I released version 0.5.2 of Mark Book Builder. The new version adds the following:
Choose Mark Book Builder > Check for Updates to check for updates.
Amazon does not make it easy for developers to create Kindle books in their apps, but they provide tools to convert EPUB books to Kindle. Perform the following steps to convert an EPUB book to Kindle
There are two Kindle formats that Amazon’s Kindle Previewer can export: KPF and MOBI. Older Kindle devices support MOBI but not KPF. Choosing MOBI will ensure every Kindle can read your book. I did some Internet searching and couldn’t find any information on what advantages KPF provides over MOBI.
I released version 0.4.4 of Mark Book Builder. There are two changes from version 0.4.2. First, I added a Find menu to the menu bar so you can search for text and replace it.
Second, I overhauled the way I generate HTML for EPUB books. It’s an internal improvement for the app, but still an improvement.
I released version 0.4.2 of Mark Book Builder. This version changes how image files are stored in the book document. Previous versions saved the path to where the image file is on your Mac. Starting with version 0.4.2, Mark Book Builder saves a symbolic link to where the image file is on your Mac.
This change is an improvement, as you’ll be able to move the images around on your Mac with fewer problems. But you may run into problems loading a book with images from an earlier version of Mark Book Builder. If you run into problems, remove the image tags from the book text and recreate the image tags by choosing Tags > Images from the menu bar. An image tag looks similar to the following:
I recently finished Stephen King’s book On Writing, which was part memoir and part writing advice book. It had some good insights on getting started as a writer.
In On Writing Stephen King details how he started as a writer in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He also talked about how new writers started in the 1990s. There wasn’t much change from the 1970s to 1990s.
Writers started by submitting stories to magazines. There were many small magazines that published fiction. They kept submitting until they were accepted and published. Normally the writers got paid very little for their work, 10–25 US dollars.
After having a few stories published, a young writer could get an agent. Having an agent helped the writer get their first novel published. It took years for an author to go from nothing to publishing their first novel.
On Writing was published in 2000. What has changed today for new writers?
There are way fewer magazines that publish fiction. But self-publishing is now an option. Instead of getting paid 10 dollars for a short story, you can publish short stories on a blog. Instead of hoping that a publisher will publish your book, you can publish and sell a book yourself.
Being able to publish your own writing sounds liberating but comes with its own set of challenges. Instead of convincing a magazine or publisher to accept a story, you have to reach out to readers and convince them to read your stuff. Reaching out to readers can be more work than getting accepted by a publisher. Once you get a publisher on board, you have access to readers. But reaching one person nets you one reader. You have to reach hundreds of readers. You have to do a lot more marketing to publish your own work.
It’s going to take years of writing and hard work to go from nothing to being a successful writer. Instead of getting several short stories accepted in magazines, getting an agent, and submitting a novel, today you end up writing and publishing several books before getting noticed and generating sales.