Tag Archives: e-books

The First Time by Kevin Morris availible for purchase

I am pleased to announce that my second collection of short stories, “The First Time” is now available for purchase.

In this collection of short stories I explore why young women enter the world of prostitution while other stories look at what happens when the

worlds of sex and technology collide. In “The First Time,” the first story in this collection, we meet Becky a young graduate who enters the world of prostitution

in order to clear her debts. The story looks at the effects of prostitution on Becky and her fellow escort and friend Julie. In “The Pain Behind the Smile”

Issie presents her friend, Peter with a birthday cake, however things are not what they seem. In “Lucy” the acquaintances of a crusty old bachelor speculate

how he could attract and retain the affections of a beautiful young woman. As with “The Pain Behind the Smile” things are far from what they seem. “Hemlock”

explores what happens when machines attain the capacity to appreciate high culture. The story is both humorous and deeply serious.

To purchase a copy of “The First Time”, by Kevin Morris please visit https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Kevin_Morris_The_First_Time?id=s-4pGnExbscC&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImJvb2stcy00cEduRXhic2NDIl0 or http://www.diesel-ebooks.com/item/9780755250349/Morris-Kevin-The-First-Time/1.html. For my online novel, Samantha please visit https://newauthoronline.wordpress.com/2012/12/09/samantha-part-1/.

Modesty Forbids

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I have blogged previously about my early new year’s resolution to start leaving reviews, on Amazon of the books which I purchase from the Kindle Store (please see https://newauthoronline.wordpress.com/2012/11/29/book-reviews/). I have got off to a flying start by leaving a review of a book which I recently purchased from Amazon. I was, therefore rraring to go, my fingers poised above keyboard, on receiving an e-mail from Amazon asking me to rate one of my recent purchases – that is until I read the title of the book which they wished me to review – “The Girl At The Bus Stop”, by K Morris. To explain, as the author of said book I don’t feel best placed to provide an unbiased rating/review of my writing (can’t think why)! It would have been fun to attempt to rate my own work just to see how robust Amazon’s systems are at weeding out author generated reviews/ratings, however I would have died of shame had my rating actually appeared on the site!

Why you may ask did I purchase a copy of my own book? Simple, I wished to check that “The Girl At The Bus Stop” could be read without difficulty using a Kindle.

Well the above certainly made me smile!

DOING BATTLE

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On 3 December I wrote about the feeling of wellbeing which floods my being whenever I do battle with the great god of technology, (see https://newauthoronline.wordpress.com/2012/12/03/the-joys-of-technology/). In that post I waxed lyrical on the joys of playing that old favourite of a game, guess the password and of how the great god of technology won and prevented me from accessing the proof of my book, “The First Time” due to my inability to guess the password required to view the epub file. Well I have a confession to make, while doing battle with the epub file of “The First Time” my addled brain failed to register the fact that the document was in zip format and therefore required unzipping prior to me being able to view it’s contents. To be fair to myself I half registered this fact, however I vaguely supposed that opening the document with Adobe’s epub software would somehow magically lead to it’s unzipping. I know, I know K should be consigned to the back of the class to stand in the corner with a dunce’s cap on his head!

I’ve now installed 7-zip (a tool for unzipping files), however I’m still unable to unzip the darned thing! I’ve called in the assistance of my old friend Jeff who’s experience in computers far exceeds my own. It is a wise man who knows when the great god of technology has beaten him and so I retire blooded and beaten from the field of battle. I’m off now to lie down in a darkened room with a wet towel over my head.

The Joys of Technology

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As I sit at my desk, typing away on my laptop I give thanks to the great god of technology. I love the way in which one’s brain is stretched by the necessity of remembering countless passwords without which one can not access e-mails, bank accounts etc. Forgetting passwords is such fun and helps to enhance one’s physical atributes. For example the way in which I shake my fist menacingly at my poor defenseless laptop provides me with much needed exercise and has helped to strengthen my arm muscles no end!
This evening the joy of guessing passwords was brought home to me with a vengence. I have now received the proof of the manuscript for my collection of short stories, “The First Time” in epub format. In order to access the document I downloaded software from Adobe’s website which installed like a dream. Great I thought as I clicked on the epub file containing the proof of “The First Time”, soon I will be able to read over the proof of my manuscript. Alas woe is me, the great god of technology requested that I enter a password in order to open the file – oops my publisher has neglected to inform me of the password so no book have I read! Oh well tomorrow is, as they say another day and with a bit of luck I’ll be able to give the proof the once over then after I receive the elusive password!

Book Reviews

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On 11 November I published my first book, “The Girl At The Bus Stop” using Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing. As of today (29 November) “The Girl At The Bus Stop” has been downloaded 195 times. Given that this is my first book I am pleasantly surprised at what seem to me at least to be relatively good figures. However I have as yet received no reviews of “The Girl At The Bus Stop”. There is an old saying that “no news is good news” and I assume that those who have purchased my book are pleased with their purchase otherwise they would vent their displeasure by leaving a negative review on Amazon. I must confess though that I would like to receive reviews as it is always good to know that one’s work has given pleasure to others.

Prior to setting pen to paper (well fingers to keyboard to be pedantic) I had left several reviews on Amazon of books which I’d enjoyed and/or found particularly interesting. I must admit however to being guilty of frequently meaning to leave a review of a book which I’ve especially enjoyed but, in the end never getting round to doing so. My early new year’s resolution is to write reviews of the books I read both to help potential readers and to assist the authors in question. I’d love to hear from my readers so if you have read “The Girl At The Bus Stop” do please let me know what you thought of it.

Living in Wonderland

Eureka!

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On 19 November I wrote regarding the perils of self publishing (see https://newauthoronline.wordpress.com/2012/11/19/the-perils-of-self-publishing/). I bemoaned the fact that despite having paid nearly £400 to have my book published, over a month ago I am still waiting for the book cover image to be e-mailed to me for approval. I’m pleased to report that a bit of firm but exceedingly polite behaviour on my part has resulted in the publishing company promising to let me have the final proof next week so, with a bit of luck “The First Time” will be available for purchase at some point in December. I feel cautiously optimistic but I won’t believe it until I can click on links to “The First Time” and see my book available for purchase as an e-book.

Compared to the problems I’ve experienced in getting “The First Time” published, publishing “The Girl At The Bus Stop”, using Kindle Direct Publishing was as easy as falling off a log. I’ll see how “The First Time” looks once it goes live, however the ease with which self publishing on Amazon works inclines me towards using Kindle Direct Publishing for future books rather than shelling out money to companies offering self publishing packages.

Once “The First Time” is available for sale I will post links to it on this blog.

The Perils of Self-Publishing

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As an author I entered the world of self publishing like a naïve young virgin with little (if any) idea of the big bad world. I self published my first book “The Girl At The Bus Stop” on Amazon with only very minor difficulties and, best of all it cost me £0 to do so! However I am still waiting for what should have been my first published book of short stories, “The First Time” to be published as an e-book. Unlike “The Girl At The Bus Stop” I chose to use the services of an outfit specialising in assisting authors who wish to self publish when publishing “The First Time”. Their website states that books should appear within 6-8 weeks and be sent to approximately 200 e-book publishers for distribution. It is now around 1 month since I signed up with this company and as of today (19 November) I am still waiting for the book cover which I paid extra for to be e-mailed to me for approval. I’m beginning to wish that I’d gone down the road of using Amazon’s self publishing feature for both books not just “The Girl At The Bus Stop”.

I paid just under £400 for the privilege of having my book cover designed, the book formatted in order to make it suitable for e-readers and for the file to be sent to around 200 e-book publishers. I am, as I say beginning to question whether this was money well spent.

I would be very interested to hear the views of others.

Reading and the visually impaired

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E-books possess many advantages. Unlike print books one does not need to spend hours browsing around bookshops to find the book of your choice or, alternatively wait for several days for that print book you have ordered online to arrive. With the click of a mouse one can order Oliver Twist and have it delivered to the e-reader of your choice in minutes (often seconds). Again for those with limited space e-books are a godsend as a Kindle or other e-reader can hold a multiplicity of books in a tiny space. One group who have benefited enormously from the growth of e-books are the visually impaired. For centuries those with no vision had to rely on the kindness of family or friends to access the wonderful world of literature. Following the invention of braille a door was opened allowing blind people who mastered it to access books, however the number of titles availible in braille is tiny compared to the vast array of print books availible to sighted individuals. For the blind book lover wanting to read the classics, for example Great Expectations or War and Peace, both titles are availible in braille. However for a long time blind people struggled to keep up with the reading habits of their sighted family and friends as most contemporary literature is not availible in braille due to the costs of producing it. Again braille books take up a great deal of space (the New Oxford Book of English Verse runs to 10 thick braille volumes while it’s print counterpart is a single book).

The Kindle, the I-Pad and the I-Pod all have in-built voices (in the case of the more expensive version of the Kindle this is known as text to speech while Apple’s software is named voiceover). The technology allows people with little or no sight to access e-books opening up a world of literature which was largely closed to them hitherto.

To my knowledge Kindle’s web browser is not easily accessible (if at all) to blind people, however the visually impaired may access Amazon’s website using screenreading software such as Jaws which converts text into speech and braille and purchase titles with ease. Once a title is downloaded to the Kindle it is possible for a blind person to navigate around the menus, select books etc. While it is difficult for blind people to easily skip through the sections of a book using the Kindle, listening to a book from start to finish presents few (if any) difficulties.

Unfortunately a number of e-readers such as the Cobo are currently useless from the point of view of blind people as there is no ability for the visually impaired individual to have books read aloud. It is to be hoped that those manufacturers of e-readers who do not, at present build in speech capability will, in the future incorporate this facility making their products viable purchases for those with little or no vision. The world of reading should be open to everyone not just those who have vision.

(For my collection of erotic short stories “The Girl At The Bus Stop And Other Erotic Short Stories”, by K Morris please visit http://www.amazon.com/other-erotic-short-stories-ebook/dp/B00A6H75Y6/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1353136476&sr=1-2&keywords=the+girl+at+the+bus+stop. If the link doesn’t work please visit Amazon’s Kindle Store and search for “The Girl At The Bus Stop And Other Erotic Short Stories” by K Morris).

Ebooks versus print

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I am, on the whole a huge fan of ebooks. The technology allows the user to carry around a veritable library of world literature in their hands. No longer need one trip over piles of books littering the floor in the spare room or spend ages dusting ancient tomes with a yellow duster. Electronic books unlike their traditional counterparts are instantaneous. With the click of a mouse one can order and have delivered in seconds War and Peace to the electronic device of your choice whether it be Kindle or I-Pad.
On the flip side I love the smell and feel of traditional books. One of my happiest memories as a child is of visiting W H Smiths and browsing shelves of children’s classics ranging from The Famous Five to The Secret Seven. It was (and still is) that wonderful scent of books which hits me whenever I enter Smiths or any other book shop. Ebooks have many advantages but scent is not among them!
I also like the permanence of physical books. Its wonderful to sit in a room surrounded by books. To take down a book at random and flick through it’s pages is surely one of life’s great pleasures. Physical books can (and do) last for centuries. There is something essentially civilised about entering a room full of books which I for one value. Where I to lose my Kindle I would be anoyed given the large quantity of ebooks I own. However I would be devestated where I to lose my traditional library. I simply can’t imagine living in a house without physical books.
For my ebook “The Girl At the Bus Stop And Other Erotic Short Stories” by K Morris please visit http://www.amazon.co.uk/other-erotic-short-stories-ebook/dp/B00A6H75Y6/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1352954780&sr=1-2