Smashwords

I don't believe Smashwords is a household name like Amazon or Barnes and Noble but it should be. They give buyers an opportunity to download to Kindle, nook, Sony, Diesel, Apple, and Kobo devices. You can even buy the book once and download it to several different devices.

Smashwords logo

Smashwords has awesome deals especially during the month of July and one week in March. Authors can sell their books for a discount or totally free while availing themselves of monetary sales from other vendors. 

If you are an author and have heard horror stories like it's hard to get on board. That can be true. It is difficult but not impossible, you just have to play by their rules. Once you do, your book is available for multiple devices.

If you're a reader, I highly recommend you go there for the awesome deals on multiple genres. Now is a great time to go there because there are so many FREE books.

In case you are wondering, yes Call Sign: Wrecking Crew (Storm Warning) and Many Is the Dream are both on there. Coming soon will be Call Sign: Wrecking Crew (Wings of Eagles) which picks up where Storm Warning left off. Hint, hint, if you've wanted to get Storm Warning now is the time and the price. You'll definitely need to read it before Wings of Eagles.

Another great thing about Smashwords is they support Operation eBook Drop for our troops overseas. We are participating members of that wonderful organization as well. 

Hope I've helped make your day a little better. Have a great one!

Lynn Hallbrooks

co-author to David McKoy

co-owners of Call Sign Wrecking Crew, LLC

Have eBook Will Travel

For those that may have missed it, I broke my thumb back in December. It was a silly accident with long term negative consequences including many trips to the VA Medical Center. There was a benefit to this though.

Amazon Kindle Keyboard 3G

Let me back up a minute to explain. June 2012, several generous people got together and sent me a Kindle for my birthday. I love it very much. It contains over 400 books, mainly independent authors. I learned about the books and some great bargains through some form of social media. 

As you can see, Kindles are lightweight, and great when you have a cast on your hand. It has dual page controls which means you can flip from either your left or right thumb. Considering my right thumb was incapacitated for a while that was a wonderful thing. 

An eBook means you don't have to lug around several books in case you finish your current one. This is very helpful, especially on the long train rides to and from the VA. It meant when I finished one body of work, I could quickly switch to another. Let me tell you something, that's very convenient when you have to wait over an hour for an x-ray or to see the doctor. There were times when I had nothing protecting my thumb and thus it was difficult for me to lift heavy things.

The books oftentimes helped to transport me to other places watching other people in more desperate situations than my own. When reality came back into focus, I counted my blessings instead of tears. 

The downside was, I didn't always have time to do my book reviews before starting another book. Yesterday, I finally caught up with all my reviews on Goodreads. That was when I noticed that Smashwords was having their annual Read An eBook Week.  I took a moment and put Call Sign: Wrecking Crew (Storm Warning) in the mix. Later on, I got some great bargains for myself and my Godson. 

So fellow readers, if you have an e Reader that could use a few more books, please take a moment to check out Smashwords and see if you can help change the world around you. 

For my fellow authors, if your book is on Smashwords, and you haven't already done so, go to the Read an eBook section and follow the instructions for authors on the left hand side. A few clicks and a decision later, your book can be available to transport people to your world. 

Have a great one!

Lynn Hallbrooks

co-author of Call Sign: Wrecking Crew (Storm Warning)

co-owner of Call Sign Wrecking Crew, LLC

Hyperlinks

Hyperlink per Wikipedia has many different meanings. The one that I plan on discussing today is 

• A hyperlink has an anchor, which is the location within a document from which the hyperlink can be followed; the document containing a hyperlink is known as its source document. (from Wikipedia - second paragraph first sentence)

My intent is to help fellow writers to use this tool in their blog posts, e-mails, or even in their writing programs. I'm not gifted with all the technical knowledge but I can put in a Hyperlink with a little help from some icons. 

 In Word Press: 

·     Type post as normal, using the words you like.

Example:

Lynn Hallbrooks, co-author of Call Sign: Wrecking Crew (Storm Warning) 

Now suppose you want to put the U.S. Amazon Kindle link to Call Sign: Wrecking Crew (Storm Warning)

• ·         Go to the URL that you want to use:  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004INHK2G
• ·         Copy that link
• ·         Highlight Call Sign: Wrecking Crew (Storm Warning) 
• ·         When you do that you’ll see the icon that looks like a chain link pop out from being grayed out.
• ·         Click on the Chain link icon
• ·         It brings up a box where you can insert the selected URL for  Call Sign: Wrecking Crew (Storm Warning) 
• ·         Paste link into the appropriate line
• ·         Click Add Link
• ·         This will make the hyperlink (it will turn a different color and have a line under it). 

• End result should look something like this:   

Lynn Hallbrooks, co-author of Call Sign: Wrecking Crew (Storm Warning) 

In a word document

• ·         Type out the words you would like to say:

David McKoy is the author of Call Sign: Wrecking Crew (Storm Warning)

• ·         Get the link you want 

http://www.amazon.com/David-McKoy/e/B0051LMR54/

• ·         Highlight the words you want for the link out:  David McKoy 
• ·         Right click
• ·         Scroll down to Hyperlink
• ·         Insert Hyperlink box will appear
• ·         Inside box is a blank line...paste link in there
• See Results:

David McKoy is the author of Call Sign: Wrecking Crew (Storm Warning)

So you see, you are basically looking for an icon that will link the key word with the URL that you wish people to look at. Once you can do that in a word document then you can send that document via e-mail to someone who is doing your author interview. 

I think we have all seen the links for books that look like this: 

U.S. Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004INHK2G

Instead it can be clean like this:

U.S. Amazon Kindle 

This is a pretty basic run down of what little bit that I know and can share.  I hope it will help my viewing audience out a bit. Remember look for words or icons that say link or hyperlink. Then follow along as it takes you through the process. 

Hope you all have a great one!

Lynn Hallbrooks

co-author to David McKoy

co-owners of Call Sign Wrecking Crew, LLC