The Google Books Partner program recently began accepting new accounts. So I jumped on the chance to signup made a Google Play Books version of my books available for your reading pleasure!
Like all other editions of my books, these are available for free. Please feel free to grab a copy of The Portrait or The Grand and have a read!
You will find The Grand nestled atop a cliff overlooking a cursed valley and surrounded by foreboding mountains. At this ritzy French palatial-style hotel things can to go terribly wrong for some because this hotel does not cater exclusively to the rich and famous. Instead, the staff and rooms are here to accommodate a more selective clientele.
Even things that go bump in the night need a place to unwind.
The Grand is a collection of Gothic horror stories that focus a town prosecutor who accidentally discovers a series of grizzly case files. Individual stories incorporate supernatural themes based in the Roaring Twenties to create a rich historical, linguistic and cultural backdrop.
Centred on the Grand’s victims, each story brings a different perspective to the hotel, their staff and their esteemed guests. At the Grand it is always best to remember that even things that go bump in the night need a place to unwind.
The Portrait is a supernatural story about Victoria Frost, an author who develops an unhealthy obsession with her character. As events unfold, her obsessions begin to turn on her and forces Victoria to question her sanity. Is she simply slipping deeper into madness or are there other factors at play?
A vision from the past becomes a writer’s deadly obsession.
The Portrait features a mixture of contemporary and historical scenes with the latter revolving around her muse. In this novel, Victoria will revisit certain scenes using both prose and art to yield new pieces of the puzzle with every pass.
Since 7 Mar 2016, Google Docs permits users to export directly to the EPUB format. This feature is purportedly reliable in exporting hyperlinked chapter index.
Google Docs now exports to EPUB on thestack.com
Some articles state that Google Docs will import from Microsoft Word and generate a viable working product. So given Google Docs‘ collaborative capabilities and this export feature, this may prove to be an invaluable tool for drafts and early beta releases.
I am curious as to how this compares with Calibre generated documents. Normally, I export to HTML from Google Docs to create mine and that has worked well in the past.
Google Shutters Its Play Books Publisher Portal in Order to “Improve Its Content Management Capabilities” on the-digital-reader.com
In May of 2015, Google Play Books shut down new registrations to its Partner program. Today, the site still issues out the same notice with no explanation as to the length or reason for the closure.
“We are not accepting new sign-ups at this time. We are sorry for the inconvenience. We’ll be back soon.”
One is bound to question the concept of soon or temporary when we learn how long it has been. However, bothers me is there there seems to be no official explanation from Google on the matter.
In fact, Google’s FAQ for Google Books still says it’s possible and makes no reference to a temporary outage. Here is an excerpt:
“Absolutely. If you’re self-published or the rights to your book have reverted back to you, you can join the program yourself. Just sign up here. Note that your books must have ISBNs in order to be included.”
The linked article to supposes the temporary ban on new accounts was related to rampant piracy. While I am all for making sure that royalties make it the right people, I would love to get an idea on the timeline and the way ahead!
Role-Playing Game Toolset on InkarnateAuthors often create worlds, while some are more drastic than others; the fact remains that it’s difficult keeping a clear image in our minds. When reading through the Lord of the Rings, I found that the map provided came in handy. This reference kept locations fresh in my mind while maintaining perspective.
I came across this link on my Google+ feed. It features a role-playing tool set from Inkarnate, which permits you to create beautiful and detailed maps. While perhaps not publishing quality, this certainly permits an author to sketch out their world. This alone would go a long way towards preventing the introduction of inconsistencies into their prose!
This tool would have been invaluable in the early stages of The Grand Project. The review process led me to discover how the hotel had not always written to be in the same place!
7 Tips for Getting More Responses to Your Emails (With Data!) on blog.boomerangapp.com.Came across this article from +Laurie Varga’s feed and it’s an interesting read. There is excellent advise within and statistics to back up their claims.
Not all of it translates well for posting on Google+ and their ilk (i.e. Long comments probably will get you a TL;DR.) though some certainly applies!
The Redsy Book Editor: A Powerful Writing Tool on reedsy.com
Came across this link on my Google+ feed. Always a good idea to keep an eye out for new tools. This one may be cloud based, but it might have a must-have feature that people would kill for!
The Find and Replace capabilities within Microsoft Word are impressive. However, the interface is not necessarily intuitive and some of features can work against one another. Once aware of these limitations, we can use this capability to perform a series of tasks quickly and efficiently.
This tutorial will reference the same text throughout. A sample to follow along with is included below:
“A vision from the past becomes a writer’s deadly obsession,” Evelyn Chartres.
The Portrait is a Gothic horror about Victoria Frost, an author who develops an unhealthy obsession for her character. As events unfold, her obsession begins to turn on her forcing the author to question her sanity. Is this simply insanity or are there other factors in play?
The Portrait is a mixture of contemporary and historical pieces with the latter revolving around her character and muse. In this novel, the author will revisit an iconic scene using both prose and art yielding new pieces to the puzzle.
Posting on Google+
Google+ is a social media site, which supports limited formatting when posting. These features however are not selectable through a menu, but interpreted by special characters embedded within the posts. For convenience, three (3) formatting options are shown below.
Italics, _Word_
Bold, *Word*
Strikethrough, -Word-
Say you have a document which has been drafted in WordPress or Microsoft Word with formatting in place. Using the example provided, we can findItalics, Bold and Strikethrough formatted text and replace add in our special characters.
Note: Due to the similarity in methods, only Italics is covered.
From the Home Ribbon, click on Replace as which will pop-up the Find and Replace window.
First, ensure your cursor is in the Find what textbox. In bottom-left corner there is a Format button, click on the Format button then selectFont from the pop-up menu.
Note: If you cannot see the Format button, then click on the More > > button. It will expand the window and display additional capabilities.
The Find Font window will appear and provides an extensive search capability. In this situation, we need only selectItalic from Font style section. ClickOK to proceed.
Repeat the previous two (2) steps, this time ensuring the cursor is in the Replace with textbox. This time selectNot Italic from the Font style section.
The image below shows how Find and Replace has been configured to search for Font: Italic and replace with Font: Not Italic. This removes the formatting and prevents it being found in later searches.
To have Google+ see the formatting we need to insert an underscore (_) at either end of the relevant text. Start by typing in two (2) underscores (__) in the Replace with textbox then move your cursor between these characters.
Click on the Special button then selectFind What Text as shown below.
This inserts^& into the Replace with textbox in between the underscores. This sequence of characters references text found during the search.
If necessary, adjust the Replace with textbox to look like the image below. When satisfied, click on Replace All, which brings up the following pop-up.
Click on the OK button, close the Find and Replace window to find the following result:
“A vision from the past becomes a writer’s deadly obsession,” Evelyn Chartres.
The Portrait is a _Gothic horror_ about _Victoria Frost_, an author who develops an unhealthy obsession for her character. As events unfold, her obsession begins to turn on her forcing the author to question her sanity. Is this simply insanity or are there other factors in play?
The Portrait is a mixture of contemporary and historical pieces with the latter revolving around her character and muse. In this novel, the author will revisit an iconic scene using both prose and art yielding new pieces to the puzzle.
Repeat the above to replace out Bold*^&* and Strikethrough-^&- fonts. When done, all you need to do is Copy and Paste your text into your Google+ post and you are set!
You will find The Grand nestled atop a cliff overlooking a cursed valley and surrounded by foreboding mountains. At this ritzy French palatial-style hotel things can to go terribly wrong for some because this hotel does not cater exclusively to the rich and famous. Instead, the staff and rooms are here to accommodate a more selective clientele.
The Portrait is a supernatural story about Victoria Frost, an author who develops an unhealthy obsession with her character. As events unfold, her obsessions begin to turn on her and forces Victoria to question her sanity. Is she simply slipping deeper into madness or are there other factors at play?
