Category Archives: News

Enhanced typesetting and new inaccessible Kindle format?

Skilled Workman Posted on by

Back to scratching mud Aaron Shepherd is convinced that this is true. The .kfx (which Aaron believes stands for .kf10) is a post-uploading process done to your books over the first month or two after uploading. What it means as far as he is concerned is this: In practical terms, this means there is no longer any effective way to proof your book before or after publication. You can get it looking absolutely perfect in a KDP proof, and … Continue reading →

More on Kindle Problems…

Skilled Workman Posted on by

A continuation of the Kindle formatting issues On one of the Facebook groups I participate in, there’s been some general poo-pahing over my most recent posting on the problems with Kindle formatting. I can understand it because many in that group only upload very simple novels. But the problem may be worse than I thought. So, I thought I better give some samples. In the process I found that Kindle has indeed destroyed the Kindle version of this … Continue reading →

Is it time to bail on Kindle?

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Aaron Shephard is close to giving up in Kindle. [You may need to search as I could not find a post-specific link.] He’s found evidence that Amazon might, and probably will, destroy your formatting well after it has been published. As you can read below about the new KFX format, Amazon simply does that to your book. It’s out of our control and we have been given no tools to produce KFX files.   I suspected all of this, … Continue reading →

It’s time to harangue Adobe…about fonts

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There has been a brouhaha building as designers around the world are realizing that Adobe has shot itself in the foot. InDesign Secrets has an article today which covers most of the issues: Adobe Drops Fonts, Leaves Users Stranded by:  David Blatner and Anne-Marie Concepcion | August 21, 2015 If you have installed the standards sets of fonts from your old software releases: CS2 through CS6, make sure you keep a back up. InDesign CC (2015) does not install them … Continue reading →

A new reality: spam books?

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Aaron Shephard gives us an interesting post today about a new category of books designed to use Kindle Unlimited to rip off readers’ minds. A post on spam books I’m not surprised, nor concerned. But for your edification, it’s happening. It’s a natural outgrowth of the marketing mentality which puts sales above everything. What do you think? I don’t think it really matters, unless I accidently buy one of these pieces of junk.

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Returning to InDesign CC (2014)

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Some of you have wondered why there’s been no update to CC (2015) in the book. Basically nothing was changed, I thought. So, I found no reason to update though I was using the new version for my production. It works very well. However, I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to temporarily go back to (2014) for InDesign. I’ve been working a very limited schedule lately due to other things I need to get done. … Continue reading →

Amazon is not the enemy, it’s the pathfinder

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Get off your lazy butt—it’s a jungle out there! The only way to beat the leader is to be better at what the leader does. I was reading yet another excellent article this morning from Mike Shatzkin about the current state of affairs in traditional publishing. He makes good points, which also apply to indies and self-publishers. We need to keep our head in the game. Amazon earned their place in publishing They are dominant in ebooks, not … Continue reading →

On a lighter note: we have a legal replacement for Comic Sans…Comic Neue

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One of the most maligned fonts in recent years is Comic Sans. I’ve never really understood why people (especially type pros) hate Comic Sans so bad. But then, it’s really not a part of my life. This is the new solution: Comic Neue! If you click on the image above it will take you to the page where you can download this for free. The change is fairly radical, but it does have a similar feel to … Continue reading →

A good article on kerning in InDesign magazine for July

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Kerning is that area of typography rarely talked about. Ilene Strizver has a good article on kerning, both what it is and how to accomplish it, in the July issue of InDesign magazine. One of the sure signs of a pro book designer is in the kerning of the heads and subheads. That along with solid widow, orphan, and runt control are major areas of page layout normally ignored completely by users of Words. Of course, the sad … Continue reading →

DPS lives! BUT at a price…

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Adobe’s DPS was originally released as a solution for magazine designers. It can do some amazing things with layouts, turning a magazine into an app. The problem has always been making it available for individual designers, and its considerable expense. Rumors have been flying that Adobe might move it to a solution named Adobe Publish. Now we find out that this idea’s dead also. What they’ve done is retain the DPS name and tied it into CC … Continue reading →