[stylist] Question for those familiar with Smashwords

Thu May 9 19:33:40 UTC 2013

Lol I know how you feel. Throughout my publishing process, I've mostly been doing everything myself. It can sometimes be overwhelming.

Rebekah Felix
Author of In the Family
Http://bekahfelix.tripod.com

On May 8, 2013, at 4:06 PM, "Donna Hill" <penatwork at epix.net> wrote:

> Hi Rebekah,
> Thanks. I think that's where my paid help went wrong -- not starting with
> the nuclear method, as Smashwords calls it. I know how to make a linked
> table of contents and styles, so hopefully I'll get it done right. Now I've
> got you as an inspiration. Nice to know I'm not out here in totally
> uncharted territory. I'm having enough excitement without that. *grin*
> Donna 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Bekah Felix
> Sent: Wednesday, May 08, 2013 3:17 PM
> To: Writer's Division Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [stylist] Question for those familiar with Smashwords
> 
> Hi Donna,
> 
> Yes, I formatted my book myself, and I got excepted in the premium catalog.
> I found it easiest to format my document starting fresh. Meaning, I copied
> the entire document and pasted it into notepad. This strips away all the
> formatting. Then, I copied and pasted it into a new word document and turned
> off the auto correct feature. From there, it's fairly easy to follow the
> instructions in the style guide to format your book properly. The hardest
> part I found was that the instructions are from a visual perspective. I had
> to do some searching and experimenting with jaws to figure out certain
> steps.
> 
> Good luck! And if you have anymore questions, feel free to ask.
> 
> Rebekah Felix
> Author of In the Family
> Print: http://booklocker.com/books/6812.html
> E-Book: 
> https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/304358
> 
> On May 8, 2013, at 12:07 PM, "Donna Hill" <penatwork at epix.net> wrote:
> 
>> Hi Rebekah,
>> Thanks so much. I don't have a cellphone, but I found the 
>> accessibility plug-in for Kindle for PC. Unfortunately, though my book 
>> passed the automated check, it does not qualify for Smashword's Premium
> catalog.
>> 
>> This is very frustrating and disappointing, since I paid someone who 
>> claimed to format books as per their instructions. I had a lot of 
>> trouble from them, though they were probably the nicest people I've dealt
> with in a while.
>> Anyway, the table of contents isn't linked and there are a couple of 
>> blank areas. And, in the PDF, there are a lot of font style changes. 
>> The text file is one long run-on mess with no breaks for paragraph. I 
>> can't even describe the RTF file, but as an example, the table of 
>> contents has a long string of alphabet soup for each listing.
>> 
>> Anyway, I'm not going to have them try to fix it, despite their
> "guarantee."
>> I was almost there in terms of formatting my own book when I hit the 
>> wall and hired two companies -- one for the print and this other one 
>> for the eBooks. I'm going to re-read the Smashwords style guide and 
>> try to do it myself.
>> 
>> What did you do? Did you do the formatting yourself. And, did you get 
>> included in the Premium catalog?
>> Thanks,
>> Donna
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Bekah 
>> Felix
>> Sent: Tuesday, May 07, 2013 9:57 PM
>> To: Writer's Division Mailing List
>> Subject: Re: [stylist] Question for those familiar with Smashwords
>> 
>> Hi Donna,
>> 
>> I haven't figured out how to access the PDF or the Kindle edition, but 
>> you can view your book as an HTML format and it will display the same 
>> way it would in the PDF.
>> 
>> Also, if you have a smart phone, you can download the Kindle app and 
>> review your book that way. Kindle for iPhone is now accessible.
>> 
>> Congratulations on publishing with smash words, and it's great that 
>> you don't have any auto better errors!
>> 
>> Good luck!
>> 
>> Rebekah Felix
>> Author of In the Family
>> Print: http://booklocker.com/books/6812.html
>> E-Book: 
>> https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/304358
>> 
>> On May 6, 2013, at 10:25 AM, "Donna Hill" <penatwork at epix.net> wrote:
>> 
>>> Hi Friends,
>>> I know that we have several members who have published books on 
>>> Smashwords, and I have a few questions.
>>> 
>>> First, is their PDF file accessible? I published my book successfully 
>>> with no "Autovetter" errors, and am awaiting a decision as to whether 
>>> it qualifies for their premium catalog. So, I downloaded all of the 
>>> versions, and I cannot get at the PDF. Adobe says "reading untagged
>> document ...
>>> please wait" or something to that effect. Well, I let it sit there 
>>> for over an hour and nothing had changed.
>>> 
>>> Also, we don't have any devices for reading e-versions, so I 
>>> downloaded Kindle for PC, Kindle Previewer and Adobe Digital editions.
>>> ADE works sort of with jaws, but the other two don't at all. Does 
>>> anyone know if anyone has scripts for Jaws to make it work with 
>>> Kindle or if another screen reader would work?
>>> Thanks,
>>> Donna
>>> 
>>> -- The Heart of Applebutter Hill, a novel on a mission:
>>> DonnaWHill.com
>>> 
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>>> 
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>>> 
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>>> 
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