Donna's Blog Home: Guest Post and Giveaway - E.B. Walter

Good morning and thank you for inviting me to stop by your site on the blog tour for MINE UNTIL DAWN, book 2 of the FITZGERALD FAMILY series.

Today I want to share with you something I learned the last few months. If you’re a writer, this should be beneficial to you. If you’re a reader…well, you just never know. In every reader is a potential writer.

Anyway, have you ever read a kindle e-book and seen paragraphs off and some lumped together? Do these formatting errors annoy you? If you, so read on.

FORMATTING YOUR BOOK FOR KINDLE:

Before you start formatting, download mobipocket Creator and Mobipocket Reader. They’re free online.
Assuming you have completed your WIP, open it on Windows.
Go to Edit on your menu and click Select All
Go to the top where you have your menu again, click on Format then click on styles and formatting.
On the left side of the screen, a window will open. You’ll see every format you’ve used.
At the top of the list is clear formatting. Click on it.
All your work will align at the margin, including the title. All italized works will also become unitalized.
Next, open Notepad. I believe this comes with every Dell computer.
Select all your WIP, or if you testing this on a chapter, select all and copy/cut. Paste it on notepad and save it as a .txt.
Now back to word, open a blank document.
Go to Format and click of Paragraph. Here’s where you set what you want.
Make sure the alignment is left. Indentation and Spacing are set to zero.
Under Special is a drop box. Click on it and select First Line. Set it to 0.5
Under Line Spacing is another drop box. Select Exactly. Then on the right, set the spacing at 25.
Now go back to your document on the notepad, select all and copy it.
Paste it on the new document.
If you click on formatting now, all you’ll see are Clear formatting, first line, Heading 1, 2, 3, and normal.
Now for the fun part.
Make sure you have your STANDARD menu up. If not, right click on the side and select it
Click on the tab button…it looks like a nine or lower case q with circle black.
The tab will appear all over your WIP every where you hit the space bar. Leave it on.
Check where the chapters ends and the next chapter begin. If you see …………pagebreak……, delete it. It is better to put your cursor at the beginning of your next chapter and just delete until the pagebreak is deleted. Do this throughout the WIP.
Now go back to where your chapter 1 ends and the beginning of chapter 2. Place your cursor next to chapter 2, right before C begins.
Go to your menu and click on insert. Under it is Break. Go to SECTION BREAK TYPES and click on NEXT PAGE
Now you will see two dots……….sectionbreak(nextpage)………..
Do this at the beginning of all chapters.
If you had deeper POV italized, go over your entire manuscript, highlight and italize them.
If you want your chapter titles centered, go over your WIP, highlight and click center on the formatting menu.
Once you’re done, go over your WIP and make sure ALL pagebreaks were deleted and replaced with section break. Then click the tab on your standard menu to get rid of the tab/space-bar sign.
For the first few pages of the book, just get a copy of an e-book and see how it is formatted.
Go to your chapter 1 and place the cursor next to C. Insert a sectionbreak (nextpage) there so you have your first page. Write your title, name and publisher on that first page, insert a sectionbreak (next page), then move on to disclaimer and ISBN and copyright, then Acknowledgement and so on.
I think Kindle is very iffy about accepting fonts larger than 16 and will automatically reduce any title fonts to 16. The same for fancy fonts. Stay with Times New Roman
NOW YOU ARE READY TO PUBLISH
Open Mobipocket Creator.
In the middle is Import From Existing File
Click on MS Word Document
You’ll see the browser button Choose your file and press import
It should load to 100% and move to the next window.
You’ll see your file in the middle of that window. On the left is a red book. Under it is view.
Under view is Publication file. Next is cover image.
Click on cover image.
Upload your cover image. The dimensions should be at least 600 by 800. If it is smaller, Mobipocket will tell you it is small when it starts to build your book.
A section of the cover will show because it is pretty big. Click update.
Up on the menu, to the left, is BUILD. It is between Files and Settings.
Click on it. The window that pops, click on BUILD.
If the cover is the right size, it should go smoothly to 100%.
Next window will have BUILD FINISHED and the choice to preview it.
NOW YOU CAN TAKE A LOOK AT YOUR BOOK
Since you already have Mobipocket Reader for PC. Select it and click OK.
Mobipocket reader loads up and the first thing you’ll see is your cover. You can now read your book. It is saved in various formats on your Publication folder, but .prc is the one you upload on KDP.

Any questions?

Mine Until Dawn

By Ednah Walters

July 20 Firetrail Publishing

http://www.firetrailpublishing.com

Chick Lit Romance with an element of suspense

BLURB MINE UNTIL DAWN:

She's armed with a new attitude and a kick-ass wardrobe....

By age twenty-eight, art historian Jade Fitzgerald has had a marriage from hell and an equally nasty divorce, worked hard to control her weight and her arrhythmia. The last thing she needs is another man messing with her head or shooting her heartbeat off course. That is exactly what she gets when an aloof and mysterious stranger storms into her life.

He's cynical and don’t take crap from anyone....

Former investigative reporter Vince Knight is on a quest to recover a priceless, ancient Mayan artifact, which he believes Jade’s mother stole. He’s skilled at gathering information while remaining emotionally detached, until he meets Jade. The voluptuous woman stirs in him a hunger he hasn’t felt in a long time and a protectiveness he can’t explain.

Neither of them expects passion to flare so fast or danger to dodge their footsteps. To defeat a ruthless art collector with a twisted agenda, Jade and Vince must learn to trust each other and embrace their growing feelings.

Until, an insane man plots to add Jade to his collection of beautiful and rare things.

EXCERPT:

Jade eased her car into an empty parking space outside the Palace and switched off the engine. A groan escaped her when she caught a glimpse of the time. Three minutes late and counting. That was what she got for taking a little extra time to deck her body and paint herself like a geisha. Granted she had a party to go to after their meeting. Still, to make Vince Knight choke on his words would be an added bonus.

I haven’t changed, my butt.

She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and studied her face in the rear view mirror. The make-up and pinned-up hair with a few tendrils framing her face couldn’t be labeled overkill. She tilted the mirror to check the enticing valley created by the black bustier she’d worn under her matching spaghetti-strapped dress. Now that sight could be classified as a look-and-drool display.

Jade picked up her black purse and sheer shawl then stepped out of her car and locked it. She smoothed the silk dress down over her hips. A chuckle escaped her. Her behind had its own agenda and continued to resist any attempts to slim it down, but she was learning to live with it.

Jade took several steps, glanced down and grimaced. Six-inches of pure hell. She was a sucker for beautiful shoes, but the look on Vince’s face when he saw her in them would be worth it.

Two men exited the hotel as she approached the entrance and froze at seeing her, eyes wide with appreciation. A drawn out ‘damn’ brought a quick smile to her lips. That was all the encouragement she needed to work the black drop-waist dress with asymmetrical hem.

Her senses thrummed with anticipation as she glided through the hotel doors. Jade gave the busy foyer a sweeping glance. When her gaze locked on Vince, her heart started a rickety shuffle and her stomach tilted.

This was bad. She wasn’t within sniffing distance of the man and her body was already betraying her. Even in plain jeans and a T-shirt, he stood out. She studied his tall, built body as he leaned against the front desk. His tanned skin contrasted with his white T-shirt in an attractive way, his teeth flashing as he spoke with one of the managers.

It wasn’t fair. He wasn’t even her type. She avoided the silent, brooding, emotionally unavailable types like the plague. They were too difficult to understand and complicated. On the other hand, where had an outgoing man gotten her? A bad marriage and doubts about her sensuality.

As though he felt her gaze, Vince turned.

She stopped breathing, a stupid thing to do. He gave her a slow appraisal, his gaze lingering on her chest before colliding with hers.

Expression on his face? Cool. Unimpressed.

Air left her lungs in an unsteady rush. She twisted her lips into what she hoped resembled a smile as she started across the room. All that time spent putting her war paint on wasted. How could he maintain that stone-cold soberness all the time? Vince had to be made of ice, and served her right for trying to get a rise out of him.

Maybe that was the problem. His rigid control and aloofness made her want to do or say something to rattle his cage. His lack of interest in her was a definite challenge. Maybe there was some truth to the lure of the unattainable. Vince Knight, without trying, fascinated her.

Vince approached with the loose-hipped predatory stride of a jungle cat, sending a whoosh of anticipation through her. Feeling a little light-headed, Jade hoped she didn’t totter on her high stilettos.

“Sorry, I’m late,” she said, hating the breathlessness in her voice.

“No problem. You’re here now.” He gave her another cool once-over without making a comment and lifted a duffel bag she didn’t notice he was carrying. “I need to show you something.”

Her gaze moved from the bag to his face. “What is it?

“Let’s find a place to sit first.” His dark gaze swept the foyer as though cataloguing faces. She wasn’t sure whether it was caution or paranoia.

She trailed his gaze. “Is everything okay?”

“No.”

AMAZON:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=ednah+walters&rh=n%3A133140011%2Ck%3Aednah+walters&ajr=0

BARNES & NOBLES:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/ednah-walters

SMASHWORDS: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/70400

About Ednah Walters:

I grew up reading Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mysteries, before I graduated to Mills & Boons (starting with Janet Daily's Shutter the Sky) and the rest is history.

I enjoy good love stories, tingly mysteries and wondrous adventures. When I finished college and decided to be a stay-at-home mother, I devoured books like they were going out of production, until reading just wasn't enough. So I started to write.

I've written picture books, contemporary and romantic suspense, biracial/multicultural books, and finally YA fantasy. AWAKENED is the first YA book in The Guardian Legacy series. It was released in September 2010. BETRAYED, book 2 in the series, will be out August 1^st 2011. In my adult romance series, SLOW BURN, book 1 of the Fitzgeralds, was out May 1^st 2011, MINE UNIL DAWN is due mid July. Book 3, KISS ME CRAZY, a contemporary romance, is with my editor. I'm presently working on book 4, Faith Fitzgerald’s story and book 3 of my YA Guardian Legacy series.

When I'm not writing, I do things with my family, five children or my darling husband of 19 years. I live in a picturesque valley in Utah, the setting for my YA series.

http://www.ednahwalters.com/

http://enwalters.blogspot.com/

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?ref=profile&id=100000535104042

http://twitter.com/#!/ednahwalters

http://www.youtube.com/user/ednahwalters?feature=mhsn

http://bookblogs.ning.com/profile/EdnahWalters

Giveaway Details:

Contest begins September 1st and ends on the 21st.
The finale is happening at Ednah's blog, where you will win goodies.
3 winners will be chosen at random at the end of the tour.
Winners will be announced on 22nd.

Winners will get:

1. A signed copy of Mine Until Dawn (print)

2. Slow Burn tote bag

3. Slow Burn mousepad

4. Slow Burn Bookmarks.

Contest is International

TO ENTER:

1. You must comment on the participating blogs first

2. Tweet about the post on participating blogs

3. Follow Ednah's blog when you get there.

4. Leave Ednah a comment on her blog at

http://enwalters.blogspot.com/2011/08/mine-until-dawn-tour-finale-giveaway.html