Category: Author Resources

Frank Formatting

9/22/2017

Updated on 8/8/2018
I no longer offer this service and the website has been taken down.

I've started a little side business called FRANK FORMATTING which formats print and ebooks using Vellum. It's a service for new author who can't afford Vellum's price tag and PC based authors who don't want to switch to Mac.

In addition to the actual formatting service, I have videos on the site showing people my tips and tricks for using Vellum to improve book production. Some are absolutely awesome--like Store Links vs Web Links. Some are simply neat and efficient--like Front and Back Matter.

If you're an author who uses Vellum or is considering using Vellum, I highly recommend you check out the videos to see what Vellum can do for you. If you want to hire me, that's an option too.

Frank Formatting

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Learning Author Tech Post 1

9/19/2017

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Since I'm not the savviest tech person, I'm going to spend a few hours trying to figure a few things out. Today I'm working on linking directly to FB posts to enable easier sharing. I'm not talking embedding social share buttons on a page. I want to share specific posts.

I'm really hoping this is as easy as simply uploading the image and then linking to the post on FB. Crossing my fingers now...

What I learned:

This was harder to do on my computer than my iPhone. Is that normal? I'm not sure and I have only my experience to base this on.

WHAT I STRUGGLED ON A COMPUTER TO DO:

Download the photo on to the computer--it would only let me copy the FB address, not the actual photo--this was irritating because I didn't have this particular image on my computer (Hey, I keep my Photos app CLOSED on this thing)
Inside FB, under Publishing Tools, I selected "Copy Link" and it DIDN'T DO IT! Instead of copying the link to the specific post I had selected, it created a link to the Publishing Tools page. How NOT useful.

MY WORKAROUND:

I had my iPhone save the photo as an image in the Notes app (because that app is linked between my phone and computer).
I opened the Notes app on my computer to access the image and upload it to my website.
Phone FB app allows me to save the photo directly (not just the web address--totally different than FB on my computer)
FB app also allows me to "Copy Link" to a selected FB post
I pasted the copied link into the Notes app
Opened Notes on my computer, copied the link, pasted it into the link location on the image in my website host.

Sounds like a long, tedious process. It's actually not, but it does seem like it could be a lot more streamlined. Knowing that my iPhone FB app allows a lot more ability to save images and copy links, I'll probably batch that process and, once done, then go open up my computer to finish.

This is, at this specific moment in time, what I plan to do. If my author buddies have better methods and share them with me, then I will be updating y'all here.

#AuthorTechIsWeird

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Barbara Vey 2017 Recap

5/1/2017

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For the third year in a row, I spent the last weekend in April up in Milwaukee, WI avoiding rain and sleet at the Barbara Vey Reader Appreciation Luncheon.

If you've never heard of this beauty of an event, you are seriously missing out. This is 60 romance authors of multiple genres coming together in one spot to interact with readers. And, let me tell you, these introverted authors are crazy fun-loving peeps.

Here's the breakdown of those smiling faces above (according to the website which is subject to change even at the last moment):

There's author bingo, Jeopardy (my team won hard penis candy and then proceeded to ignore several rounds because we were too busy making up horrible penis jokes), mad-libs, and even author crashing in the halls. Don't miss the book signing on Saturday afternoon--it's insane in there! That's the free stuff.

The stuff you need tickets for are the luncheon--for which you receive an awesome tote filled with books, ebook downloads, and reading swag in addition to sitting at a table (see table pictures below) with a published author and 2 other people as thrilled about reading as you. There's also a pizza party and a breakfast the next morning. There may or may not be too much drinking following the pizza party (hence the breakfast event the next morning).

All the books someone got and bought...

Unfortunately for you, I opted to thoroughly enjoy the event rather than document it with my phone. The good news is that there are a lot of pictures of the event floating on the internet and social media. I have liberally borrowed to present the pictures in this post...

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Frank Formatting

Frank Formatting

Learning Author Tech Post 1

What I learned:

Barbara Vey 2017 Recap

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