Category: Technology

I cracked the Meatgrinder!

I Cracked the Meatgrinder!

It had to be done. Today I sat down with the word file of a book and followed Mark Coker’s step by step instructions in Smashwords Style Guide to get it accepted for all formats on Smashwords.

I have previously gone to Draft2Digital and used their converter for my self-published works then uploaded the epub to Smashwords. I want to be on Smashwords because my ‘real’ publisher Alban Lake is there. To be fair, I used all of Draft2Digital’s distribution channels and only opted for the ones they don’t cover on Smashwords.

Unfortunately, while Smashwords Meatgrinder will convert a suitably formatted Word document into all other formats for sale on the site – including mobi for kindles – if you upload an epub all you get is an epub. I wanted more but was terrified of the task of beating Meatgrinder.

Actually, it wasn’t so bad. It took me two and a half hours, from 1 pm to 3-30 pm. As some others have said, if you do it step by step and go for the ‘nuclear option’ at the start it’s possible. The main annoyance was that I went through all 23 Chapter headings making them into a different font for one part and then had to go through them all again to bookmark them to make a Table of Contents. Next time I will do both at once.

And now, Draft2Digital has announced a distribution deal with Amazon. That means that Draft2Digital have all the major book retailers as well as a very easy publishing system.

Is this the end for Smashwords? Will Amazon buy Draft2Digital? Who knows?

Fun with Widgets

I’ve been experimenting with my widgets today (see sidebar) and made some progress. The wordpress built in widgets have some pretty good functions.

I’ve managed to add images of my books to the right side and a few other items to make it look more snazzy. In another few decades I’ll get the hang of wordpress.

On Marketing

After a red-eyed evening staring at the screen and trying to make MailChimp work on WordPress I wondered if it’s worth it. Marketing is about shouting the loudest but when everyone’s shouting no one can be heard. It reminds me of a stay at a Hostel in central Athens back in 1991 being deafened by honking car horns. None of them seemed to realize that if everybody’s honking the honks are ignored. (We British only honk if we had it last night).

And do people really want my newsletter, if I can make one? In my hunt for information I’ve signed up for several but when they come through I tend to glance at them and delete. I’m sure most do the same. Oh, there might be something that catches your eye because of a cunningly worded headline but you’re normally disappointed when you get to the substance of it. Basically, it’s a numbers game, like leafletting houses. Ninety-nine out of a hundred will throw it in the bin but one might be looking for a window cleaner.

The other thing that occurred to me was a quote from Henry Thoreau. I think if you read Thoreau his words of wisdom will come to mind in certain moments. Here’s Thoreau on marketing:

‘ …seeking to curry favor, to get custom, by how many modes, only not state-prison offenses; lying, flattering, voting, contracting yourselves into a nutshell of civility or dilating into an atmosphere of thin and vaporous generosity, that you may persuade your neighbor to let you make his shoes, or his hat, or his coat, or his carriage, or import his groceries for him; making yourselves sick, that you may lay up something against a sick day, something to be tucked away in an old chest, or in a stocking behind the plastering, or, more safely, in the brick bank; no matter where, no matter how much or how little.’

Many of the marketing books are written in an annoyingly cheerful manner – ‘Hey, make yourself a cup of tea – you deserve it! – before tackling the next bit’ – while telling you how to irritate the rest of the world with your demands for attention. The best I’ve read is Mark Coker’s Smashwords Book Marketing Guide because he gives you all the information on how to put yourself about but advises against certain dodgy practices.

Hey ho. We’re all trapped in a world we never made so I’ll guess I’ll have to carry on marketing but not let it take over my life.

Does anyone want to sign up for my newsletter?

P.S. To make Mailchimp work on WordPress you have to use the URL they give you for Twitter and Facebook under ‘General’ and not the code in the other page. WordPress gives you an HTML widget and you can put the URL in there. I kept trying to put the code in the MailChimp widget but it doesn’t work, or it didn’t for me. Lots of websites tell you it works but it didn’t. Mind you, that is often the case with me and software so all of the above must be taken with a pinch of salt. It might work fine for you.

If you have a Business Plan with WordPress you can just use the MailChimp plugin but us poor folks have to make do with code.