I spent more on writing fiction than I earned. No surprise. I write for Torre. This was also a very busy year at MotiveQuest where I spent extra hours upgrading software to meet demand leaving me with very little time for writing or reading. Somehow I managed to finish Dee Count for iPad and Kandy Fangs story, both projects started in 2010.

All of my stories are available for free (on blog, download, or by asking,) and I consider paid ebooks as donations (and supporting retailers) in appreciation of fiction. Find where to download my ebooks for your favorite reader on my Books page.

2011 Sales

At the beginning of the year, I announced that I would donate my 2011 ebook proceeds (as of Dec 15th) to Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP.) For transparency, here are my 2011 sales numbers for my books as of December 15, 2011.

Shadow Memories

• Paid: 3, 1 each at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo
• Free: 28 at Smashwords Summer/Winter Sale

Raven Memory

• Paid: 2, 1 at Amazon and 1 at Sony Reader Store

Kandy Fangs

• Free at Smashwords: 198
• Free at Barnes & Noble: 161
• Free at Scribd: 3 (embedded reads + downloads)

For comparison, in 2010 I sold 7 Shadow Memories, and 4 Raven Memory ebooks plus 30 free downloads.

Donation to KIPP

On behalf of readers, I donated my proceeds from paid ebook sales (ignoring my writing expenses) plus 10 cents for every free ebook download listed above to KIPP. This works out to be $4.62 for paid ebook sales plus $39.00 in thanks for free ebook downloads for a result rounded up to $50. I matched for total of US $100 donated to KIPP.

Thanks for reading my stories.

Finished the next few episodes of Kandy Fangs which returns next week.

Standing Work Desk

After four years of watching my health decline even while exercising during my off hours, last year I decided I had enough. I kicked the chair and traded up to a standing desk (see “Get Off Your Butt.”) A year later I’m still standing at my workstation, and not going back to sitting for hours at a time. Commuting by bicycle isn’t enough to offset the negative impact of sitting for an entire work day.

I feel better. I’m more productive. Chairs are for resting.

Including the studies I’ve read with my experience, my conclusion is that humans were not designed to sit in chairs beyond a brief respite.

Stand up and get some work done.

While reading a technical book, I came across a footnote referencing a source citation with a Wikipedia URL. I frowned upon seeing an encyclopedia as a source. A book or article would be more useful to me. Ignoring the arguments about the quality of Wikipedia versus other encyclopedias, let’s look at problems on how this turns into a source citation failure.

It turns out the specific URL has changed, and Wikipedia redirects to a the same topic on another page. However, there is no mention of the specific point referenced by the book as someone has since updated the entry. The page also boldly states at the top that the entry “needs attention from an expert on the subject.”

The author of the book is an expert on this topic, but chooses to cite an encyclopedia entry in need of improvement, and the point in question has since been edited out. No value to the reader.

Please cite a solid source that provides more information to the reader.

I will donate all proceeds from my 2011 ebook sales to Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP.)

What is KIPP?

Knowledge is Power Program is a national network of open-enrollment, college-preparatory public schools. KIPP improves academic quality by offering more classroom time focused on achievement with great educators. Learn more about KIPP at www.KIPP.org. Also see what Give Well has to say about KIPP.

Donation Details

My ebooks, found on the Books page, are available for free at Scribd. If you would like another format, you may choose an ebook and select a retailer. On December 15, 2011, I will submit a total donation to KIPP, and post the results on this blog.

Here is the breakdown of purchase price, and how much of your purchase will go to KIPP.

Shadow Memories

For $0.99 purchase, the following donated to KIPP:

• Smashwords, B&N, Sony, Kobo: US$0.56
• Amazon: US$0.35

Raven Memory

For $2.99 purchase, the following donated to KIPP:

• Smashwords: US$2.21
• B&N, iBooks, Kobo, Sony: US$1.79
• Amazon: US$2.00

Kandy Fangs (available in March) is free, and not included. If I release another ebook this year, it will be included.

If any retailers make adjustments during 2011, including sales or fees, I will stick with the numbers above for donations.

In summary, I will donate proceeds of my ebook sales during 2011 on December 15, 2011 to KIPP.

2010 was a busy year for me in the software world, but I did manage to post a couple books to Smashwords and other places. I will continue to write fiction.

2011

This year and beyond, I will post most of my short fiction at www.KandyFangs.com, including going beyond the novella such as this week’s FridayFlash, “Quiet Storm.” This blog will be for news or posts on reading, writing, software, science, or technology. Look for longer fiction at Scribd.

My current projects for this year include:

• Kandy Fangs novella and other stories
• a novel featuring Torre
• iPad development
• Art

Donations

My fiction is free. If you enjoy my stories and feel like donating, you may do so by purchasing an ebook from Smashwords, Amazon, or another retailer. Your purchase also supports these retailers in delivering works by your favorite authors. See Books page for details. Find my ebooks at:

• www.smashwords.com/profile/view/dracotorre
• http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003ZMBRX4

Thanks for your support.

“Ninth” is at 12 Days 2010 among twenty-three other short stories. Hosted by Jim Bronyauer, 12 Days 2010 features two stories for each of the “Twelve Days of Christmas” posted two at a time for 12 days. My story is on the “nine ladies dancing” theme where a man walking home meets the nine spirits from a local curse.

Read “Ninth” at 12days2010.wordpress.com/2010/12/22/ninth-day-9/ and enjoy all the stories finishing up on Christmas.

• A story is coming up for 12days2010 hosted by Jim Bronyaur. Look for it in December.
• Kandy Fangs returns on 28 November over at www.KandyFangs.com, and the ebook will be out early 2011.

I’ve been working nearly non-stop at MotiveQuest for the last few weeks. It’s an exciting time watching things fall together, building for the future, but also a very busy time. I am also studying iOS (iPhone/iPad) development in my spare minutes. I’m terribly behind, but hopefully I don’t get strangled for being late.

All this means I haven’t done much reading or writing. There’s a stack of books waiting for me. Winter is a great time for reading and writing. It is also a time for reflection and planning. There’s a few projects I’ve been thinking about, and if things start falling in place then exciting adventures could be on the horizon.

The serial continues at the new site: www.KandyFangs.com

I’m not a fan of serializing short fiction. Longer stories make more sense. Even then, many readers prefer reading at once and even better if it is in a completed ebook. The problem with hosting a long serial on a blog is navigation made even more problematic if shared with other posts. For Kandy Fangs, I solved the problem by moving her to her own place and setting up an episode index always visible on the side.

Setting up a WordPress site is so easy there is no excuse for creating a separate space for the serial. WordPress 3 even allows managing multiple blogs on one installation. Writers with technical skills can setup a better book-like experience by removing the blog completely, but let’s keep it simple. Besides, the blog features allow for bonus content. Decorate the site for the story.

Open up www.KandyFangs.com in a window to see how it works.

Instead of opening to blog posts, the site starts at the Welcome page. This gives the new reader a synopsis and information on what to expect. Once the serial is over, new readers may read all the episodes and returning readers may read new stories about Kandy. A link on the welcome page takes the new reader to the first episode.

Under the menu, you’ll find “Novella” and “Kandy” selections. Clicking one of these shows the categories in the normal reverse blog post order. This is nice for returning visitors, but not new visitors. Another option is to change the post order to start with the first. See Crooked Fang for an example.

I gave Kandy’s home a look consistent with this blog. If Kandy likes it, then my job is done.

You want a working contents page in your ebook. Readers love them. Anything that improves navigation is good. Done properly, the Smashwords Meatgrinder will produce epub and PDF with working contents page linking to your chapters or parts. Software like Adobe Digital Editions and iBooks on iPad will allow the reader to jump to chapters in your book. Below are screen shots of my novel, Raven Memory in Adobe Digital Editions and iBooks. The iBooks contents work by scrolling. In addition, iBooks reveals how many pages remain in the chapter. Note: In my first revision of Raven Memory, I used flowing text between chapters, and my recent revision (Sep 3) uses chapter headers.

Screen shot of iBooks showing chapter and page feature. Touch chapter slider to reveal chapter info.

Adobe Digital Editions Screen Shot of Raven Memory 1st revision with chapters flowing together. No formatted headers.

iBooks on iPad Screen Shot scrolling contents page

The Quick Guide to Working Contents

• Follow Mark Coker’s Smashwords Style Guide exactly.

It’s that simple. Well, almost. The  Smashwords Meatgrinder is picky about formatting, and some issues may not be clear. Pay close attention to the entire guide. It doesn’t matter if you use Microsoft Word or OpenOffice.org Writer, the directions for creating working contents links are the same.

About Chapter Headers

Coker’s guide mentions using header formatting for your chapter headers. This is optional, but a good idea if your book is long. Using headers tells Meatgrinder to create a new xhtml page for the epub which may render as chapter breaks in software like Adobe Digital Editions and iBooks. You may end up with a few nearly blank pages with only a sentence or two. Ugly, but preferable over the alternative. Without formatted headers the text flows, but Smashwords Meatgrinder will break longer works into segments which may cause page breaks in undesirable spots when reading epub. Format headers for chapters to avoid Meatgrinder choosing breaks for you in epub conversion. This doesn’t apply to PDF or online reading.

As seen in the Adobe Digital Editions screen capture above, my first revision of Raven Memory didn’t format the chapter headers allowing flowing text. Due to 3 abrupt page breaks in the epub, I revised using header formatting. Now Adobe Digital Editions produces one nearly blank page (depending on screen size,) but looks fine in iBooks. See the screen shot below. This is better than breaking between paragraphs, and epub readers may get better in the future at pushing text so there isn’t a single line left on a page. (Dear epub reader software creators: Learn how to flow text correctly.)

Tips on formatting with linking contents for your ebook

• Make sure the entire document has consistent formatting, paying close attention to the paragraph style name. If you use formatted chapter headers, they should also be consistent.
• Use Styles and Formatting sheet.
• Internal contents links work like external hyperlinks.
• Don’t use automation. Create your contents links by hand.
• Before uploaded to Smashwords, export to PDF and test every link.
• After uploading, test the PDF and the epub in Adobe Digital Editions. Click every link to make sure it goes to the correct place in your document.

My How-To: Create Contents Links Formatted for Smashwords

Save your contents page for last after you have made certain your entire document is formatted correctly. Heading styles are optional, but recommended for longer works. Edit your styles sheet for your body text and header. If you name your chapters starting with “Chapter” then Meatgrinder will make things easier. In Shadow Memories, I named each as the title of the short story. Still works as long as you make internal hyperlinks. See Step 20 in Coker’s guide.

Your table of contents should list each chapter single-spaced after the license information. No page numbers. The contents entry should be the same as the matching heading.

1. Go to each chapter heading and highlight the text.
2. (Optional, but recommended) Set the format to header using the same or similar font. (Remember to use style sheets.)
3. Use the Insert Bookmark feature. Name the bookmark matching the header, but without spaces.
4. After you named all the bookmarks matched to headers, go back to the contents page. Select each entry and use your Insert Hyperlink feature, select internal hyperlink and select the matching bookmark.

In your document, test each bookmark hyperlink. If you missed one or made a mistake, correct. Then export to PDF and test the links there. If it works in a PDF, and your book is formatted properly, it will work after going through the Meatgrinder.

Questions?

Screen shot of iBooks showing chapter break produced by using a header format for Smashwords