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Joined: Dec 2008
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My bro, Robert Schick III, has just released an Amazon Kindle novel titled "The Melancholy Cafe". He was the intellectual of the family.

The Melancholy Cafe trailer (thanks Roy): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWdMq1lZ7fE&list=PL3HSdRbH2-VdsYDDUyWa1_yJBohgbxd-_

Amazon Kindle for The Melancholy Cafe: https://www.amazon.com/Melancholy-C...;sr=1-1&keywords=The+Melancholy+Cafe

Humbled John smile

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Because of Kindle Book's large fonts, there are over 1,300 pages. The paperback will have 200+ pages. Not sure yet since my brother's font is only 11 pt. It will be interesting going through the printing process.

John smile

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Congratulations to you brother!

The thing about Kindle and ebooks in general is that there is no set number of pages, because there is no fixed font size. You can adjust it to suit your eyes. So 1,300 pages at large font size could be 600 or 300 at smaller sizes.

I went to the Amazon preview. I think Robert should perhaps find someone to help him lay out the pages. I hope you don't mind me pointing out a couple of things. They can be corrected relatively easily in an ebook but in a printed book, you risk finding yourself with a pile of books you don't feel good about and that you paid quite a bit for. That's not a good feeling!

The line spacing is a bit tiring on the eye - there should be a bit more white space. The large indents for new paragraphs on the left also look like someone just typed a memo in Word. Again, it's tiring on the eye. If you look inside a book, you'll see much smaller indents.

When you come to do the printed book, watch out for "widows" and "orphans." These are words stranded on a line by themselves. Google the terms for more details. It's hard to exclude them in an ebook because the font size is changeable. They don't look good in a printed book, though. Also, you've probably thought of this, but be careful to choose a suitable font - not Times New Roman or similar. We are conditioned to think we are reading a memo when confronted with that particular font.

Here's a link to an ebook I published ages ago. Not because it's great, but because you can see the effect of line spacing and paragraph indentation. The layout doesn't put the reader off - that's what the first chapter is for smile. This is probably even more important for your brother's book as it is very densely written, asking for a bit of effort on the part of the reader.

https://www.amazon.com/Management-Secrets-John-Dick-ebook/dp/B0064HCY8O

Good luck to your brother on his venture.

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Hi John:

Congratulations to your brother. Best of luck to him in this effort.

Regards, ----Dave

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Originally Posted by Dave Rice
Hi John:

Congratulations to your brother. Best of luck to him in this effort.

Regards, ----Dave


Thanks Dave!

John smile

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Thanks Gavin! My brother appreciates your advice. The printer gave these specs:

Specifications:

We offer templates for use with the following design programs: Adobe InDesign, QuarkXPress, and Microsoft Word
All text files must be in our design templates.
All files and images should be high resolution (300 PPI) and converted to CMYK color.
Save B&W images in Grayscale color mode.
Remove template guidelines before saving and uploading the final PDF design.
All fonts must be embedded.
The left and right text margins for manuscript pages should not be less than 7/8ths (0.875). Page Bleed is 1/8".
Microsoft Word users: If you are copying and pasting text from another Word document into our Word template page, be sure to use Word’s Paste Special command instead of the default Paste command. Using the default Paste command will change the size of the destination page to the size of your source page.


Best, John

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Hey, JLS,

Major CONGRATS to your brother for finishing the danged thing! The last thing that my brother finished was staining his back deck.

Midnite


Satchel was right. Something is gaining on me.

The Shoebox & Dinner at Eight trailers available at:

http://www.twometer.com/Two_Meter_Studios/HOME.html
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John, the specs are good, but they are for the printer's benefit to make sure he can work with the files. How it looks on the page is not really their concern. It can drive you crazy trying to get it just right, especially when it's your first book. Another thing to remember is that the margin on the inside margins should be bigger than the outside margins, to allow for the book's binding. In other words, the left pages should have a wider right margin and vice versa.

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Hi John, by coincidence, this blog post arrived in my inbox today. David Gaughran is a straight-up guy, and he is recommending this course, which seems to cover a lot that your brother might find useful. And it's free.

https://davidgaughran.wordpress.com...-course-is-free-and-great-too/#more-4544

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Thanks Gavin! You've been a big help. I'll send all your advise and link to my bro.

Best, John smile

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I decided to hold off on the paperback. Seems everyone I know is using Kindle. I just purchased an Amazon Fire 8 reader. I stopped in BAM (books-a-million) today and talked to a clerk. Said she uses e-readers for all her reading. Said they're great. Funny her promoting Kindle books while her livelihood depends on selling hard copies. I also saw an old couple both reading Kindle books at the mall today. They said they loved them. Said it's the best way to read a book for visual (font size selection), screen easy on the eyes, and Kindle books are so much cheaper. E-books seem to be the future, like the digital domain is for music. So the choice is living in the past (and becoming obsolete) or "boldly going where no man has gone before" - Captain Kirk.

I'm sure new technology will come along someday and Kindle books will become a thing of the past. But for now...

Best, John smile

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Interestingly, last year saw the market for paper books grow more than e-books. I don't know the reason. I have a Kindle and have used it quite a lot, mostly for the reasons you state - books are cheaper or, in the case of the classics, often free. Of course, with such low costs, there are millions and millions of e-books out there competing for attention, most of them dreadful. To be fair, most paper books are dreadful too smile

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I hear you Gavin. I really dig my Amazon Fire 8. Simple to use. And now I don't have to wait a week for a new book. I can download it in minutes. Don't know where this crazy digital world is headed. A new frontier. I haven't ruled out paperbacks for my brother, but for now I think I'll put my effort in promoting his Kindle.

I see Amazon has promotion options that can place my brothers novel front and center for a particular time period (depending how much I want to spend).

Anyway, this has all been a learning experience for us. Thanks for all your insight.

Best, John smile

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Originally Posted by Gavin Sinclair
Congratulations to you brother!

The thing about Kindle and ebooks in general is that there is no set number of pages, because there is no fixed font size. You can adjust it to suit your eyes. So 1,300 pages at large font size could be 600 or 300 at smaller sizes.

I went to the Amazon preview. I think Robert should perhaps find someone to help him lay out the pages. I hope you don't mind me pointing out a couple of things. They can be corrected relatively easily in an ebook but in a printed book, you risk finding yourself with a pile of books you don't feel good about and that you paid quite a bit for. That's not a good feeling!

The line spacing is a bit tiring on the eye - there should be a bit more white space. The large indents for new paragraphs on the left also look like someone just typed a memo in Word. Again, it's tiring on the eye. If you look inside a book, you'll see much smaller indents.

When you come to do the printed book, watch out for "widows" and "orphans." These are words stranded on a line by themselves. Google the terms for more details. It's hard to exclude them in an ebook because the font size is changeable. They don't look good in a printed book, though. Also, you've probably thought of this, but be careful to choose a suitable font - not Times New Roman or similar. We are conditioned to think we are reading a memo when confronted with that particular font.

Here's a link to an ebook I published ages ago. Not because it's great, but because you can see the effect of line spacing and paragraph indentation. The layout doesn't put the reader off - that's what the first chapter is for smile. This is probably even more important for your brother's book as it is very densely written, asking for a bit of effort on the part of the reader.

https://www.amazon.com/Management-Secrets-John-Dick-ebook/dp/B0064HCY8O

Good luck to your brother on his venture.


All great advice, thanks Gavin!


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Originally Posted by MidniteBob
Hey, JLS,

Major CONGRATS to your brother for finishing the danged thing! The last thing that my brother finished was staining his back deck.

Midnite


Ha!


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"Don't sit around and wait for success to come to you... it doesn't know the way." -Brian Austin Whitney

"It's easier to be the bigger man when you actually are..." -Brian Austin Whitney

"Sometimes all you have to do to inspire humans to greatness is to give them a reason and opportunity to do something great." -Brian Austin Whitney
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Decided to have a 100 paperbacks printed. Maybe the local book stores will sell a few. My brother was popular in the area years ago. I remember when I met people they always said "oh, you're Robert Schick's brother". laugh I'll send half of them to my bro for Maine sales.

Maybe give some away to my film music contacts. Will be an interesting if not a frustrating experience. Ha!

John smile

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Where are you guys from John?


Brian Austin Whitney
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"Don't sit around and wait for success to come to you... it doesn't know the way." -Brian Austin Whitney

"It's easier to be the bigger man when you actually are..." -Brian Austin Whitney

"Sometimes all you have to do to inspire humans to greatness is to give them a reason and opportunity to do something great." -Brian Austin Whitney
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I'm from PA (2 hr drive from NYC). My bro leaves in Maine near Bangor.

John smile


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