02 03 Melody Jackson, Author: Kindle Version of "The Dragon Within" Is Now Available!! 04 05 15 16 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 31 32 33

Kindle Version of "The Dragon Within" Is Now Available!!

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First of all, I have two thoughts about this whole digital publishing process:

I hate Microsoft Word
and
I love Scrivener!!!

So, to start off this whole venture--much different from physical publication, I must add--I forced my way through the Smashwords Style Guide and fought Microsoft Word tooth and nail to get the darned thing to format properly for an e-book.

It wasn't a pretty sight. The document was a mess, and with my mind still very stuck in the 'it must look good on the pages' mindset (only applicable for a print book), I got nowhere very fast.

So, I started again. And eventually scrapped the terribly botched copy of what used to be my beautiful print manuscript.

This went on for a solid week and was even more frustrating than formatting for a print book. In frustration, I took a 'break', wondering if I'd ever even go back to do it or pay money to have someone do it for me.

Seriously, I was that upset with it. 

Normally, I find it much more satisfactory to set the book up myself (editing is a different story because of the nature of it), writing, formatting, the whole nine yards. Of course, I did extensive research to make sure it would look professional, but it saved me a lot of money that would've been spent paying many people to do the work for me, and it gives me a much greater sense of accomplishment. 

I didn't just write a book; I formatted, (helped)proofread, (helped)edited, wrestled with Word to make the e-book work...I did everything I was possibly able to! And to me, that's an even greater accomplishment than just writing a book, though don't get me wrong, writing a book is hard. It also takes a lot, and I mean A WHOLE INSANE LOT of work.

But I digress. The point I'm really trying to make here is I. HATE. WORD.

At least, I hate its formatting. I don't think I could've ever gotten this e-book done with all the junk it threw at me.

But then I found this absolutely wonderful program that has been laying under my nose the whole time: Scrivener. I'd heard of it from other authors, but never actually what it did.

It does everything, people. It's like a writer's personal workshop and it's the single most important writing tool I have ever used.

Anyway, when we saw it converts to Kindle, I decided hey, let's give it a try. Gotta be better than the mess Word made of my document, right? Besides, there's a free 30 day trial...

2 days later [one simply to figure out all the incredible stuff the program does], the Kindle version is complete and looking as beautiful as the print version!! I am so relieved and excited that it's finally done! :)

It's now on Smashwords and is in review for Amazon...should be live tomorrow at the latest. :) Yay, so exciting!!! And then I'm getting the physical copies in a couple days!!!!!! :D

I love being a writer. :)

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