Fun with eBook Formatting: Em to Px

I recently released my latest title, Little Demons, and thought I’d try something a little different when it came to formatting. After all, one of the major perks of being an indie author is not being locked into any one particular way of doing something.

Because appearance is important to me, I decided to format the HTML way, because I’ve heard it’s the best method of controlling how the eBook looks across multiple formats. Of course, when I started looking into how to do that, all roads seemed to lead to Guido Henkel and his Take Pride in Your eBook Formatting guide. Sure, there are other resources out there, but Guido’s guide doesn’t require a lot of technical know-how to make things work. I know some HTML but I’m a long way from being a computer whiz-kid. Also, Guido is a successful indie author so there’s no question that he knows what he’s talking about.

However, I did encounter one problem along the way and I wanted to give you a heads-up, just in case you decide to go the HTML route. It might seem a little confusing if you haven’t used this method before but it’s only because I’m talking about one specific area. The guide is very comprehensive and you shouldn’t have any problems with using it.

When it comes to setting the measurements for white space around content and the font size of certain sections, Guido used a measurement known as ‘em’, such as 1.5em. Web browsers don’t have a problem with it and Kindle’s MOBI format doesn’t appear to mind it, but the Nook doesn’t like it. Consequently, Little Demons currently looks like smashed-together poo on the Nook Previewer. It’s my fault because I didn’t actually pay attention to it during the upload to PubIt. The corrected file was uploaded last night so Barnes & Noble should have a pretty copy of Little Demons as soon as it finishes processing.

Fortunately, it’s an easy fix. Since Nook doesn’t like ‘em’ for measurements, you just need to turn them into px (pixel). You don’t have to worry about the look changing because this converter makes it super-easy to find the new numbers that you need when using px. Since all the ‘em’ measurements show up in CSS, it’s easy to make the conversion.

Aside from that one little oddity, the HTML formatting seems to work like a charm. As an added bonus, the Kindle Previewer doesn’t seem to mind the px, so I’ll just use that from the very beginning in the future.

Free eBooks #3

Oops! Skipped a day with the free eBooks. Not my fault though because the zombies came by and I had to hide in the underground bunker.

LZR-1143: Perspectives

In a world overrun by the living dead, every victim has a story. These are some of those stories. This collection of six short stories from a world ravaged by the LZR-1143 virus tell the tale of six different people, all of whom fell victim, in different ways, to the deadly plague.

From the pilot of a commercial aircraft, overwhelmed in midair, to the lonely soldier stranded high above a world of the undead, the six characters each face their own fears and mortality in different ways.

This 20,000 word short-story collection features a unique selection of characters from the original zombie novel by Bryan James, LZR-1143: Infection, and from the recently released sequel, LZR-1143: Evolution. Each character appears only fleetingly in the longer novels, but each has their own unique thread in the LZR-1143 storyline, all of which are exposed in these short excerpts from their final hours alive.

The collection includes The Pilot, The Boy, The Inmate, The Fry Cook, The Subway Passenger, and The Sniper. In The Pilot, a commercial aviator sees his last flight end in a way he never could have imagined. In The Boy, a family trip is cut short, and a lonely homecoming is not at all as he anticipated. We see the surprising genesis and true identity of a traveling companion in The Inmate, while The Fry Cook reveals the final moments of a teenage fast food worker. In The Subway Passenger, we learn that in the case of zombie apocalypse, you’d probably rather be aboveground. And in The Sniper, the surprising truth that there are some fates that cannot be fought, even with a fifty caliber rifle.

The Horribles

Since witnessing the brutal death of his parents, Sheldon Delaney swore to never step foot outside again. The Horribles are out there. They’re everywhere, threatening the residents of Poe’s Creek. Sheldon’s life changes again when a savage motorcycle gang parades through town with a deafening roar, leather, chrome, and evil. They’re here for the children. Nothing will get in their way. The Horribles have arrived for real this time and for Sheldon to do anything about it, he has to confront every fear he’s ever had or risk being choked by his poisonous memories.

House Guest

Chastity Bream doesn’t dance anymore. She also can’t walk, speak or think. She’s fed through a tube, turned twice a day and left alone in her bed. That is except for him – the one in her closet, who comes out to tend to her needs. And his.

Free eBooks #2

It’s time for a few more freebies to help get you over the mid-week hump. Horror doesn’t always have to involve the supernatural so today’s collection also includes some realistic thrills in the form of serial killers, and one interesting tale that involves eager college students that won’t take no for an answer.

Still Coming

Every year the best colleges reject thousands of the brightest young minds in the country. But what might happen if a large number of them refused to take no for an answer?

One morning, Shepherdton College receives 437 envelopes from twenty-eight states. Each contains the same two-word message: Still coming.

That’s just the beginning. The college president’s house burns down; the water in the country club swimming pool turns red; the ghost of a local war hero appears.

Another message is received: We’re Here.

Nerves fray, and if the “comers” aren’t trouble enough, a Peeping Tom turns into a home invader, and shows signs of becoming a full-blown sexual predator.

The town fragments and people take up arms after one last message is received…

Won’t Be Long Now.

Still Coming is a psychological thriller for anyone, student or parent, who’s ever sweated a college admission decision.

Serial

Remember the twin golden rules of hitchhiking?
# 1: Don’t go hitchhiking, because the driver who picks you up could be certifiably crazy.
# 2: Don’t pick up hitchhikers, because the traveler you pick up could be raving nutcase.
So what if, on some dark, isolated road, Crazy #1 offered a ride to Nutcase #2?

When two of the most twisted minds in the world of horror fiction face off, the result is SERIAL, a terrifying tale of hitchhiking gone terribly wrong. Like a deeply twisted version of an “After School Special,” SERIAL is the single most persuasive public service announcement on the hazards of free car rides. Beyond a thrilling piece of horrifying suspense, SERIAL is also a groundbreaking experiment in literary collaboration. Jack Kilborn wrote the first part. Blake Crouch wrote the second. And they wrote the third together over email in 100-word exchanges, not aware of each other’s opening section. All bets were off, and may the best psycho win.

Circus of the Dead

Twenty years ago, the dead destroyed the world of the living. The survivors scattered in the wake of the Scourge, erecting small towns in the worlds’ most sparsely populated areas.

For young Gabriel, the walking dead are merely the memories that haunt the eyes of those old enough and lucky enough to have survived. He is more concerned with his hard life in America’s desert, where his chores keep him busy and the husks of books stashed beneath the cellar of the library are his only freedom.

Until the circus comes to town.

“Circus of the Dead” is a novelette of approximately 10,748 words.

Underneath: Short Tales of Horror and the Supernatural

Vengeance…desperation…murder-for-hire…horror in real-time…a healthy dose of zombies…spectrophobia…even a little bit of hope. They all come together in a place underneath the one we know. Ten tales of horror and the supernatural, plus a 17,000 word preview of the upcoming zombie thriller “Orpheus.”

Free eBooks #1

Want to see something really scary? Check out the economy

Fortunately, it’s easy to get a few chills and thrills without murdering your wallet. Check out what I found lurking around Amazon today… and they don’t cost you a penny.

Keep in mind that these titles might be marked for free for a limited time only so don’t wait too long to hop over and download.

The Turtle Boy (The Timmy Quinn Series (Book One))

Available for the first time on Amazon Kindle, Kealan Patrick Burke’s Bram Stoker Award-winning coming of age story The Turtle Boy.

School is out and summer has begun. For eleven year old Timmy Quinn and his best friend Pete Marshall, the dreary town of Delaware Ohio becomes a place of magic, hidden treasure and discovery.

But on the day they encounter a strange young boy sitting on the bank of Myers Pond, a pond playground rumor says may hide turtles the size of Buicks, everything changes.

For it soon becomes apparent that dark secrets abound in the little community, secrets which come cupped in the hands of the dead, and in a heartbeat, Timmy and Pete’s summer of wonder becomes a season of terror, betrayal and murder.

EYE OF THE WITCH (Detective Marcella Witch’s Series)

Pride, paranoia and paranormal forces all conspire to derail Detective Marcella’s investigation into a series of suspicious suicides in New Castle, Massachusetts.

In this sequel to The Witch’s Ladder, Marcella learns that because of the ties that bind their pasts, every potential victim is also a possible suspect.

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Here Be Monsters – An Anthology of Monster Tales

Eight tales of vampires, werewolves, demons, zombies, and other horrors:

M.T. Murphy – Blackmail.
S.M. Reine – Something Wrong.
India Drummond – The Reaver.
Anabel Portillo – Lux.
Jeremy C. Shipp – Figs.
Samantha Anderson – Deals and Demons.
Sara Reinke – Periphery People.
M.T. Murphy – Spider Bag.

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To Read or Not to Read

‘To Read or Not to Read’ is a short story by Vincent Hobbes. It was first published in ‘The Endlands’ (Jan. 2011)

Gunter von Strauss owns a small bookstore. He carries something for everyone’s taste.

He also carefully inspects each book, making sure they are safe to read.

Who knew that choosing the wrong book could carry such a consequence.

Are free eBooks sending the wrong message?

I recently stumbled across an interesting article that talked about the dangers of free eBooks and it got me to wondering if free promotions might do more harm than good by training (for lack of a better word) readers to expect free reads.

Many indie authors have already noticed the discrepancy in pricing and how it has set the bar low for many people that regularly give their eReader a workout. My short story, Dead Man Walking, is priced at 99 cents, but it’s setting on the digital bookshelves right next to full-length novels that are also priced at 99 cents. Does this mean short stories should be priced for free? Should novels be priced higher than the rock-bottom price that’s available to use?

The great thing about being your own publisher is that those questions don’t have carved-in-stone rules and the author is free to do as he chooses. But should something be done just because it can be done? That’s a question that has to be answered by the author as an individual, and there really is no right or wrong answer at the moment.

Along the same lines, there are free promotions that are regularly done to boost interest in titles. Initially, it doesn’t seem like a bad idea, but I’m wondering if free promos will eventually do more harm than good for sales.

Imagine this scenario – you release Book 1 and eventually set the price for free, then you release Book 2 and eventually set the price for free, again. When Book 3 comes out, will readers that follow you scoop up your latest hit or will they wait for it to go free, because that’s what you’ve done with your previous titles.

We’ve all felt frustration after flipping open a store advertisement and seeing something priced at 50% off… after we spent full price on it last week. It’s the ugliest form of sticker shock; the birth of that little voice in your head that tells you to wait next time until the item is on sale.

I worry that regularly putting our work out there for free will condition people to wait for it to be free. On the other hand, my wife believes if the work is good enough, then readers will scoop up the latest titles, regardless of having to pay or not. It’s a great spotlight on the type of shoppers we are. I’m willing to wait for something until the price is right, and she’s more into immediate gratification by getting the item right now. Which type is the majority? I’m curious because if most readers are like me, then most indie authors are going to end up being starving artists. If they’re like my wife, then there are no worries.

What do you think? Are free promos a temporary fad, an excellent form of advertising, or a danger to how readers shop for eBooks?