Why I Chose To Format For The Kindle

Jump Start

Even the funny papers have mentioned Kindle! You don’t suppose that means that the Kindle identity may one day be lost in the same way that Kleenex did with tissue?

I’m just about ready to jump onto the e-reader bandwagon (for reading), though I did make sure that there was a Kindle Edition of Fearful To Fearless available as more and more readers opt for e-books. I chose Kindle to publish the first e-version based on consumer acceptance and the sheer number of titles currently available, plus I’ve seen it in action.

With so many options for e-readers available I can’t imagine publishers or authors spending resources to customize e-book source files for each and every reader out there. Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers had a great post a few months ago where he compared several popular e-readers. As Michael mentioned in his post, it’s only a matter of time before the field is narrowed down to a manageable number.

I think price is probably the biggest factor that will draw consumers to the Kindle, that along with the sheer number of titles that are available make it a huge draw. Plus, I especially like the fact that there are compatible applications available for multiple platforms so you can reach a much broader audience. Amazon has made the Kindle format available to reach a larger audience by providing reading apps for iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, Android, Mac and PC.

Formatting the book for Kindle was a bit more involved than simply running your Microsoft Word version through a conversion program and submitting to Amazon’s digital text platform. I’ll try to outline the steps involved with creating the Kindle version along with some of the roadblocks I bumped into along the way in a future post.

Here is a link if you are interested in learning more about the Kindle Publishing Program and Amazon’s digital text platform as well as links to guidelines and how to get started.

The Amazon createspace is a program that allows authors and other artists to self publish and sell on Amazon. As an author as well as publisher you can also sign up for Search Inside that allows a percentage of your book to be viewed on Amazon.

An earlier post provided a few details on publishing through CreateSpace and Lightning Source.

Psalm 42:1

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.

Psalm 42:1 (NIV)

This photo of “spring creek” was taken back in 2006, it’s a spring fed creek that runs through the Spring Grove neighborhood of Westerville, Ohio.

 

The 5000 Year Leap

The 5000 Year LeapI’ve not made much of a dent in the stack of books I’ve purchased this year, though I’ve recently begun reading The 5000 Year Leap . It’s a book  that reveals some of the principles of freedom that our founding fathers shared.

There is a great quote from John Adams early in the book outlining why it was so important for people to be prepared for service in politics. In a letter to his wife he wrote:

The science of government is my duty to study, more than all other sciences; the arts of legislation and administration and negotiation ought to take a place of, indeed to exclude, in a manner, all other arts. I must study politics and war, that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.

Wow what a profound and forward thinking statement! I’m looking forward to reading through the rest of the book to discover the 28 principles of freedom our founders said must be understood and perpetuated by every people. I think the key word there is “perpetuated”.

Cyber Monday

I’ve seen several posts about specials for Cyber Monday and thought I would get into the act… so here goes…

CYBER MONDAY SPECIAL
SAVE $5 PER COPY when you buy Fearful To Fearless
using discount code SSTKEKNC

The discount code is only good at  https://www.createspace.com/3486664

Slow Down And Smell The Kielbasa

Picked up this seasons order of kielbasa from Beekist Meat in Johnstown.  I was raised in Toledo where my Polish ancestors settled during the early 20th century. It sounds kind of funny saying that, 20th century that is, it makes it sound so long ago, anyway kielbasa and the holidays just seem to go together.

Dziękuję Beekist!!!

The Alternative Center

Yesterday I began work on a new website for The Alternative Center, it’s an adult education group that supports people with disabilities and their families.

I’ve been fortunate to meet a few of the students and they are some of the most fun loving, honest & generous people I’ve met… we should take a lesson from them.

I’m looking at some of the photos I’ve received to select from and can’t believe some of the cool and fun places and things these guys do!

Super Size It!

Back in the summer of 2007 we made our way up to Northern Michigan and stopped for lunch in Petoskey. There is a small park that sits atop a bluff overlooking the Little Traverse Bay. It was a beautiful day so I proceeded to shoot some pictures with my Nikon D50.

I especially loved how this one picture turned out, so last May I thought it would be perfect to fill the blank wall that sits in front of my desk. In the past I have had good results when enlarging images to poster size (20″ x 30″), but I wanted to do something different with this photo. I wanted to super-size it, not billboard size mind you but something i could mount on the wall at home and have it really stand out.

The D50 comes with a 6.1 megapixel sensor, less than half of what a new DSLR camera comes with these days. I was concerned with pixelization and didn’t want to risk poor quality by go going too big, nor did I want it to overpower the room either. I researched enlargement techniques online to minimize pixel loss and used Adobe software to upsize the image to 54″ x 36″. I worked with the folks at Key Blue Prints in Westerville and they produced an outstanding print. It’s a matte print mounted on black foam core with a .5 mil hot press laminate.

After completing the work on the Fearful To Fearless book I decided it was time to get out, grab the camera and try to capture some of the fall colors in the area. I’ve since upgraded to the Nikon D90 which comes with a 12.3 megapixel sensor. I remembered that my friend Ray Bohac had captured the brilliance of fall in a spectacular shot of the tree lined street in front of Schnormeier Gardens here in Knox County.

With Ray’s photo fresh in our minds Chris and I took a drive out that way a couple weeks ago for a photo shoot. The shot below is one of our favorites from that day, it was taken from a different perspective from the picture Ray took which was from the other end of the road. We liked it so much we decided to have it enlarged. This time we chose a semi-gloss finish and went a little wider and not quite as tall… 60″ x 30″. The order was placed and Key Blue Prints didn’t let us down.