Month: December 2017

A New Tool for Video Recording

Logitech Webcam C930e

One of my authoring projects is development of materials and lessons for the GoodlifeNews! Online Academy. I recently purchased and began using this new webcam. It’s pretty cool! The video shoots HD 1080p quality, which is great, but the software driving it also provides the capability to auto-focus, pan right/left/up/down, and zoom. Kim Komando sent out an alert that Amazon.com had these on sale for a very good price, so I jumped on it! I’m looking forward to having a lot of fun with this new piece of equipment. It can also be used it for Skype, video conferencing, etc.

Now, to piggyback on this note. Lesson 4 of the Seven Essential Daily Prayers course, Joy in My Spirit, is ready to record! The outline is complete and the PowerPoint slides are all in place. All that is left to do is the actual video recording and editing, then it will be ready to post. Working on this – and other writing projects – brings to mind the old folk-proverb, “By the yard it’s hard, but by the inch it’s a cinch!” Little by little the course lessons will be finished eventually. After this, there are only three more. That’s encouraging!

It’s the Christmas season. Only a few days left in 2017. I pray that you are finding God’s blessings in each day.

Peace on Earth,

Loren

What’s With The Delay?

Getting Whimsi ready to publish in paperback form has been an educational journey! Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) has manuscript and cover standards for publishing which require compliance by every author/publisher. In my original naivety I just lazily assumed that with a digital book already in place, there would be a button somewhere I could click and voila! after a few whirrings and buzzings somewhere in cyberspace the paperback edition would just magically appear.

Uh, not so fast, pilgrim!

Given a moment, it is easy to understand KDP’s holding everybody to a common standard for the books they accept. (I really should have known this would be the case. I experienced the same requirement for exacting preparation when I wrote my doctoral dissertation at Andrews University!)

  1.  First, the most obvious – anything published under ANY publisher’s mark needs to be consistent with the mark’s standards. Consumers of any product expect consistency from the brand, regardless of the field. It doesn’t matter if it is publishing, fast food, clothing, or whatever. And the only way to provide that is to have required standards and procedures for the business.
  2.  Second, as an author, I want my book presented in the most attractive way, so prospective readers will make the leap to buy it, read it, and even share or recommend it to their friends. A consistent form of presentation contributes to that. It is good to benefit from KDP’s experience.
  3. KDP wants their authors to be successful! Their success is totally wrapped up in the success of the books they approve. That’s a good thing. To this end, KDP provides lots of good coaching along the way. They’re used to dealing with novices, as well as seasoned writers.

So, what are some of those pesky details that have to be considered?

  1.  Oh, just some little things like margins, pagination, etc. The preview program is really good at spotting errors that need to be corrected. You can over-ride the program, but it’s nice to have the alert so you can decide yay or nay for each potential problem.
  2.  Photos and pictorial illustrations need to be uploaded at a minimum of 300 dots per inch (dpi). That’s because in print anything less than that density in digital photos will look fuzzy. However, getting to the 300dpi standard has proven challenging for us. In Whimsi, every page of text has an illustration opposite it on the facing page. This is the biggy we’re working on right now. We’re hoping this will be the LAST major hurdle we have to jump!

Even so, with all this, Kimberly and I are really excited to see this little story coming together in a paperback edition! It will be a day for celebration when it is all finished and ready to go!

Have a wonderful day, and a great week!

Loren

Final Graphics for Whimsi’s Cover

Here’s the final rendition of the paperback cover for Whimsi.

Had to remove a couple of items, then make a copy with lower dpi to upload here. Oh, the things we learn!

I wonder why every project I undertake turns out to be a learning process! Seems like at some point I could start utilizing all the stuff I’ve learned for new projects. Ha! But, maybe that’s just one of the idiosyncrasies of life.

The cover is ready, but it looks like it will be a few more days until the manuscript is finished so I can upload it to KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing). My daughter and I are really anxious to get this story finished and ready to order! I promise, it WILL be SOON!

Is this a life principle? It’s just the way things work!

Hope your day is splendiferous!

Loren

 

A New Subscription Form I Actually Like

Look to the right of your screen —————->

Over there you should see a form asking for your name and email. This is the simplest and easiest form I’ve found for my blog. I’d love to have you subscribe! If you do, each time I publish a new post you will get a note in your inbox with a link, so you can read it at your convenience. Of course, you can unsubscribe at any time. Nevertheless, I covet the privilege of sharing stuff about my writing activities with you. And, if you happen to enjoy something, it would really please me if you shared it with your friends! TIA!!

Loren

Great Progress this Week on Whimsi!

We’re Getting Closer!

Well, it has been a pretty challenging few days this week, but we are getting a LOT closer to publishing the paperback edition of Whimsi and the Big Election! I spent two very long days designing and finishing the cover. In the end, I had to have Ruth help me finish up. She is much more experienced than I with the graphics app we use, which – if anyone is interested – is the Corel Paintshop Pro 2018.

I wanted to post a picture of the final cover here, but right now my webhost gives me a message that it is too large. So, I opted for the one you see at the left. However, if you would like to see what Whimis’s cover will look like when it is eventually published, you can go over to Whimsi’s Facebook page. Just click HERE.

I am SO looking forward to getting this project done! Even though I wrote the story, I still truly enjoy it! Plus, I believe Whimsi’s story has some wonderful – even vital – lessons for young children (and for some of us older kids, too!).

Blessing to all. Keep walking with the King!

Loren