Another Amazon BEWARE post.

I'm offline today, but just wanted to quickly let you all know to be very careful about posting examples of the content of your books online. I got an email from KDP today after uploading an updated file for one of my books saying:

During a review of your KDP submission(s), we found content that is widely available on the web. You can do an online search for the content inside your book(s) to discover which sites are offering the content for free. Copyright is important to us – we want to make sure that no author or other copyright holder has their work claimed and sold by anyone else.

To confirm you have publishing rights to and control where you distribute the book(s), please provide all of the following information:
1. The URLs for all websites where this content is published
2. An explanation as to why the content is available online

If the books are in the public domain, please confirm this and include the information you used to make this determination. We may request additional information to confirm the public domain status.

Please respond within 5 days to title-submission@amazon.com, and include the title and ID of your books in your reply. If we do not receive the requested documentation, your book will not be made available for sale.

I emailed them with some links that I KNOW of, but if anyone has posted content from my book in a review, for example, I'm not going to know about it. I'm sorta shitting bricks right now. I can't afford for them to take my BESTSELLING book off the market.

So today I will be FRETTING. A LOT.

Please keep your fingers crossed for me that it all works out!!!

Twisted Velvet Chains: Free on Kindle Today!

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Why the Kindle is Useful for Writers: How to Take Notes.

So since I posted about my Kindle dilemma last Thursday, I've been asked to post about how to write notes on the device. I'm pleased to say that I haven't encountered the same problem since that day. Phew! And my notes function IS doing what it's supposed to without a hassle. I think I may have done something wrong ... anyway ...

It's very very easy to use!

Let's say you want to read a friend's manuscript (or even your own!). I used to print them out so that I didn't have to sit in front of the computer. I spend long enough in front of the screen, so it was sorta necessary for my health!

Anyhoo, you don't need to export the word doc as a PDF and transfer it via the USB cable as some people think. All you have to do is email the word doc as an attachment (no subject or body necessary), to [yourusername]@free.kindle.com, and Amazon will automatically format the files for your Kindle. The next time you turn your Kindle on, the file will automatically download onto the device. (Please note: you can only take advantage of this free service if you change the internet connection from 3G to WiFi. But don't fret, you can switch back and forth from 3G to WiFi, and vice versa, with ease at any time.)

Okay, so now you have a page of prose in front of you. Do you want to highlight something? Move the cursor with the 5-way to where you want to start. Press the middle of the 5-way to activate the highlight, then press the cursor to the right to where you want the highlight to finish, then press the middle of the 5-way again to save it. It really takes SECONDS.

Do you want to write a note? Move the cursor with the 5-way to where you want the note. Start typing. A little bubble will automatically appear on the screen and you will be able to see what you are typing. When you're done, move the cursor to the 'save,' button. The button will highlight when the cursor is on it. Press the middle of the 5-way to save. This too takes SECONDS. When you press save, a little black superscript number will appear where you wrote the note. To edit the note, just move the cursor above it and a little bubble will pop up with all your options.

The notes will ALSO be stored as a kind of log, in a separate file called 'My Clippings.' They will remain there even when you delete the file you wrote the notes on.

It's all very very simple and I'm totally pleased with it. Saves me on paper and ink, too. And it's so much nicer than holding a chunk of A4 paper!!!

Any questions? Shoot. I'll answer as best I can in the comments.

Kindle Kerfuffle!!!

Source

So. My Kindle arrived yesterday. It's very cool. I tried it out last night with a friend's ms, making notes and highlights but ... something went wrong! I turned it off for a while, and when I went back to it all my notes had disappeared!!! Argh! So frustrating. They were, however, logged in the My Clippings folder, but no longer accessible in the actual document so it was really hard for me to see where all my notes went, especially when I hadn't highlighted anything.

Anyway, I tried again, and this morning my new notes are still in the document. Phew! hopefully, it was a ONE TIME ONLY glitch.

If you have a Kindle, have you experienced any glitches I should be aware of?