Calibre

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Have a reader and want to buy a book from a different site other than the reader-supported bookstore, such as Kindle? There are a few conversion programs floating out there. I used Calibre, which does have a video tutorial you can watch:

http://calibre-ebook.com/

Once downloaded, the program will appear like this on your computer:

Next up is adding approved email addresses to your reader. I have a Kindle but presumably other readers will go through similar steps. Kindle’s site for adding email addresses is here:

http://amzn.to/i4YXk9

Next, go to the Calibre screen and click on ‘preferences’ on the far right side of the tool bar.

Click on sharing books by email

Click "add email" on right.

Enter the email address of your reader (for Kindle it should end with @kindle.com in some form) and click return. Formats should be "mobi, PRC".

Scroll down to the "Send email from" box and fill in the email you want to send the email from. Be sure that this is the same email you added to approved email addresses when you were setting up your reader
account.

Note: This is not the @Kindle email address that you are mailing TO but your personal email address that you'll be sending FROM. Since several friends reported problems with using an aol address, I opted to use set-up a gmail address as Calibre had a button I could click on to set it up.

To see if you’ve have the system set up, click’ Test email in lower right corner’.

You should get a "mail successfully sent" message. If you did not, that means you haven't set up either the TO or FROM email correctly.

Click Apply in upper left corner, and then click close, to close preferences.

Now you'll be able to convert to your reader a book...say my upcoming releasses COURTING DISASTER and COURTING DEATH...puchased from http://www.carinapress.com/

:) Carol

Ebook Primary-formats

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Maddie's eyes glazed over when I mentioned the topic for this week's blog so we agreed I would handle this topic.

As my next two books COURTING DISASTER and COURTING DEATH are coming out from Carina Press in digital form and I have sold another [HER DARK PROTECTOR] to Carina Press as well, I figured I'd better start learning about this new world of publishing...

Except I found out that digital is not so new. Founded in1971 by Michael S. Hart, Project Gutenberg is the oldest digital library. It is a volunteer effort dedicated to preserving books and has been converting public domain books to digital. A reader can download for free many books ePub, Kindle, HTML and simple text formats:  http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page

But what are these formats? When I got the copy of COURTING DISASTER, it was in EPUB and PDF formats so I had to research what these designations and found there are an endless array of formats. I discovered there are proprietary ereader formats [generally specific to a particular ereader] and secondary formats. Proprietary ones include the following:  

AZW - Amazon’s file type for the Kindle series of ereaders. The AZW extension is used on ebook files that are protected with DRM and files that are not protected.



PRC/MOBI – is the file extension of the Mobipocket reading software. In either case it may be DRM protected or non-DRM


LIT - a filename extension for Microsoft Reader ebooks

LRF/LRX/LRS/BBeB – BBeB is Sony’s format. LRF denotes DRM free files and LRX file types are encrypted and can be set to expire.


Secondary formats included:

PDF – Adobe’s “Portable Document Format” is immensely popular but often does not format well to the small screens of ereaders. However despite its drawbacks it remains a popular format.



TXT – Plain text format, readable by most ebook devices


RTF – Text format for Word and Office, readable by some ebook devices


DOC – this can refer to Microsoft Word format.


HTML – Hyper text mark-up language, aka the language most web pages on the Internet are coded in


EPUB - EPub is a free, open standard for "reflowable" content, meaning that the text display can be optimized for the particular display device.


ACSM - File format used to provide DRM on Adobe ebooks PDF and ePUB

PPT – Power Point files

A simple overview of formats can be found here:

http://www.ebookmall.com/knowledge-collection/format-comparisons.htm

At this time, the vast majority of e-books on the market are distributed as PDF files, meaning they can be read on any computer or device that can read PDF files. (For example, if a reader computer has Adobe Acrobat or Preview installed, s/he can read e-books that are distributed as PDFs.)

What does the proprietary and secondary formats mean to a reader? A potential pain in the neck as a reader has to deal with compatability issues. As a newbie Kindle owner, I ran into the problem when I downloaded my first book from a non-Amazon site. Then horror of horrors, again when I received the copy of my own book as I couldn't load them onto the Kindle. The Carina Press author listserve came to the rescue and my next blog will be about a program that makes the warring formats play nice with each other.

COMING 4/4/11 FROM CARINAPRESS.COM AND OTHER FINE DIGITAL BOOKSTORES

Sleuthfest 2011

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Maddie here.

Carol had a great time at Sleuthfest last weekend. She got to finger print, tour both a bomb squad van & an Animal CSI van. Most of all, she got to hang out with her friends Sandra Madden & Marcia King Gamble along with other FRW members. Heather Graham threw a rocking party on Saturday night. Of course, I found all the treats she hid around the house while she was away. She can't fool me. You know she had to take a lot of picures, so here's a few. I'm off to beg a treat.

Launching Legal Weapons Twitter story

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Maddie here. Carol's had an exciting week. She attended Sleuthfest, leaving me in the hands of my fav neighbor. However, I have to pup up to the fact that I missed her. After all, she is the keeper of Pupperoni.

Carol not only got her new cover for COURTING DISASTER,  

but she also learned CHASING THE TRUTH is a finalist in the novella category of the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence Contest. I'm so proud of her that I gave her an extra few licks.

Yet, what is most exciting is Carol is launching the 'tweegal' [tweet + legal] adventures of her fictional criminal defense law firm. Starting tomorrow you can follow tweet by tweet the latest case involving the intrepid heroines of COURTING DANGER, COURTING DISASTER, & COURTING DEATH: Kate Rochelle, Carling Dent, and Nicole Sterling. After all, stirring up trouble can be the best defense. You can follow the story here:  http://www.twitter.com/LegalWeapons


Now I think I deserve a treat.

My personal Sally Fields' moment

Sunday, February 27, 2011

I experienced my own Sally Fields' "You like me, you really like me" moment on Wednesday.  I got the call from my agent that I had another sale to Carina Press.  Not only was it book sale #7 but the news marked my second decade of publishing contracts.  Whatever my writing career is, a fluke it's not.

Over the ten years I've learned the most I can write is two books a year because of the day job.  However, I've made every deadline, come hell or hurricanes.  While my house may look like a hurricane hit it and I will never, ever win a clean house award, I religiously get up every morning to get my 1-2 pages in before I head into work. 

As an attorney one has to have a tough hide and I've needed it during rejections.  After all, each book idea is my 'baby' that I've spent countless hours researching and putting together.  I care about my characters; they live and breathe for me.  At times they'll even whack me over the head if I''ve gone down the wrong path with them.

My book COURTING DEATH releasing on 5/2/11 contains two such characters, Nicole and Sam.  They first came to life for me at the start of my career.  While I scrapped the initial book they were in, I finally came up a story that worked for them.  I'm glad they stuck it out with me.

If I had to cite my main qualities as a writer, I would say I am stubborn, determined and persistant.  You have to be in this business to survive.  However, all the perseverance in the world wouldn't matter, if people didn't like my voice, my stories, my characters.

So thank you for allowing me the opportunity to be a storyteller.  You really, really like me.  :) Carol

NASCAR

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Today's Daytona 500 was the stuff fairy-tales were made of.  A young man who just celebrated his 20th birthday and was racing in only his 2nd Sprint Cup race.  Trevor Bayne was paying his dues, drafting for the most part as the pusher with some of the biggest names in racing. As wreck after wreck thinned the competition, he stayed almost scratch-free. In the end he was in position to cross the finish line first.

People ask why I love NASCAR. I love the diehard fans and listening to prerace concerts with Brad Paisley singing "Country Song". I love the moment of prayer and the displays of the American flag. I love the fact that Martina McBride could belt out the National Anthem without screwing it up.  I love the celebration of God and country at every race.

I love the dedication of the drivers to their craft, sport and community. They form dog charities rather than kill them.  They support a wide range of causes, giving generously.  They take care of their own.  They show up for endless practices rather than threaten strikes.  On occasion they settle differences with fist fights.  They work hard as a team and when a driver crosses the finish line first, it's a team celebration.

It's a sport where Jimmie Johnson has accomplished the incredible by winning 5 Sprint Cup Championships in a row.  It's a sport where 10 years after his death remembering the Intimidator Dale Earnhardt can still bring tears and heartache. 

I don't find NASCAR boring at all.  I celebrate the sport as the heartbeat of our country where fairytales do come true for a parttime racing outfit Woods Brothers with their first Sprint Cup victory since 1976 with the famous David Pearson.

Boogity, boogity.  It's going to be a great season.  :) Carol

Plotboard on an electronic notebook

Sunday, February 13, 2011

I'm a pantzer rather than a plotter, but I have set up an electronic plot board as a guide of where I should be in the book. Obvious benefit of an electronic plotboard is the portability. You can add information as you go along and make changes. Use different colors, fonts, etc. to help highlight turing points and POV's. 

I haven't experiented with it yet, but since a page length is unlimited in electronic notebooks, for the next book, I may try fewer columns for extra width and go with more rows. 

:) Carol