Author: K.S. Brooks

K.S. Brooks is an award-winning novelist, photographer, and photo-journalist, author of over 30 titles, and executive director and administrator of Indies Unlimited. Brooks is currently a photo-journalist and chief copy editor for two NE Washington newspapers.  She teaches self-publishing and writing topics for the Community Colleges of Spokane, and served on the Indie Author Day advisory board. For more about K.S. Brooks, visit her website and her Amazon author page.

Kindle Countdown Confusion

Oh my. Talk about counter-intuitive. Kindle Countdown made my brain hurt.

The instructions could be laid out a LOT better for people embarking on it for the first time. Martin Crosbie touched on this in his recent post about mistakes.

If you’re just running a Countdown promotion and not doing any kind of advertising with it, then none of this might be a big deal to you. But, if you’re trying to make the most of your Countdown promo, then that’s an entirely different story. Think about it – if you pay for an ad which runs online – that’s international. If people click on your book and it’s not “on sale” in the country they’re in…well, you and I both know how annoying that kind of thing can be. So, if you want your book to be on sale everywhere, it can get a little tricky (again, as Martin mentioned in his article).

It was my (incorrect) understanding that you had a choice between running a U.S. Countdown promotion or a UK promotion. Wrong. You can run both at the same time, but you have to know HOW. Continue reading “Kindle Countdown Confusion”

A Grindable, Clickable eBook Table of Contents

There’s been a lot of confusion and debate over how to create a table of contents in an eBook that will survive KDP and Smashwords conversions. Some say you have to do it all manually, and some say you can use MS Word automation. Lynne Cantwell wrote a post about the manual method, and Dick Waters just recently wrote about a more sophisticated style.

Personally, I go with a completely manual method, because I run all my eBooks through MobiPocket Creator and convert them to a prc before I upload to KDP – and that will for certain strip out any coding MS Word has graciously conjured up. The lovely Laura Clark (author LB Clark) showed me how to do this way back in 2011 when I self-published my first collection of short works with fellow author Newton Love. (The prc method was one of the ways KDP recommended for conversion back in 2011 – but you don’t have to do it this way. It’s just my method of choice because it’s what I’m used to.)

You can use this table of contents method on an existing document or a new document, that’s not a gating factor. I usually do it in an “assembly line” fashion, as that’s faster, but I’m going to do it one “chapter” at a time so the sequence is clear. Continue reading “A Grindable, Clickable eBook Table of Contents”

How to Make a Folder (Label) in Gmail

Making a folder for People, Places, or Things in Gmail

Ack! So many emails! How do I keep track of who is sending me what? I create a folder, that’s how! Creating a folder and moving your emails to it is very easy. There are two different ways you can do this.

In Gmail, just to be different, folders are called “Labels” – perhaps because you put labels on a folder? I dunno. Let’s just run with that, thought.

If you, let’s say, want to make a “filing cabinet” for a certain subject, you need to do that first. So, let’s make a label called “writing.”

Let’s start with the more direct way of creating a “Label” (herein known as folder).

Scroll over to the left sidebar and mouse over it. That will extend the screen a bit and will reveal the word “More” (see pink arrow).

Click on “More.” That will bring up a new screen (below). Continue reading “How to Make a Folder (Label) in Gmail”

My Journey into App Land

Mr. Pish Goes to the Farm APP CoverIt’s been an exciting few months for me. I’ve been working with a developer to convert three Mr. Pish books into apps for kids. Sound cool? Indeed. Sound scary? More like.

One has to realize that I don’t even own a smartphone. My phone is so old and so dumb that its IQ is envious of the 31 on the Baskin Robbins’ ice cream sign. What’s my point? The learning curve – more like hurdle – over a huge chasm of technology and a completely different way of thinking. Anyone have a six-year-old who can help me out with this?

First came the contract. I looked it over closely, then had two smart friends take a gander. (I can’t afford a lawyer anymore, but since I played one on TV, I figure I’m okay.) Then, I asked a developer friend to check out the company. He did a thorough investigation and came back impressed. So, I proceeded. Coincidentally, and happily, I signed the contract on my 50th birthday. Pretty cool. Continue reading “My Journey into App Land”