<br />
Okay, if you're a Microsoft Word genius, you might already have done all the formatting perfectly. If so, good for you. Otherwise, for those of us who are fallible mortals, let's go...<br />
<br />
Actually, wait! Let's not go just yet.<br />
<br />
See, if you're like me, your manuscript is full of italics. We writers do love our italics. And we've probably got a few bolds as well. When we fireball the formatting, we're going to lose all of those. And who wants to go through the whole manuscript putting every single italic back in?<br />
<br />
So, let's be smart about this.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Being Smart About This</h3>
<br />
We might have to lose our italics and bolds, but we can put in placeholders to show where they should be, and then automatically reinsert the italics and bolds afterwards.<br />
<br />
The problem with this is that we are going to end up putting those placeholders around our headings too. And we don't want to do that. We're going to format our headings in a different way.<br />
<br />
So, before we even put in our placeholders, we're going to clear all the formatting of the headings. Luckily, Word makes it easy for us to do this.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-l2QVW07iEgg/UQkcR0b5cLI/AAAAAAAAAXo/PpAbZPQEk7A/s1600/love-stories-3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="205" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-l2QVW07iEgg/UQkcR0b5cLI/AAAAAAAAAXo/PpAbZPQEk7A/s400/love-stories-3.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Click anywhere on a heading. Then use the dropdown menu shown and select 'Clear Formatting'.<br />
<br />
Note: I'm using Word 2004 (on a Mac), because this is my preferred version. I think it's easier than more recent versions. Different versions of Word may have the functionality we're using in different places. However all the things I'm going to do <i>should</i> be possible on any recent version of Word. You may have to go digging around menus or the help section to find them, though.<br />
<br />
Once you've selected 'Clear Formatting', your heading should now be formatted in exactly the same way as standard text ('Normal'). Do the same for all other headings in the document. (Make sure you do it for all the headings in the supplemental material, as well as the story.)<br />
<br />
Done that?<br />
<br />
Awesome.<br />
<br />
Now let's go through and deal with those italics and bolds.<br />
<br />
First up, the italics.<br />
<br />
In your version of Word, go to "Replace...". On my ancient version, that's in the 'Edit' menu. You can also get to it on a Mac by this shortcut: Shift + Command + H (I assume on a PC you would use Shift + Ctrl + H, but I haven't used a PC for a few years now).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-B3TbI5AxSKg/UQp-BebwqVI/AAAAAAAAAYE/xWNZUYGA8Z8/s1600/love-stories-4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-B3TbI5AxSKg/UQp-BebwqVI/AAAAAAAAAYE/xWNZUYGA8Z8/s400/love-stories-4.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
In the 'Find' box you need to select 'Italic' for format. On my version, you click on the down arrow, then select Format.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5Eee4hSRsVU/UQp-WqTSRtI/AAAAAAAAAYM/E9LLEZ1A2ds/s1600/love-stories-5.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="367" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5Eee4hSRsVU/UQp-WqTSRtI/AAAAAAAAAYM/E9LLEZ1A2ds/s400/love-stories-5.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Then choose Font from the 'Format' dropdown menu, click on 'Italic' and 'OK'. Your version of Word, again, may vary in exact details.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VUtbBP0V-zs/UQp-hpfCPcI/AAAAAAAAAYU/ityt7mCOiy8/s1600/love-stories-6.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VUtbBP0V-zs/UQp-hpfCPcI/AAAAAAAAAYU/ityt7mCOiy8/s400/love-stories-6.png" width="340" /></a></div>
<br />
This gives you:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WqTdwqvYC-8/UQp-umCUqEI/AAAAAAAAAYc/NmC2z_7Oe40/s1600/love-stories-7.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="363" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WqTdwqvYC-8/UQp-umCUqEI/AAAAAAAAAYc/NmC2z_7Oe40/s400/love-stories-7.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
In the 'Replace' box you need to select 'Not Italic' for the Format (same process as above) and type in the following: <em>^&</em><br />
<br />
Then click 'Replace All'.<br />
<br />
What you've told Word to do is find everything that is in italic, take that content (denoted by ^&), wrap it between <em> and </em>, and then remove the italic formatting. (The <em> and </em> are the HTML way of denoting italic; you can choose whatever you like, as long as it's not something that actually occurs in the text).<br />
<br />
For example, if your original document had the following:<br />
<br />
<i>This is in italics.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
It should now look like:<br />
<br />
<em>This is in italics.</em><br />
<br />
In the document now.<br />
<br />
You have removed all the italics from your text, but you know exactly where they will go for later use.<br />
<br />
Fantastic. Now you are going to do exactly the same with bold.<br />
<br />
In this case, select Format: Bold in the Find Box and Format: Not Bold in the Replace box. (You may have to clear the previous italic and not italic formatting in these boxes. You should have a 'No Formatting' button in Find and Replace that does this.) In the Replace box type exactly this: <strong>^&</strong><br />
<br />
(Again, <strong> is the way you represent bold in HTML. More on HTML later; it's not that hard, and I'll explain these tags we've used.)<br />
<br />
Now we're ready to clear the formatting from the whole document.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Nuke Number 1</h3>
<br />
Select all the text in the document (Command + A on a Mac; Ctrl + A on a PC) and choose 'Clear Formatting' from the dropdown menu, just as you did for the headings.<br />
<br />
Everything should now be in basic text formatting.<br />
<br />
That should be enough, right?<br />
<br />
Well, not quite. There could still be crud lurking around.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Nuke Number 2</h3>
<br />
Select everything again. This time, copy it.<br />
<br />
We're going to paste everything into a plain text editor.<br />
<br />
Plain text editors include:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Notepad (On your PC already ... hopefully)</li>
<li>TextEdit (On your Mac already ... hopefully)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.barebones.com/products/textwrangler/">TextWrangler</a> (Free; Mac only)</li>
<li><a href="http://macromates.com/">TextMate</a> (Free trial period; Mac only)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.sublimetext.com/">Sublime Text</a> (Free trial period; PC, Mac or Linux)</li>
<li>Any other basic HTML editor</li>
</ul>
<br />
And so on. <i>Don't</i> use any text editor with formatting facilities. For example, WordPad would be completely unsuitable.<br />
<br />
Notepad is ideal for this, but we will be using either TextMate or Sublime Text later on in this series, so you may want to consider getting one of those at some point.<br />
<br />
So, paste everything you copied from Word into a new document in one of those text editors and save it as a .txt file (e.g., 'my-book.txt').<br />
<br />
Right. That's enough for today. Next time, we'll put the text back into Word and do some cleaning up of this text so that we can get it properly formatted for Smashwords or Amazon upload.<br />
<br />
See you then!<br />
<br />
<b>Part 3 is now available: </b><a href="http://patricksamphire.blogspot.com/2013/02/creating-your-ebook-right-way-part-3.html">read part 3 here</a>.<br />
<br />
(<i>Note: if you are interested in hiring me for ebook cover design or ebook formatting, you can see samples of my work here: </i><a href="http://www.50secondsnorth.com/ebooks/">http://www.50secondsnorth.com/ebooks/</a> <i>and see details (including cost) of my services here: </i><a href="http://www.50secondsnorth.com/ebooks/details-rates.html">http://www.50secondsnorth.com/ebooks/details-rates.html</a>)<div class="blogger-post-footer">
This post by Patrick Samphire. First posted at http://patricksamphire.blogspot.com/</div>Patrick Samphirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06237050782966284577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975260856997062028.post-92140838006829928392013-01-25T14:17:00.002+00:002013-03-08T18:32:41.179+00:00Creating Your Ebook the Right Way: Part 1Turning your manuscript into a well-formatted ebook that works on most e-readers can be an enormous challenge for writers. Information on how to do it is sparse, and some ebook vendors seem determined to keep details of what works and doesn't work on their devices a state secret.<br />
<br />
This blog series is going to tell everything you know to turn your novel or short story manuscript into formats that work for most e-reader devices.<br />
<br />
We'll start by creating a properly formatted Word document, then convert it to the epub format (suitable for most e-readers), and finally convert it again into mobi format for Kindle.<br />
<br />
There are a large number of ebook stores that you might want to distribute your ebook through, including your own website, but the main stores you are going to be interested in are Amazon and Smashwords (which can distribute your ebook to most other stores).<br />
<br />
Smashwords allows you to upload either a Word or .epub version of your book. We'll discuss the pros and cons of these approaches later in this series of blog posts, and I'll show you how to create both formats here.<br />
<br />
I'm going to assume that you are working in Microsoft Word. You don't have to. Other word processors have similar capabilities, but the examples and processes I show will be in Word.<br />
<br />
Note that this guide is only for converting a novel / short story / story collection manuscript. If your book has a complex layout (e.g., it's a technical book), you really need to employ a professional.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Assemble Everything</h3>
<br />
First things first. You're going to have more in your ebook than just the story. Here are some things you might want to include:<br />
<ul>
<li>Title Page</li>
<li>Dedication</li>
<li>Story (!)</li>
<li>Info about other stories / books you have available</li>
<li>Biography</li>
<li>Acknowledgements</li>
<li>Copyright Page</li>
<li>And so on</li>
</ul>
What you want to do is put all of this in a single Word document. The only things you are going to leave out are the images. We'll add these later. Right now, they'd just be in the way.<br />
<br />
You should put as much of the supplementary material at the end as possible. In general, the only things that should come before the actual story are the title page (possibly with a copyright statement) and a dedication (if you're using one). Everything else should go after the story.<br />
<br />
This is because potential ebook buyers can download a sample from your ebook. On Amazon, this is the first 10% of the ebook. This is your chance to persuade readers to buy your book. Are they going to really do this if the sample is pages and pages of guff?<br />
<br />
Last year, I downloaded a sample of a book I was thinking about buying. The 10% consisted of several title pages, many pages of copyright and other similar stuff, and an introduction. Then the sample ended, before any of the actual book showed up. Needless to say, I didn't buy it.<br />
<br />
A further word of caution on the supplemental material here: be careful of how much you include, even if it is after the story. A reader who buys an ebook is going to feel cheated if a third of the content is extras. They are paying for the story, not for your adverts.<br />
<br />
If you distribute your ebook through Smashwords, you will need to include a different and very specific copyright statement. We'll come to that later, but for now go with whatever copyright statement you feel most happy with.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Take Stock</h3>
<br />
Before you launch into formatting your ebook, you need to take stock of your manuscript. Go through it and make a list of every different kind of formatting you've got. To illustrate this series, I'm going to use as an example a short story of mine, <i>Love Stories from the Jungle</i>, which I'll convert into an ebook as I go along.
<br />
<br />
Here are a couple of screenshots of the manuscript:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fUpB1EwuR2M/UQKKwJdtHvI/AAAAAAAAAXA/VGnGQMKLjC8/s1600/love-stories-1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fUpB1EwuR2M/UQKKwJdtHvI/AAAAAAAAAXA/VGnGQMKLjC8/s400/love-stories-1.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the opening of the story.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
And:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-skYZH4pYFtE/UQKKw86sFlI/AAAAAAAAAXI/IBbNQjMOoXo/s1600/love-stories-2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="328" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-skYZH4pYFtE/UQKKw86sFlI/AAAAAAAAAXI/IBbNQjMOoXo/s400/love-stories-2.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is some of the supplemental material.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Even though I haven't gone through and properly formatted the story yet, I can still get a pretty good idea of the types of formatting I'm going to need:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Main heading</li>
<li>Sub heading</li>
<li>Chapter / section heading</li>
<li>Normal text (most of the actual story)</li>
<li>First paragraph text - for the first paragraph in a section or chapter. (If you look at professionally-produced fiction books, you'll see that the first paragraph in every chapter, or section of a chapter, is not indented, unlike the other paragraphs. We will need to do this too.)</li>
<li>Bold text</li>
<li>Italic text</li>
<li>Centered text and images</li>
<li>I also have certain lines (paragraphs) that are indented further than normal (not shown on the screenshots), so I'll have to handle those too.</li>
</ul>
<div>
Sometimes I will also want extra white space beneath or above an element, for visual reasons. For example, each of the sections in this story has a title, and so I'm going to want the ability to insert blank space between the end of a section and the title of the next section. I <i>could</i> do that with blank lines, but that's not really a great idea, and I'll show you a much better way of achieving the same thing.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
These formats should cover everything I need for the story. You'll note that I don't have any <b>different fonts</b> in the story. I strongly recommend that you don't either. If you do have different fonts in your manuscript, consider whether you can produce the same effect with just italics and bold.<br />
<br />
It is very difficult to reliably set fonts across different e-reading devices, and furthermore, even if you can do it, it's a bad idea.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
The principal principle...</h3>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
One important principle we're going to be sticking to all the way through this process is that we're not going to over-ride our readers' settings on their e-reading devices. We <b>can</b> (with low reliability, as it happens) change the font, font-size, line-spacing and so on of the text in our ebook.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b><i>But if we do, we'll be irritating our readers.</i></b></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Most people have their e-readers set up how they like them. They can choose their font, their font size, the line spacing, whether the text is justified (lined up on the right hand side as well as on the left), and sometimes other settings, depending on the device. Me, I like a fairly small font size and small line-spacing, and on my Kindle, I have the font set to Caecilia condensed, and I have the minimum possible margins.<br />
<br />
Now suppose you come along with your ebook all set up with a completely different font, size, line-spacing and so on, and I can't read it. Not easily. It hurts my eyes. I fiddle around, but because of your typesetting and layout, I still can't get it exactly the way I want it.<br />
<br />
I might give up on the book (I did with one recently where I couldn't get it easy to read) and ask for a refund from Amazon. You've lost the sale.<br />
<br />
<i>There's no need to alter the base settings on your ebook</i>. The people who designed the Nook and the Kindle and all the rest have done a fantastic job. They probably know far more about how to make e-readers readable than you or I do.<br />
<br />
Don't get in the way. Leave most of the typesetting and layout to the device and the reader.<br />
<br />
<h3>
So, on with the show</h3>
<br />
Back to the ebook we're creating.<br />
<br />
You should now have a list of all the different types of formatting you'll need in your ebook. Next time, we'll start actually formatting this thing properly.<br />
<br />
See you then!<br />
<br />
<b>Part 2 is now available: </b><a href="http://patricksamphire.blogspot.com/2013/01/creating-your-ebook-right-way-part-2.html">read part 2 here</a>.<br />
<br />
(<i>Note: if you are interested in hiring me for ebook cover design or ebook formatting, you can see samples of my work here: </i><a href="http://www.50secondsnorth.com/ebooks/">http://www.50secondsnorth.com/ebooks/</a> <i>and see details (including cost) of my services here: </i><a href="http://www.50secondsnorth.com/ebooks/details-rates.html">http://www.50secondsnorth.com/ebooks/details-rates.html</a>)</div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">
This post by Patrick Samphire. First posted at http://patricksamphire.blogspot.com/</div>Patrick Samphirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06237050782966284577noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975260856997062028.post-63037418312557685502013-01-22T18:33:00.000+00:002013-01-22T18:33:18.108+00:00Bone Roads on SmashwordsJust a quick note that my fantasy short story collection, <a href="http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/276937"><i>Bone Roads</i>, is now available on Smashwords</a>.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fvmAIu_T_Rw/UP7ZI8QZU5I/AAAAAAAAAWs/AFlpFrDomB8/s1600/Bone-Roads-cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fvmAIu_T_Rw/UP7ZI8QZU5I/AAAAAAAAAWs/AFlpFrDomB8/s400/Bone-Roads-cover.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
<br />
The collection consists of nine short stories, eight of which were previously published in places like Realms of Fantasy, Strange Horizons and Black Static.<br />
<br />
You can still buy the .mobi version of this collection via the various Amazon stores, but you can now also get an .epub version at Smashwords. It should filter out to other online stores over the next few weeks. Here are the links to where you can buy it:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/276937">Smashwords</a><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B007QD0RRA/">Amazon UK</a><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007QD0RRA/">Amazon USA</a><br />
<br />
Here are a few reviews of stories in the collection:
<br />
<br />
"Marvelous."<br />
- Colin Harvey, Suite101, on 'At the Gates'
<br />
<br />
"This one kept me turning the page without pause, with its natural pace and flow of words, good characterization, and skillful plot build-up. Samphire's writing skill is matched only by his knowledge of Ancient Egyptian culture and mythology."<br />
- Scott M. Sandridge, Tangent Online, on 'The Land of Reeds'.
<br />
<br />
"A great coming-of-age story."<br />
David Roy, epinions, on 'When the Dragon Falls".
<br />
<br />
Enjoy!<div class="blogger-post-footer">
This post by Patrick Samphire. First posted at http://patricksamphire.blogspot.com/</div>Patrick Samphirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06237050782966284577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975260856997062028.post-89455847563929728742013-01-08T10:54:00.000+00:002013-01-08T10:54:01.141+00:00The Christmas HaulSo, yeah, I haven't posted my haul of Christmas books, which I figure are going to be pretty much all of my reading for the next few months. Here we go:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13573402-blood-and-bone">Blood and Bone</a> - Ian C. Esslemont<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9970042-whispers-underground">Whispers Under Ground</a> - Ben Aaronovitch<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15779584-london-falling">London Falling</a> - Paul Cornell<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13497991-the-hydrogen-sonata">The Hydrogen Sonata</a> - Iain M. Banks<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11324334-stonemouth">Stonemouth</a> - Iain Banks<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12127750-the-mark-of-athena">The Mark of Athena</a> - Rick Riordan<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/64316.The_White_Mountains">The White Mountains</a> - John Christopher<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13380915-zom-b">Zom-B</a> - Darren Shan<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7912007-full-dark-no-stars">Full Dark, No Stars</a> - Stephen King<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12341557-the-wind-through-the-keyhole">The Wind through the Keyhole</a> - Stephen King<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10170545-the-children-of-the-sky">The Children of the Sky</a> - Vernor Vinge<br />
<br />
Also, these books on Kindle:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12870068-the-etymologicon">The Etymologicon: A Circular Stroll Through Hidden Connections of the English Language</a> - Mark Forsyth<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/47212.Storm_Front">Storm Front</a> - Jim Butcher<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13032249-earthfall">Earthfall</a> - Mark Walden<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13573419-great-north-road">Great North Road</a> - Peter Hamilton<br />
<br />
There are also a couple of books that Steph got that I'm particularly interested in reading:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12606292-geeks-girls-and-secret-identities">Geeks, Girls and Secret Identities</a> - Mike Jung<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5623269-the-friday-society">The Friday Society</a> - Adrienne Kress<br />
<br />
So, how about you. What are you planning to read next?<br />
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">
This post by Patrick Samphire. First posted at http://patricksamphire.blogspot.com/</div>Patrick Samphirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06237050782966284577noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975260856997062028.post-56747564098401988462012-12-28T15:19:00.000+00:002012-12-28T15:42:49.404+00:00The Next Big ThingMy friend and former Clarion West classmate <a href="http://ibizoboi.blogspot.com/">Ibi Zoboi</a> tagged me for The Next Big Thing thingy that's been going around. Hey, why not? I figured. Then, of course, I'm faced with the questions, and my brain goes numb.<br />
<br />
I have to tell you that I may have the worst memory in the world. Ask me what I did last week, and I'll just stare blankly at you. On the other hand, Steph complains jealously when we re-watch TV shows or movies together that she always knows what's coming up and it's always a surprise to me.<br />
<br />
<i style="font-weight: bold;">Anyway</i>, let's give this a go and see if I can dredge up anything...<br />
<br />
<b>1. What is the working title of your next book?</b><br />
<br />
Okay, so I can do this one. The working title is <i>Secrets of the Dragon Tomb</i>. Yeah, I realise that titles often change before publication, and the title is the publisher's choice, and publishers are often way better at coming up with good titles than authors are, but I really do like this, so here's hoping it actually stays.<br />
<br />
<b>2. Where did the idea come from for the book?</b><br />
<br />
Oh. Good. A memory question...<br />
<br />
I don't actually know where the original idea came from. I suspect I have notebooks somewhere in the piles of junk -- er, valuable, important documents -- that lie around our house with my original ideas in, but what I do recall is that Steph and I were watching Pride and Prejudice (the one with Colin Firth) and somehow that combined with the kind of adventures I really wanted to write (part Indiana Jones, part Doctor Who) and this idea for a computer that worked using water and pipes and valves instead of electricity and wires and capacitors and diodes and the like that I came up with when I was a Physics PhD student. (Although my friend, John, who was doing an electronics PhD at the same time will no doubt tell you that I was never much good at electronics and so probably have no idea how computers actually work).<br />
<br />
Out of all that came <i>Secrets of the Dragon Tomb</i>.<br />
<br />
That doesn't really answer the question.<br />
<br />
<b>3. What genre does your book fall under?</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Let's say middle grade. (That's the fantastic thing about middle grade -- you don't have to pin books down into little boxes (huzzah for mixed metaphors...). Middle grade is much more free.)<br />
<br />
If I had to get out my pins, I'd say adventure-science-fiction-fantasy-steampunk-humor. Er. Is that a genre? It is now. Come join me in my corner...<br />
<br />
<b>4. What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
</b><br />
<b><br /></b>I love casting my stories. I really do. I can procrastinate for hours this way. But here's the problem with books that have mainly children as lead characters: you cast them in your mind when you're writing them (everyone does that, right?), but by the time you've finished, they're all too old. Bah.<br />
<br />
So, I don't know who I'd cast in the roles of the children, but I can cast a few people. I'm going to choose Richard Armitage as my main villain, Sir Titus Dane (although I want him more as Guy of Gisborne in the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006m8g7">BBC Robin Hood</a> series rather than the grumpy dwarf in The Hobbit). Oh, and while we're at it, I'll have Martin Freeman as Dr. Octavius Blood, and Lucy Griffiths as my hero's older sister, Olivia.<br />
<br />
<b>5. What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Seriously? One sentence?<br />
<br />
Mars in 1816 is a world of high Society, thrilling adventure, and strange clockwork machines; when the villainous archaeologist, Sir Titus Dane, kidnaps Edward Sullivan's parents as part of as part of a scheme to loot an undiscovered dragon tomb, Edward and his sisters must pursue across the Martian wilderness, evading Sir Titus's minions, fighting desperate battles with mechanical nasties, and escaping deadly Martian hunting machines on the way.<br />
<br />
All right, that was a total cheat, but what else can you do?<br />
<br />
<b>6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
My agent is the wonderful Jennifer Laughran of Andrea Brown Literary. <i>Secrets of the Dragon Tomb</i> will be published by Christy Ottaviano Books (an imprint of Henry Holt / Macmillan).<br />
<br />
So, no and yes.<br />
<br />
<b>7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
I have absolutely no idea! Too long. A couple of hundred years?<br />
<br />
<b>8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Authors are generally completely rubbish at this. What we think our books are like is entirely different from what readers think. But let's have a go.<br />
<br />
Take a cup of <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/287861.Mortal_Engines">Mortal Engines</a>, lightly fry in a tablespoon of <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28187.The_Lightning_Thief">Percy Jackson</a>, season with a teaspoon of <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6609744-kat-incorrigible">Kat, Incorrigible</a>, then just before it's done mix in some Indiana Jones, Doctor Who, and Jeeves and Wooster. Then serve on a bed of <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/77173.The_Adventures_of_Tintin_Vol_3">Tintin</a>, <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/284440.Skulduggery_Pleasant">Skulduggery Pleasant</a>, and <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10466374-ash-mistry-and-the-savage-palace">Ash Mistry and the Savage Fortress</a>, and then you'll, well, probably be confused.<br />
<br />
Oh, just read it when it comes out. :)<br />
<br />
<b>9. Who or what inspired you to write this book?
</b><br />
<br />
I read a lot of middle grade fiction (as well as adult fiction, of course) and I love it. I love the freedom and honesty it allows you as a writer, and it's a type of fiction that allows you to completely shed the cynicism and self-critique that seems to accompany adult fiction. I wanted to write about adventure and madcap schemes and crazy inventions and dastardly villains. I wanted to make it funny and exciting and filled with a sense of wonder, because those are the books I love to read.<br />
<br />
<b>10. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
</b><br />
<br />
What? That's not enough?<br />
<br />
Okay, here is my complete pitch for the book, as opposed to the one-liner above:<br />
<br />
Mars in 1816 is a world of high Society, deadly danger, and strange clockwork machines. Pterodactyls glide through the sky, automatic servants hand out sandwiches at elegant garden parties, and in the north, the great dragon tombs hide marvels of Ancient Martian technology.
<br />
<br />
Fourteen-year-old Edward Sullivan has always dreamed of becoming a spy like the ones he reads of in his favorite magazine, <i>Thrilling Martian Tales</i>. Instead, he spends his days keeping his eccentric family from complete disaster … that is, until the villainous archeologist, Sir Titus Dane, kidnaps Edward’s parents as part of a scheme to loot an undiscovered dragon tomb.
<br />
<br />
Edward sets off in pursuit across the Martian wilderness. With him are his brilliant and outrageous little sister, Putty, his impossibly starchy older sister, Olivia, and his secretive cousin, Freddie. Together they must evade Sir Titus’s minions, battle mechanical nasties, and escape deadly Martian hunting machines. If they can’t, they will never uncover the secrets of the dragon tomb and rescue Edward’s family.
<br />
<br />
Here's the book's (rather empty so far) <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16172967-secrets-of-the-dragon-tomb">goodreads page</a>.<br />
<br />
I don't explicitly tag anyone on these things, but if you fancy doing it, consider yourself officially tagged right ... NOW!<div class="blogger-post-footer">
This post by Patrick Samphire. First posted at http://patricksamphire.blogspot.com/</div>Patrick Samphirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06237050782966284577noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975260856997062028.post-60901612637636727412012-12-24T16:39:00.001+00:002012-12-24T16:39:12.653+00:00Bone Roads: free ebook for Christmas<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Cd9mxUPZ0S8/UNiDHHJG5pI/AAAAAAAAAWQ/QbU6XBCjFdM/s1600/Bone-Roads-cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Cd9mxUPZ0S8/UNiDHHJG5pI/AAAAAAAAAWQ/QbU6XBCjFdM/s320/Bone-Roads-cover.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
For those of you who have Kindles, my short story collection, <i>Bone Roads: Nine Stories of Magic and Wonder</i> will be <b>free</b> from Amazon on Christmas day (apparently timed according to PST).<br />
<br />
I'm not sure if this is just Amazon in the US or all Amazon stores, but check it out if you're looking for some reading on your shiny new (or old) Kindle or Kindle app on Christmas.<br />
<br />
There's no DRM, so feel free to convert to other formats if you prefer!<br />
<br />
Bone Roads on: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007QD0RRA/">Amazon.com</a> | <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B007QD0RRA/">Amazon.co.uk</a><br />
<br />
Here's the blurb:<br />
<br />
A ghost searches for revenge in ancient Egypt.<br />
A girl risks awakening a dark god to save her dog.<br />
A boy unearths the bones of a dragon…
<br />
<br />
These fantasy stories were previously published in magazines including Realms of Fantasy, Strange Horizons, and Black Static.
<br />
<br />
<b>The Nine Stories:
</b><br />
<br />
When the Dragon Falls<br />
A Field Guide to Ugly Places<br />
The Frog King<br />
Five Things of Beauty<br />
Dawn, by the Light of a Barrow Fire<br />
The Sea Beyond Thule<br />
The Land of Reeds<br />
The Western Front<br />
At the Gates
<br />
<br />
<b>Reviews of stories in this collection:
</b><br />
<br />
"This is the first story I've read this year that I'd consider a masterpiece. It's rare for a story to move me to tears, but this one did."
<br />
- John Dodds, The Fix, on 'The Western Front'.
<br />
<br />
"Marvelous."<br />
- Colin Harvey, Suite101, on 'At the Gates'
<br />
<br />
"This one kept me turning the page without pause, with its natural pace and flow of words, good characterization, and skillful plot build-up. Samphire's writing skill is matched only by his knowledge of Ancient Egyptian culture and mythology."<br />
- Scott M. Sandridge, Tangent Online, on 'The Land of Reeds'.
<div class="blogger-post-footer">
This post by Patrick Samphire. First posted at http://patricksamphire.blogspot.com/</div>Patrick Samphirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06237050782966284577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975260856997062028.post-84146195887734691922012-12-12T15:11:00.002+00:002012-12-12T15:13:40.878+00:00My precious, and heads-upYou know you married the absolutely right person when they spontaneously buy you this:<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h-GBLTwm2ik/UMheemB_7qI/AAAAAAAAAVE/PdBUMmjhuKU/s1600/hobbit-moleskine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h-GBLTwm2ik/UMheemB_7qI/AAAAAAAAAVE/PdBUMmjhuKU/s320/hobbit-moleskine.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Apparently, I am supposed to write my next novel in it, but it's way too precious. I am keeping it next to my bed and stroking it repeatedly. So totally gorgeous!<br />
<br />
<h3>
Heads-up</h3>
(I've realised I have no idea how to punctuate 'heads-up'. I feel there should be an apostrophe after that 's', but it just looks weird with the hyphen. Oh well.<br />
<br />
My friend Ari Goelman has just revealed the cover of his debut middle grade novel, Path of Names. Here's the cover. Isn't it awesome?<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FSOlxOROMz8/UMIGkjyt1cI/AAAAAAAAGos/CDp2C3IMTpA/s640/Path+of+Names_cover_high+resolution.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FSOlxOROMz8/UMIGkjyt1cI/AAAAAAAAGos/CDp2C3IMTpA/s320/Path+of+Names_cover_high+resolution.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
The Path of Names is out from Scholastic in 2013. You can <a href="http://www.iceybooks.com/2012/12/middle-grade-cover-reveal-and-giveaway.html">find out more about the book over at Icey Books</a>, where he did the cover reveal.<br />
<br />
Swiftly following that...<br />
<br />
If you read horror, fantasy or science fiction short stories, you've almost certainly come across editor Ellen Datlow, whose magazines and anthologies have published some of the best short stories in the last few decades. Well, now Ellen is doing a kickstarter for a brand new anthology of original horror stories. Here's a video about it:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/191888411/fearful-symmetries-an-anthology-of-horror/widget/video.html" width="480"> </iframe></div>
<br />
<a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/191888411/fearful-symmetries-an-anthology-of-horror">Full details on the kickstarter, the rewards, and how to pledge to support the project are here</a>.<br />
<br />
And, finally, if middle grade or horror aren't your thing, how about a romance / detective book (suitable for young adults, too)? Emily Mah, writing as EM Tippetts, is releasing her latest novel, Nobody's Damsel in January, but it's <a href="http://www.emtippetts.com/p/preorder-books.html">available for pre-order at a very low price right now</a>.<br />
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Here's the goodreads description:<br />
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<blockquote>
Chloe has finished her masters degree and taken a job as a forensic scientist back in her home town of Albuquerque, New Mexico, only the press will not leave her alone. They follow her to crime scenes and report on her every move, eager to show that her marriage to Hollywood A-lister, Jason Vanderholt, is on the brink of collapse. Millions of fans who dream of their own celebrity romance with him want this more than anything. This scrutiny comes at a particularly bad time as Chloe's first case is a crime against a child roughly the same age that Chloe was when she survived a homicide attempt.
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Now that she sees the case from an adult's perspective, she realizes it's much harder than she ever dreamed. It's even worse for Jason, who is two steps removed from the crime. He must watch and try to support his wife as she battles with past demons and tries to keep up with a nameless suspect who evades identification and capture. Never has Jason been more frustrated with his job, its frivolities, and its lack of connection to the real world. When he storms off the set of his latest movie, the press goes wild with conjecture. While he says he wants to work on a project that means something, his agent and manager fear this may be the end of his time in the spotlight. Perhaps he never was anything more than a pretty face after all.
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Together, Chloe and Jason must find their way past all the popping flashbulbs and through the dark maze of the criminal investigation to discover whether they can balance their professional goals with the demands of a celebrity marriage. The odds are entirely against them.</blockquote>
You can also <a href="http://www.emtippetts.com/p/nobodys-damsel.html">read the opening on her website</a>.<div class="blogger-post-footer">
This post by Patrick Samphire. First posted at http://patricksamphire.blogspot.com/</div>Patrick Samphirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06237050782966284577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975260856997062028.post-54376754405588363202012-12-05T12:35:00.000+00:002012-12-05T12:35:32.909+00:00Author Interview: Kiini Ibura Salaam<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Kiini Ibura Salaam is a poet and artist, as well as a writer of non-fiction and some of the most unusual fantasy and science fiction you'll read. Her first collection of short stories, </i>Ancient, Ancient<i> is out now from Aquaduct Press.</i><br />
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<i>Award-winning author Nalo Hopkinson said about Kiini, “Salaam treats words like the seductive weapons they are. She wields them to weave fierce, gorgeous stories that stroke your sensibilities, challenge your preconceptions, and leave you breathless with their beauty.”</i><br />
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<i>And, according to Jack Womack, Kiini “deserves to be considered as one of today’s most promising contemporary genre writers. With writing that challenges assumptions on gender, the nature of fantasy, the uses of myth and much more, she offers the readers stories that they will not soon forget. [</i>Ancient, Ancient<i> is] a marvelous introduction to a marvelous writer.”</i><br />
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<b>1. Ancient, Ancient is your first collection of short stories. Now that you've gathered them in one place, have you noticed any particular themes in your writing, and have those themes changed over time?</b><br />
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When I did a mini-book tour for <i>Ancient, Ancient</i>, I invited other writers to take part in my readings. I found I enjoyed a live exchange with another writer more than I enjoyed standing up there and solely reading my work. Consequently, I got to hear quite a few interpretations about what my work was about: it's about possession; it's about community; it's about displacement.<br />
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For me, I'm less interested in the themes and more interested in how I'm characterizing people and how I'm structuring conflict. I think initially most of my stories were a young character against unjust communal responsibilities--mostly they were burdened by an expectation or a role that they didn't want to comply with. I think over time, I've begun to use more actual characters to animate the conflict not just faceless traditional or cultural edicts, and I've began have the main characters do more than just put up with unjustness but try to do something about it--to act and or to transform their own thought process. And I think that signifies growth on my part.<br />
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<b>2. You're not just a short story writer, you're also a poet, an artist, and a writer of non-fiction. How do these different creative activities interact with each other, and do you think they've been a big influence on your prose?</b><br />
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I'm fascinated with poetry. I don't read it very often and I don't write it nearly as often as I used to, but I am fascinated with word choice and imagery. I think that definitely comes through in my prose.<br />
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Regarding the non-fiction, I have been writing a blog about the writing life (<a href="http://kislist.blogspot.com/">kislist.blogspot.com</a>) for over ten years, and during a period when I was not writing fiction, I truly believed it sustained my development as a writer. Even though I was not practicing fiction writing, I was still working on stringing together sentences and ideas, editing text, and--perhaps most importantly, sharing the writing with others. When I finally got back to fiction writing, I found that my craft had developed, and I credit my blog for that.<br />
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As for painting, I recently had an interesting experience in which I had my novel manuscript and a canvas literally on the table at the same time, and I'd switch back and forth between the two. What's interesting is when I sit down to write--if I'm challenged or there's something unresolved--I can suddenly feel sleepy, very sleepy (I know this occurs for many other writers). It's a highly effective method of self sabotage because it's next to impossible to write when you're sleepy. Well this time, when I felt sleepy, I turned to painting. The act of painting woke me up, and while I painted, my mind worked out some of the challenges with the novel. I never thought that painting could literally be a help to my writing in that way. That it could help me skirt around whatever is triggering me to sleep and allow me to continue to advance in the story development.<br />
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<b>3. You didn't start out writing speculative fiction, but say you stumbled upon it as a means of bringing new life to your stories. What do you think speculative fiction offers to you as a writer, and have you found the genre limiting or frustrating in any way?</b><br />
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I think speculative fiction offers me the ability to use the full stretch of my imagination. All writing relies on imagination, speculative fiction just takes it further. While I like literature that comments on human nature and human relationships, I also like my sense of life to be challenged and disturbed a bit and I think science fiction does that. I believe that when we stretch our minds beyond what we already know, then we create space for something new to be possible.<br />
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Reading and writing spec fic brings me all kinds of ideas about lifestyle, relationships, communication, and expression that I might not have had otherwise. I don't think I feel any limitations in the genre because I don't feel like I <i>have</i> to write in the genre. The limitations I feel are more from the outside. I have two novels going--neither of which were originally spec fic. Now one is and one isn't. And I feel some paranoia about which novel I complete first and if readers will be confused or dissapointed depending on which novel I publish. There are people who don't read spec fic and people who only read spec fic. Either way, I feel like there's a box I will be stepping into that doesn't reflect the multifaceted nature of life.<br />
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It's great that spec fic is a huge growth market for young adult books. It suggests to me that imagination is being allowed to stretch further into adulthood from childhood. In children's literature talking animals, weird worlds and nonsensical happenings are a given. That given is now being extended to the young adult market, and many adults are reading those books. I look forward to the day when "literature" has space for all of us and the average reader is happy to switch from reality-based fiction to speculative fiction and back again.<br />
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<b>4. What's coming up for you next in terms of your writing? Are you planning another short story collection, or are you working on something different?</b><br />
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I'm working on a novel. I have basically been trying to crack the code of novel writing since 1991. I remember coming to Clarion [<i>Patrick's note: Kiini, Steph and I were all at the Clarion West writers' workshop in Seattle in 2001</i>] and being shocked that your wife, Stephanie, had written three novels. I couldn't write anything longer than a short story. She laughed and said she couldn't write stories, she only really felt comfortable in the novel form.<br />
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For me, novel writing is like stumbling around in the dark, and knowing that everywhere I step--there will be a solid floor, but if I walk too far in the wrong direction, I could find myself on the edge of a cliff or on the side of a building at a dead-end plot-wise.<br />
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However, even as it is a foreign form to me, it's something I must do to continue to develop as a writer. Though some people do it, I feel like I can't just write stories forever. People want novels, if they like your characters, if they like the worlds you write about, they want to go deeper and to know more. That was a complicated answer to a simple question. A novel is next!<br />
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<b>5. If you were only able to give one piece of advice to a new writer, what would it be?</b><br />
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Keep writing. That is all. There is so much to discover in terms of a writer's individual voice, a writer's themes, a writer's craft, and of course, a writer's ideas. There's a quote that says something like you arrive at mastery by making the same choice over and over again. In the case of writing, you arrive at mastery by making the choice to sit down and write: again, again, and again.<br />
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This is not to say it will be easy or fun or predictable. It's just to say if you keep doing it you will improve and you will discover more about what you have come here to offer to the world. Keep writing.<br />
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Thanks, Kiini!<br />
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Kiini Ibura Salaam is a writer, painter, and traveler from New Orleans, Louisiana. The middle child of five, she grew up in a hardscrabble neighborhood with oak and fig trees, locusts and mosquitoes, cousins and neighbors. The house no longer exists, having been reduced to rubble along with almost all of the houses in a six-block radius after the 2005 levee break in the Lower Ninth Ward.
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Growing up with creative parents who charted an independent cultural and intellectual path, Kiini’s childhood was rich with art, music, and books. As a student, she naturally gravitated toward reading and writing, and wrote her first professional story as a first-year student at Spelman College. After being paid $100 for the publication of that story, her identity as a writer was buoyed and she proclaimed herself a “serious” author.
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Kiini’s work encompasses speculative fiction, erotica, creative nonfiction, and poetry.<br />
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If you want to find out more about Kiini and her work, you can read her blog at <a href="http://kislist.blogspot.com/">kislist.blogspot.com</a>.<div class="blogger-post-footer">
This post by Patrick Samphire. First posted at http://patricksamphire.blogspot.com/</div>Patrick Samphirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06237050782966284577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975260856997062028.post-11958920076700253302012-12-04T14:22:00.005+00:002012-12-04T21:04:01.614+00:00Really, this was just an excuse for a toy...It's not really a secret that I am not a character-driven writer. When I sit down to write, the story, ideas, and setting come to me before the characters do. <a href="http://www.stephanieburgis.com/">Steph</a> is the opposite. When she sits down, it's the characters that come to her first and foremost, and she figures out the story afterwards.<br />
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Now, I don't think it matters which way around you come up with stuff. Characters, story, setting, idea, whatever. What does matter is that you figure out all the aspects sooner rather than later.<br />
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In some previous books, I haven't really figured out the characters early enough, and that's meant an awful lot of difficult rewriting later on.<br />
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So, for the last novel I decided to turn things upside down and figure out the characters right from the beginning.<br />
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After the necessary brainstorming and the exploratory writing that I always do (normally 10 - 15k of 'opening', to figure out the style, who needs to be involved, and to know the world, and, well, just because I can), I bought a giant whiteboard, wasted a good day attaching it to the wall (no DIY is not my strength...), and then started figuring everything out, starting with the characters.<br />
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Characters</h3>
First up, I drew a grid with the characters across the top and the following five questions down the side that I had to answer for every single character who has any kind of role in the book:<br />
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<b>1. What do they want and what do they desperately need?</b> (Generally, these things should be in opposition; where they are massively in opposition, I write INTERNAL CONFLICT, to remind myself how important it is to their story. I should probably write it for every character.)<br />
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<b>2. What are they doing to get it?</b><br />
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<b>3. What is stopping them from getting it?</b><br />
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<b>4. What do they stand to lose if they don't get it?</b><br />
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<b>5. Where do they end up?</b><br />
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It doesn't take long before the conflicts between the characters start to emerge. In my old way of writing, these conflicts didn't always become apparent until I'd written a lot of the book, causing lots of rewriting and frustration.<br />
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After I'd come up with these character sheets, which basically show the arc of each character over the entire book, and added any specific background or character traits the individual characters needed, I started to break it down.<br />
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The Acts</h3>
I tend to write three-act books, but obviously they don't have to be. After the character sheets I drew another grid, this time with 'Opening', 'End of Act 1', 'End of Act 2', and 'End of Act 3' across the top, and each character name down the side, along with a general 'What is happening?' section.<br />
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This basically allowed me to outline the overall plot AND the arcs of each character over each of the three acts.<br />
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After that (...) I went back in and broke it down further into 'sequences'. These are groups of scenes or chapters. I figure about 4 - 7 scenes make a sequence (although that just happens to meet my style; none of this is rules). For every sequence, for each of the major characters (who appeared in that sequence) I wrote down the starting and ending point, and the change that had occurred for them.<br />
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Later in the process I did a similar thing for each individual scene.<br />
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Now, some of you are probably thinking I'm crazy at this point. I know a lot of people just write from beginning to end without any of this, and I used to, but this is what worked for me.<br />
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The point is not that you have to outline, or that the outline you come up with this way is in any way set in stone, or that the characters have to stay the way you originally conceive them.<br />
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But if you find that your stories tend to be driven rather too much by events and the characters just chase the events around, then this can be a pretty useful technique.<br />
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I know I'm not going to have any trouble coming up with the plot, the ideas, or the setting for a story. But using this technique, I've made myself know <b>how</b> the characters would interact before I've even set them off running, and I discovered some pretty neat subplots I would otherwise have had to lever in at a later point.<br />
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So, does anyone else do anything like this? And do you have a giant whiteboard to do it on? And do you only do it this way because once you'd bought a giant whiteboard, you have to do something with it...?<div class="blogger-post-footer">
This post by Patrick Samphire. First posted at http://patricksamphire.blogspot.com/</div>Patrick Samphirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06237050782966284577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975260856997062028.post-37866219080234782152012-11-28T13:17:00.001+00:002012-11-28T13:17:57.234+00:00Author Interview: Raymund Eich<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I first met science fiction author Raymund Eich all the way back in 2001, when we both attended the Clarion West writers' workshop in Seattle. Back then, Raymund was already writing smart, original science fiction with more than half an eye on the science. Now, with the release of his fourth novel, I figured it was time to catch up.<br />
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Raymund's latest novel is "<i>Take the Shilling"</i>. Here's the Goodreads description:
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<i>The Confederated Worlds implanted in his brain the skills to make him a soldier. He had to learn for himself how to survive interstellar war.
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<i>Tomas Neumann enlists to escape his widowed mother's strict religious household. Implanted skills ready him for combat against the Unity forces on New Liberty, but leave him unprepared for scornful comrades, inept leaders, and interservice rivalries. Guerrilla resistance sparks a spiral of atrocities, wounding him in body and in spirit. To survive the war and pursue his destiny, Tomas must learn the toughest lesson of all.</i></blockquote>
<b>1. "<i>Take the Shilling</i>" is the fourth novel that you've decided to publish independently. You previously had some success selling your short stories to traditional magazines. What made you choose the independent route for your novels?</b><br />
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I envision an optimistic future of "yeoman capitalism." Thomas Jefferson advocated an agrarian republic, where everyone was a self-employed, middle class smallholder. Computers, the internet, just-in-time manufacturing, and supply chain management make possible a high-tech version of Jefferson's dream society. Recent advances in ebooks, print-on-demand, and their related infrastructure now allow a writer to enter the publishing industry, so I decided to put my money where my mouth is. <br />
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<b>2. In "<i>Take the Shilling</i>", your hero Tomas Neumann becomes a soldier to escape his strict upbringing, but it doesn't turn out to be quite what he was expecting. What inspired his story? </b><br />
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If you'll pardon a chemistry metaphor, a lot of elements of the story were in solution in my subconscious for a long time. I read the military sf classics, "<i>Starship Troopers</i>", "<i>The Forever War</i>", "<i>Ender's Game</i>", etc. a long time ago. Lodged in my mind for a while has been the phrase, "The purpose of all other combat arms is to put the infantryman in sole possession of the battlefield." Following Bruce Sterling and others, I knew space settlements will never pay for themselves, so it occurred to me the only ones will be religious or ideological communities. From Lt. Col. Dave Grossman's book "<i>On Killing</i>", I took the lesson that for a normal person, killing another is a harrowing experience.<br />
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Continuing the metaphor, the seed that crystallized those elements was the birth of my son. He got me thinking about what it means to be a man and how to be a role model. Tomas' father died years before the novel opens, and Tomas enlists in search of the masculine mentoring he never received. Of course, it isn't as simple as he expects!<br />
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<b>3. It's been observed that the golden age of science fiction is twelve years old. What books were you reading when you were 12, and do you think they've influenced your writing since?</b><br />
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When I was 12, I first read Clarke's "<i>Childhood's End</i>", and it turned me into a lifelong sf fan. Clarke's depiction of a world of peace, order, and good government, where everyone was free to pursue their happiness, was and is very attractive; and the final chapters were the first taste of sense of wonder I ever received. My prose style is somewhat Clarkean--fairly unadorned, with emotional depths lurking beneath a stiff-upper-lip, northwest-European reserve. <br />
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The only other book I can recall reading at that age was Ben Bova's "<i>Exiled from Earth</i>". It's nerd-porn: the best and brightest are not welcome in an overcrowded, crime-ridden future Earth, so when they are exiled to a space station, they make a better society than the one that expelled them. I don't think it's influenced me--I hadn't thought about it for years, until you asked the question--except maybe in a negative way. While my good guys usually win, their victories come with costs, and their triumphs are local and, in historical time, temporary.<br />
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<b>4. What's coming up for you next in terms of your writing? Are you working on a new novel?</b><br />
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In a change of pace, I've nearly finished my first fantasy novel. Entitled "<i>A Prince of the Blood</i>," it's set in a secondary world with a renaissance/ancien regime feel transformed by the recent rediscovery of ancient magic. The story itself is inspired by a theory of the Man in the Iron Mask, that he was Louis XIV's biological father. It should be published by CV-2 Books under the byline "Eric H. Munday" sometime in Spring 2013.<br />
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After that, I'll be working on a sequel to "<i>Take the Shilling</i>", with the working title "<i>Operation Iago.</i>" It's set in a hot peace following the armistice ending the war taking place in the first novel. I'm targeting publication for late 2013.<br />
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<b>5. If you were only able to give one piece of advice to a new writer, what would it be?</b><br />
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Assuming he/she knows Heinlein's Rules, understands what good storytelling is and that it covers a multitude of sins, and that Browne and King's "<i>Self-Editing for Fiction Writers</i>" covers most of the sins remaining, my one piece of advice would be: Stick to your vision. You can't please everyone, so don't try. Don't force in a sex scene, don't delete one, don't force a story to pass or fail the Bechdel test, don't make all your non-straight white male characters into saintly exemplars of the virtues political correctness says they must express, don't connect the dots according to a Hollywood screenwriting formula, etc. A story can only inspire a reader if the writer was inspired to write it, and that inspiration only comes from your unique vision. Your unique vision comes from your subconscious, not from a minister's pulpit, a professor's Powerpoint slides, or the state of the art in your genre. Better half the readers hate your work than all the readers say "meh." <br />
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If you think you have to please everyone to be a bestseller, well, are you doing this for fame, or because you love telling stories? If the former, quit now, and save yourself a lot of time and heartache. And if you publish independently, you don't have to be a bestseller to make a living writing. If you write consistently and sell 10,000 copies of a novel worldwide, you could earn a middle class income. It may take decades, but again, are you doing this to make a quick buck, or because you love telling stories? <br />
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<b>6. What five science fiction novels do you think every SF fan and every SF writer should read?</b><br />
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Other than "<i>Take the Shilling</i>"? :) Here's a quick list.<br />
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"<i>Childhood's End</i>", by Arthur C. Clarke. For reasons I gave a few answers ago.<br />
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"<i>Hyperion</i>" & "<i>The Fall of Hyperion</i>", by Dan Simmons. Technically two novels, but the first ends in a throw-across-the-room way that will annoy you if you don't have the sequel ready at hand. Treat them as one and you'll be much happier. It's space opera, not hard sf.<br />
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"<i>Schismatrix</i>", by Bruce Sterling. You might as well pick up "<i>Schismatrix Plus</i>", an omnibus of this novel with five other stories set in the same universe, because that will give you a copy of "<i>Swarm</i>," one of the best short stories in the history of sf. This universe of Sterling's is the second best example of "stick to your vision" on this list.<br />
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"<i>Aristoi</i>", by Walter Jon Williams. It's got space opera, sense of wonder, utopia and its underside, and psychological depth. The daimones, subpersonalities of the human galaxy's philosopher kings, are the best embodiment of full, healthy integration of conscious and subconscious minds I've ever seen in, not just sf, but any work of fiction. This is the best example of "stick to your vision."<br />
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"<i>The Book of the New Sun</i>", by Gene Wolfe. Technically four novels, with a fairly simple plot of exile and return, set in a densely imagined dying Earth and stuffed full of unreliable narration, rich language, and deep themes. Plus, I live five blocks from Wolfe's childhood home.<br />
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Thanks Raymund!<br />
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"<i>Take the Shilling</i>" is available from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Take-the-Shilling-ebook/dp/B006YKLWMA/">Amazon USA</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Take-the-Shilling-ebook/dp/B006YKLWMA/">Amazon UK</a>, and a bunch of other places.<br />
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Raymund Eich has written patent applications, herded cattle, delivered pizzas, researched reactions between nitric oxide and myoglobin, won a national championship in a collegiate quiz bowl competition, built furniture, changed oil, smoked a brisket, written code, circled the world, read widely, thought deeply, and affirmed Robert Heinlein's dictum that specialization is for insects.<br />
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He lives with his wife and son about thirty miles from Johnson Space Center.<br />
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For more information about Raymund's novels and short stories, visit <a href="http://raymundeich.com/">http://raymundeich.com/</a>.<div class="blogger-post-footer">
This post by Patrick Samphire. First posted at http://patricksamphire.blogspot.com/</div>Patrick Samphirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06237050782966284577noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975260856997062028.post-69079250811106027182012-11-26T11:00:00.001+00:002012-11-26T11:12:11.686+00:00Wonderful, exciting news!Okay, I've held off on this for most of a week, but that's the extent of my self-discipline, so here goes:<br />
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My middle grade novel <i>Secrets of the Dragon Tomb</i> is going to be published by Christy Ottaviano Books (an imprint of Henry Holt / Macmillan) in the US and Canada!!!<br />
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My wonderful-fantastic agent, <a href="http://literaticat.blogspot.com/">Jenn Laughran</a>, gave me the news last week, and the announcement was in Publishers Marketplace over the weekend.<br />
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A few of you might remember <i>Secrets of the Dragon Tomb</i> from when I was writing it a few years ago. It's steampunk! It's a thrilling adventure! It's set in the Regency. On Mars. It's full of despicable villains, deadly clockwork machines, unlikely spies, and terrible peril. And it has pterodactyls. Of course.<br />
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If I can be slightly immodest, I absolutely love this world. I don't think I've ever had so much fun coming up with ideas and writing the characters as I did for this, and I'm so excited that I'll get to share it with other people.<br />
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I can trace this book all the way back to when I was about 16 years old. (I am now *ahem* <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">41 years old</span>, so, you know, that's an awful long time...) My parents gave me a fantastic book, called <i>The Illustrated Book of Science Fiction Ideas and Dreams</i>, by David Kyle.<br />
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It's a wonderful book. I still own this book (I actually now have two copies), and am known to wave it around frequently, most recently at a steampunk panel at <a href="http://www.bristolcon.org/">Bristolcon</a>. (I was on the panel, not waving it from the audience. I'm not that crazy...)<br />
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The book gives a history of science fiction writing and art from its earliest origins right through to the mid-70s. The bits that really wowed me most of all were the stuff on early pulp, and the stuff on Victorian science fiction, particularly the work of the French artist, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Robida">Albert Robida</a>, whose fantastic flying machines and elaborate futuristic ideas were an enormous influence on me.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FZ1qJwcon8E/ULNIbj6ZHhI/AAAAAAAAATI/Lbf9wZaue2c/s1600/robida.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="289" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FZ1qJwcon8E/ULNIbj6ZHhI/AAAAAAAAATI/Lbf9wZaue2c/s400/robida.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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(You can see <a href="http://standrewsrarebooks.wordpress.com/2011/10/04/albert-robidas-le-vingtieme-siecle/">a bunch more of his work here</a>, or, you know, <a href="http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=albert+robida&qpvt=albert+robida&FORM=IGRE">on the internet</a>...)<br />
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Add a touch of Jane Austen, some Indiana Jones, and some sub-Wodehouse humour, and, well, you're probably going to just end up confused. (Yes, I will have to come up with a better elevator pitch than this...)<br />
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Right now, I know absolutely no other details about the publication. I don't know when the book will come out. I don't even know if it'll keep the same title. I <b>do</b> know that it's going to have internal illustrations (*faints with excitement*; I <i>love</i> books with illustrations), and that it's part of a two-book deal, but I don't yet know what the second book will be.<br />
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But right now, who cares!?! Right???<br />
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YAY! *Lies down again in excitement* (This is the lazy person's version of excitement; <i>you</i> may jump up and down in excitement. I lie down. With chocolate. And green tea.)<div class="blogger-post-footer">
This post by Patrick Samphire. First posted at http://patricksamphire.blogspot.com/</div>Patrick Samphirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06237050782966284577noreply@blogger.com34tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975260856997062028.post-21062130080303197812012-10-19T09:54:00.000+01:002012-10-19T09:54:08.468+01:00Friday Links<h3>
Science</h3>
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<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/lost-worlds/2012/oct/17/dinosaurs-fossils">Did <i>Tyrannosaurus rex</i> have feathers?</a></div>
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I'm not sure whether a fluffy T. rex would be more or less scary than a scaly one, but this is a fascinating article.</div>
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<a href="http://www.rspca.org.uk/getinvolved/campaigns/wildlife/badgers">Badger cull</a></div>
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The planned badger cull in England has zero scientific basis and is entirely designed to placate one of the Conservative's vested interest groups.</div>
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<a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21628874.000-young-blood-really-is-the-key-to-youth.html">Young blood really is the key to youth</a></div>
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This is how vampires began.</div>
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Writing and publishing</h3>
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<a href="http://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/10/10/amazon-author-rankings-and-who-they-actually-benefit/">Amazon Author Rankings and Who They Actually Benefit</a></div>
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John Scalzi on Amazon's new ranking of authors by sales.<br />
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<a href="http://writerunboxed.com/2012/10/12/the-seven-stages-of-publishing-grief-or-hello-darkness-my-old-friend/">The Seven Stages of Publishing Grief (or Hello Darkness, My Old Friend)</a><br />
Robin LaFevers spins off from the new Amazon rankings to talk about 'the soul sucking land of Major Disappointment' of publishing. Brilliant, and well worth reading for any writer.</div>
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<a href="http://accrispin.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/guest-post-dear-agent-write-letter-that.html">Guest Post: Dear Agent -- Write the Letter That Sells Your Book</a><br />
A guest post by Nicola Morgan over on Writer Beware about how to create a great query letter for your novel.<br />
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<a href="http://catherineryanhoward.com/2012/10/05/the-11-ingredients-of-a-sizzling-book-description/">The 11 Ingredients of a Sizzling Book Description</a><br />
In a similar vein, from a couple of weeks back, Mark Edwards has a guest post on Catherine, Caffeinated on writing a book description.<br />
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<a href="http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2011/best-practices-for-amazon-ebook-sales/">Best Practices For Amazon Ebook Sales</a><br />
While we're on the topic, have this one as well. I don't agree 100% with it, but it's all worth thinking about when you're putting your book description together.<br />
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A helping of just too cute...</h3>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=JOHw7lX3Gu4">ATE team rescue another baby elephant from a well</a><br />
Video of the Amboseli Team for Elephants rescuing a baby elephant that had fallen into a well. A mixture of 'Was that really the best way you could think to rescue it?', cheering the triumph, and a complete tear-jerker of an ending. Watch it.<br />
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">
This post by Patrick Samphire. First posted at http://patricksamphire.blogspot.com/</div>Patrick Samphirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06237050782966284577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975260856997062028.post-57995157295713338992012-10-15T17:13:00.003+01:002012-10-15T17:21:42.983+01:00What does an author website need? Your input.It's an unfortunate truth that a lot (maybe most) writers' websites tend to be rather awful. Not necessarily in their appearance (although many do look bad), but in the way they function and what they contain.<br />
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This isn't a surprise and it's not the fault of the writers, because getting a professional website can be a really expensive option, far beyond what most writers can justify paying. That leaves writers with three real options:</div>
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<li><b>Build it yourself</b>
<br />Which is great if you're a web designer. Which most writers, of course, are not. If you're not a pro and you build the site for yourself anyway, it may be okay, but it won't be working for you in the way you might want.</li>
<li><b>Pay someone cheap to do it for you</b>
<br />Cheap is generally not great. Seriously. Even with the best intentions, someone who is only charging you a few hundred dollars just isn't going to be able to put in the time to make the website as good as you need it to be, not unless they intend to go out of business or starve within the year. </li>
<li><b>Use an existing template or theme</b><br />If you sign up with <a href="http://wordpress.com/">wordpress.com</a>, you can choose a professionally-designed template (theme), change certain elements, and create your website there. For free. You can even have your own web address showing on it. You can do a similar thing on blogspot (although the result won't be as good). But your choices will be limited, and none are set up with the needs of writers in mind. They are generic, and they mostly designed to be blogs, with a few pages attached.</li>
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None of these are at all satisfactory, in my opinion. They're not going to get you readers or promote you.</div>
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As a writer, having an effective way to present your books, build an audience, and sell what you've written is absolutely essential.</div>
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So, I've decided to start a project. I'm going to build a WordPress template / theme that is designed specifically for writers to use. Something simple, that can be 'branded' to match the needs of the individual writer. I'm going to make it free to use, modify, hack apart and reassemble, or (almost) whatever else you might want to do with it.</div>
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Before I do, though, I want to be sure I'm including everything important.</div>
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A while back, I wrote a post called '<a href="http://patricksamphire.blogspot.com/2012/02/10-things-every-authors-website-should.html">10 Things Every Author's Website Should Include</a>'. But I want to know what you think.</div>
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If you're an author, what do <i>you</i> want in a website?</div>
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If you're a reader, what do <i>you</i> expect or want to find on your favourite writer's website?</div>
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I'm going to try to include all the important things I can. So, what would <i>you</i> want to see?<br />
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<i>By the way, if you want to keep on the progress of this project and find out when it's released, I'll post updates here or you can <a href="https://twitter.com/patricksamphire">follow me on twitter</a>.</i></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">
This post by Patrick Samphire. First posted at http://patricksamphire.blogspot.com/</div>Patrick Samphirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06237050782966284577noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975260856997062028.post-37857218388137217772012-10-12T12:25:00.000+01:002012-10-12T12:25:07.672+01:00Friday LinksSo, I could write a new blog post, or I could just <i>SHARE THE TOTAL AWESOME</i> that other people have written or created.<br />
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Oh, okay, you've convinced me. Let's do the latter.<br />
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<h3>
Writing and books</h3>
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<a href="http://literaticat.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/author-event-tips-reading-of-dooooom.html">Author Event Tips: THE READING (of dooooom!)</a> - Jennifer Laughran</div>
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Tips on how to handle your author reading without coming off as a complete fool.</div>
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<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/sep/22/jk-rowling-book-casual-vacancy">JK Rowling: 'The worst that can happen is that everyone says, That's shockingly bad'</a><br />
A few weeks old, this one, but still a really interesting interview with JK Rowling about writing, her life, and her new book.<br />
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<a href="http://www.bristolcon.org/">BristolCon</a><br />
The one day science fiction and fantasy convention is on Saturday week (October 20th). Steph and I will both be there.<br />
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<a href="http://www.booktrust.org.uk/books-and-reading/children/blog/460">The (literary) heroes who saved me</a> - Booktrust blog<br />
Stephanie Burgis writes a powerful and personal guest blog entry on how heroes in books helped her through a very difficult period in her life.<br />
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Tools</h3>
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<a href="http://cropp.me/">Cropp.me</a></div>
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If you ever upload images to your website or blog, it's a good idea to crop them to size first. You can do this on your computer, using something like a photoshop or whatever photo utility you use, but cropp.me makes it way easier to do it in the browser, while you're doing your blog post. It's free.</div>
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<a href="https://gumroad.com/">Gumroad</a></div>
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Need to sell books, ebooks, or pretty much anything else through your website but don't want to go to the effort and expense of setting up your own shop? Gumroad will allow you do to this. They charge a small commission, and handle the payments, gathering of delivery address, and hosting of ebooks. I've bought through them, and it worked well.</div>
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<a href="https://payhip.com/">Payhip</a></div>
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Only need to sell ebooks and don't want to pay any commission? Payhip lets you upload and sell ebooks and they don't take a penny of your money. You still have to pay whatever charges PayPal makes when they transfer your money, but that's all. They seem to intend to make money by offering premium, charged services, but the ebook side (they say) will always be free. This is a new service. I've not used it, so I can't vouch for it.</div>
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<h3>
Science</h3>
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<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/sep/21/drugs-industry-scandal-ben-goldacre">The Drugs Don't Work: a modern medical scandal</a> - Ben Goldacre</div>
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Ben Goldacre explains how pharmaceutical companies distort medical trials and hide results they don't like. It's pretty scandalous, and worrying if you rely on medication.</div>
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<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/gallery/2012/oct/12/space-science-stamps-royal-mail-pictures">Space science stamps</a></div>
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If you're in the UK, you'll be able to send letters to space. Actually, no you won't. But these space-themed stamps are gorgeous and very cool.</div>
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Web and Design</h3>
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<a href="http://blog.digidave.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/VENN-Diagram.jpg.scaled1000.jpg">The Venn Diagram of Design</a></div>
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So true! If you want any design work done (book/web/whatever) this let's you know your options. (Humor!)</div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">
This post by Patrick Samphire. First posted at http://patricksamphire.blogspot.com/</div>Patrick Samphirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06237050782966284577noreply@blogger.com0