Whiskers twitched in an imaginary breeze Today the book Inside the Tortilla - was officially released on Smashwords. Now, although this is the final written version, it may still require the odd formatting tweak to fulfil the demands of the epub, mobi and pdf platforms. However, having downloaded trial versions I can say its pretty much there. So for early readers, you can pick up a sample at Smashwords, or get the whole book for the price of a coffee at just 2.99 from the same site. Okay. So this is how it goes. The text is written and it has been edited. Fine. Next comes the difficult stage of layout and formatting. Each version of the books requires a different approach. For example the version in epub for the iPad and Nook and Sony eReader etc all require specific layout conditions to be met. This is the stage I am at right now. After this comes the KINDLE version, with another format. Now each version will have graphics at specific resolutions, sizes and layouts. Each version will have a different table of contents, front and back cover material and even covers. Each content will need to be assessed by each company (Smashwords, Amazon mostly) before approval. Finally, a paper version will later in the summer be started, but this will be done as a PDF and pretty much done from scratch. More on that later. The Cover is still be worked on too. This is the latest version...it will probably change yet again. So back to where I am right now. I'm struggling with the final formatting for epub, and the images and layout of this complicated stage. But I struggle on. I'll let you know as I get through each phase and mention the difficulties as well as the easier parts. After Letting-go of Garnacha a while back, Miguel moved his business over to neighboring Huetor Tajar.
This month, he's moved back and re-opened Entre-Copas as El Cilantro, a sophisticated and tasteful bar just a few meters further along from where Garnacha still stands. As Loja cant boast a tremendous number of like-minded bars, Miguel's return to town is most welcome. Check it out most nights, particularly Friday and Saturday for a taste of something else this end of the Poniente Granadino. Well, the book has officially been exported from Scrivener and now sits as a Word document on my desktop, ready for the next step. This includes stripping it of all the formatting, re-applying a format compatible with the ebook market and slowly re-introducing styles, images and layout where possible.
This I estimate to be a task that will take about a month. Then, it will be uploaded to Smashwords, and via them to Nook, iBooks, Sony, Kobo etc. Whilst that gets underway...again a process that may take several weeks to a month, I will begin the formatting for the Kindle. This shouldn't take more a week or two. So, fingers crossed for the beginning to mid July release. Wish me luck. After 15 years of trying to explain to the Guardia Civil that my English License was valid in Spain, even though I was a resident, and knowing I ought to CANJEAR the PERMISO for a Spanish one, I have....at long last begun the process of exchange.
5 years ago, traffico, gave me a small sheet of white paper that I was to carry with me everywhere and that would serve to justify to Guardia Civil agents why I am still using my English License. It never satisfied anyone, least of all the traffic police. Still, I persisted but since the ID cards have been withdrawn, Ive found myself, like many people, without a useful and vaild ID here in Spain. So reluctantly, last week I took myself off for the medical, the eye test and the mechanical steering test, and this week Ive been down to TRAFFICO in Granada to hand in the documentation. Obviously things did not go as smoothly as I had hoped. Read more tomorrow. As President of the Asociacion de AngloParlantes de Loja, and with a membership of nearly 100 people and a reach of over 200, we felt that the time had come to secure our own premises.
Having been in existence now for 3 years and having celebrated events almost monthly, we approached the town hall asking for help in finding a'Local' for our members. The meeting seemed to go well, with understanding and sympathy. Lets see if in this year of crises, something will materialise of whether we will have to do it ourselves. Well the papers are with the Gestor who is pressing for an extension on the time limit of 10 days.
A copy of the original house sale deeds ( escritura ) has been requested from the notary and when this arrives, it will be passed on for examination. Until then. It's waiting. The doorbell rang. It was a messenger: Sign here he said and with a chirpy smile skipped off down the road, leaving me with a white envelope in hand and a frown on my brow.
Initially I wasn't worried. It was the time of the year for the yearly tax declaration, but something seemed more formal than previous years. Something seemed a little darker. It appeared, as I scoured the text trying to make sense of the legal jargon, that 6 years ago after we had sold our country house and bought the town house, the hacienda receive no notification of the capital gains we had declared - and in fact paid. Many thousands of euros as I remember now. What was worrying, was the thought at the back of my mind that perhaps, we didn't do something right. Some paper wasn't correctly stamped or signed and six years later, its too late. According to the letter, we have 10 days to present the evidence in Hacienda or the issue will turn "grave" (serious). Great! Not only is it a paper nightmare to sort out, but they are threatening me in the process. Tomorrow, off to the gestor again to find out what she says. Why do these things always come along every year or so? |