I set myself a task last weekend to quickly compile a beautifully type-set ePub file of my new book to upload to a range of on-line eBook sales channels. My mission was to bolster the good works of the jungle people who have their own exclusive file format that is special to them.
Browsing around, I stumbled on what looked to me to be a very capable author tool called Scrivener. Everyone in the author world probably knows about it, and uses it, apart from me. I am more used to writing ideas on whatever I can lay me hands on. Backs of envelopes, scraps of newspaper, table napkins, beer mats, back of my left hand. Inspiration rarely strikes when I am sitting comfortably at a desk.
Well, last weekend I delved into Scrivener’s tutorials and after more hours than I will confess here, I had to admit defeat. At least, in this early skirmish. I will return to it for my next book as I have a nagging feeling that it is potentially a good friend that just needs time, attention and a little love.
To get the show on the road, I was saved by the thankfully simple word to ePub tools accessible on Reedsy and Draft2Digital. After an hour or so, my debut novel Below the Strandline was available as an eBook to enable me to reach a wider reach of great readers through other retail channels. I did need some guidance from the Draft2Digital people when it did not look quite as expected. Their responsiveness and fast exchange of helpful emails was second to none. Carmen was so courteous to my novice questions and tweaked a few things in my contents page to make it all work properly. I sacrificed drop caps as the stylised templates looked a bit, well, stylised for my conservative typography but I’m happy with the result.
To celebrate my ePub, I sat in another type of Pub beside a canal writing these thoughts as the sun blinked in and out of a frowning cloud, watching with one eye a narrow boat waiting to enter a lock while its crew cranked the winch handle to open the heavy ancient lock gates. I nursed a pint of bitter of course, to wash down the lemon and sugar pancake from a French creperie stall in town. The Breton’s advice was to let the lemon sink in to it for a minute before eating it to get the full flavour. Sorry, life is too short for that.
