SHIMMER: free, supernatural eSerial in progress

[jpassarella]

Hi,

Been a while since I checked in. I've been producing multi-chapter installments of the SHIMMER eSerial for a couple months now in 7 eBook formats. I've passed the halfway point in the manuscript. The eSerial could be done by the end of June. (??) If you haven't started reading yet, you have 34 chapters available.

To help spread the word, I'm going to have prize drawings. No purchase necessary, however to be eligible, you need to (a) sign up for my newsletter [the sign-up box is on every page of my website, passarella.com and (b) post a SHIMMER banner on your site, blog, MySpace page, etc., with a link back to my Shimmer page (see link below).

That's it. Do those two things, then get back to me with your email address at author[at]passarella[dot]com with a link to where you've posted the banner. Banners (animated, non-animated, horizontal & vertical) are also available on the Shimmer page.

SHIMMER PAGE: http://bit.ly/IGfn

Thanks,
John "Jack" Passarella


[BTW, since I'm a newbie, Dreamsdeb suggested I post this here.]

[dreams]

Welcome back. Your post was easier to find this time. Thank you for offering your work to us. It's been many years since I've read work in a serial format. It should be interesting to read as an eserial.

You now have three threads to keep track of (yes, I know, I know, an ending preposition)...

Your original thread.. https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41966 has an answer by JS Wolf about the epub format and the Sony Readers. Dr. Drib also mentions using one of your other books while teaching lit. at Miami University. (I have to check that one out).

We are an international forum with many different ereaders and formats. Have you considered offering your other books as ebooks? (By the way, not all of us have Kindles)

If you have questions, just ask. There are many very knowledgeable members here who are very willing to help with information, formatting, and testing.

Also, we have many other authors who have joined in the forums and shared their knowledge and works. The international members here were able to provide information and help when they asked.

[Wetdogeared]

I believe Jon's advice was taken, because Shimmer eSerial is available to download in non-drm'd ePub.

*edit*
Your site needs to update this heading's contents to include mention of the ePub format:

What is the format of the Shimmer eSerial?

Initially, I planned to release each chapter only as a PDF. Now I plan to release the eSerial in RTF, HTML, PDF (Desktop), PDF (Tagged for Reflow on mobile devices), mobipocket format, eReader. I still need to work out the technical aspects of all this and create a smooth workflow.

I, myself, almost didn't continue to the bottom of the page when I saw no mention of LRF or ePub.

[dreams]

Originally Posted by Wetdogeared

I believe Jon's advice was taken, because Shimmer eSerial is available to download in non-drm'd ePub.

I tried downloading the epub just now and it still opens up as a bunch of "gobbely gook". What am I doing wrong?

[Wetdogeared]

Originally Posted by dreams

I tried downloading the epub just now and it still opens up as a bunch of "gobbely gook". What am I doing wrong?

Right click on the chapter number, select save as, and save to a folder that you keep ePub books in or just to your desktop. You need to do this for each chapter or series of chapters. I created a folder to contain all of the shimmer chapters to keep them together.

When you go to open up the file(s) (chapters) where you downloaded it to, ADE should automatically open and you will see the book cover..and continue reading or transfer to your reader.

Hope this helps.

WDE.

[dreams]

Originally Posted by Wetdogeared

Right click on the chapter number, select save as, and save to a folder that you keep ePub books in or just to your desktop. You need to do this for each chapter or series of chapters. I created a folder to contain all of the shimmer chapters to keep them together.

When you go to open up the file(s) (chapters) where you downloaded it to, ADE should automatically open and you will see the book cover..and continue reading or transfer to your reader.

Hope this helps.

WDE.

Yea!! It worked. Thank you for your help.

I don't have ADE auth on this computer but, the file opens up in Sony Library. Now, I may wait until the story is finished to start reading as, I don't like being left wondering.

[jpassarella]

Be sure to stay up to date on the SHIMMER chapter(s) installments. Shortly after the eSerial is complete, I will remove the files. This is to stay true to the serial format. Also, at some point, I will release the entire novel in electronic and/or print forms and at that point, I don't want the serial to compete with the complete book, in either format.

My goal for this was to get people talking about the book WHILE the serial was in progress, to build word of mouth each week so that by the end we'd reach the mountain top in downloads -- and buzz!

Some readers are really embracing the serial format and talking about SHIMMER on lists while it's in progress and that is great. I'd love to see MORE of that.

I'll investigate the LRF format and see what's involved in producing that. I'm just sorry I hadn't heard about that format until this late in the game.

Thanks!
-John Passarella
http://twitter.com/JohnPassarella
http://www.passarella.com

[daffy4u]

I went to purchase "Wither" from the Kindle store but it's not there. I only found it in paperback.

Make it available and I will buy!

[dreams]

I opened Chapter one to begin reading during my short breaks this weekend. I didn't get past the dedication.
What a difficult time it must have been but, I am truly glad for the fantastic outcome! My cousin has just gone through surgery (he was 30) and is learning to deal with memory and balance difficulties. We are hoping for the same fantastic outcome.

Originally Posted by daffy4u

I went to purchase "Wither" from the Kindle store but it's not there. I only found it in paperback.

Make it available and I will buy!

Wither also looks like a book I would like to read. Do you plan to offer your books as ebooks for sale on your site (not all of us have Kindles)?

We have quite a few knowledgeable members who are authors, others who are very experienced in the formatting of ebooks, and member authors who sell their works from their site. Just ask and someone will jump in to help or answer questions or test formats or (you get the idea).

Please visit us and join in the discussions as we love to support authors who participate in the forums.

[jpassarella]

You can read more about Matthew's journey at http://www.passarella.com/matthew.htm and http://www.passarella.com/matt2.htm - my family also started an annual walkathon to raise money for pediatric brain tumor research, http://www.matthewsmiles.org -- I recall that I put my nose to the grindstone to finish SHIMMER (first draft) before Matthew began his radiation therapy. I had a similar nose/grindstone experience finishing Wither's Rain.

WITHER on Kindle/eBook: my earlier novels are owned by Pocket Books, all rights, foreign, audio, eBook, etc.. I can't offer them in eBook fomrats, only Pocket Books can. The newer ones seem to have been released on Kindle. Some of the older ones are available in other eBook formats. You can find some of those on simonsays.com (Simon & Schuster Website), but I'm not sure if Wither is among them. Sorry I don't have a better answer. I'm kind of at their mercy for any additional rights usage.

-John Passarella
http://www.passarella.com

[jpassarella]

Ask and ye shall receive. Sent Daffy4U's request to my editor and he informs me that WITHER & WITHER'S RAIN will be available soon:

"Wither and Wither's Rain will have an eBook on-sale of 7/7." This should be the Kindle release(s) too.

_John Passarella
http://www.passarella.com
Free Shimmer eSerial (serialized eBook): http://bit.ly/IGfn
Folllow Me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/JohnPassarella

[jpassarella]

By the way, the latest eSerial release went our early WED morning, Chapters 41-43 of SHIMMER: http://bit.ly/IGfn

ALSO, not sure I mentioned it here, but I've added LRF (Sony) format to the other 7 eBook formats.

-John Passarella

[daffy4u]

Originally Posted by jpassarella

Ask and ye shall receive. Sent Daffy4U's request to my editor and he informs me that WITHER & WITHER'S RAIN will be available soon:

"Wither and Wither's Rain will have an eBook on-sale of 7/7." This should be the Kindle release(s) too.

_John Passarella
http://www.passarella.com
Free Shimmer eSerial (serialized eBook): http://bit.ly/IGfn
Folllow Me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/JohnPassarella

Thank you! I promise I'll be all over both books!

[jpassarella]

Hi, Everyone -

I have a SHIMMER update. Well, a few items. Today I posted Chapters 46-48 of the free eSerial version of my latest novel. That's a good-sized chunk. (There are 54 chapters plus an epilogue.)

Also, for those too impatient to read the book in the serial away or for those who are completists, I created an eBook version of the COMPLETE novel for the KINDLE. List price $5.79, but Amazon is discounting it 20% OFF, so it's only $4.63 for as long as that discount remains in effect. You can check that out here: http://bit.ly/RTI4u

Obviously, there are other eReaders out there besides the the Kindle, so I spent a good chunk of today making COMPLETE versions of SHIMMER in these formats: PDF Desktop, PDF Tagged for Reflow, Mobipocket, ePUB, and LRF. These are currently for sale at the same low $4.63 price as the Kindle version, but through my author bookstore at http://bit.ly/EWbFe

Note: the free eSerial will continue through the end of SHIMMER, but now that the full version of the eBook is available, I have begun to phase out older chapters of the eSerial, at the rate of at least 9 chapters per week.

Thanks for your support - and thanks for reading!
John Passarella
http://www.passarella.com

[Jill74]

Originally Posted by daffy4u

I went to purchase "Wither" from the Kindle store but it's not there. I only found it in paperback.

Make it available and I will buy!

this is great! Im interested with it too!!