S.M. Boyce's Blog: My Journal, page 53

I'm Moving!

Blogger has been great at all (not really) but I'm moving my blog onto my own domain. 
Please head over to blog.smboyce.com to sign up for the RSS or weekly email feed. 
I won't be adding any more posts to Blogger, but I will leave this up through 2011 as a reminder for you to switch over to the smboyce.com site. 
Thanks for moving over with me, and stay awesome! Here's the link again:
blog.smboyce.com

Novel Marketing Tips: What I've Learned So Far

This is a guest post I wrote for Laura E. Bradford over at her blog, A Writer's Notes. She asked that I talk a bit about what I've learned in the first month of marketing my new novel, The Grimoire: Lichgates. I figured that I'd post it here as well. Enjoy. You can read the original post here.

-------------------------------------Hey guys! Laura E. Bradford asked that I talk to you about marketing your novel.

It's important to remember that I wrote this post with the assumption that you've already listened to the number one rule of authorship: write a good book. It sounds pretty basic, I know, but your prerequisite for reading this blog post is to either have a unique, well-written novel or be in the process of writing one. All set? Awesome, let's keep going.

People tell me that marketing daunts them, and I can understand that. Those who are used to listening to radio and TV ads may think that they have to also push, push, push…and that is usually about as much fun as a root canal.

Thing is, there are multiple kinds of marketing and selling. Yes, once of them is the targeted "push" method of 30-second advertising sound-bites, but that's a tough racket. I've found much more success in social networking. I'm sure you know that social networking is a powerful tool, but let's talk for a minute about just how important it really is.

Social networking is all about starting a conversation. That means you as the author are there to share.Keep in mind that not everyone will be interested and not everyone will like your book.

The key is to find your marketing balance between polite and confident. You should have a healthy self-assurance about yourself and your book when you're marketing, but absolutely no one wants you to post thirty tweets a day about your book – that will get you unfollowed and unfriended faster than you can blink. But if you feel uneasy, you'll come off as such. People won't be as inclined to listen, much less go on to share your message with their friends. Approach interactions with a confident and open-minded manner and people will receive it that way. If you care about your book and believe that it's an amazing product (see blog prerequisite) then you're not really selling…you're spreading the word.


The Road to More ReadersThere is no cut-and-dry path to success.

Oh, were you expecting a list? Sorry, that's not how this works. If there was a rulebook, everyone would read it and then those steps would become obsolete. Truthfully, I think the steps most successful people take often bring them success simply because no one else has thought of doing it that way before.

Have a marketing plan full of all the ways you're going to get yourself out there. Add to it constantly. If one idea fails, move onto the next. Don't give yourself time to become disappointed, because I can tell you right now that not every one of your ideas will work, and that's okay. Your goal, in the end, is to be seen as many places as possible. Stick to it and don't give up. Find what works for you, your target audience, and your book, and build on that.

The way I see it, there are really only three set rules to being successful in crowded markets:
1. Most of what has been done once probably won't work again.
2. Be creative, innovative, and new.
3. Be assertive but polite.

Basically, you need to be different and innovative. Do new things. Come up with creative ideas. Think outside the circle that's outside the box.

Step #3 was really more of a personal observation. You don't want to give up too easily (hence, the assertive), but you don't want to piss people off (hence, the polite). I have heard of authors sending bloggers death threats because the blogger either didn't write a favorable review or didn't write one at all. Seriously?

I know that you're above this, but it disappoints me that any authors do this at all. If someone doesn't like your book, thank them for their time and move on. You can't please everyone and you'll go crazy if you try.

Some IdeasSo now that we've shaken off the thought that there's some sort of step-by-step guide to making everything work perfectly, let's work with that clean slate.

There are two significant tips I have to successfully market your book:
1. Be everywhere at once.
2. Forge lasting relationships (not one-night stands!).

Successful marketing is all about being everywhere at once. Be everywhere you can. Work with everyone you can. Talk to everyone you can. When someone asks you if you want to do something, the answer should be "Sure!" unless it's going to hurt you in some way (that Nigerian prince isn't really going to send you any money). "I don't feel like it" won't really cut the cheese.

On that same note, make friends. The fancy term for this is "networking," but that has always struck me as a manipulative term. To me, "networking" implies that you're only building friendships that benefit you. Don't do that, because those relationships will flounder.

If you want to go out there and really make an impact on the literary world, do it through meeting as many amazing people as you can. Talk to them on Twitter. Facebook them. Plus one their book on Google+. Start email conversations about books you both like and, hell, the weather. Go to their blog and leave a comment. Follow their blog if it's interesting. Review their book on Goodreads, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and Smashwords (if applicable). Critique their stories on Scribophile or Critique Circle.

*Catches breath* You know what? Go ahead and start with me. I challenge you. See my contact info below and get in touch with me. Tell me about your cats, dogs, books, marketing ideas, whatever. Make me laugh.

The point is this: there are an unlimited number of ways to meet people. If you talk about your book, fine…but don't make that your central point of focus. In the end, you're not really selling your book. You're selling yourself. You as a writer are a brand: your personality, your energy, your intelligence, and your experience all factor into your online presence, which is what the internet really wants to see.

One story comes and goes. Yes, books turn into classics, but nine times out of ten people are going to love and respect the author more than the story. Go out and be awesome.

-------------------------------------Contact S.M. BoyceFeel free to poke, prod, and ponder in S.M. Boyce's general direction

Book Review: Ruin by N.M. Martinez

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Ruin

by N.M. Martinez

See this and other reviews at The Source, the most epic of book blogs.

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Ruin

gets 3 stars.

The synopsis for Ruin does a pretty good job of setting you up for the book you're about to read: future world, revolution, some people have powers. You get the idea.

Here's the nitty-gritty: years ago, experiments were run on people to discover the hidden potential of the human mind; this, in turn, gave these select experiments powers that they then used to overcome the very scientists who had experimented upon them. This revolution divided the world, leaving those who call themselves "neutrals" holed up in walled cities while the experiments live outside the walls in tribes and essentially survive by being willing to kill.

It's a premise that fascinated me and carried me through the story; even if I didn't like a character or didn't believe their reaction to something, the world in which they lived held my attention and my imagination.

There are two distinct narratives: the primary, first-person voice of the young banished Neutral named Paula, and the secondary, third-person tale of a Wildlander named Mary that comes as an intermission in the middle of the book.

To be honest, I am not a fan of switching point of views like this and I'm still not entirely convinced that it worked for Ruin. I'm a stickler, though, and a bit of a snob. If an author switches character perspectives in a third-person POV, that's fine as long as the transition is believable…but to switch from first to third was jarring. The funny part was that I thought the third-person narration was the best-written component of this story. I cared more for Mary than I ever did for Paula, and I really feel that Mary's was the story that needed telling. Perhaps Martinez can give us a longer companion story for Mary...hint, hint.

What I LikedAs I mentioned, there is a five-chapter intermission in the middle of the book, where we go back in time to the story of Mary: a girl who won the hearts of several important and frightening men by being so darn sweet and kind. I perked up when I got to this story and was disappointed to see it end. In addition to being pretty well-written, it also introduces us to several characters we meet in the second half of the book. This is key because it gives the reader a sense of dramatic irony and a greater understanding of just how dangerous these men really are – a sense that wouldn't have come about from the first-person narration. It's a clever trick and an interesting way to add levels of tension to the story later on, when we would have otherwise not seen these characters in such a dark light.

What I DislikedStylistically, Martinez sometimes came off as repetitive or unnecessarily loquacious. Sometimes, a detail would be repeated to the point that I was pulled from the story to mutter, "I get it." For instance, one character is known only as "gray eyes" for several chapters, often two to three times in a single paragraph. Or, there would be a phrase like "I drunk in the sight of her," instead of a simple description of what this character looked like. This slightly dramatic description was kept mostly to the first half of the book and tapered off for the most part before the intermission, suggesting that Martinez began to grasp her voice over the course of writing her first book. That made me happy.

Perhaps what frustrated me most of all in this otherwise entertaining story was the main character Paula's unwillingness to really pluck up the courage to go out and explore the new world to which she was banished; instead, she spent a bulk of the story hiding out in various bedrooms. Granted, I can see that most normal girls are going to be frightened and timid, unwilling to set foot outside for fear of what they'll discover; but we aren't here to read about most normal girls. A main character has to be truly remarkable and inspiring. Otherwise, why read about her?

There were several instances in which I did not believe Paula's reactions or actions, simply because they contrasted so sharply with what I thought to be common sense considering the given situations with which she was presented.

Spoilers below.
For instance, Paula is faced with a brutal betrayal at the end of the story. She's dragged across the Wildlands by Alex under the impression that she's helping him save his daughter, and she faces the only true villain of the entire story: Killer. *chuckles at his name, but recovers* Only, Alex doesn't give her a plan or anything – he marches right into the evil lair and hands her over in exchange for his kid. Faced with this deep betrayal, does she fight or yell or try to run? No. She nods to him and accepts the fate without a word. That just doesn't strike me as a believable reaction. There are a few other examples of this, but you get the idea.

The Bottom LineI still think about the Wildlands sometimes. It takes a lot for me to sit on a story days after I finish, and the premise of Martinez's world is an alluring one that strikes my imagination and keeps me daydreaming about what I would have done with it if I had come up with the idea. She created a solid heroine in Mary and has mostly believable, hardened side characters that I wanted to know more about. I wasn't a huge fan of Paula's character and wished that she'd had the pluck to go out more, and some of Martinez's stylistic choices seem repetitive. Still, it was a fun story and the idea of an intermission in the middle was at a minimum unique. I will definitely be looking into any other novels Martinez publishes.

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Learn More

You can read more about N.M. Martinez on her Source Page.

 

Want a copy of Ruin? Get it here:

P.S. Smashwords gives N.M. Martinez the most royalties, so you should really buy it from there.

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Cover photo courtesy of the author's website

Win a FREE signed copy of The Grimoire: Lichgates!

It's that time of the month again - where I give out free things. What did you think I meant?


[image error] That is the proof for my debut novel, The Grimoire: Lichgates. It's....it's real.


To celebrate the release, I'm going to throw one at a random jogger give one away for free! I'll sign it, tell you how amazing you are (it's true), and send it off to you.


Enter your info in the form below to win. Sign up for the Grimoire blog while you're at it to get the first look at character sketches, deleted chapters, short stories, and more before they're posted! Hush, it's cool!


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The contest ends Dec. 1, 2011. Enter now to win!
Be sure to tell your buddies. You get good karma if you tweet about the contest, email it to your aunt and grandpa, and jump up and down three and a half times. Not really, but the jumping part would be fun to see. 

Here's the book's description:

The Grimoire: Lichgates(Grimoire Trilogy #1)The Grimoire is a book that turns its own pages and can answer any question asked of it. So when Kara Magari stumbles across the old book while hiking a hidden trail, she has no idea what she's getting herself into.She's thrown into Ourea: a beautiful world full of terrifying things that want the Grimoire's secrets. Most of the creatures there want to control Kara, but everyoneis trying to find her. There's no going back now.An adopted prince named Braeden is assigned to keep her safe, but befriending him comes with a cost. He ensnares her in Ourea's underworld when she uncovers the secrets he has hidden his entire life, and it isn't long before she doubts even his intentions.Legend says that the Grimoire's first master was murdered because he began to use the book's magic to unite the shattered world and, in doing so, made the wrong enemies. The more Kara learns of Ourea, the more she starts to believe that she will face his same fate; but if that happens, at least she won't be going down without a fight. 




Available now for those who are, like me, inherently impatient: [image error] [image error] [image error]
Good luck!

Why Kidnapping Bloggers is a Bad Idea

I kidnapped  @ KirkusMacGowan  and stole his blog for the day. Check it out & learn how to win free things (from me)!


http://www.kirkusmacgowan.info/2011/10/27/the-grimoire-lichgates-by-s-m-boyce-tweetcapade-for-a-chance-to-win/great-books/kirkus/

The Grimoire: Lichgates is Available Now!

Hey again! I have awesome news. Are you sitting down?

[image error] BOOMThe Grimoire: Lichgates is live!!Surprise.
You can buy the eBooks now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords.

The print book is almost ready and will be available at the end of the month, but you can preorder your signed copy straight from me by clicking here.

I included the synopsis and buying details below. Thanks, as always, for your support. You are truly awesome.

-S.M.








Synopsis
The Grimoire is a book that turns its own pages. It can answer any question asked of it. So when Kara Magari stumbles across the old book while hiking a hidden trail, she has no idea what she got herself into.She's thrown into Ourea: a beautiful world full of terrifying things. Most of the creatures there want to control her, but everyone is trying to find her. There's no going back now.Ourea's best soldier, an adopted prince named Braeden, is assigned to keep her safe. However, befriending him comes with a cost; he ensnares her in Ourea's underworld when she uncovers the secrets he has hidden his entire life. It isn't long before she doubts even his intentions.Legend says that the Grimoire's first master was murdered for the secrets he locked away in the book. The more Kara learns of Ourea, the more she starts to believe that she will face his same fate; but if that happens, at least she won't be going down without a fight.
To buy yours now, click on the icons below: eBooks Available Now:

My Newest Fan is Kind of Furry

Hey again! No, I didn't disappear, at least not entirely. I've been finishing up with the Grimoire and boy let me tell you - I learned more than a few lessons from this endeavor. But that's what the first novel does: it teaches writers how to better handle what's to come. And whooo...things will be different next time. No more red-bull-fueled sprints to the finish line.

More on that later. Today, I want to introduce you to Jack: a curious little thing we adopted from the shelter a week ago.

[image error] The caretaker who found him and brought him to the shelter described him as "weird," which is definitely an apt description. When my husband heard that, though, he just said, "Oh, no problem. He'll fit in."

Thanks, babe.


Anyway, I wanted you all to meet the lovely Jack Attack. I can only imagine that having kids will be at least marginally similar: at one moment, he's the smartest dog in the world; the next, he's pissing me off and there's nothing left of my tennis shoe. It's a balance.




Any dog lovers out there? Tell me stories!



Stay Awesome,
-S.M.

New Blog Design

Hey guys!

Just wanted to warn you that the blog looks a little different now. I was playing around with some styles and I think I found the one I like. Tell me what you think, though, because I always love input.

I'm finishing up with the final edits for the Grimoire. You should have it in your hands/on your eReaders soon!

-S.M.

I wish for a pill that would render sleep unnecessary...

...that way, I could actually finish all this stuff.

In case you've been wondering where I've been all this month (or not, whatever), I've been wrapping up edits on the Grimoire. It's epic. I'm 2/3 of the way through the second draft. It'll go through another polish before I send it out to the reading circle, run final edits, polish one or two (read: twelve) more times, and submit the final draft.

During that down time when my writing circle is critiquing, I'll draft the marketing plan, design a book trailer, and in general remain totally fly. You know, because all writers inherently are.

Anyway, I just finished Chapter 20 tonight. That leaves 11 chapters to go, which is actually much more difficult than it sounds. Still, the publish date has not changed - and on October 15, you will be able to buy your book. Let me know if you want me to sign it.

Stay awesome.
-S.M.

How to Create a Linked Table of Contents (TOC) in an eBook

I spent the last week or so messing with the various free software programs that format your eBook from a Word Document into an ePub. I figured most of it out, but I had the worst time trying to create a Table of Contents. I failed royally. I was sick of it. I was at the point of throwing things.

But luckily, I figured out an answer and my laptop is still in one piece. I'm writing this post to share my revelation with you and prevent this:

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Community Logos
"Therapy"


The Feature A linked table of contents allow readers to easily skip ahead to a chapter later on in the book without thumbing through the pages until they find it. The ePub file type is pretty nifty, but it does not have page numbers, since the entire appeal of an ePub is that it can automatically adjust the page numbers, formatting, and font to whatever reader you're using.
A lot of writers choose to forego a linked TOC because of the sheer hell and headaches you'll read about below. Me? I'm too damn stubborn not to figure it out, which just makes me even more frustrated when doing this eats up valuable writing time. I'm sure frightful noises came out of my writing room while I was working this out, which explains why my roommates' cats won't go in there anymore.
Oops.
The Problem I tried converting my base files using Calibre, Mobipocket, Sigil, and more programs I don't even remember. There's even an entire Wikipedia entry for all of the various programs that exist today. And you know what? It's probably not really an exhaustive list.
There are tons of programs out there, various reviews that insist they have found "the one" conversion tool, and there are even programs you can buy that are supposed to be better than the freewares.

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Zounz.comThey're not really better.

And you know what? Not a single one of them created a TOC for me. Not. A. Single. One.
I read the manuals, which were written in techie speak that most authors just aren't going to get. I read the forums where people like me (read: with no f*cking clue) posted questions and were answered in more techie speak that we didn't understand from the manual. What gives?
I'm going with the "the system is rigged" cop-out, because it makes stubborn authors like me feel stupid when it doesn't work. If you want to succeed in getting auto-generated TOC's working, get used to reading forums like this and this.
By the way, my favorite quote from that last forum comes after a user says they can't understand the TOC filter, which I didn't get either, and then the program creator replies with only, "Basically, you have to use the TOC filter J" 
...as if that evil little smiley is going to make me less inclined to hulk out.

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Pocket Gamer
It isn't.


The Solutions You have a few choices.1.       See the above entry for "the problem." Read forums and scream.2.       Hire someone at roughly $200 - $600 per book. Scream.3.       Do not put a linked TOC in your book. Sigh, then scream.OR!4.       Read these steps below, do it manually, and feel as geeky as you will accomplished.
Here are the bare bones basics that you need to know to make this work. If you don't want to mess with it, you can hire me to do it. I don't charge much, but I also don't have much free time in which to take cases. However, I want to you please read through this. I think you'll find it's easier than you thought. Take a deep breath, walk around for a minute, grab a soda, and come back. You can do this.

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photosot.comPatience is...something. This was an encouraging poster, once.


How ePub Conversion Works ePubs are boss. 
Before you can create the linked TOC, you need to know how to actually format your eBook. It's super easy, truthfully, and involves only one download. The easiest way to convert them is a program called Calibre, which also acts as an eLibrary management tool for Non-DRM books. It's pretty awesome. It's TOC creator sucks, in my opinion, but that's because I don't get it. Everything else with Calibre, though, is fantastic and fairly straightforward.

How to Convert an ePub w/ Linked Table of Contents (TOC) If you want to see what the final product should look like, go here to my test "book" and make your browser window really small, so that all you can see is the table of contents. When you click on one of the links, you'll be taken to the Chapter Header. That's what's supposed to happen in your TOC.

Here are the steps:
Get Your Book Ready 1.       Write a good book in MS Word (or Open Office). This part is kind of important.2.       Format it as desired and always, ALWAYS make a backup of your work. I'm not responsible if you lose your file because you didn't back it up.3.       Go to Save As to create a second Word file for your eBook and name it accordingly. You'll need slightly different formatting for this than, say, your print copy. Create indents that are about 2-4 centimeters, since the limited space with an eReader will make anything else look ridiculous. 4.       Single-space or 1.5-space your entire book. It doesn't matter if you include the space between paragraphs, because when you format it later, one will be added anyway.5.       In 9 of 10 cases, your font doesn't matter. The eReader usually auto-formats it according to the reader's preferences and whatever font looks better on the eReader.6.       Create your Front Matter, which is basically the title page, dedication, and all that other fun stuff. Make this single spaced.7.       Enter a page break before every chapter and every page of the front matter. This makes for a cleaner look on the finished project. Note: enter a page break by going to Insert> Page Break in MS Word.8.       Create a TOC page in your Front Matter. Include the Chapter Names, Prologue, Epilogue…whatever you want to have linked later. Make sure this is single spaced and that the text is aligned to the left. It will look funky if you don't do a left-align.9.       Once everything is perfect in Word, save the file as a filtered HTML document.
Download Calibre1.       Download Calibre here (http://calibre-ebook.com/download)or Google it and find the download that way. You won't hurt my feelings, whichever one you choose.2.       Set it up on your computer. Tinker with it to get used to it if you want, but I'm going to walk you through the big parts in a bit.
How to Manually Set up the Linked TOC in the HTML Code Note: Skip this if you don't want to enter a Linked TOC and just want help formatting a ePub file using Calibre.
For our example, I wrote an epic mini book. In this mini book's TOC, we're going to link the phrase "Chapter 1" to the same phrase later in theeBook. To do this, you have to mess with the HTML code. Never fear, I added so much detail that you can get this even without understanding anything else about HTML.
It's not as scary as it sounds. Really-really. The method that I use to create the linked TOC involves linking one word or phrase to another word or phrase later on in the document. I do this with two, short changes to the code for each TOC entry (i.e. each Chapter). I'll show you with detail and screenshots in a minute.
1.       Browse to your HTML file and right click on it. Choose "Open With" and open with Notepad. If Notepad isn't an option, browse to it. Note : It's usually in C:\Windows\system32. You can also go to Accessories in the Start Menu and right click on notepad there to find the executable file's location.
It won't look pretty if you're not used to HTML. Don't worry. You got this. You are boss.
Note: Use CNTL+F whenever you want to open the "Find" dialogue. This lets you search for keywords in the code and it is going to be your best friend while you're making the TOC.
2.      After you open the HTML file in Notepad, find the first chapter (or the prologue, or whatever) on your table of contents page that you create while still in WORD. Do this by searching (using CNTL+F) in the HTML for a keyword in the Chapter title or by searching for the word "Chapter," provided you don't mention that anywhere else in the front matter. Note: the CNTL+F feature only works going down the document – it doesn't ever start again at the top. Just keep that in mind as you're working.
We're going to practice with just Chapter 1. Here is what my TOC looks like in Word: [image error]
And here is what it looks like in HTML opened with Notepad: [image error]

So we're going to start by linking the first Chapter TOC entry with the ACTUAL Chapter 1 that exists later in the document. We're going to make just a few modifications to the HTML. Again, make a backup copy before you start, please.
3.       In the TOC page of the HTML – the one where you entered your own chapters and titles in Word – you're going to delete the auto-generated formatting and replace it with this: <p><a href='#ch1'> (in front of the chapter name) and </a></p> (behind the chapter name).
Here's a before shot of the code: [image error]
And the After: [image error]

There are a few important notes to make about this code that we just added.The words and letters we're putting in brackets are called "tags" in HTML.  I'm using that term henceforth.
Every tag you open needs to be closed. So, if you see <a>, you also need to make sure there's also a </a> to close it.
 HTML is case sensitive. So ch1 does not mean the same thing as CH1.
Every word, space, and symbol is important in HTML. Go slow and be really careful. That said, there is one exception. The spaces in between each line are cosmetic, but you should always keep an empty space between each line of code to make it easier to read.


Now, we need to talk about what the actual code means. ·         An <a> tag links a word to something else. If you want to read more, w3schools.com is an amazing resource.
·         We use the href= to tell the <a> tag what to link to. In this case, we're linking to a keyword later on.
·         To tell the <a> tag what keyword to link to later, we added '#ch1'. This is a keyword that we have to define in the code later, which I will show you in just a second.
So there you have it. <a href='#ch1'>Chapter 1: Chapter Name</a> will link to whatever words you later define as Chapter 1.


4.       Now that you added the new code to the TOC, all you have to do is define the keyword later on in the text, so that the link jumps to the code later on. I'll show you a great way to test this, too.5.       Use CNTL+F to find the second case of Chapter 1, where it actually appears with your chapter text later on in your book. This is what it might look like with all your formatting:
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6.       Add this code to it: <h2><a name="ch1"> (beginning) and </a></h2> (end) but keep all your old formatting. It will look like this:
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Now, we need to talk about what the actual code means. ·         The <h2> tag is just a header 2 tag, the same thing that's applied to the HTML when you choose "Header 2" for some text in Word. It makes it larger and better defines the formatting, making it easier for an eReader to read.
·         We already know that an <a> tag links a word to something else. Here, we're defining the link we created later, so the <a> tag takes us back to that link.
·         name= tells the link we created earlier where to search for the keyword we entered in the TOC.
·         "ch1" actually creates the keyword that we entered in the TOC. This is what the link in the TOC is looking for. Note: Remember, HTML is case-sensitive. Make sure this matches your previous keyword exactly or the TOC will just link you to the top of the document.
So there you have it. <h2><a name="ch1">Chapter 1</a></h2> will pull the link from the TOC to your actual chapter. Yay!


7.       I would recommend taking this opportunity to open the altered HTML file in your internet browser (browse to the file, right click, and choose "open with firefox, chrome, or internet explorer" whichever one you have). This will bring you to a webpage of sorts, allowing you to test the links to make sure they work. You'll see the clickable TOC. Click on your active link and it should take you to your chapter! If it doesn't, go back up through these steps and make sure that you entered the code correctly, didn't delete anything you weren't supposed to, and that you use the exact same keywords in both the TOC entry for Chapter 1 and later on in the real Chapter 1. Remember that HTML code is case sensitive, so you need to make sure that the tags match exactly.

If you want to see what it should look like, go here to my test book and make your browser window really small, so that all you can see is the table of contents. When you click on one of the links, you'll be taken to the Chapter Header. That's what's supposed to happen in your TOC.
8.      Once you get this fully working in your browser, it's time to repeat steps 1-7 with all chapters in your book. Note: When you create the tags for Chapter 2 and beyond, you'll need to make sure to change the tags. So, for Chapter 2, the tag will be "ch2" instead of "ch1" and so on for Chapter 3 ("ch3"), Chapter 4 ("ch4") and so on until your whole TOC is working perfectly in the browser test.


Import the HTML File into Calibre and Convert the HTML file to ePub 1.       Open Calibre. Import your HTML file (loads as a ZIP file).2.       Click "Edit Metadata." 3.       Add your cover, author name, the works. Close when done (it saves automatically).4.       Highlight the book in the Calibre grid (main view) & choose "Convert"5.     Go to the Look and Feel tab. Enable "Insert blank line between paragraphs."
6.  Go to the Structure Design tab. Delete everything that's pre-entered. You can leave the "remove fake margins" feature.7.       Go to the Table of Contents tab. Disable the "force use of auto-generated TOC." Enable "Do not add detected chapters to the TOC." Leave everything else as is.8.       Click OK to begin conversion. Take anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes, depending on the size of your file.9.       Upload to your eReader. Rejoice!
So, as I said in the title, this told you how to convert to an ePub. Using Calibre, you can easily convert to almost any other file format as well, including the MOBI file that Amazon requires for their Kindles. Just repeat steps 1-9, converting the ZIP file you uploaded to a MOBI isntead of an ePub
If this was too much for you or you just don't want to mess with it, I can create a linked TOC for a really reasonable price. Click here if you want to know more.
If you have any questions, go ahead and leave a reply or email me