Accidentally Yours Available as Ebook

Accidentally Yours, a collection of short stories, poems, and essays, by Joan H. Young is now available as an eBook from Amazon and Smashwords. It should appear on Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iBooks, and Overdrive in just a few days. The paperback edition will also be ready in a few days.

The volume contains 30 poems, 16 short stories (several of which are micro-fiction), and 9 non-fiction essays. Thematically, they are all over the map. That will keep you from getting bored. It also gives you a glimpse into my chaotic mind. Enter if you dare. All this for $3.99 in the eBook format!

Diana Kathryn Wolfe-Plopa, founder of Pages Promotions, LLC, and an author in her own right, says, "This collection of short stories, essays, and poetry feels like a Literary Advent Calendar. Each time I turned the page, I was given a little gift of story, perspective, and art. It was impossible to take it slowly. Remarkable in this writing is the flash fiction pieces sprinkled throughout. The art of writing a complete story in just a few short lines is a difficult skill to master. Joan does it here with an acumen and comfort that reveals the true nature of her outstanding writing gifts. The balance between shorter and longer pieces creates a natural ebb and flow to the writing."

And Jean Davis, author of speculative fiction writes, "A delightful collection of poetry and prose that will make you gasp, laugh out loud, and fondly appreciate days gone by."

After a frustrating day of formatting woes (I usually don't have many problems, but the issues probably stemmed from culling the pieces from many different files, created in various versions of several different software packages), both major platforms (Amazon and Smashwords) have approved the files, and they look pretty clean. I don't see a bunch of formatting oddities in the previews.

You can find Accidentally Yours at Amazon and Smashwords.

Dead Mule Swamp Mistletoe E-Book

Dead Mule Swamp Mistletoe is available in e-book format at Smashwords and Amazon. It should be appearing soon at Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and iBooks.

Anastasia Raven accepts an invitation to accompany her friends Cora and Jerry on a Christmas ski holiday at the historic Janes Mill Bed and Breakfast. The rambling Victorian house, deep within Thousand Lakes State Forest, is being renovated by the new owners, Frank and Betty Farnsworth, who want to show off the beautiful home and location. A winter storm isolates the party. What could possibly go wrong? Ana is joined by her son Chad on this adventure, and Jimmie Mosher's family joins the fun and mayhem to cater the party as Cherry Blossom Cuisine.

Graphics and EPUB - JPG vs. PNG Formats

I've been beating my head against a wall for two days now trying to get the Dubois Files books to pass the EPUB check. This is the format needed for ebooks at Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iBooks and Overdrive. I do this through Smashwords.

Let me say right away that the Smashwords Style Guide is impressive. If you follow its excellent and careful directions, you are likely to have very little trouble getting books through the formatting checks. It can be used by anyone, whether you publish through Smashwords or not.

However... When I got to the part about adding images to the file some of the language seemed to have changed. I've always used jpg images (also jpeg extension- Joint Photographic Experts Group). But the guide said that png formatted (Portable Network Graphics) images seem to work better for EPUB. So I thought I'd go that route. These children's books have a lot of graphics and I wanted to minimize the headaches, right?

There is a difference in the formats. Jpg is "lossy," which means that some of the detail is lost when the file is compressed. Png is "lossless," which means it should withstand being moved across platforms with better resolution at the end point.

For an ebook on an average sized reader, tablet or phone, however, it's kind of a "who cares." These two images are jpg on the left and png on the right. Screens like these only support 96 pixels per inch anyway, so it doesn't matter if you've got an image with 300 ppi- it will get downshifted to 96 for display.


Anyway, I was still stuck on the wording that said png is the better choice. I spent all day yesterday and part of the day before trying to figure out errors like this one: The file 'tmp_f0de42d4eb6865730fa0631fca336cc0_9P8O4M_html_5895aa02.png' does not appear to match the media type image/png, as specified in the OPF file. (ERROR)

Yikes! Well, it turns out you can find out which image this is (I certainly didn't name any file like that!) with some maneuvering, but that just got tedious when the images were rejected over and over again. There seemed to be nothing I could do to correct the problem. I tried using two different converters in addition to my own graphics program. Still got the same errors.

Finally, I decided to go back and put the pictures back in as jpgs. Guess what? The whole thing passed on the first try.

So... if you, too, are beating your head against a wall some day over this, try the other format!

You can still pre-order (through March 31) the set of the first three Dubios Files books for $24 (no discount after March 31), they will be signed by the cover artist Linda J. Sandow, as well as by me. Signed sets can be pre-ordered at Books Leaving Footprints



Formatting and more

Read an E-book Week at Smashwords

For one week, hundreds of books at Smashwords and other retailers are discounted or free. They offer all the popular formats, plus pdf, rtf, and in-browser options.

The idea was launched in 2004 by "Rita Toews, 61, a soft-spoken mother of two and grandmother of one, who sits at the center of the ebook universe for this week.

"Operating from a spare bedroom in her home in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada with her cat Lola by her side ("Every author needs a cat," she says), Ms. Toews is the creator and chief ringmaster of Read an Ebook Week, an annual international celebration of ebooks that kicks off its seventh season this Sunday March 7.

"Read an Ebook Week brings together ebook retailers, publishers, authors, device-makers and untold thousands of readers who join in this international literary event of ebook discovery, and yes, gluttony.

"Since the event takes place in cyberspace the only measure I have of its success is the traffic on the Read an E-Book Week website, which grows each year. Occasionally a participant will contact me and say - "I had over 2,500 visits on my website during Read an Ebook Week." That's nice to hear.

"For this one week only, publishers and authors offer thousands of original ebooks for free and at deep discounts to encourage book lovers around the globe to give ebooks a try."

Visit the official Facebook page

Two of my books are discounted for this week. See Joan H. Young Author page

[some text taken from interview with Rita Toews by Mark Coker at the Huffington Post]

Ludington Daily News Column- December 2011

This past month, for my Get off the Couch column in the Ludington Daily News, I wrote about "Outdoor Women Who Inspire Me."

I quickly discovered that my list is way longer than the 500-600 words I get to share with readers each time. Here's a sample:

Outdoor Women Who Inspire Me

Of course I had a Dale Evans cowgirl outfit, a red skirt and vest with long white fringe, complete with six-shooters and a holster belt. What self-respecting tomboy in the early 1950s didn’t? When I became the owner of an air rifle in my tenth year (I guess Dad trusted his extensive instructions to guard me against shooting my eye out), Annie Oakley became my new hero.

At about that same age I learned of Sacajawea and Mary Jemison. Many fine hours were spent stalking the banks of our unnamed creek in my hand-laced moccasins from a kit, pretending I was leading explorers up the Missouri.

These columns are not available on-line, unless you subscribe to the Ludington Daily News. One collection of columns is currently available as an e-book, called Get Off the Couch with Joan, at Smashwords. I recently reduced the price to $1.89. It's really difficult to price e-books- they range is all over the map.

I'm formatting a second volume of humorous essays entitled Fall Off the Couch Laughing. It will be available soon.

Formatting for e-Books

I'm working on the formatting of News from Dead Mule Swamp for publication on Smashwords and Amazon. Right now, everything is on schedule for the December 1 release.

Several people have advance copies and will hopefully be writing reviews soon.

Don't forget to place your entry to win a free copy. You need to send me a list of all characters' names that I've mentioned in excerpts. Here's a hint: click on "News from Dead Mule Swamp" in the labels list. That will bring up only the posts that have to do with this book. Here's a huge hint: I'm not trying to be sneaky, but people are having trouble finding all the names. So... there are 15 names to find folks!

Send your entries to AnastasiaJoyRaven@gmail.com. Please put NEWS from DEAD MULE SWAMP CONTEST in the subject line. Be sure to include your own name (and address if you want a paper copy). Tell me if you want digital or a paper copy (paper copies not available for an indeterminate amount of time).

Working on "Fall Off the Couch Laughing"

I'm hopeful that this eBook will take a lot less time than the first one. For one thing, the seemingly complex steps you need to follow to format a book for Smashwords doesn't seem so daunting this time.

Also, I know what I need to do with the pictures to incorporate them. E-books don't deal very will with images, but they are an important part of my essays. And they do load in all formats except the plain text version. From my first experience, I learned that I need to make the caption a part of the image itself.

So, I'm working on getting the ten essays collected into one document, and choosing the order. Then I'll put the pictures in.

Ludington Daily News Column- September 2011

Wow! I don't know what happened to September. Consequently, I turned my column in late. Not good, but they will probably print it when they get a chance. In the fall months, the deer hunters' trophies take up most of the Recreation Section, anyway.

This time I wrote about the economic value of the Manistee National Forest, based on a report issued by the Forest Service. As a factual article, it's perhaps not as entertaining as some columns, but here's an excerpt anyway:

The primary expenditures on these trips were at gas stations, restaurants, and grocery stores. Non-locals spent an average of $277 each time they came. Even local folks averaged $139 a trip. That’s a fair chunk of change. The study shows that local folks like to stay overnight in or near the Forest almost as much as those who travel to the area. And they... we... spend money when we do it.

These columns are not available on-line, unless you subscribe to the Ludington Daily News. One collection of columns is currently available as an e-book, called Get Off the Couch with Joan, at Smashwords. I recently reduced the price to $1.89. It's really difficult to price e-books- they range is all over the map.

I'm formatting a second volume of humorous essays entitled Fall Off the Couch Laughing. It will be available soon.

Cover for Next e-Book- Fall Off the Couch Laughing

OK, I shouldn't have spent the time, but I just wanted to be able to say I made some progress on this one.

The next collection of my essays will be Fall Off the Couch Laughing. The results are not guaranteed, but they should be good for a chuckle or two!

Now I have to get it all formatted for Smashwords. Hopefully, within the next month.

Ludington Daily News Column- May 2011

My monthly newspaper column was due today (although I think the office is closed for the holiday, I turned it in anyway).

Since I was out hiking last week, after giving a program, that's what I wrote about. The title is "Hiking South Otselic to North Pharsalia."

It begins:

“You’ve been hiking through a fantasy novel?” you might ask. No, these are real places separated by only a baker’s dozen trail miles. Actually, I hiked a total of 31 miles, but my true beginning location bears only the rather ordinary name of Cuyler Hill.

The most notable feature of Cuyler Hill, apart from a great view of cultivated New York hillsides, is that it’s where the Finger Lakes Trail and the North Country Trail part company.

These columns are not available on-line, unless you subscribe to the Ludington Daily News. One collection of columns is currently available as an e-book, called Get Off the Couch with Joan, at Smashwords.

I'm nearly ready to format a second volume. This one will be humorous essays entitled Fall Off the Couch Laughing.

Ludington Daily News Column- April 2011

Finished and turned in my Get Off the Couch column for April. The title is "Not Just Any Old Sand Dune"

It begins:

Where in the Great Lakes region can you find seven concurrent miles of undeveloped public beach? Let’s see... there is the combined length of the Ludington State Park, Nordhouse Dunes, and the Lake Michigan Recreation Area. There is the... can’t think of anywhere else? That’s because there isn’t another such place. Our local resources are unique and of outstanding quality.

Although this column is seldom difficult to write, I'm always glad when I get another one successfully turned in.

These columns are not available on-line, unless you subscribe to the Ludington Daily News. One collection of columns is currently available as an e-book, called Get Off the Couch with Joan, at Smashwords.

Sale of Devotions for Hikers

Just sold the second e-copy of "Devotions for Hikers." This is a small booklet with ten Christian devotions based on hiking and trail themes. I've sold quite a few in print, and decided to offer it as an e-book last fall.

It's available at Smashwords.

I entered the world of e-publishing in the fall, and I have no idea what would be considered a good sales rate. There have been 173 views of the free portion of the booklet, and two sales. That's a 1% conversion rate. Good? Bad? I have no clue.

My First eBook!- Devotions for Hikers

I published my first eBook today through Smashwords. I am pretty happy with the whole process, and will be writing more about that. It is already available on their web site, and should be placed in their Premier Catalog within a week. It has to be manually approved for that to happen, but then it is shown on several other major eBook distribution sites.

This book is a collection of 10 short devotions with themes that will appeal to hikers, backpackers, campers, and walkers. I've sold quite a few of the print copies since publishing it in 2006. It weighs just 0.3 ounces in print format- light enough for most packers. However, if you are going to carry a digital device, or just want to use the devotions for every day, you can now buy it digitally for just $1.89.

I'm also working on "Get Off the Couch with Joan," a collection of several of my previously published columns from the local newspaper, The Ludington Daily News. I've been writing for them for over four years now, and it's time these essays earned their keep a little better.

My Smashwords