If you haven’t heard, Amazon has started Kindle Unlimited, a new ebook subscription service that some are dubbing “Netflix for books.” Right now, they’re offering a free 30-day trial. I’m anxious to see how this works out for authors whose books are part of this new service. Since my books are enrolled in Kindle Select, they’re automatically available to Kindle Unlimited subscribers. So if you haven’t read The Brevity of Roses and the sequel An Illusion of Trust, take advantage of the free trial and download them now.
And speaking of those books …
You know those times when you think a task will be simple and quick to accomplish? Yeah, I don’t usually have those. It seems I operate under a different rule—Murphy’s Law maybe? About ten days ago, I got this bright idea to update the interior files for my published books. I wanted to update the cover designer’s name in one book and correct a typo and a punctuation error. No big deal … except.
Except that I can’t take the html that Word creates and upload it directly to KDP or even convert it as is to mobi or epub because I like to use my own CSS style sheet, which has to be fiddled with for each book. Except that I chose a new program to convert my customized html to epub, and I had to learn how to use it first. Except that I couldn’t get the table of contents to work the way I wanted in either ebook. Except that, after conversion, I decided to substitute a different scene break “ornament” in the ebook version of one book. Except that … nah, I’ll spare you the rest. Eventually, I completed the task.
Now that I’ve updated already published novels, it’s time to get back to work on the ones I’m writing now. I had hoped to have the first draft of my romantic comedy completed by the end of this month, but that would take a miracle to accomplish. This month has been more family-focused than usual. I don’t know about you, but I’m at my most productive when I have long stretches of time to settle into writing mode and then keep the story simmering on the back burner during breaks. My usual daily life supports that, but when my routine changes every few days, as it has this month, my creative side retreats.
And since we’re playing hoteliers to three dogs (plus our Maggie) this weekend, I doubt I’ll get much writing done, but for the last few days of July and on into August, I’ll be playing catch up. I believe I said in January that I wouldn’t publish anything this year, but that may not be the case. I might be ready to publish one book before the end of 2014 and then another (or two) in 2015. Maybe I’ll publish some short stories, too. It’s time for me to make a louder noise in this publishing game.
I hope your July has run smoother than mine.
Linda Cassidy Lewis 
I’ve been traveling for the last three weeks and sleeping on couches so my “working vacation” hasn’t amounted to much. Unfortunately. Now that we’ve settled into our final destination, I’m hoping that I’ll be able to play catch up as well and try to finish a novella I started before I left.
I stopped trying to do “fancy” things in my formatting for upload because, like you, I found it wouldn’t work, so I’m basically plain Jane with Times New Roman and these things **** for scene breaks. I wonder if readers really care what the inside looks like.
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I wish you well on catching up, Anne. 🙂
You’re right, most readers won’t even notice details in formatting, but I add them for myself. One thing that bugs me is how many ebooks display indented first paragraphs after chapter and scene breaks. That’s not proper formatting, so if I did nothing else, I’d use a style sheet that prevented that … or tried to. I can see how my books display on the various Kindles and apparently the iPad with the Kindle Previewer, and Nook with the PC app, but I can’t tell how they look on other readers, which could be ignoring my carefully crafted CSS.
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Lots of family stuff for me too this past month, two trips back home to an ailing mother plus a week long visit from 13 year old grandson. Lots of telephone calls regarding mom. Also have put the apartment up for sale. Not much creative time but managed to have a successful book launch for book # 4 in the Amanda travel series. Scribbled a few things down for next book but I think it will be awhile before it gets on the computer. You are so brave to do the self publishing thing. I’m always so impressed. Enjoy August!
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Congratulations on your recent publication, Darlene!!! 🙂 And I saw an intriguing subject line on your last blog post. I’m headed over there in a little while.
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And I’m sorry to hear about your mother. Mine has rapidly progressing dementia and her doctor says she can’t live alone any longer, so we’re having to make some hard decisions. It’s not a good time for me to be living across the country.
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I’m in a similar situation. My mom is now in the hospital and on a wait list to go into a nursing home. Being in another province makes it difficult so I feel for you..
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