InstaScribe

November 19, 2014
by InstaScribe
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Quotes Wednesday

Without a herd, a nomad cannot be a nomad. He can only be a wanderer.

By InstaScribe

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Visual Friday: How To Publish Your E-book on Amazon Kindle

November 18, 2014
by punjacked
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Readers Can’t Digest – Week 14 (10-Nov to 16-Nov)

1. Egmont Publishing has signed a publishing deal for magazines and books based on the Teletubbies TV show.

2. A Winnie the Pooh illustration might be auctioned for more than £100,000 next month.

3. The Hunger Games to be made into a play in London in 2016.

4. Amazon’s looking to hire Flight Operations Engineers to develop unmanned drones which deliver orders to customers within half an hour.

5. After a long fought battle, Amazon and Hachette have come to an agreement. This agreement will give Hachette the responsibility for setting consumer prices of its e-books.

November 17, 2014
by Neelima
3 Comments

Writing for Children and Teenagers (Revised Edition) by Lee Wyndham (Part 1)

I would call this book Writing for children and Teenagers and just about anyone.

When you browse through this book as a book reviewer should, you come across the 10 commandments for writers somewhere at the end. Rings of a blog post. In fact, this entire book feels like reading a blog on writing. Although it is dedicated to writing for the juvenile audience, a large part of the book is about the process of writing in general.

The examples Lee Wyndham uses are a far, far cry from contemporary children’s writing. Does Black Beauty ring a bell or Heidi? (though I must say I love Heidi). You would probably need a revised edition with Potterama to enlighten you about writing for young children and young adults today.

Lyndham is in control of her subject (strangely I couldn’t find her in a Wiki entry). She is the author of nearly 50 books, 200 short stories, many articles in magazines. She has taught writing for children and teenagers. She writes from another day and age-the age of typewriter ribbons and carbon paper but as you go through the book you realize that what an author needs is not really intelligent software like Scrivener.

You need an organized mind.

And we are talking about a seriously organized writer here.

This is a writer who believes in The Work Book. One way of completing work is setting out your own deadlines (you can note down when you start a work and when you finish). Think Chapter, she says. She prophetically mentions the 2000 words per day challenge.

Isn’t that what NaNoWrimo is about? Getting the words on the page and being organized on a daily basis. You go for work every day, you meet targets every day, you walk the dog every day, then why not write 2000 words a day?

She makes the challenge much easier by focusing on the chapter. Writing twenty chapters is easier than forging an excruciating 50,000 words.

Writing for children and teenagers

Kids Reading Books

Writing for young people is serious business. You could just be on the Forbes list of the wealthy or get arrested for writing about a school shooting.

If you like guidelines, here are some good ones:

One rule I think works is Don’t write Down. Never underestimate your young audience. If you don’t want to underestimate them, you must know them. How much do you know about children? Do you spend time with them or read a bit of child psychology?
Being age-specific when you write is also important. So what you write for a six year old will not work for a 13 year old. A 13 year old needs more drama and action while an older teen would need a stronger plot, sub plots and characterization. A toddler can only handle a single plot.
Even vocabulary matters. Use vocabulary that fits into a prescribed word list, especially for younger children.
Sensory feelings are very important in a children’s book as children are new to the world and feel everything with a freshness that we can not even remember.
Themes are relevant- though this book is outdated in many ways, its relevance lies in the fact that it throws up many questions. What kind of ideas would work today? What do kids relate to in different parts of the world? The editor never knows what will work until she sees it.
Do you need to be an illustrator to write a children’s book? Well, no and it would be prudent not to send your amateur art work to accompany your story as that could actually spoil the chances of your story getting accepted.

Wyndham has thought things through- I wondered what she would do if she had access to the technology we have today. Every idea is noted. Every characterization is jotted down. The world is a potential story minefield and she believes in using everything.

Have you ever wondered about how much you give away while doing social media? How little you store? Writers have to hold on to so much if they must produce anything remotely plot-worthy.

Hold on to this thought until we revisit this book with a Plot Recipe in Part 2 of this review.

November 14, 2014
by InstaScribe
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Visual Friday: NaNoWriMo Trivia

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<img src="https://instascribe.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/whats-nanowrimo-01.jpg?w=600" alt="NaNoWriMo Trivia" /><p style="font-weight: bold;">By InstaScribe</p></a></div>

November 13, 2014
by Jandré
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Why NaNoWriMo?

The what?

NaNoWriMo? The first time I saw this acronym I thought it might be a computer programming term. You know, like GIGO? Garbage in, Garbage out. It turns out that it has nothing to do with computer programming. This funny word, which also reminded me of my first email password-zugubufu( let’s keep that between us, shall we?) stands for National Novel Writing Month.

The idea is to write a novel of at least 50 000 words during the month of November. This internet based initiative uses “Thirty days and nights of literary abandon! No Plot? No Problem!” as its slogan.

nanowrimo.org

In November, 2013, there were 310,095 participants. The website says that auto mechanics, out-of-work actors, and middle school English teachers walked away as novelists. I am unsure if this means that so many people participated, or if it refers to the amount of completed novels.

But considering that the goal of NaNoWriMo is to encourage people to write, it seems like a successful initiative.

The program has 5 basic steps. These are:

Announce your Novel to the NaNoWriMo community: You announce the title and your commitment to writing a 50 000 + word novel during the month of November.
Earn Badges: This is done by writing and interacting with the community. This social support system of like-minded people keeps you motivated, and might even provide a measure of accountability.Badges are also awarded for how many words you have written, that is, you are rewarded for your effort. Rewards motivate.
Get Inspired: NaNoWriMo knows very well that writers often become disheartened and give up. To counter this they provide loads of useful resources. There are a whole range of pep talks by authors- the not so famous and the extremely well-known.I particularly enjoyed reading what the bestselling Neil Gaiman (American Gods and The Sandman series) and Lemony Snicket (The Lemony Snicket series) had to say about starting and completing a novel.Both these authors encourage without being patronizing. They know the common pitfalls of the writing life and share how they overcome them, book after book.
Go! : Once the calendar says 1st November, the light turns green and you can start writing. Your word count is constantly updated, helping you to stay motivated and keep on going.What we see here is that NaNoWriMo subtly influences the way you prepare to write your novel. It is possible to just sit down and write 50 000 words, but it is so much easier if you are prepared.When you listen to Neil Gaiman or Sue Grafton talk about overcoming writer’s block or use NaNoWriMo resources to create a plot, you just might write better and perhaps even finish!
NaNoWriMo also accommodates and facilitates for people like me who prefer spontaneity!
Validate your Novel: From the 20^th of November, you are allowed to paste your complete novel “into” NaNoWriMo. You are now in-line to win a prize! Have a look at the list of possible prizes if your motivation is lagging.

IIWaToBuWiToONeYe or Why NaNoWriMo?

My very elegant acronym IIWaToBuWiToONeYe stands for International I Want to but will Tomorrow or Next Year.

Let me ask you how many literate people threaten to write a novel? I would say that conservative estimates would come up with about 99%..

However, 99% of those live by Mark Twain’s advice “Never put off till tomorrow, what you can do the day after tomorrow.” Most of us find reasons to not start writing our novel today. There are perhaps 50 000 reasons not to write a 50 000 word book.

Why NaNoWriMo? As I said earlier, their official slogan is “Thirty days and nights of literary abandon! No Plot? No Problem!” If you take a long hard look at it you will see the secret message hidden in there! (Lot’s of coffee, about 13 espressos will clarify your vision!)

Do you see it? Do you see it? It is there! Look! There slogan is secret code for “Just do it!” But they do not want Nike to know that!

Actually, there slogan goes further that “Just do it!” Perhaps it should be “Just do it, and remember we are here to help you, inspire you and walk with you. We believe in you and that is why we compiled these resources and created a community which will help you even more!” (Try fitting that on a sweatband!)

“National Novel Writing Month… believes your story matters. Our mission statement: National Novel Writing Month organizes events where children and adults find the inspiration, encouragement, and structure they need to achieve their creative potential.” From the NaNoWriMo

Not only do these guys agree that you and me and the rest of the 99% have a story to tell, but they also believe that each of these stories matter. You do not have to be a modern day Shakespeare (O plot, o plot, where art thou?) to matter. The whole NaNoWriMo thingamajig is about much more than just writing 50 000 words- it’s about recognizing the struggle to get those words written down and providing the motivation to make our dreams come true.

Go ahead, and get inspired!

November 12, 2014
by InstaScribe
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Quotes Wednesday

If you believe anything people tell you, you deserve to be told anything at all

By InstaScribe

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Visual Friday: 5 Topics Fiction Writers Can Blog About

November 11, 2014
by punjacked
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Readers Can’t Digest – Week 13 (03-Nov to 09-Nov)

1. Scholastic is reissuing 21 titles of R.L Stine’s Goosebumps on the occasion of the release of the first Goosebumps movie in August 2015. Goosebumps is the second-bestselling series of all time globally.

2. Kobo has signed a deal with Marvel to sell digital editions of more than 250 Marvel graphic novels.

3. Dan Brown has confirmed that his next book will feature Robert Langdon but he hasn’t revealed where it would be set.

4. Scribd has added 30000 audio books to its catalog.

5. Amazon has launched it’s new device called Amazon Echo. It’s a voice activated speaker unit which people can use to find information, play music, and create to-do lists.

November 10, 2014
by punjacked
3 Comments

NaNoWriMo

Has there been a novel on your mind for a long time that you just couldn’t get yourself to start writing? Don’t worry, November is here and NaNoWriMo could be the slight push you have been waiting for.

Started in July 1999 in the San Francisco Bay Area, National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo is a fresh approach to creative writing. Several participants sign up on November 1^st every year and start working towards completing a 50000 word novel by November 30^th.

If you ever feel like quitting, biggies in the industry give pep talks to keep you going. You will also be encouraged by the badges you earn for reaching certain milestones. The more you write or the faster you write, the more badges you earn.

Image courtesy of National Novel Writing Month

NaNoWriMo, surprisingly, is not limited to just an online community of writers. NaNoWriMo has volunteers all around the world whom they call Municipal Liaisons (MLs). They add the human touch. They host Kick-Off Parties, weekly write-ins, “Thank God It’s Over” Parties and help you to keep writing. MLs also oversee their regional forums and can answer questions about NaNo. But, most importantly, MLs can introduce you to other local writers working on NaNoWriMo projects.

Once you complete the 50000-word rough draft of your novel, NaNoWriMo helps you get your novel published in the following months. All you need to do is sign an official contract with NaNoWriMo as a promise that you will revisit your novel. Once the contract is signed, you’ll be added to the list of revisers. January and February are what they call “Now what?” months.
While making necessary revisions to your book, you can attend NaNo webinars given by publishing experts and NaNo-novelists who guide you through the revision. After this, you can communicate on Twitter via specific hashtags to interact with agents and publishers. You can also compare editing notes and discuss your progress with fellow revisers on NaNo forums and follow NaNoWriMo’s blog where encouragement is offered by authors, editors, and agents.

Interesting Facts About NaNoWriMo

In November 2013, 310095 participants walked away as novelists.
651 volunteer Municipal Liaisons guided 595 regions on six continents.
89,500 students and educators created worlds through the Young Writers Program.
650 libraries opened their doors to novelists through the Come Write In program.
In 2014, 55,774 Campers participated in Camp NaNoWriMo’s online writing retreat.
Over 250 NaNoWriMo novels have been traditionally published. They include Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants, Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus, Hugh Howey’s Wool, Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl, Jason Hough’s The Darwin Elevator, and Marissa Meyer’s Cinder.

Other Programs by NaNoWriMo

The Young Writers Program
This program encourages novel-writing for K-12 students, promoting creative education and writing fluency.

The Come Write In Program
This program provides free resources to libraries, community centers, and local bookstores to build writing havens in your neighborhood.

Camp NaNoWriMo
This virtual writing retreat is designed to provide writers with community, resources, and tools required to complete any writing project.

November 7, 2014
by InstaScribe
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Visual Friday: How To Publish Your E-book on Amazon Kindle

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November 6, 2014
by punjacked
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Kindle Kids’ Book Creator: How-to

Kindle Kids’ Book Creator is a free downloadable tool that a few simple steps later can turn illustrated children’s books into Kindle books. This tool works like a charm for authors or publishers who want to create a Kindle book from scratch with illustrations. A print ready file in PDF format can also be converted to Kindle format with just a couple of clicks.

Texts can be added to the pages and the Text Pop-Up option makes it easier to read on mobile devices. Once the book is completed, you can preview how the book would look across different Kindle devices. The .mobi file can then be published on Kindle Direct Publishing.

KKBC is a simple tool you don’ need any technical expertise to operate. Nevertheless, let’s try to create a children’s book using this tool.

KKBC can be downloaded from here: https://kdp.amazon.com/help?topicId=A3IWA2TQYMZ5J6&ref_=kdp_BS_tool
This tool is available for the latest versions of Mac and Windows.

Click on the download button and save the .exe file at a desired location. Double click on the .exe file and install the tool on your system. The installation process is like almost every other installation process you have come across – keep clicking on ‘Next’ buttons until you get a ‘Finish’.

Double click on the shortcut created on your desktop to open KKBC. Here, you will find two options – Open an Existing Book and Create a New Kids’ Book. If you want to open an existing book, it should be in .opf or .mobi format. You can also create a book from scratch.

KKBC will give you a quick introduction to the software and how it works. But, if you are a rebel and don’t like taking instructions from a machine, you can click on ‘Continue’ and start using the software (and use this post instead for instructions!).

After you have fed your ego by clicking ‘Continue’ without reading the instructions, you get to enter the metadata for the book. You can also choose the language of your book. For now, only nine languages – German, English, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Chinese – are listed here. And no, Amazon does not have anything against your language. They have probably just listed the most popular languages in the e-book industry. You can choose the location to save the final product and click on ‘Continue’.

Here you can choose the orientation of your book and how you want the pages to be displayed on Kindle. Click on ‘Continue’.
If your book is in print ready PDF format and the cover of the book is the first page of the PDF file, you can import the whole book on Kindle Kids’ Book Creator and make changes to the book if needed. If you are creating the book from scratch, you need to import a cover and click on ‘Start Adding Pages’.

Now you can start creating a book by adding pages. There’s also an option to delete the pages if you don’t like the way it looks – to err is human.

You can click on ‘Add Page’ and select an image which is in .jpg, .tif, or .png format.
If you have chosen to display two pages at a time, your page will look something like the image below. If not, the image will be spread across the page.
You can add text to the page by clicking on the ‘Add Text’ button. You can either chose from the given fonts or add a different font. The text box can be resized and moved as per your convenience. You can also add Pop-Up to the text but click on the ‘Add Pop-Up’ button. The text Pop-Up feature lets Kindle readers double-tap text on the page to display a magnified view of the text. Text pop-ups make your book easier to read on mobile devices.
When you click on ‘Add Page’ button after creating the first page, it gives you an option to add the page at different positions like at the beginning of the book, at the end of the book, before the current page, after the current page and between the two sides of the page. This can be useful if you don’t want to add the pages according to the order of pages or if you have missed a page in between.
You can also add a blank page at any position. Blank pages can be useful if you want to add text.
If you understand and write the language of computers, you can choose to edit CSS and the HTML code.
Once the book is complete, you can preview the book.
The preview lets you see how the book will be viewed on various Kindle Fire devices. As of now, you can’t preview how it will look on various Kindle apps, but Amazon plans to add the app preview in the future.
After carefully previewing the book and making the necessary changes, you can save the book for publishing.
The book will be saved in .mobi format and the metadata in .opf format.
If you wish to publish your book on KDP, you can do so by visiting kdp.amazon.com and uploading the .mobi file. The book created using KKBC will work on Kindle Fire HD, Kindle Fire HD 8.9″, Kindle Fire, Kindle for iPad app, Kindle for iPhone app and Kindle Android app.

Kindle Kids’ Book Creator is a simple software that can be used by Children’s book authors and publishers. Thanks to the software, authors and publishers don’t need to understand the complexities of HTML/CSS to publish their content on Kindle.

You must be wondering if KKBC can be used to create graphic novels and comics. Amazon has a similar product for graphic novels and comics called Kindle Comic Creator and it comes with Kindle Panel View among other features that are not supported by KKBC.

Like every great software, KKBC comes with some limitations. For example, EPUB formats cannot be imported to KKBC. This can be an issue for a lot of authors as EPUB is a widely used format for e-books. Also, a file larger than 650 MB cannot be created using KKBC. This, however, may not be an issue unless you are planning to create an illustrated encyclopedia for children.

The biggest limitation of KKBC is that the .mobi file output is only compatible with Kindle readers or apps. Converting the .mobi file to .epub using Calibre won’t work either. The .mobi file can’t be used anywhere other than KDP. In other words, Amazon has ensured that the output file is not compatible with any non-Amazon platforms or devices. This is hardly unexpected!

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