I am fairly new to Kindle, so I'm learning things all the time. One thing I learned recently was that I could send my novels as rtf documents to my Kindle email, and they would soon show up on my Kindle. Not only this, but they actually looked good.This is probably old news to you guys, but to me it was a revelation. I had no idea it could be so easy to get your novel on your Kindle - that you didn't need .mobi format. And I only found out this simple truth after a friend and I swapped novels, and she sent me this in an email:
I want to ask if you do anything special to make the documents so easy to read on the kindle? Is it just saved as rtf and nothing else special?
My response was as follows:
I had no idea you could read just a document like the ones I sent you on Kindle, so I'm not the one to ask. haha. Maybe .rtf is the trick? I just use that format because it's supposed to be universally readable on different machines, i.e. Mac and PC.
Since then, I have in fact been gleefully sending my own novels to Kindle, and dancing around waiting for them to appear on my little screen. Also for the last few days, I've been foregoing reading all of your books and the mountain of others I should be reading, just so I can read my own. ;)
I feel almost silly staying awake way past lights out for this purpose, and dragging my carcass to work the next day, sleep deprived and longing for my pillow. But I can't help myself! Not only is reading my work on the Kindle a great motivator to dive back into editing - some of those dodgy lines have needed editing for years now - but I'm also hooked because I think my stories are cool (yes, I'm biased, and I'm fine with it). And seeing them on a Kindle, even my own Kindle, makes me feel quite special!So yeah, this Kindle thing is pretty cool. Even if I do still prefer paperbacks.
Hee hee, reading my own books on Kindle before publication is one of the reasons I bought a Kindle! It's fun, isn't it? :D
ReplyDeleteThank you for the info!
ReplyDeleteI was totally in the dark about this... ha!
Every day, we learn something new...
I wonder how it works with a Nook?
ReplyDeleteI have no idea why I didn't get a Kindle. First time around I got a Sony Reader, and when that finally died I got my Nook. I guess next time I'll cave.
You're brave! I've never read any of my books once they were released. I have them on my iPad, but not about to read them.
ReplyDeleteThat's cool, I knew about it but discovering something new is always good.
ReplyDeleteOh wow, that's such an awesome idea. I bought a Kindle this year, but that never occurred to me!
ReplyDeleteI have a kindle but I didn't know that. I will try doing that in the past.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea! Especially if it's got you editing! Really good way to get you looking back at your stuff with fresh eyes!
ReplyDeleteI had heard you could do this and I can't wait to do it to mine! Isn't it great when you read your own stuff and think, damn, that is good!
ReplyDeleteWow. I didn't know you could do that! Thanks for sharing. :) Enjoy your weekend!
ReplyDeleteHoly carp! I had no idea you could do that. I'm going to have to check it out. I am do glad I came by to gather this little tidbit.
ReplyDeleteSomeone turned me on to that a long time ago, thankfully. It really is so cool to see your own work on Kindle. I love that you are staying up late reading your own work. Cute! Good way to get motivated to edit :)
ReplyDeleteDon't have a book of my own to read yet. Don't have a fancy phone or an ereader or an Ipad. Gosh, I got plenty of nuttin'.
ReplyDeleteI did download a kindle book to my desktop the other day and that worked okay. Thank goodness it was only 42 pages long. I'm not thrilled about reading books on my computer. I'd rather lie in bed with a book.
Lee
A Faraway View
Hi Trisha .. I can quite believe you're like a kid in a sweetie shop - toggling between your own books ... what fun.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy books - but I do use the Kindle to download to .. then take a while to upload them! Hopeless and as for stopping reaching others' books ... I just need to start ..
Enjoy your new found editing abilities! Cheers hilary
Can't wait till I get to say I can read my own books on my mobile kindle!!
ReplyDeleteHa ha Trish. I prefer print too, but you can't easily read your book in print unless you take NaNo up on the free offer of 5 copies of your completed NaNo novel. I'd toyed with this idea too, so now must try it. May help with editing. I can't wait to read your amazing books, so get editing!
ReplyDeleteSeeing my work on Gizmo (my '09 Kindle) has been a great tool during the revision process. I send Word docs, and they look good. PDF's don't.
ReplyDeleteLOL! That's great that you're enjoying reading your own books so much! I use my Kindle to proofread my books. It's easier to see mistakes than on a computer screen, and it makes my manuscript feel like a real book :-) (This is before I order the print proof)
ReplyDeleteIsn't it great?? I used to send my pitches to my kindle and such too so I could have them available for practicing when I went to big cons. It's really nice. :)
ReplyDeleteOh, another reason to get a kindle... Thank you for that.
ReplyDeleteMy old, now defunct Kindle never had a wifi connection since it wasn't available where I lived so I never tried that, but now my replacement Kindle has 3g and so I guess I could do that. It would be great for sharing a novel-in-progress with a writing friend if I had a writing friend close enough to do that.
ReplyDelete