Rebecca Talley's Blog, page 9

Using Jutoh

One of the best things about Jutoh is that it's also a text editor. You can make changes directly to your text in Jutoh, no having to go back to your Word document and then resave or reupload.

Jutoh does not like doc files. You must upload a docx file.

When you set up your Word document, make sure that you are using styles. For the body of the document, it should be a normal style. You can modify the normal style by right clicking on it in the home menu. Once you right click, you can see modify and that's where you make the changes that determine what the normal style is. Beware: Word is funky. It depends on that normal style to format the document. Even if you've clicked on a certain font and size, if the underlying choices are different, Word will use what is in the normal style as the default.

For example, if you write your document, then select all and change the font to Garamond, 18 point, if the settings in the normal style are Times New Roman, 11 point, your document will really come out as Times New Roman, 11 point. What you see on your screen can be very misleading. You must go by what is set in the normal style.

Next, you want to break your chapters by starting each one as a heading, Usually, you can use heading 1. Right click on heading 1, click on modify, and choose your settings. Do this at the beginning of each chapter. You must do it this way for Jutoh to work properly, but it also allows you to change the font style, size, and whether you want to bold it or italicize it by simply changing the settings in heading 1 (or heading 2 or heading 3--whichever you choose to use, but use the same one consistently for each chapter heading) and it applies the change to all the text in that heading style. So if you want to change from one font to another, instead of going to each chapter heading and doing it manually, you can do it once by modifying the heading style and it automatically applies it to all chapter headings (as long as you've used the same heading style for each chapter).

Body of text: normal style
Chapters: heading style

You can either put in your links in Word by using the hyperlink function or you can put in the links in Jutoh.

Do not insert any page numbers. Do not use headers or footers. If you have them, remove them. An ebook is a fluid document and page numbers are irrelevant.

Once your Word document is clean, you can upload it to Jutoh. (It's far better to start with a properly formatted Word document, but if you are applying changes to a previously formatted document, you must clean it up before uploading. The best way to do that is to download the Smashwords guide--free from Amazon or Smashwords--and follow the directions to clean your formatting). Jutoh will ask for the file you want to upload. Browse until you find the correct file, then upload it. Remember, it won't upload a doc file, it must be a docx.

Jutoh goes through and separates each chapter (if you've used a heading style) into its own document. You can then go into each chapter and make any changes you want. If you prefer to have an image as your chapter headings (you do this if you want to preserve a certain font that matches your title because ebook readers all have limited fonts and generally apply one font to the entire document), you will need to insert those jpeg images.

You can create a jpeg image in Photoshop or another similar program. At the beginning of each chapter, insert the image under the edit menu in Jutoh. You can use styles in your Word document and bold them if you'd like, which is what many authors do. But if you want a more custom look, you can create images and insert them.Super easy.

You can see all the separated chapters (documents) on the left side and that's how Jutoh will build your Table of Contents. If there is a chapter heading you don't want, you can delete it. For example, in my book, as part of Chapter One, I have the title page and the copyright info because I didn't want those to be chapters. If you have 30 chapters, you will have 30 separate documents in Jutoh.

When everything looks the way you want it to, you choose which format to compile it in, click on compile and in less than a minute you have an ebook file. It will list any errors you might have so you can fix them. you need to compile for each ebook format you want.

Once you have your ebook file, you can upload it to the various sites.As of right now, my book is only on Kindle. I took my Mobi file from Jutoh and uploaded it. No problems. No issues. Slicker than slick.

I am not an affiliate for this product, so I don't get anything for recommending it. And I am the least technologically-abled person I know. If I can use this, anyone can. Believe me. If you want to create ebooks, I would highly, highly recommend Jutoh. It isn't too expensive and it's virtually headache-free. A great investment!

Purchase Jutoh.

Jutoh for Writers Is Pure Awesomeness

When I published Aura in November 2012 to the Kindle platform, I converted the file to a web page then uploaded that to Amazon. I decided to use jpeg images for my chapter headings to make my ebook look a little nicer. What a headache. I couldn't get it to upload properly with those images. It took me a few days and a lot of hair pulling to finally figure out what was wrong. It was such a negative experience that I had decided I didn't want to ever do that again.

After finishing my newest novel, Imperfect Love, I wavered between submitting it to a publisher and going the indie route again. The memory of uploading my other book was still fresh in my mind and I wasn't sure I wanted to take on all the responsibility of publishing a book again. After consulting with family and friends, I decided to take the plunge again into indie publishing. What I love about going indie is that I have all the control (the control freak in me LOVES this). I can determine when to release a book, how to release it, what the cover will be, what the back cover copy will be, and what the price will be. I don't have anyone telling me what I can and can't do with my own creation. AND no one owns the rights to my book but me. That is super awesome in and of itself. Of course, with all of this also comes the fact that I'm completely responsible for it, sink or swim. Everything from design and format to promotion is on my shoulders.

One of the slickest, easiest, and best programs I've found to help me with creating ebooks is Jutoh. The BEST $39 I've invested in my indie publishing path thus far. It. Is. So. Easy. I highly recommend this program to anyone who wants to create ebooks. Hands down, this  made the process so, so much easier. And with beautiful results. I could easily add in images and get the ebook to look exactly the way I wanted. It automatically checks the file for errors and takes less than a minute to covert the file to an ebook. Easy peasy. And if I can do it, anyone can. Seriously. Anyone.

I will post what I did to create my ebook in another post. If you'd like to see the result, you can preview a copy of my book, Imperfect Love, on Amazon and see what it looks like.

Jutoh is pure awesomeness for creating different ebook formats.

Newtimber: Fractured by Karen E. Hoover

Introducing Newtimber: Fractured, an exciting YA urban fantasy novel by Karen E. Hoover, author of The Wolfchild Sagaand others.
There was absolutely no way a black dragon hovered outside of Newtimber. Sianna rubbed her eyes, but the dragon was still there, clutching a round object that looked like a spotted egg. And then the egg fell, hitting the ground like an atomic bomb, sending out waves of a slow-moving fog that distorted everything it touched.
The citizens of Newtimber change. The old man down the street stretches into a screaming tree. Sianna’s skateboarding friend, Matt, transforms into a giant green dragon. Pegasus. Sirens. Griffins. Vampires. Zombies. Creatures from the myths of every culture come to life through the people.
Even Sianna changes, her skin becoming stone hard, and she gains the ability to travel from the human realm into the dimension of the fae, using it to free her father from prison and enlist his aid in battling the evil bent on taking over the world.
One person to heal a family, a town, and save the world. It seems an impossible task, but with the help of her new friends, iRight?

Newtimber: Fractured will be released early summer 2014 by Trifecta Books. Visit www.trifectabooks.com for exciting updates about this great new series!

Christie Brinkley is 60. Really?

I was in the grocery store the other day and saw this magazine cover. I've always thought Christie Brinkley was beautiful. She reminds me of my mother, who had natural beauty and a gorgeous smile.
But I'm sorry. This is not the photo of a 60-year-old woman. At least not of a natural 60-year-old woman. I mean, the breasts are a dead giveaway. Very little is perky at that age. I'm not saying women at age 60 aren't beautiful and can't look amazing. I hope I can look nice when I'm that age. What I am saying, is that normal people don't look like this at that age. She has the body of a much, much younger woman. Either the photo has been worked over or her body has. And what message does that send? That we aren't beautiful unless we still look like we're 30?
I loved it when Jamie Lee Curtis did a photo shoot and said, "This is my real body." We should celebrate our bodies and our faces at every age instead of trying to conform to some unrealistic image created by the media.
I've told my kids that women who are my age but look like they are still 30, have had work done. Aging is a natural process and the only way to stop it is to alter your body. And for what?
My mother died when she was 29. Every year that I live, is one more year of experiences that my mother didn't get to have. Every wrinkle and white hair is a testimony that I'm living a life. I don't look like I did when I was 20 or even when I was 30. And that's okay. I need to embrace the age that I am and look the best that I can at my age. I need to focus on health and the beauty that comes from within.
This image of Christie Brinkley is unrealistic (unless she is truly a modern miracle) and it's a shame that our society is so obsessed with outer beauty. We hold up this airbrushed and manipulated photo as something to which we should aspire. No doubt she looks gorgeous in this photo and no one would ever believe that she's 60, but is that what she truly looks like? Is this how she's aged naturally without surgery?  
We need to celebrate women of all ages, with all body types, with wrinkles and white hair. We need to stop pressuring women to look a certain way or to be a certain weight in order to be considered beautiful. Women are amazing. We are strong. We are beautiful. Andwe are so much more than what we look like in a bathing suit. 

Great Boxed Set of Romances

Pocket Full of Posies by Julie Coulter Bellon

5 stars

Wow! This is Bellon's best novel to date. It is filled with intrigue, adventure, romance, and excitement.

I found myself anxious to get back to reading it because I had to find out what happened next. I found the characters to be well-developed and flawed, making them realistic and interesting. Even the villain was layered enough to make me almost like him. Almost.

I was so impressed with the realism of the plot. Bellon masterfully weaves in details that make you feel like you a right in the middle of the action. Twists and turns kept me riveted to the story. I kept wondering how the characters would solve the problems and get out of the situations and Bellon kept surprising me with unexpected twists. 

I highly recommend this book. It's a page-turner, so make sure you have enough time to read it.

You can purchase Pocket Full of Posies here.

Indie Author Resources Blog Fest

I published my first four books with traditional publishers. I submitted the manuscripts and waited to hear if they were accepted or not. After acceptance, I worked with editors a bit. I had no say in the cover design. In fact, I loved one of my covers but was concerned about it before publication. After publication, that book was not carried in bookstores because of the cover. In essence, I was punished because of the cover designer's choice and I had no option but to accept my book wouldn't be carried in bookstores. I couldn't change covers or make any edits to that cover I also had no say in the release date, and I was responsible for almost all of the marketing. I loved publishing traditionally, but decided I wanted to try it on my own. Others I knew had made the plunge, do I dove in as well. I'm still learning about indie publishing every day, but I have found an excellent cover designer I want to recommend.

Karlene Browning at LibrisPro designed the cover for my book, Aura. Here's a link to that cover and the back cover. She did a fantastic job and really captured the essence of my main character and the feeling of the story. She is so easy to work with and her prices are very reasonable. She has designed other covers and is very tech-savvy. She's honest and dependable and works quickly.

Here's a link to her portfolio.

Here's the link to her website.

You can go here and find other professionals involved in this blog fest.

Welcome to indie publishing!

Cell Phones and Relationships

Here in the Houston area when someone goes on a first date and doesn't get a call back, he/she can go to a website for a local radio show and fill out a form for the radio hosts to call the person and ask why he/she didn't call back after the first date. The hosts ask all sorts of questions and the person who filled out the form is listening in on the responses. That's the set-up. Really embarrassing, wouldn't you agree? I mean, obviously, if you went on a first date and the person doesn't call again, it's pretty clear that the date did not go well. And, let's face it, it's almost always women who initiate this to see why the man they went out with didn't call back.

This segment comes on while I drive back home after taking kids to school. I always think I should turn it off because it's so uncomfortable. I feel embarrassed for everyone involved. But it's one of those "I can't look away" situations. I'm embarrassed, but I want to hear why the guy didn't call back.

This morning's segment was a woman whose friends had signed her up for an online dating service. She'd received a note from a guy and agreed to a coffee date. She thought the date went well and she liked the guy, but he never called her back.  When the radio hosts got him on the phone, he explained that he didn't want to go on another date with her, because during the coffee date all she did was text, answer emails, and talk on her phone. He felt like he was on the date by himself. She countered that her job is stressful and she had to take those calls and answer the emails. The hosts told her that maybe this wasn't a good time for her to date if she's that busy.

This situation made me think of myself. How do I use my phone?Honestly, I am totally guilty of texting or reading texts while my kids are trying to talk to me. The majority of the time, I am texting one of my other kids. Sometimes, I am also emailing or reading emails. Some of that time is directly related to an issue with one of my kids (lately it has been about trying to get services for my son at school, but that's beside the point). The point is, back in the day, there were no cell phones, no email, no Facebook, no Twitter. We actually had interactions with live people and I think we had better relationships with them. I think technology is robbing us of establishing and maintaining relationships.

We have so little time to spend with the people who matter most to us. Some days it does feel like raising kids will last forever, but then, in a blink of an eye, they are on a mission, or at college, or married with their own babies. Once time has gone by, it doesn't come back. You can't save it and you can't stock up on it. Once it's gone, it's gone forever.

I need to be better at putting my phone away and truly listening to my kids, to my husband, to my friends. I need to stop allowing an electronic device to undermine my relationships. I feel like I don't have enough time with my kids as it is and I shouldn't be wasting that time surfing FB on my phone.

At the end of the day, relationships are what matter. I am going to put my phone away and focus on face-to-face interactions with my family when they are around. Yes, I will still text my other kids and family members because sometimes that's the only communication I have with them that day, but I am going to focus on not doing it at the expense of my other kids or my husband.

7 Romance Novels for $.99

Coming February 1, 2014 Romance through the Ages brings you SEVEN NOVELS from 7 bestselling authors (including New York Times, USA Today, and Amazon bestsellers). Join us for a fabulous collection.   *7 Romance Novels, 7 Bestselling Authors, 1 Amazing Price*   99 cent Romance Boxed Set for a limited time only!

Running Barefoot by NY Times & USA Today bestselling author Amy Harmon!— Deeply romantic and poignant, Running Barefoot is the story of a small town girl and a Native American boy, the ties that bind them to their homes and families, and the love that gives them wings.

Masquerade by Janette Rallison, who has sold more than 1 million books!— It's hard for a woman to keep up the masquerade when her boss is as handsome as Slade Jacobson and the job takes her to Hawaii with him. In between handling his whirlwind four-year-old daughter and dealing with a whole cast of Hollywood personalities, Clarissa has to keep a tight hold on her heart.

The Reluctant Bachelorette by Rachael Anderson, Amazon Bestseller!—Unknowingly cast as the bachelorette for her town's charity event, Shelter’s Bachelorette, Taycee Emerson is in for the ride of her life. Especially when she discovers her old teenage crush, Luke Carney, is one of the bachelors and it's up to the viewers—not her—to decide which bachelors stay or go.

Pride and Precipitation by Heather Horrocks, Amazon Bestseller!— Breezy Jones is crazy about the weather, rain or shine, which makes her job as the local television station’s meteorologist perfect. That’s before she meets the attractive new general manager, Noah Drake, who is determined to repackage everything—including Breezy’s down-home delivery.

My Own Mr. Darcy by Karey White, Amazon Bestseller!— Lizzie falls hard for Matthew Macfadyen’s Mr. Darcy character and makes a promise to herself that she will settle for nothing less than her own Mr. Darcy. When she meets two men, Chad—a science teacher, and Matt Dawson—who looks and acts like Mr. Darcy, she’s forced to re-evaluate what it was she loved about Mr. Darcy in the first place.

She Owns the Knight by Diane Darcy, Amazon Bestseller!— Why does Gillian Corbett have to travel seven hundred years through time to find a decent guy?... Why can't Sir Kellen Marshall find a lady who is obedient, submissive... or at least not trying to kill him?

Heart of the Ocean by Heather B. Moore, Amazon Bestseller!— A dark secret . . . a grieving ghost . . . a handsome stranger . . . What more could Eliza Robinson want? Except for maybe her life. When Eliza discovers that Jonathan Porter’s dark secrets may be the link between the dead woman who haunts her and her aunt’s murderer, Eliza realizes that Jonathan is the one man she should never trust.

Giveaway Details $25 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash Ends 2/1/14 Bloggers who put up a spotlight post about these books on their blog can enter to win an additional $25 gift card or paypal cash. See details in the Rafflecopter. Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader, Not A Writer and sponsored by the authors. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. a Rafflecopter giveaway

My New Cover: Imperfect Love

Isn't it beautiful? I love it.

If you'd like to participate in the blog tour March 19th-28th, you can go here and sign up.

You can also enter a contest to win PayPal cash or an Amazon gift card if you go here.

Thanks for your support!!