Kindle fire has promise

Good news. Received a Kindle fire for Christmas. I had already downloaded the book, Mis-Ant-Ventures of Billy Ray Scout, onto my pc. The book automatically popped up on my Kindle as soon as the device was registered. There has been a few sales, but not like I had hoped. I'm wondering what a series would generate. I'm also wondering how hard it would be to add illustrations into the text of a book.
This will be my next effort. Perhaps only a few illustrations to test the waters. Everything is a learning experience for me and I hope my posts help someone else who's considering going this route.

Kindle self-publishing downside

I went into KDP to see if I could download my friend's book onto my pc. Found out only someone with a registered Kindle can download it into their Kindle. Next, if you want to download it into your own pc, you have to have a Kindle app. This is supposeldy free. Then you can download it onto your pc and then to a reading device. I couldn't find where I could download the free app. This seems to me to limit the marketing of a book on Kindle. Also, near as I can tell, there has been no sales of the book. I'm a bit disappointed, but I think the fact that you have to have a Kindle in order to download it, or the app, is a big handicap in publishing with Kindle. Especially children's books. An adult book may be a different story. I'm thinking after the first of the year I might try Smashwords. At least anyone with any type of reader can download. (I think.)
Another observation is that children's books will be purchased by the parents. How much of an influence will a cute cover have, when the parent is making the choices?

Publishing on Kindle

I've recently uploaded a children's story onto Kindle ebooks. The original story was by someone else, but I did the editing, some rewriting and the cover. I feel the story is strong, but the cover has some faults. If I do this again, I will choose wider fonts for the cover title.
It's exciting to see the book up and for sale within 12 hours of posting it. I plan to watch sales and monitor comments. From all the chatter I hear on author loops, this is the way to go. I love the traditional hard backs, but let's face it, the money's not there. I don't know if any money will be here either, but we'll see.
In this venue, I can see why they say the cover sells. So many books! If your cover doesn't stand out, readers scrolling through won't click on it for a second look.
I'll keep you posted and I welcome comments or questions.

Editing manuscripts and uploading onto Kindle

I've taken on a new task, and that is to edit a children's story, create a cover for it, and upload it onto Kindle or Smashwords. I'm doing it for two reasons. One is as a favor to a friend, the other is to teach myself how to transfer a book onto Kindle or Smashwords. I haven't decided which format I want to use yet. I figure when I get to that point, I'll make the decision then. In the meantime, I have my hands full in editing, and in some places, even rewriting segments of the story. One of the things I've come across in my editing endeavor, is the focus of the story, or the lack of it. I never gave it much thought until I realized this story was rambling all over the place and if a child were to be reading it, he or she would become confused. This is definitley a case where less is more. Less chit chat, and more focus on the movement of the story. Since I write adult fiction, I'm keenly aware of my lack of expertise in this field. I'm not worrying so much at this point on using words that may be beyond a young childs comprehension, but focusing on the quality of the story. I hope to keep my followers posted on my progress on this project. If anyone has any questions, or advice, I welcome both.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch.

Never tell a stubborn old farm woman she can't do something. I recently invested in a gas fireplace insert. I was informed that I would need to hire someone with the proper equipment to remove my old woodburning, cast iron, fireplace insert. Not content to wait for burly grandsons to help, I resorted to tried and true methods. With my trusty patient lift, and some metal pipe for rollers, I was able to extract it without too much effort. Only problem, the cat was trying to help and got his toe ran over for his troubles. Should have heard him screech. Now before the cat lovers crawl all over me, I quickly rolled off his toe and he immediately wanted to know what was for dinner. I assumed he was okay, and continued with my endeavor to transport it out and store it. Lesson one on farm life.

I've been blogged!

Good friend and fellow writer, Gloria Getman has interviewed me on her blog at http:www.gloriagetman.blogspot.com. She asked terrific questions and I enjoyed the novel experience. We, along with eight other writers have recently published an Anthology called Leaves from the Valley Oak. It is chocked full of memiors, short stories-fiction and non-fiction, poems and inspirational writings. The cover is beautiful and would make great Christmas gifts. You can check out the book at Gloria's blog site.
The whole crew of the Visalia/Exeter Writers are planning a big launch party at my house as soon as we receive the books next week. Potluck! Y'all come, you hear!