Hello my dear readers, I am hoping this finds you well. It has been a bit since we had our tea party. Tonight I am doing a nice hot cup of Chai.
Well, We have what looks like two volumes of submissions for Nightmare whispers. Fae dreams is collecting submissions as well. Both are planned for a October release. Fae Corps has managed a Duo-trope listing!
I have slowly been working on revisiting all of my older volumes to make the layout just that much better. I have also been writing, so I should have at least one new book to share before the end of the year.
Before I do this… I apologize for the late posts the last couple of days… I have been helping a friend and I have been late getting home. Usually I will do the posts while out if need be, but I was the driver this time. Stretches my ability to get things done.
Lyrics – Crawl out of the hole you’re in Who you are is not who you’ve been Now’s the time to sink or swim Will you fight the tide or get lost within And I know you’re feeling low Feel like you’ve lost control But the darkness that you know It’s not your home and you’re not alone And all you’ve wanted was just so much more This world has taken ahold Don’t let ’em get your soul The silence You feel it cold as a winter storm This world has taken ahold Don’t let ’em get your soul Iron bars are hell to break Tell me now, do you know what’s at stake? Your whole life in a blank stare haze You walk around like the end of days And I know you’re feeling low Feel like you’ve lost control But the darkness that you know It’s not your home and you’re not alone And all you’ve wanted was just so much more This world has taken ahold Don’t let ’em get your soul The silence You feel it cold as a winter storm This world has taken ahold Don’t let ’em get your soul I’m callin’ out to you Can you hear me? They can’t break you down Let you hit the ground I promise you it won’t be long (Won’t be long) You’re feeling overwhelmed here Drowned by the pain and the fear The sun will come with the dawn All you’ve wanted was just so much more This world has taken ahold Don’t let ’em get your soul The silence You feel it cold as a winter storm This world has taken ahold Don’t let ’em get your soul… Get your soul…
My 2 cents – this is a song about learning how to be strong after a struggle. Don’t let the world destroy you. It’s a good song, and it feels like a good message.
Ok, last week I discussed desktop publishing programs – word processing types. I left the pdf programs for today. I have three different programs to suggest… And each has a different user feel.
We will start with the most basic. Adobe. I personally found that the editing ability for this program is lacking. It has a few free features, but with the pdf programs you really do get what you pay for. You used to buy it straight, but Adobe has taken most of their products to subscription. Right now there is 2 plans. ($15 and $13) both require a yearly commitment.
The next one served me well for many years. It is also one that I still use for details that are not supported anywhere else. The program is Nitro’s pdf productivity suite. It’s $159 for a single license. I honestly recommend this program, even if you do get one of the others.
And then the last one. This is my current program. Quoppa’s Pdf Studio is a solid editor. It has a solid ability to make sure your documents are just as you want them to be. Two tiers of possible cost. $89 or $129. The site lays out the features well.
So Tuesday I share the music video and lyrics of songs that spark my need to say something. This week… Well I think that I want you to tell me what you are listening to. Give me a band and song, a video link, or just a song title so I can go look it up. I will listen and tell you what I think of it.
So I was thinking about doing a discussion on Friday about the programs that I use/have found for making the files for publication. Then I realized that this was actually a better topic for a Monday Money post. The reason? Because the programs are an investment. A fairly costly one.
I will start with a free program. One that I highly recommend for anyone, author or reader alike. It is Calibre. It’s a ebook library manager for windows. It has a decent conversation ability and lets you edit epub files as well. That really makes it a very useful program.
My next suggestion is another free program, however it is only really good for the author who is looking at using KDP only. Kindle Create is wonderful if you have no interest in publishing anywhere other than Amazon. It has a previewer and is user friendly.
Another open source /free option, and one I am currently exploring, is Scribus. This is a complicated program with many options.
The last free option is libreoffice. It is a full featured office program that is free. I, personally, try to pay as little as possible for my tools and still try to retain quality. This is the best office program and it is free.
Ok. Here is where I start to talk about cost. Scrivener. It is not an easy program to use. There are a huge amount of tutorial videos on YouTube. It’s cost is $40, but there is often deals that can cut the cost in half. It is a one time cost vs subscription pricing. This program saves files in epub or any other format you want.
Now, this one is a program I found when I was looking for scrivener’s link. Iiving writer seems to be similar to scrivener. It’s pricing is a subscription service. It’s $96 a year or $9 a month.
This post has already gotten bigger than I expected. Next week I think that I will cover 3 pdf programs. That way I have a topic and this post can be ended.
Pattimouse 