[stylist] Hi, everyone

[Applebutter Hill]

Hi Rowena,
Welcome to the list. I have RP as well, and I have had no useful vision for
decades. My first novel, The Heart of Applebutter Hill, was self-published
in 2013. I tried to get an agent, but my portrayal of a blind teenaged girl
was "unrealistic" - i.e. not needy and one-dimensional enough for the
industry.

To answer your question ... I used MS Word to format my book for Smashwords,
Kindle and Nook. I use the screen reader Jaws and Word 2010. I would not
call it inaccessible, just maddeningly tedious. I had used Word to format my
book for print and was actually very close to being done with it when I
burned out and hired Create Space to do it. Setting up the page formatting
using CS's guidelines for finished size, margins  and gutters was
straight-forward, and somehow, I figured out sections, styles and page
numbering, but I got a bit stumped trying to get the page headers right.
It's doable, but trying to give yourself a crash course on Jaws, Word and
the CS instructions all at the same time was more than I could ultimately
manage. I wish I'd taken a breather and completed it myself, but I'm not
really sorry I spent the $300 or whatever it was.

Looking forward to getting to know you,
Donna W. Hill


-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Rowena Portch
via stylist
Sent: Sunday, April 12, 2015 2:55 PM
To: stylist at nfbnet.org
Subject: [stylist] Hi, everyone

My name is Rowena Portch. I have been a professional writer for over 30
years and absolutely love it. When I lost my sight to RP, 10 years ago, I
had to learn to continue my craft without sight. It has been a long and
arduous journey that I still seem to be traversing. I owned my own
publishing businesses, and have helped many new writers achieve their
writing goals.

Many years ago, I went the traditional publishing path with an established
New York agent and wrote for Tor Books. That experience left a rather bitter
taste in my mouth so I pulled myself from the radar for several years.

Today, I have nine novels published and one short story. I’m working on my
next two novels—yes, both at the same time.  Hopefully, they will be
released by the end of this year.

I’m looking forward to getting more involved with this group. For now, I’m
curious as to what tools my fellow blind authors use to get the job done. I
am using Pages on my Mac for writing. I used Microsoft word to format my
ebooks, and Adobe InDesign to format my paperback books, but both of those
programs are inaccessible, and I find I am unable to see well enough to
continue using those programs. So, long story short, what do you use to
format your books for publication?

Thanks,

R o w e n a  P o r t c h
Author of the Spirian Saga

RowenaPortch.com <http://rowenaportch.com/>

View the Book Trailer for The Spirian Saga, a new paranormal romance
<http://youtu.be/XeNmJkXyJv0>
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