Tag Archive: Createspace


Adventures with Computers Part II…

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October 20, 2017

We’re going to continue our discussion about adventures with computers.

When last I posted, I had just finished telling you all about the events involving the death of my little blue laptop and our desktop, and how we had just gotten around replacing them with refurbished computers.  In both cases, neither the new laptop nor the desktop had MS Office which meant no word processing program, excel, etc.  And since we were still on a budget purchasing would be more than a minor inconvenience at this point.  So what to do?

Well, Helen had told me about WPS Office, a system that she had downloaded onto her laptop a year ago which is fully compatible with MS Office while costing $0.00 to download.  There is one caveat however, every time you open a file in WPS Office you have to put up with a 5 second ad before proceeding.  Right off the bat I was like, “I can handle a 5 second ad, and if that’s all sign me up.”  But then a second thought occurred to me.   How how well would the files from that system would work for submitting finished books and stories to Createspace and Smashwords.

Both of those publishing systems have strict and specific submission guidelines, for those who haven’t used either yet.  In the case of Createspace, they insist on submissions being in PDF so right there I had a major concern.  However, my worries were quickly relieved when I saw that as part of their Word Processing program, there is an option to save your work as a PDF.  This was a big relief.  Furthermore, you can also save your documents as Word .doc or .docx.  Word .doc is the big requirement for Smashwords, so again a big plus.  And of course the price was right, so I went ahead and downloaded the system.

Navigating WPS Word is very easy.  The layout is very similar to the MS Word program most of us are already familiar with.

Your cut/paste, fonts, sizing, and other favorites are all there at the top just as usual.  The exact order they appear may not be identical but a minimum of patience is all that I found to be needed.   You’ll also find your little symbol buttons for save, print, go back, go forward, available as well.  Of course, to save your file in a specific format you’ll need to click on the W Writer box and select Save As… which will give you a number of options including Export to PDF, MS Word .doc, MS Word .dot, and MS Word .docx.  Which basically covers your submission needs for both Createspace and Smashwords, as I explained earlier.

The system is nearly identical to MS Office in all the respects for my needs.  Someone else may have encountered issues I’m not aware of, if you have and are reading this please share those concerns with the rest of us down in the comments section.  The reason I put this blog together to share personal knowledge and experiences in my writing journey, not just mine but yours as well my friends.  So please don’t hesitate to share yours or even some concerns you may have.  If I don’t know the answer, chances are another reader might have it.

Now as for the other programs offered under WPS Office, I haven’t worked with many of them yet but Helen has with great success.  From what she’s told me the spreadsheet and Powerpoint are on par with MS 365 Office.  If you choose to go for the WPS Office remember you can download the free version which also comes with 1 GB of Cloud space, or you can upgrade to Premium (which removes ads) has advanced features, including document collaboration.  There is also a Professional Version and a Student Version.  I don’t know too much about those last two versions so I cannot say much about them.  As I said earlier I myself stuck to the free download which is serving me just fine as I already share collaboration documents through Google Docs, and of course have Cloud storage space there.  So if you find yourself in a situation like mine, hopefully this is a viable alternative for you.  I still love MS Office, but until I get some other things taken care of like dental work, I have to watch my pennies for a while

Regardless of what Office system you use, remember to back-up your files.  I do so on Google Docs, Cloud, and on Flash Drives.  You never can have too much back-up for your work!  All of these saved hours and months of writing projects when my laptop and desktop died, I didn’t lose a single sentence, word or period.

I want to finish by saying I haven’t actually submitted anything to Createspace or Smashwords since starting with the WPS Office system, but trial runs where I submit a file to get a preview on Createspace has met with the same success I’ve experienced using MS Office.  Once our latest project “The Vampyre Blogs – One Day At A Time” is submitted, I’ll let you all know how things went.

Until then, use whatever you feel comfortable with as far as “Office” systems go.  If you’re on a budget like me, I think you will be rather pleased with trying WPS Office.  You can find it by simply Googling WPS Office.

That’s all I have for now.  Until next time, take care and keep writing.

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Getting Your Novel On Some Bookstore Shelves… Part 1

Filed under: About Writing, Uncategorized — 5 Comments
October 17, 2014

A couple of weeks ago, I received these packages in the mail…

 I shared this photo on FB and teased people for a couple of days about what might be inside, before finally revealing their contents.

At least one of my FB friends asked, “Wow, that’s a lot of books  Are you having a special event?”

My answer was no.

So then someone else asked, “Well then why did you get so many?  What are you planning on doing with them?”

I responded with, “Well, I’m making them available for anyone who wants a signed edition for just $15.00, plus $3.00 for shipping.  If they want a copy of each book it will be two for $25.00, plus $5.00 for shipping.”

Then came the inevitable question of, “What happens if you don’t sell them all?”

My response was this…

I went to one of the local public libraries and asked if they would like some free copies of a local author’s books for their shelves.  They’re response was a huge smile and “Yes, we would thank you so much…”  From there the conversation drifted to the subject of the books and discussions about whether they ever had authors come and give talks.  I’m currently getting lined up to go back in a month or two to give my first talk about writing and becoming an Indie Author.

My next destination was to return to Cabrillo College, where I received my Associates Degree in Human Services.  I went straight into the college bookstore and began looking over their shelves.  I saw immediately that they carried books by alumnus and local authors (I of course happened to be both).  Then I made my way over to the nearest salesperson and asked to speak to the manager of the bookstore.  After a quick introduction and a brief explanation, she told me they’d be only too happy to carry my books.  But instead of asking me to supply the copies she wanted to know who my publisher was.  When I told her it was Createspace, she smiled and said, “Great, I can order directly from them, we have a good working relationship with Createspace.”

I then asked about authors coming and doing book signings and she was quite interested.  She told me they don’t have many but enjoy doing it whenever they had an opportunity.  In fact they were getting one set up for one of the instructors at the college.  I’m to get back in touch with her in a month, once the books are on the shelves and we will try to arrange a date and time for me to do a signing there as well.

Before I left, I went to say hello to a few of my old instructors and also slipped over to the college’s newspaper office.  There I found out who I needed to contact to try and get some publicity in the campus newspaper.  I’m waiting for when the books are on the shelves before we get anything in print to help drive people to the bookstore.

So all this happened last week.  What did I get up to this week?  You’ll have to wait for the next installment to find out.

Until then, take care and keep writing.

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An Important Message For All Writers…

Filed under: About Writing, Uncategorized — 8 Comments
October 8, 2014

Go GOOGLE yourself!

And I mean it folks.  Now I’m not trying to be rude or obnoxious folks.  I’m actually being quite serious about this.  Sometimes putting your name in Google and checking out what pops up can be a real eye-opener.

The other day when I was sitting in the library with my wife who was tutoring a student of hers, I pulled out her spare laptop and set it up so I could do some writing.  Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my flash-drive with me.  Which of course meant, no writing.

So I just started net surfing.  I don’t know what prompted me to do it, but I decided to put my own name into the Google Search to see what would happen.  The results took me ever so by surprise.

Not only did I find all the usual links to my blogs and Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, FB, Twitter, etc. but I also found a host of other book sites that were carrying my two novels “The Bridge” and “The Ship”.  Naturally I was flattered, but then I started checking some of the places listed that I was not familiar with.  It turns out that most of them were outlets that Createspace and Smashwords (who I used for my printed editions and my non-Kindle e-book editions) had forwarded my information to.  It was quite interesting to see how thorough they both were about getting my work out there.

But then I started seeing sites that really surprised me carrying my books.  Places like Chegg and Half.com which are usually associated with school textbooks.  I checked into them and found they were simply selling used copies by people who had grabbed up a copy on the cheap and were now reselling it.  Which came as a relief because, I have known other author who have had their work ‘pirated’ by others.

These ‘pirated’ copies are put out by various people who sell copies of the book without the author or the companies like Amazon, Smashwords, and Createspace knowing about it.  And just like in pirated movies or music, the author gets nothing for every sale made by these people.

So it is important to research who’s carrying your works every so often in case someone has stolen your work and is making money off of it.

But, it’s not all doom and gloom folks.  Sometimes you’ll find something that will really take you by surprise…

One of the things I found in my Google Search was a newspaper review of my first book “The Bridge” which I had never known about.  Why?  Because it was a newspaper over in Michigan and I’m in California.  Apparently, one of the people who had gotten a free e-copy during one of my Kindle ‘Free-Days’ lives there and did a nice review of my book.  I’ll be sharing that review in an upcoming post.

I was completely blown away by this fact.  The only newspaper review I was aware of was one that had come out recently for my 2nd book “The Ship”, where I had personally contacted the newspaper to see if they’d be interested in reviewing the book (hint-hint… remember to do this with your finished works folks.  Contact those local newspapers, radio stations, and even local TV stations).

So it really does pay research your name on the internet sometimes.  It’s not about vanity, but seeing who might be saying what about your work.  And also guarding your creative property from piracy.  Plus you might find some sweet and wonderful reviews you never knew about before.

Until next time, take care and keep writing.

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Experimenting With A Createspace Template To Save Time Formatting My Books….

Filed under: About Writing, Uncategorized — 12 Comments
April 26, 2014

Sorry for the lack of posts lately.  After lining up my Beta-Readers, the allergy season kicked into unbelievably high gear and knocked the breath out of me literally!  What energies I’ve had have been dedicated to working on The Vampyre Blogs novel itself and formatting “THE SHIP” to be ready to go to Smashwords, Kindle and Createspace once I hear back from my beta-readers and make a few changes to the manuscript.

This brings me to today’s topic.  Formatting your book to go to press through these three outlets can be trying at times.  I’ve only had to go through it once so far and that was a little over a year ago when I published “THE BRIDGE”.  Luckily, I did remember a lot of what I learned back then for dealing with Kindle and Createspace.  Smashwords is taking a little more effort and I will address that topic in another entry very soon.

Today, I want to focus on a shortcut I’ve discovered that has made my formatting efforts for Createspace and Kindle go much faster and easier.  When you use Createspace you tell the system what size of paperback book you want to make.  In my case I’m partial to the 6″ x 9″ Trade Paperback size.  I know my books are long to begin with and want the reader to get their money’s worth when they buy the paperback version of my work.

So, I told the system what I wanted and it gave me a template (HALLELUJAH!) to follow.  This template is blank and contains a number of things I’d never thought about before.  Things like:

1-A Title Page

2-Copyright Page

3-Acknowledgement Page

4-Dedication Page

5-Table of Contents

6-About the Author

All of these things are not always necessary for your book, but is advisable to protect your rights and to make things nicer for your readers.  And of course dedicating and saying thank you to those who had your back while you worked on your masterpiece.  But when you’re writing the story itself you don’t think about these things.  You’re focused on telling that story.  These things only come after you’re done.  But when you  are done, do you know how to create these pages?  How much spacing to use?  What order they go in?  Where on the page to put them so they look professional?

For me the answer was a big NO!  I hadn’t the first clue, so when I opted to download that template guess what was waiting for me, all set and ready to be filled in?  All of those little things.  But that was just the beginning.

How the paragraphs and my sentences lined up within the book itself was another issue.  Because each book is a different length, do you know how to line up your paragraphs on the pages so that none of the words get lost down where the binding meets?  How do you know that your paragraphs will line up on the opposite pages and look neat and professional?

I didn’t, but the template took care of that for me to.  The first time I did things I had to learn to redo my indentations and fix the paragraphs, adjust the margins etc. manually.  But this time I used the template and everything went much smoother this time.  To make life easier for myself in the future I SAVED the blank template as just that and then made a copy of it which I inserted “THE SHIP” into.

I then took the blank template and copied it again and started writing my third novel directly into it.  This way there will be no question about whether or not it will fit Createspace’s format guideline.  Plus, I get a sneak preview of what it’s going to look like in actual book form.

Another little benefit to using their templates is that Createspace does have an option that once your print-book form is ready to go, they can forward the file to Kindle and get in e-book format for you using the same template.  You can also submit to Kindle directly on your own through Amazon KDP, which is what I’m doing.  I only made a few changes such as removing the page numbers and headers found at the top of the pages since they don’t work on Kindle and just make a mess.

I’ve already pre-submitted what I’ve done and saw that indeed, in both cases, everything is lining up neatly.  I discovered after the fact that “THE BRIDGE” was messed up as far as paragraphs not lining up in the Kindle format.  I’ve taken it down for now and am making changes to correct that issue and will put it back up on Kindle just before “THE SHIP” comes out.

I’m really finding using Createspace’s template a real time saver and a good reminder of little details that need to be addressed when you’re going the Indie Publishing route.  I strongly advise others to check out their templates and use them.  They may save you a lot of time and frustration down the road.

I’ll keep you posted on how things go when I actually submit everything for final review.  And as promised, I will do a post about Smashwords guidelines and any templates I can locate.  Each system is a little different, you CANNOT use the Createspace or Kindle templates for Smashwords.  So stay tuned and until next time, keep writing.

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“THE BRIDGE” Is Now Available In Many Formats…

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January 18, 2013

Just wanted to share a few things about my new novel “The Bridge” with all of you.  I’ve been getting a lot of questions and I’m hoping to answer most, if not all of them, here.  The novel is a strange blend of horror, paranormal mystery, and science fiction set in modern day.  I have psychics, police, ghosts and a mystery that initially dates back some 300 years and then beyond that.

It is now available as both an e-book and in print.  For those who want print follow the Createspace or Amazon links provided below.  OR, if you are interested in getting a signed copy please e-mail me.  The price for a signed copy is the same as at Createspace or Amazon ($15.99) and that will include the shipping price as well.  I’ll provide my e-mail address below along with the links.

As for the e-book formats I have Kindle, Epub (which is good for IPad/IBooks, Sony readers, Nook, Kobo, and most e-reading apps including Stanza, Aldiko, Adobe Digital Editions, others), PDF, Palmn Doc (PDB).  The price for the e-book versions are $3.99.

 

LINKS:

Createspace/Amazon/Kindle: 

http://www.amazon.com/The-Bridge-Para-Earth-Series-ebook/dp/B00B86DR9G/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_2

Smashwords:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/272613

E-mail:

allan.krummenacker@gmail.com

 

If you have any questions please leave a comment here or e-mail me at the address above.  Thanks so much for taking time out and reading my blogs.  I hope to continue entertaining and informing you for a very long time to come.  There is still so much for us to explore together.

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“THE BRIDGE” is coming….

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January 5, 2013

Just got the word today from Createspace, I have finally formatted the interior of the book, the cover art, the back cover, the spine, etc. to their specifications and it’s is now PRINTABLE!  I know there’s a lot of stuff I just mentioned that some of you may not be familiar with, but you can find out more about it in detail on my other blog:

“Musings Of A Creative Mind” at:  http://allankrummenacker.blogspot.com/

That blog is all about the process of writing.  Now I will be adding things to take into consideration while making your own e-books.

But here, I want to wax a little philosophically.   It hit me after I saw the e-mail saying the book was ready for my final review proof that a lot of my life experiences are coming together in this venture.  I’ve been an artist ever since I was in junior high school, and now those talents came into play in creating this book.

I’m also going to have to start marketing and getting my novel and myself known by going to Libraries, bookstores, contacting local radio stations, and newspapers as well to get the word out as well.  A lot of those same skills I used back in my days of being a Realtor/Mortgage Loan Officer.

But it doesn’t stop there.  I’m going to be considered self-employed by Uncle Sam and anything I make off this book the US Government and the IRS are going to want a piece of come next year.  So now I’ll be tracking all my expenses in relation to selling my book.  Now automatically, Createspace is going to keep 30% of whatever I make off each sale and set it aside for me for tax purposes next year.  But what about my ordering physical copies so I can mail signed copies to those who want ones like that?  What about going to conventions or giving talks?  Heck, even the gas I use going to the post office and back are expenses I need to keep track of in order to claim them on my tax return.  Again, I did all of that before when I was in real estate.

My years of being part of the sci-fi fan community is also coming into play.  I’m going to be offering myself as a speaker at those conventions and trying to sell some copies in person as well.  I have a large network of friends in that community and this book is going to be right up their alley too.  And I know a number of them will be only too willing to help me spread the word and find other venues to spread my work around.

In all it feels like so many aspects of my life are suddenly coming together in this writing venture, and it give me hope.  I can’t help wondering if somehow all I’ve done in the past has been leading up to this career.  And maybe I’m just full it and have just got a head full of  “WOW I’m being published…” and everything seems rosy and I need to take some glasses off.  Who knows?  Time will tell.  But as long as I’m ready to fight and work to make this pay off and spread the word, I’ll hope for the first part to be the truth.

Anyway, thanks for your time and I’ll be posting again soon.  Hopefully with news that the book is ready for sale.  In the meantime, I’ve got a lot of other work to do still.  Like setting up the Createspace store that automatically comes with signing up and publishing with them.  I’m planning on some other items besides having just the novel available.  Some T-shirts and mugs with quotes and images will be available there too.  At least, that’s what I’m hoping.  Stay tuned everyone and thanks for following me.  This journey is FAR from over, it’s only just beginning a new stage…

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