Painful Realization

I have made a painful discovery over these past few days: I am not as healed as I would like. I have severe issues when it comes to learning and using software that I wasn’t extremely familiar with before I got hurt.

While I managed to get the new book formatted for print, I have had a nightmare when it comes to formatting this puppy for ebook format. I can get everything to work in LibreOffice, I can even code it so that it works in html, but when it comes to converting those files to the DOC format that I need in order to submit it to my ebook distributors, it messes up every single time.

I’m not talking tiny glitches; I’ve seen everything from hamburger text, missing hyperlinks (to mark the chapters), and NO access to the footnotes. I have nuked this file and started over so many times I am ready to cry.

But I haven’t given up. I’m very familiar with Microsoft Word, fortunately (I took a class on it years ago), so I know how to format everything so it will look nice in that program natively.  My problem is with the conversion process. So I got the bright idea to borrow a computer that had Word installed so that I could use it to get this ebook finished.

That didn’t work out so well. They had games and stuff they wanted to play so I had to give the computer back. Sigh.

But I kept trying. I managed to get the 45-day free trial of Office 2003 to work on my ancient dinosaur. I’m not as familiar with it as I am the newer versions, but it works. As a result I have nuked this file ONCE AGAIN (feels like the 20th time) and started formatting it in THAT program.

Wish me luck that I get it done before the trial is over. I plan to work nonstop, taking breaks only when forced, in order to beat my deadline.

Hopefully when I get some more money coming in I will be able to locate a copy of Office on eBay for cheap, one of the older versions that you don’t have to pay for a subscription to. Wish me luck!

In the meantime, know that I am doing my level best to get this ebook formatted and released so that you guys can have it on your ereader devices.

And please wish me luck. I’m gonna need it.

Share1
Tweet
Share
Pin
Share
1 Shares

7 thoughts on “Painful Realization”

    1. Thanks Josh!

      I don’t know anything about Lulu but I will check them out. I’ve always submitted to Amazon directly, then through either Smashwords or D2D. At this point I’m a bit gun-shy at trying a new service; apparently I don’t do so well when it comes to figuring new things like programs and websites out, at least right now.

      Sad part is, I remember formatting ebooks in LibreOffice for SW and Amazon; I’ve also formatted them in html and converted them without issue in the past. From what I remember, I’m doing everything right, it’s just not working out. BUT, I have been reminded by Katie and some friends that I’ve thought the same thing about other stuff I’ve messed up; come to find out I remembered things incorrectly, or thought I was doing one thing when I actually did another.

      I’m just glad I remember how to use Word. Unfortunately the last laptop I had that carried a license had a hard drive failure and when I tried to use the same license key to install it on another one Microsoft refused to let me, something about it being installed too many times, even though I’d only used it on one computer. I think they were more interested in pushing their subscription service than letting me use something I already paid for, to be honest. 🙁

  3. Annie, I’d suggest trying out onedrive.com. If up upload the file to OneDrive you have access to a limited version of Office online. I just checked and it supports footnotes.

    1. Hi John!

      I tried OneDrive. It took forever to upload and try to work with, possibly due to the size of the book. Plus, they only let you download in DOCX and my main ebook distributor (Smashwords) doesn’t support them :(. I’m just glad I have a solution for now 🙂

Comments are closed.

%d bloggers like this: