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Is your book available in word format?
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Patti (Migrating Coconut) wrote: "As some of you know, one of our lovely groupites is blind so requires his books in word format so his computer can read to him.If your book is available in word, could you please let us know in t..."
most authors I imagine would be willing to send a Word version of their work, but I'm curious how a computer can recognise different speakers of dialogue to 'read' it in an intelligible way? Or is it a Braille reading computer?
I'd be happy to send a copy of Flux if it's a book they'd be interested in. Just message me the details. I can also send the back cover blurb if needed.Mark
Yup, all mine are in Word. Ready to send, just gimme a nod.
Marc wrote: "Patti (Migrating Coconut) wrote: "As some of you know, one of our lovely groupites is blind so requires his books in word format so his computer can read to him.If your book is available in word,..."
Sorry Marc, I really don't know how it works.
Marc - they've probably got an application like Dragon Speaking, that has a plugin for Word.My books are available in RTF format, which can be opened in Word without any problems.
But that raises the question of how it 'reads' different voices in dialogue? Am happy to provide mine in Word, but half of it is in dialogue
I'm the 'lovely groupite' in question... thank you for the posts so far.Mark, I'll try to answer your question.
I use a programme (similar to the Dragon application someone else mentioned) which reads the text on the computer screen to me and I'm able to move around using the keyboard rather than the mouth. to address your question re dialogue, my screenreader enables me to choose the amount of punctuation I hear. I've set it to tell me when quotation (or ') marks are used and by that I know when people are speaking. probably wouldn't suit everyone but it works for me. ;) not knowing when different people were speaking is one of the complaints that people have raised about kindle text to speech-- it can make following a book very difficult.
does this answer your question?
Marc wrote: "Patti (Migrating Coconut) wrote: "As some of you know, one of our lovely groupites is blind so requires his books in word format so his computer can read to him.If your book is available in word,..."
Marc, apologies for miss-spelling your name in my earlier post... I went with a K rather than a C!
to add some background to Pattie's first post, I used to buy a lot of my ebooks from Smashwords as I could download in RTF format which opened in word no problem. Smashwords is used a lot less now I find as authors are signing up with things like the Kindle Select Programme from Amazon which demands exclusivity. I also understnad from authors I've spoken to that the proportion of sales they get from there doesn't always make it worth while converting the book for publication on SW. the topic came up as I was asking about one of the group's reads for November.
Steven, I'm more than happy to send you a copy of any of my books if you think it might be of interest. Just let me know what you need to be able to see if you might want a copy.Cheers
Marc
Thanks Marc. :) I'll take a look at the book discriptions on amazon and be in touch! :)
Steven wrote: "Thanks Marc. :) I'll take a look at the book discriptions on amazon and be in touch! :)"okay, look forward to it
Word copies of all my available books are ... well ... available. If you want to PM me with any that you would like then we can arrange things.
Darren wrote: "Word copies of all my available books are ... well ... available. If you want to PM me with any that you would like then we can arrange things."thanks Darren. will deffo PM you. I've already got the Sword in the Tree but really want to try the U.N.D.E.A.D books. :0)
p.s did i use enough .'s there? ;)
Steven, my book is available from Smashwords and I would be happy to send you a 100% discount coupon if you are interested in it :)
Paul wrote: "Steven, my book is available from Smashwords and I would be happy to send you a 100% discount coupon if you are interested in it :)"Thank you Paul. Lethal Guardian looks great. :0)
Oh Steven you MUST read the UNDEAD books.Darren. Sort. It. Out.
Oh dear, I'd just taken Something Nice down from Smashwords in response to a great deal of joshing from a pro writer friend. The usefulness of the RTF format in this way hadn't occurred to me.
Andrew wrote: "Oh dear, I'd just taken Something Nice down from Smashwords in response to a great deal of joshing from a pro writer friend. The usefulness of the RTF format in this way hadn't occurred to me."just out of interest, what was the joshing over? the book itself or smashwords? I only ask as i often hear authors saying that selling through smashworks is pointless as hardly anyone ever buys from there. :0)
It was about Smashwords rather than the book itself - the author in question had followed a link to the site and was laughing herself sick at the 'latest releases' page. It wasn't direct joshing, she didn't know I had a book up there (I hope), but it did make me think about the environment in which my work was sitting.
I am not sure what is so awful about the Smashwords website. I assume that you are talking about the home page which shows the latest releases. It's not fantastic but I don't see it as any worse than many eBook websites. The filter method of searching works well.
Paul, it's not the site per se, it's the majority of the books themselves that are awful in my friend's opinion, and she's got a point.
Paul wrote: "I am not sure what is so awful about the Smashwords website. I assume that you are talking about the home page which shows the latest releases. It's not fantastic but I don't see it as any worse th..."I think what Andrew is saying is that on the home page, the new releases often include fairly cringe-worthy erotic titles that can be hard to take very seriously. to be clear, I've nothing against erotic books (I read some myself) but some of the titles are pretty hilarious.
Oh yes, I am sure :) It is very useful for authors to get their book to a number of different sites though and also for authors to be able to use their coupon system as I have just done for Steven.
Paul wrote: "Oh yes, I am sure :) It is very useful for authors to get their book to a number of different sites though and also for authors to be able to use their coupon system as I have just done for Steven."I agree. I guess it could present an issue for some authors. say for example you write children's books. you might feel unconfortable about selling on a site that has, what is basically porn advertised on the homepage. I know you can buy these books from Amazon as well, but your not presented with them when you log on to the site.
the coupon code system is good and is one of the things I hear authors who use SW praise about the site-- the ability to give free books without being tied in to an exclusive contract with Amazon's Kindle Select programme.
thanks for raising this point Andrew, it was an interesting thing I hadn't really considered before.
I think Smashwords is the only place where hardcore erotica and knitting ebooks can be in the top ten new releases.(I like to check it daily and read out the top five at work for giggles)
L.E. wrote: "I think Smashwords is the only place where hardcore erotica and knitting ebooks can be in the top ten new releases.(I like to check it daily and read out the top five at work for giggles)"
lol!
Will happily provide Word formats of my books if you ever need them.
Philip wrote: "Will happily provide Word formats of my books if you ever need them."Thank you Philip. I actualy have 'Steady Past Your Granny' already-- though I've not had a chance to read it yet. :0)
I do all my books in word, and send them to the publiser in that format, so if your person is interested in Swords for a Dead Ladyplease let me know
Steven wrote: "Philip wrote: "Will happily provide Word formats of my books if you ever need them."Thank you Philip. I actualy have 'Steady Past Your Granny' already-- though I've not had a chance to read it ye..."
Oh, brilliant. Hope you enjoy it as and when. If you need a Word version of the others at any time, just let me know.
Steven wrote: "Philip wrote: "Will happily provide Word formats of my books if you ever need them."Thank you Philip. I actualy have 'Steady Past Your Granny' already-- though I've not had a chance to read it ye..."
If you are interested in historical fiction I'd be happy to send you a word format of my novel Ice King, which is set in Liverpool.
L.E. wrote: "I think Smashwords is the only place where hardcore erotica and knitting ebooks can be in the top ten new releases.(I like to check it daily and read out the top five at work for giggles)"
The plus side of SW is that we are able to sell via Apple, Sony, B & N, Kobo etc all from one location in various formats. I've sold more copies via other companies than I have on SW direct, by using the SW system :-o)
Thanks so much to everyone who has posted so far-- it really is appreciate. :0) because of this thread, my tbr list is now longer than an MP's expense claim! ;)
I'm so glad you mentioned your requirement, Steven!You deserve the same 'oh my, what shall I read next' dilemma everyone else in our group has!
So, Steven. What are you gonna read next? ;)
Patti (Migrating Coconut) wrote: "I'm so glad you mentioned your requirement, Steven!You deserve the same 'oh my, what shall I read next' dilemma everyone else in our group has!
So, Steven. What are you gonna read next? ;)"
Well, after I've finished the book I'm reading at the moment, I think it will be 'an abandoned woman' which is the group book for November. in recent years what with the increase in affordable audio books (from sites like audible.co.uk) and the rise in ebooks, the amount of books I can access has widened hugely. :0)
If your book is available in word, could you please let us know in this thread?