Comments for Natasha Fondren

Comment on Kindle Formatting for Novels V by Natasha Fondren

Natasha Fondren — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 19:13:53 +0000

That’s interesting! you know, I stopped using blockquotes when they were so inconsistent between mobi and epub. They may be fixed now, LOL, but I haven’t looked back.

Comment on Kindle Formatting for Novels V by Natasha Fondren

Natasha Fondren — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 18:21:30 +0000

That is how I do it. I’m curious why you feel I don’t? However, Kindle *starts* with a certain font-size for each heading. You have to know where it starts, because whatever font size you set it at, it inherits that font size. For example, if you set the font size for Heading 1 to be 3em, it’s 3em of what Kindle decrees is set for that heading. You don’t set “px” sizes for font in eBooks. It just doesn’t work right. Best to work with what Kindle has done so readers retain control over their preferred font size.

I DO set font-sizes for headers when necessary, however. It’s just something I prefer to leave to Kindle.

And it’s not quite that simple. For example, if you have two chapter titles, one that says “CHAPTER 1″ and one that says “THE ADVENTURES IN THE CAVE,” you have to decide which one is more important and which one you’re going to feature. To me, the “CHAPTER 1″ is not at all important, just a decoration, really, about the least important of anything, even subheadings, and “THE ADVENTURES IN THE CAVE” would be the most important.

But it’s all up to you. Standards are pretty much useless in the eBook world, as the retailers are fragmenting support every day. So whatever works in an effort to respect standards are about the best you can do.

Comment on Kindle Formatting for Novels V by JJ

JJ — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 17:36:57 +0000

You’re doing it wrong.
The number “1″ in H1 says it’s the most important heading reserved for – lets say – book title. There can only be one H1 heading in the whole book. After 1, the only option is 2. For example – you can use H2 headings for volumes of book. Then you use H3 for chapter titles:

H1: Book Title
H2: Part I
H3: chapter 1
H3: chapter 2
H3: chapter 3
H2: Part II
H3: chapter 1
H3: chapter 2
H3: chapter 3

Numbers after the letter “H” are there for a reason. They say what is the level of a particular heading.

If you want a different size just set it in the style of a particular heading.

Comment on Ebook Cover Design and Optimum Size Specifications for Amazon, Kindle, B&N, Nook, iBookstore, and iPad Formats by Cover design, part 2

Cover design, part 2 — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 12:42:35 +0000

[...] from Natasha Fondren, and it’s worth your while to check out the article she has written on ebook covers for the big three online stores. Some basic planning here, no matter whether you are designing your own cover or commissioning the [...]

Comment on Kindle Formatting for Novels III by Natasha Fondren

Natasha Fondren — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 02:35:27 +0000

Yes, thank you! LOL… number one comment on this post! Yes, I know the difference, which is important. One of these days I’ll fix it, but I hope everyone knows this whole article is outdated due to the changes in the industry. It’s a constantly changing industry!

Comment on Kindle Formatting for Novels III by Natasha Fondren

Natasha Fondren — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 18:11:02 +0000

Thanks! Yes, as noted above, there is supposed to be an “n” for the en dash, and obviously I know the difference, but this entire post is outdated and none of it is useful for the format today or the processes needed today. I wish I could write another tutorial, but things keep changing and it takes me a llong time to train others to do this stuff… I don’t think a six-part tutorial is even possible.

Comment on Kindle Formatting for Novels III by Dennie T

Dennie T — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 16:26:43 +0000

Well, when the comment was submitted, the form changed some of the codes to the actual characters. This is to clarify: &ndash is for the shorter “-” and &mdash is for the longer “—”. Note that each should start with “&” and end with “;” as they are html codes. Thanks!

Comment on Kindle Formatting for Novels III by Dennie T

Dennie T — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 16:21:38 +0000

The html name for the shorter ‘dash,’ comparing the two listed in the table of codes, should be &endash; (with an ‘n’) as opposed to — (with an ‘m’). The difference is subtle but may be dramatic depending on the use of the characters in one’s text. Dashes may be specified with “–” for the shorter “–”; and “&mdash” for the longer “—”.

Comment on How to Set Ebook Prices by Natasha Fondren

Natasha Fondren — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 21:30:34 +0000

Sounds like a logical approach, Dave!

Comment on How to Set Ebook Prices by Hittman

Hittman — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 17:14:42 +0000

I didn’t find the video at all useful.

I know that when I’m shopping for Kindle books, a 99 cent novel is a no-brainier. It’s nearly zero risk, so if it looks at all appealing I’ll grab it.

As the price rises, so does the perceived risk, and it becomes less likely that I’ll buy it on impulse.

For unknown authors $2.99 is the ceiling for me. At $3.99 I’m probably going to pass, because hey, there’s a .99 book over here. I have, on occasion, paid 3.99 to 4.99 for authors I was very familiar with and liked, but that’s maybe 5% of my kindle purchases.

$1.99 just seems like a funky price, like the author thinks it’s worth more than a buck but not worth three. I don’t think I’ve bought any $1.99 books.

Pricing is the most difficult part of selling anything. Discard your personal opinion about what Your Great Novel is worth and think in terms of the bottom line. Cost of goods and distribution is zero, and the supply is infinite, which makes the calculation much easier.

You make $2.09 on a $2.99 kindle book. You make 35 cents on a .99 book. If you sell three times as many 99s as 2.99s you lose money. If you sell six times as many you break even. If you sell seven times as many you make more (and have seven times as many people reading your stuff).

I just put my first book up a day ago, (Blood Witness, it’s great, go buy it!) (sorry) and priced it at 2.99. Every piece of advice I’ve seen on pricing says to experiment with it and see what works. I’ll try this at 2.99 for a while, then in a month or two announce a 99 cent sale and see what happens.