E Books
Hello kind person and thank you for your interest in helping me out!
Below are my first attempts at creating E books. I'm not sure if children's picture books should be in E Book formats, but hey, why not embrace what may be the future?
Problem is I don't know what works regarding E books and what doesn't on the different platforms. So I thought if I could get some help from folks who can test these for me, maybe I could offer some E books for free or at very low cost to try to interest folks in my printed works. I have no choice now but to use Amazon for my color print, even though I wish I could find a publisher to support me. Amazon has restrictions on color print book sizes, so my books have more pages than most picture books, but my content is for precocious youth, so maybe it's ok. Although I know I'm violating the sacred rules of children's picture books created by the gods. Eeek. The horror of it all.
Because of the size difference, the E books have far fewer graphic pages than the color paperback and hardback versions. The story is the same and the text has only been edited slightly to fit the small format. The color plates also had to be reduced and since the print versions are landscapes the second pages of the landscapes have been removed for fit.
On an even more personal level - thank you in advance if your willingness to help me out.
I'm terribly in debt with no retirement savings due to the constant medical expenses and I'm hoping to use my meager talents to sock some money away for old age. Don't let the brand image of my face fool you, I'm actually almost 60 - I explain that image in one of my adult novels - kind of a sick story. I've since delisted to rewrite these books - if you feel like helping me on one of these let me know. I'll send you the text. I would love the help and input.
I've tried Twitter and Facebook, but left both due to their current business decisions. I've tried making videos for Tiktok, which took a long time to make, and they made virtually no difference in exposure or help. Although I did make forty nine dollars and ten cents from Amazon with my giant $1.60 royalty per book sale! Go me! P.S. I think the videos turned out pretty cool - check em out - just search for my name on Tiktok before the government shuts it off, or AI makes all real artist look like we paint with our butts. No offense to butt painters.
Who knew that after being told for decades I would never be a long-term survivor that I'm still kicking. But without earning some money for elder time, I'm facing a life of probable homelessness and poverty after everything I've been though.
What a great country we live in...
Please be well - take it from me...the alternative sucks. Thank you again for your help!
Namaste
01
A ROCKET TALE
This was my forth try on an E book - the panorama landscape is lost and the fact that the landscape changes is lost with this format. Not sure about the orientation of content or the lack of cover - there is no place to add one when loading the files. Does it belong in the interior content? Wondering about tolerance for cross-marketing at the end of my other books.
02
ARLO 1 & 2
Arlo was my first attempt at making E books. I created a two-part version where you could read the first at nap time and the second at bed time. Not so sure that was a good idea, so created a third version where they are together with an obvious break, but it is long. All versions are here for review. This was also the birth of my painting style with the animals depicted. Notice the cartoon eyes that you won't see again in the books that follow. The hybrid eyes - between cartoon and real - are seen on Pecas and Paloma, book number two.
03
PECAS & PALOMA
This is book number two and I'm very proud of it - especially the hardback print version. It's different and visually simple and lovely with a fun little story. Not sure if the digital version even works or what format I used. Cover was an issue as well as orientation and metadata.
04
PEAKABU
This is the fifth book I tried to lay out for an e-version. Much smaller than the print versions as half the graphics had to be removed for layout. I think I tried to keep this layout vertical - not sure if it works on various platforms. Again issues with the cover and metadata. I'm also not a fan of anthropomorphizing animals, but this one does use names in various languages. As always every name means something in my books.
