Jo Robinson's Blog, page 49
February 6, 2015
Writing your own Ebook ��� Part Twelve Finale��� Images ��� and Useful Links
Here’s the final part of Writing your own Ebook from the Ebook Doctor, with loads of helpful links and guidelines. Everything you need to know is here!
Originally posted on Smorgasbord - Variety is the spice of life:
Images in Ebooks
There are two types of EPUB Ebooks: Standard Layout, that allow text to re-flow and Fixed Layout where the page layouts are fixed and text does NOT re-flow.
Standard Layout is used for books that are mostly text and they may have images embedded between paragraphs, or on separate pages. This is the format that is most widely used and is compatible with the widest range of Reading devices.
Fixed Layout is used when: you need to have a background colour or to wrap text around images; if your pages have aspect ratios that you don���t want to change or if you want to have horizontal orientation or columns of text.
For most fiction books and many non-fiction books the Standard Layout is fine and I will only address that format here.
Image Guidelines
Different Ebook retailers have different guidelines regarding images and you need to���
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February 5, 2015
Busy Bunny
It’s been raining every day here, at the same time as being roasting hot – with lots of really weird lightning keeping me away from electrical bits mostly. Scary climate change. I’ve been flat out busy though, so now I’m going to take a rest by visiting my lovely bloggerverse for a bit. I’ve been re-polishing my published books – going through them very slowly to make sure all is well inside and out, with a bit of tweaking all around. I’m also making the paper books smaller and changing the white for cream paper – they look much better that way. I’m banging away at the books to be published this year, and also getting cracking on the illustrations for my first children’s book. I’ve done piles of pencil sketches so far, but just today started the colouring process on one of them. It’s a bit blurry, and not nearly finished – I’m still going to do quite a bit of digital fiddling with it to tidy it up but this is it so far. I’m way too excited at the whole thing to keep it to myself till it’s finished.
I’ve never written anything for children before, so I’m finding it a little scary to be honest. Kids aren’t stupid and they don’t like to be preached to, and this little book is about properly taking care of your pets, so getting into little heads without offending little people is somewhat of a large learning curve. In between trying to be a tomato whisperer – I think I transplanted my heirlooms and chillies a little late, so they’re growing sloooooow, I’ve made a new dream catcher cover and loaded it up on the page, and I’m also getting sketches and pics together for my (or rather African Me’s Princess Sithole’s) Africolonial tongue in cheek recipe book. See. Busy, busy bunny me. Now I’m off to lounge around in blog land.
Genre Blending
Originally posted on Before I finished my first book, I had a list of all the top agents and publishers in the USA and the UK. The very thought of going Indie struck me as amateurish and pathetic, and it was going to be big time or bust. I had my synopsis ready, and my query letter. The more I learned about Indie publishing though, the more I fell in love with it, and by the time my first book was finished I had a totally different plan. I didn���t kick the option of traditional publishing to the kerb ��� I still haven���t done that. Even though I���ve never queried, I try never to say never, but I wanted to explore the amazing new world of anything goes first.
As an Indie writer you get to write about anything under the sun ��� satire ��� taboo ��� trigger inducing ��� revolting ��� weird���
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February 4, 2015
Love Aflame by Pamela Beckford – Launch Tour
“These are not just words strung together in forms. Somehow she manages to share huge and deep emotions with two words ��� or one. ”
“Pamela’s poetry is diverse and creative. Lyrical without self-conscious fluff. Quiet confidence in her abilities with the various forms.”
February 2, 2015
The benefits of reading. The reader organisation and what are the benefits reading has for you?
Originally posted on Hi all:
Our business in this site is talking about books, writing, publishing, and of course reading. In my facet as psychiatrist I���ve been known to use examples from books and talk to patients about literature (and films. Many want to talk about anything but their mental illnesses, very understandable when in some cases they���ve been in contact with services for years and have been asked the same questions over and over).
I was very interested when a few years back, whilst on a meeting with some forensic psychiatrist, one of my colleagues who worked at Rampton Hospital (a High Secure Mental Hospital in the outskirts of Liverpool) told us that she had joined in an initiative of the University of Liverpool to try and bring reading to a variety of settings, including mental health hospitals. The idea was that volunteers would run groups and would read especially selected���
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Colleen McCullough
Colleen McCullough, author of The Thorn Birds died at the age of seventy seven on the 29th January. The Australian wrote this as part of their obituary:
���Australia���s bestselling author was a charmer. Plain of feature, and certainly overweight, she was nevertheless a woman of wit and warmth.���
Pardon?
Use whatever words you like, but you clearly just called her not pretty and fat with a nice personality in her OBITUARY. That���s where you say nice things people. She���d be charmed I���m sure. I loved The Thornbirds, both the book and the series ��� the drama, the forbidden love, the serious crush on Richard Chamberlain who played the priest, and the devastation when he came out and I realised we could never be….. Ahem. Colleen McCullough was a stellar author, incredibly intelligent, and nice too. Twitter is currently abuzz with hilarious rude fake obits on the hashtag #myozobituary from all sorts of people including writers like Neil Gaiman. While this is funny, I���m not sure about how appropriate it is for humour to overtake the actual loss of a great writer. No more books from Colleen McCullough.
It���s nobody���s business if you���re fat or thin, gorgeous or have the face of a vampire bat sucking a lemon. What you look like shouldn���t define you. What defines you is who you are, what you do, and again, who you ARE. Obviously your looks are important if you���re a model, but even so, those looks aren���t who you are ��� some very pretty shells cover some very ugly inners. ��Beauty is in the eye of the beholder anyway.
As a writer I���m hugely offended at what was said in that obituary. We write for you ��� what we look like has no effect on what or how we write, and most definitely not appropriate to mention in any sort of insulting way. Even if when I die my obituary begins with something like ���She was gorgeous till the end, which was only to be expected….��� I���d still be hugely offended ��� even though it���s so obviously true. Writing is an art and our craft. It’s a special craft – it consumes us, and takes over our lives. Give proper credit where it’s due, and not facile allusions to irrelevant perceived faults. Shame on the writer of that sad and shameful sentence ��� the shame is his, and not on anybody���s body shape. RIP Colleen McCullough ��� a truly great author and human being. 
Photo copyright Louise Donald courtesy Simon & Schuster
February 1, 2015
Ronovan Writes Week In Review
Originally posted on ronovanwrites:
In case you missed something from this week, here they all are. Hope you find something you enjoy.
POETRY
BLOGGING TIP
Blogging Personality: The Key to��Success.
RONOVAN���S RANDOMS
Ronovan Writes Weekend Mick Flick. Do you feel Serendipity this��week?
Depression, Understanding, and Finding��Peace.
Maybe more next week,
Ronovan Writes
�� Copyright-All rights reserved by ronovanwrites.wordpress.com 2015
Lit World Interview Week In Review Jan 26-30.
Here are the articles for the week, if you missed one, go and check it out today.
Author Interview with Ronovan Writes
The Judas Apocalypse & Can���t Buy Me Love Q&A @DanMcNeil888
FEATURES
Text to Speech: Editing Through Listening PS Bartlett
Authenticity and Honesty as an Indie AuthorJo Robinson
Most Mortals Need a Proofreader by Guest Author Wendy Janes @wendyproof
BOOK REVIEWS
The Serpent Papers by Jessica Cornwell��Olga��N����ez Miret
RONOVAN���S WHATEVER
Patience and Integrity-The Secret to Success
LWI Who we are and what we do.
What can you expect next from the LWI Team?
I have an Author Interview with well at least one interview this week one will be out on Monday. Olga has a Feature coming out on Monday, another Feature from Guest Author Wendy Janes coming up Wednesday, and you know we will have something great from Jo Robinson on Thursday. And we have���
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Hunting Mariah Book Trailer by Chris Graham!
Another awesome trailer from Chris Graham for Hunting Mariah!
Originally posted on jemsbooks:
I am excited to share a book trailer for my novel, Hunting Mariah, made by Chris Graham aka thestoryreadingape.com who does trailers and book covers too. He is a multi-talented blogger ape. Lol!
Please check this out. Chris did an amazing job.�� He has a wonderful blog with information and support for authors. If you haven���t check his site out you must today.��Thank you, Chris!!
My links to purchase:
Amazon��US
Thank you for stopping by to check out my trailer. Love to hear from you if you like it.
Blessings!
-Janice-
LWI Who we are and what we do.
Who are we here at Lit World Interviews with Ronovan Writes and what are we about?
First let me explain the ���with Ronovan Writes��� part. When I started the site it was just little old me. Thus, I put my name with the site name. I suggested later as the site grew about thoughts of my removing that part but was told ���No���. Those I spoke with liked the way it sounded, thought it gave the site something different, especially since the Author Interview is such a central part of what the site is about, and well, they said it was my site and my name should be there. I don���t rock the boat. And in truth, the with Ronovan Writes part is rarely ever mentioned.
Now on with what it���s all about.
Now that the doors have been opened for a time, the what we are about has become���
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