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Edward Slingerland Delivers Peebles Lectureby Jacob Stump '11 • March 14, 2008 Share:
Scientiae et Virtuti – the motto of our College, the two domains of Academia, and often represented in an 'either/or' fashion: either you study in the laboratory or the library. Either you observe streptococcus under a microscope or read Aristotle over a cup of coffee. Either you learn what is, or you learn what ought to be. Either something is only of the body, or it is only of the soul.
Not necessarily, said Dr. Edward Slingerland to a crowded Baxter 101 room Thursday night during his talk "Cognitive Science and Early Confucian Ethics," the 2008 Peebles Lecture.
Dr. Slingerland is the Associate Professor of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia. He is also the co-founder and director of the University's new Centre for the Study of Human Evolution, Cognition, and Culture, and holds the Canada Research Chair in Chinese Thought and Embodied Cognition. He received his B.A. from Stanford in Asian Languages, an M.A. from UC Berkeley in East Asian Languages, and a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Stanford University.
Dismissing the validity of ethical utilitarianism, Dr. Slingerland emphasized the importance of instinctual emotional responses in our ethical decision-making. He proposed, rather than a system of ethics based on rational calculations, an Aristotelian system of "virtue ethics." In this system, ethics are influenced by the situation or event that prompts their consideration. For example, rather than learning the definition of courage and then applying it to one's life, one should observe courageous people in trying situations and then strive to model their courageous behavior in similar situations.
He then cited three innate moral emotions – empathy, justice, and disgust – and gave experimental examples of why a utilitarian model of ethics can not accurately explain human decision-making.
"Human beings engage in altruistic punishment," said Slingerland. By this, humans uphold their sense of justice and dismiss what would benefit them. He cited a recent experiment in cognitive science known as the "Ultimatum Game." One player is given $100 and told to share some of it with a second player. If the second player accepts the amount of money proposed by the first player, then both get to keep the money. If the second player declines, neither player receives anything.
"The most logical thing," said Slingerland, "would be to give the second person a penny and walk away with $99.99. However, rarely anyone does this, and when they do, the second person nearly always refuses the money."
After showing results of recent cognitive science experiments that suggest something more than logic influencing decision-making, Dr. Slingerland presented the ethical views of Mencius, a follower of Confucius.
"Mencian morality is based upon gut or emotional reactions" said Slingerland. He explained the four sprouts of Mencius's ethics - benevolence, righteousness, ritual propriety, and wisdom – and showed how each emphasized the effect of emotions on decision-making. What cognitive science recently suggested, then, is what Mencius, 2200 years ago, wrote to the Emperors and people of China.
He then concluded by stating that "moral education is about imaginative extension," and "morality can be grounded in empirical claims about human nature."
"Shared innate moral taste," said Slingerland, "can serve as basis for objectivity."
Dr. Slingerland's recent book, What Science Offers the Humanities: Integrating Body and Culture was given to students over the last few days on a first-come, first-serve basis, and additional copies are now being sold in the bookstore for $24.99.
Photos by Elijah Sanders '10


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After a close call at its season-opening meet last week, the Newton boys bowling team wanted to make a statement in its second meet.
That statement was heard loud and clear.
The Cardinal boys finished more than 400 pins ahead of second-place Pella Christian and topped a five-team field to earn a victory at Oskaloosa on Saturday. The Cardinal girls also had an impressive showing, winning their second meet in a row.
Sophomore Andrew Lammey paced the boys with a first-round score of 447 (258 first game, 189 second) that included a run of eight strikes in a row. Finishing second on the team was sophomore Payton Cox with a 415 (193, 222), while senior Dylan Van Sickle was third with a 401 (203, 198), freshman Jake Karlzen was fourth with a 380 (177, 203) and freshman Bryan McMahon was fifth with a 371 (168, 203). Sophomore Alex Bare just missed out on the top five with a non-scoring round of 370 (204, 166).
In the second-round Baker games, the Cards managed scores of 192, 203, 181, 222 and 192, which equaled out to a 990. The Cardinals reached 3,004 for their overall score, accomplishing a feat that only three teams reached at the state tournament last year.
"With the scores being so close at last week's tournament, we knew we had to step it up. All six of the boys shot a 200 game, making it an unbelievable day," Newton coach Seth Banwell said. "I've never seen them throw so many strikes and convert so many spares. Not very many mistakes happen with a team score of over 3000."
The Cardinal girls were no slouches on the night, either, taking first with an overall score of 2575 despite missing their top two bowlers.
Freshman Madison Humphrey led the Cards in first-round scores for the second meet in a row, finishing with a 382 (169, 227). Sophomore Erica Bailey finished with a 365 (174, 191), senior Mackenzie Malloy had a 308 (163, 145), sophomore Courtney Tabor rolled a 304 (156, 148) and senior Ella Daft had a 291 (166, 125) for the Cards' fifth score. Junior Makayla Tabor rolled a non-scoring first-round total of 260 (105, 155).
The Newton girls also had improved Baker game scores, grabbing a 199, 179, 202, 160 and 171 for a total of 911. The Cards bested second-place Knoxville by 234 pins. Tabor and Malloy were the team's replacement bowlers for the meet, and Banwell was more than pleased with their performances.
"Makayla Tabor and Mackenzie Malloy played a huge role in the win," Banwell said. "We have a lot of depth in this team. It's incredible to have JV bowlers that can bowl so well and fill in when needed."
The Cardinals will continue their seasons at home on Saturday when they host a meet at Cardinal Lanes.

subset: commoncrawl


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Shrimp Wrapped in Tofu Skin (鮮蝦腐皮券)
Crispy Shrimp Rolls – best dim sum ever!! Crispy, delicious shrimp rolls that you can make at home, so easy!!
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total Time:
8 oz shelled and deveined shrimp
1 tablespoon finely chopped yellow chives
7-8 pieces tofu skin, cut into 6×6-inch pieces
Oil, for deep-frying
Worcestershire sauce or mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon chicken bouillon powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Shaoxing wine
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
3 dashes white pepper powder
1/2 teaspoon oil
1 heaping teaspoon potato starch or cornstarch*
1/2 tablespoon egg white*
Adjust the ingredients accordingly.
Cut the 2/3 of the shrimp into small pieces and mince 1/3 of the shrimp.
Mix the shrimp with all the ingredients in the Seasonings.
If you treat the shrimp using the method above, you can skip the last two ingredients (marked *) in the Seasonings, which are cornstarch and egg white.
If the filling is lose and not sticky, add more starch to bind it.
To roll the shrimp, place a piece of the tofu skin on a flat surface.
Sprinkle a little bit of water to make it softer or wet your hand with water and rub on the tofu skin surface so it becomes pliable.
Scoop about 1 heaping tablespoon of the filling onto the tofu skin.
Use a little bit of water and dab it around the edges to ensure sealing.
Roll up the bottom part of the skin, tuck the shrimp tightly.
Roll until the end of the tofu skin.
Twist both ends of the opening and make sure they are closed, so when deep-frying, the oil won't seep in.
Wet your hand with water to help with sealing.
The shrimp wrapped in tofu skin are now ready for deep-frying.
Heat up a wok with enough cooking oil for frying.
When the oil is fully heated, turn the heat to medium and gently drop the shrimp rolls into the oil.
Keep turning around and deep fry until they turn golden brown.
Dish out on a plate lined with paper towels to absorb the excess oil.
Cut them up in halves, and serve immediately with Worcestershire sauce or mayonnaise, or both.
This shrimp wrapped in tofu skin (鮮蝦腐皮券) recipe was supposed to be in my cookbook "Easy Chinese Recipes," but it was cut out as my publisher thought tofu skin might be hard to get for most Americans, which is true.
As the title suggests, this delicious fried shrimp rolls are wrapped with tofu skin, or bean curd sheet (in Asia), or yuba (in Japanese).
Tofu skin is basically the layer of "skin" formed on top of fresh soy milk.
As you all know, Chinese invented soy milk, tofu, and other tofu-related product, so tofu skin is basically one of the many food products from the magical soy beans.
As I made the tofu skin from scratch this past weekend, it dawns to me just how amazing soy milk is, because of the endless culinary possibilities it brings.
Please check out this post how to make tofu skin, if you wish to attempt it at home.
This crunchy, mouthwatering, and dainty Cantonese appetizer is a must-have for me whenever we go out for dim sum or yumcha.
At the dim sum restaurants here in the United States and Hong Kong, they are usually presented in a bigger rectangle-shaped package, however, I prefer smaller rolls, as pictured here, which is typically found in Malaysia.
The key to really good Cantonese dim sum is the texture of the filling, in this case, the shrimp.
The best Cantonese chefs treat their shrimp with cold running water for hours that ultimately delivers the bouncy (弹牙) and supple texture in the shrimp.
In my cookbook and on this post "How to Make Shrimp Crunchy," I share a home remedy that you can apply to make the shrimp bouncy, but it takes some time.
However, there are many chefs who cheat by treating their shrimp with lye water or even borax, because it delivers very fast and amazing results.
I am strongly against these chemicals because if you read the label of lye water, it's clearly stated as chemical and some even label it as poison, so I would stay away.
(You can read the fact sheet of lye water here.) Traditionally, you can treat these shrimp using the shangjiang (上浆) method, which is coating the shrimp with a mixture of egg white and potato starch.
I prefer my method of double treating the shrimp: first with baking soda, and then with egg white and potato starch.
It works!
Now the secret seasoning to dim sum that tastes like they are straight from restaurants is chicken bouillon powder.
You can get the non-MSG version in the market and use it in this recipe.
This shrimp wrapped with tofu skin is commonly served with a Worcestershire sauce, but you can also use mayonnaise, which is more common in Malaysia.
Either way, this fried shrimp rolls taste so good.
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Sally Macziewski, 85, of Monte�video, died Monday, Oct. 22, 2012, at Chippewa County-Montevideo Hospital.
Sally Macziewski, 85, of Montevideo, died Monday, Oct. 22, 2012, at Chippewa County-Montevideo Hospital. Funeral services will be held at 1:30 p.m., Friday, Oct. 26, at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Montevideo with the Rev. Chris Lieske officiating. Burial will be at Sunset Memorial Cemetery.
Visitation with the family present will be held from 5 to 7 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 25, ending with a 6:45 p.m. prayer service at the Anderson-TeBeest Funeral Home.
Anderson-TeBeest Funeral Home, of Montevideo, is in charge of the funeral arrangements. (Online guest book at www.andersonfuneralmontevideo.com)


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Posts TaggedFriendCash
Here at iPhone Appstorm, we've reviewed a lot of apps that would fall under the category of "Personal Finance," but what about the finances that aren't strictly personal? Out of convenience and necessity, we don't all always pay our fair share of purchases and expenses at exactly the same time: sometimes a friend pays for drinks to spare you the ATM fee, sometimes an Internet bill can only be connected to one credit card. There are an increasing number of apps out there that combine the financial and the social, helping you to keep track of IOUs and split expenses between friends, families, or roommates and hopefully preventing arguments and forgotten favours.
Lets take a look at some of the best apps in this "social finance" category after the jump!


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2008?Arctic Cat?700 Auto 2/4 WD IRS H1 SE Signature Series 3" Lift Kit ALK1000-50 - SKU: ALK1000-50 Y
Bigger. Badder. BOLDER. Take your ATV to the edge with High Lifter?s 3" Signature Series Lift Kit. Increase your ground clearance and make room for larger tires to dig deep and ride hard in most any terrain. Our engineers and staff have spent over 15 years perfecting the ultimate ATV lift kit. The product? The Signature Series Lift Kit is even easier to install with a bolt-on application that consistently measures truer over competitor products. The High Lifter 3" Signature Series Lift Kit relocates the shock mounts to provide additional lift making room for larger tires and tightens suspension. Each Lift Kit part is precision cut and powder coated for durability and reliability in any environment. (Verify Fitment Below)
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Front and rear lift


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Function: verbDefinition: to run the fastestExample Sentence: The hare epas but the turtle always wins.Submitted by: Jasper from New York, USA on 12/06/2012 12:05
Function: interjectionDefinition: to understand: the act of understandingWord History: from reading the book "Dragon Rider"Example Sentence: After he asked a silly question, he slapped his forehead and said,"Duh, we studied that last night. Epa, and this time I mean it."Submitted by: Bena from CA on 09/24/2007 09:52


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Below is the text of the agenda report accompanying a proposed resolution of the Richmond City Council that would support a BART study of a possible extension of service in West Contra Costa north of El Cerrito and Richmond.
City of Richmond
DATE: May 7, 2013
TO: Mayor McLaughlin and Members of the City Council
FROM: Councilmember Tom Butt
SUBJECT: RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF THE STUDY OF wBART: A BART OR ALTERNATIVE RAIL EXTENSION IN WEST CONTRA COSTA:
BART Director for District 7, Zakhary Mallett, is requesting that the Richmond City Council support a study to explore the extension of the wBART line to San Pablo, Richmond's Hilltop, Pinole and Hercules.
ADOPT a resolution in support of the proposed study of wBART: A BART or alternative rail extension in West Contra Costa County.
There is no financial impact related to this item at this time.
Zakhary Mallett, BART Director for District 7, requested that the City of Richmond City Council consider a resolution of support for the study of wBART. Thus far, the cities of San Pablo and Pinole have adopted similar resolutions and Mr. Mallett is seeking to garner the support of all of the West Contra Costa cities directly impacted by the wBART proposal.
Proposed wBART Study
The proposed wBART study would examine potential routes, terminals and the feasibility for extending BART north along the Interstate 80 corridor to San Pablo,
Richmond Hilltop, Pinole, and perhaps to Hercules and beyond. In the past few decades, BART has extended the line along every leg of service with the exception of
this wBART stretch. According to Mr. Mallett, if approved, the study would take approximately 18 months to conduct.
Justification for wBART: Provide needed public transportation to the local population and to reduce traffic congestion along I-80 corridor.
West Contra Costa County has the highest concentration of low-income and transit depend residents in Contra Costa County. Mr. Mallett cites the fact that approximately 60% of the passengers at El Cerrito Del Norte are from north of Richmond and El Cerrito, as just one of many indications for the need to extend wBART. A full study of wBART would enable BART to determine the full extent of the need and possible impact of extending BART.
Additionally, the extension of the wBART would provide an alternative travel mode to the Interstate 80, one of the region's most congested travel corridors.
Supporting City Goals and Plans:
The General Plan 2030 contains numerous goals and policy actions in support of providing adequate and equitable access to public transportation to local residents and to work with regional transportation organizations to improve overall transit in the area.
Supporting goals, policies and actions:
GOAL CR1 An Expanded Multimodal Circulation System
Make conditions safer and more attractive for all modes of transportation including travel by foot and bicycle, public transit and automobiles. Evaluate streets and potential enhancements based on surrounding land use, street function and desired character and by relying on the place-based approach to circulation planning articulated in this General Plan. Take potential improvement measures ranging from physical design treatment of the street environment to social and programmatic responses appropriate to the particular street context.
Policy CR1.1 Balanced Modes of Travel and Equitable Access
Encourage multiple circulation options in the City and work with transit operators to ensure equitable access for all members of the community. Create streets and corridors that support a variety of travel modes including transit, pedestrians, bicycles and goods movement as well as automobiles. Provide affordable circulation options which meet the needs of low-income populations, seniors, youth and persons with disabilities to ensure equitable access.
Policy CR1.3 Local and Regional Transportation Linkages
Enhance circulation linkages within the City and region. The City will work with regional transportation agencies such as AC Transit, BART, West Contra Costa Transit Agency, and Amtrak to provide or improve connections to Richmond's key transportation hubs such as the proposed ferry terminal in Marina Bay, the Downtown Intermodal Transit Station, Hilltop Mall, the shoreline and commercial and mixed-use streets. Collaborate with regional, state and federal transportation agencies and neighboring jurisdictions to support a high level of service for all users including pedestrians, bicyclists, and automobile drivers.
Growth Management
GOAL GM1 Coordinated Land Use and Transportation Planning
Promote mixed-use, high-density infill development and investment around transit hubs and along transit corridors to maximize the efficient use of available land and
infrastructure in the City and the region. Coordinate with neighboring cities, Contra Costa County and regional transportation agencies to manage growth and minimize regional impacts.
Policy GM1.3 Regional Transportation Planning
Participate in ongoing multi-jurisdictional regional transportation planning efforts by participating in efforts sponsored by the West Contra Costa County Transportation Advisory Committee (WCCTAC), the Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA), the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and the Water Emergency Transportation Authority (WETA).
Action GM2. B Regional Development Mitigation
Support regional development mitigation measures consistent with the Countywide Comprehensive Transportation Plan, which funds regional transportation projects,
community facilities and infrastructure for planned and proposed development. Continue to participate in the West Contra Costa County Subregional Transportation Mitigation Program (STMP) community facilities and infrastructure for planned and proposed development.
Below is the text of a proposed resolution of the Richmond City Council to support a BART study on a possible extension of service to West Contra Costa County north of El Cerrito and Richmond
WHEREAS, the communities of West Contra Costa County have paid into the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) for more than forty (40) years and not benefited wholly from BART services; and
WHEREAS, West Contra Costa County is the densest sub-region of Contra Costa County; and
WHEREAS, the West Contra Costa County sub-region has the highest count and share of local residents who are low-income and/or transit-dependent in Contra Costa County; and
WHEREAS, the Interstate 80 corridor has been rated the most-congested travel corridor in the San Francisco Bay Area region for more than a decade by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC); and
WHEREAS, more than 14,000 cumulative hours are wasted in traffic each weekday on Interstate 80 between Crockett and the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge; and
WHEREAS, it is projected that by 2025, 68% of the West Contra Costa County working community will commute to locations outside of West Contra Costa County and 60% of those commuters will commute to destinations in Berkeley, Oakland, or San Francisco; and
WHEREAS, with more than 8,000 average weekday riders, the El Cerrito del Norte BART station is the most-congested regional transfer station in the BART network and second most-congested home origin station of the East Bay; and
WHEREAS, nearly 60% of the riders at the El Cerrito del Norte BART station live north of both El Cerrito and Richmond; and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the council of the City of Richmond, California finds that the existing public transit infrastructure that serves West Contra Costa County commuters is insufficient at meeting both existing and future travel needs.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the council of the City of Richmond, California provides its support and approval of a wBART study for a BART or alternative rail extension from the Richmond station as the preferred option that may serve the communities of San Pablo, Richmond's Hilltop, Pinole, and Hercules.


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Suffragettes in the Silent Cinema
A Film by
Kay Sloan
2003, 35 minutes, Color/BW, DVD
Order No. W09964
In the days before movies could talk, silent films spoke clearly of sexual politics, and in
Suffragettes in the Silent Cinema
, historian and writer Kay Sloan has assembled rare and wonderful footage that opens a historic window onto how women�s suffrage was represented in early American cinema.
Taking advantage of the powerful new medium, early filmmakers on both sides of the contentious issue of suffrage used film to create powerful propaganda and images about women.
Suffragettes in the Silent Cinema
contains clips from many films from the era, including:
A Lively Affair
A Busy Day
(1914), which stars a young Charlie Chaplin in drag portraying a suffragist; and the pro-suffragist film,
What 80 Million Women Want
(1913), which includes an eloquent speech from president of the Women�s Political Union, Harriet Stanton Blatch.
Silent films may have passed into history, and their representations of feminists abandoning babies or stealing bicycles to attend suffragette meetings may now seem outrageous, but the struggle for gender equality and the issues surrounding representations of women in the media remain as fascinating, engaging, and relevant as ever.
Miami Int'l Film Festival
Women in Resistance Film Festival, Paris
Women's Film Festival, Barcelona
Pordenone Silent Film Festival, Venice
Filmor Int'l Women's Film Festival, Istanbul
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�Very useful in illuminating the social and media context in which the women�s suffrage movement was active... [and] helps viewers consider connections to how women are treated by the media today.�
Eleanor Whitney
Academic Programs Coord., Brooklyn Museum
�This film won me over. Has archival value for identifying and compiling the surviving footage, and good commentary. I see a place for this in a women�s studies or film unit on representation.�
Joyce Follet
Sophia Smith�s Women�s History Collection, Smith College
�Not only does [it] breathe new life into an art form that barely even exists, but it encapsulates a very definitive time period in which women were working hard to liberate themselves.�
Michelle Groene
City Beat
�Wonderfully captures the passions and cruel prejudices that fueled the debates surrounding the struggle of American women and their male allies to win the vote, while also supplying the historical highlights that led to the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment.�
Louise W. Knight
Author, �Citizen: Jane Addams and the Struggle for Democracy
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Suffragettes in the Silent Cinema
is included in the following Special Collections.
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Girl From God�s Country: The History of Women in Film and Other War Stories
Golden Gate Girls
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Q&A With Kay Sloan
RESOURCE: Scholastic Teacher Resources on Women�s Suffrage
Student activities age appropriate for children in grades 1-8.
RESOURCE: ��Votes for Women Suffrage Pictures, 1850-1920,� Library of Congress
A database of photographs and political cartoons produced during the Women�s Suffrage Movement in the United States
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JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Jan. 27, 2014) – The Atlantic Sun Conference office announced Monday that senior forward Kinard Gadsden-Gilliard (Georgetown, S.C.) has been named the league's player of the week.
Gadsden-Gilliard, who produced two solid performances in wins over North Florida and Jacksonville, averaged 18 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game for the week. More importantly, KGG hit the game-winning shot with nine seconds remaining to push ETSU to 4-4 in league play and 11-10 overall.
This is the first career A-Sun POTW honor for Gadsden-Gilliard, who scored 19 points in the win over North Florida and 17 in the victory over Jacksonville. For the week, he shot an efficient 13-of-24 (54.2 percent) from the field, and an even more impressive 5-of-6 (83 percent) from 3-point range.
Gadsden-Gilliard and the Bucs will be back in action again Thursday for the third game of their current five-game home stretch when they take on Mercer inside the ETSU/MSHA Athletic Center at 7 p.m. For more on ETSU men's hoops throughout the year, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the men's hoops link.


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Streaking Seattle tangles with Galaxy
Carson, CA – Seattle Sounders FC bring a six-match unbeaten streak into its showdown at the Los Angeles Galaxy on Sunday in a rematch of last season's Western Conference final.
The Galaxy downed Seattle, 4-2, on aggregate, including a 3-0 win over the Sounders in the first leg at The Home Depot Center.
But the two sides are at opposite ends of the form table ahead of the match, with the Galaxy having lost three of its last four games.
The Sounders have overcome their early-season struggles by winning three straight games by a combined score of 9-2, including a 4-2 victory over Western Conference leaders FC Dallas last weekend.
"We wouldn't be where we are right now if we didn't want to play the best and be the best. We couldn't have asked for a better team, who's been hot all year, to come here and really challenge us as a team and see where we are," said Seattle forward Eddie Johnson following Saturday's victory. "We showed our true character. We really put them on our terms from start to finish, and when we got our chances in the second half, we put them away."
The improved results for Seattle are due in part to a sudden surge in offensive production. But head coach Sigi Schmid believes that the competition level in training has played a big part.
"Guys have put in the work, guys have believed in themselves. The competition level with guys getting healthy has made for more competition in training, so everybody's game has increased as a result of that," Schmid said.
The Galaxy returns home after a three-game road trip that saw the side lose two of those three matches.
Head coach Bruce Arena was particularly upset with the 1-0 defeat at Red Bull New York last time out as the Galaxy lost the match to a stoppage-time goal from Tim Cahill.
On the play, Juninho swung a free kick into the penalty area that Arena felt should have been handled by goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini, who instead remained on his line and watched as Cahill headed home the decisive goal.
"That's not good. That play tonight can't happen," Arena told media at Red Bull Arena following the match. "That's 90 percent goalkeeper ball there.
"You saw that goal. We had plays the other way to get a goal, too. ... You have to make a play. They made a play, we didn't - that's the difference in the game. That game should be one point."
A Seattle win could see the club climb as high as fourth place in the conference, while the Galaxy needs a victory to stop its poor run of form as the club gets set to play four of its next five games away from home.


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Nokia continues to show its support for Windows Phone 7.x owners and has now announced a new release of City Lens for those who own a Lumia 710, 800 or 900. Version 1.5 is a public beta and will include a number of new technologies and features, including the recently unveiled LiveSight, a technology based on a highly accurate 3D map of the world.
The beauty of this beta is that owners of previous generation hardware actually have early access to the new solution, even before those with a new Lumia 820 or Lumia 920. So what's new in the 1.5 beta?
The current version of City Lens displays all placed nearby, even those around a corner or some distance away. It's a useful service that many of us have come to love when checking out new places of interest. The new Sightline feature enables the owner to switch the view to only show what's in direct line of sight, limiting the congestion of information (this functionality is only available in supported areas).
Should you locate a point of interest and wish to view more information, it's now possible to tap on the label to have more details displayed - a further tap reveals complete information of that particularly place. It's functionality like this that makes City Lens easier to use while walking around an unfamiliar location. Freezing the view enables users to not have to hold their Windows Phone out in front of them throughout.
In the new version, users can also pin not only categories to the start screen, but favourite searches as well. Pretty neat, eh? Be sure to head on over to the Nokia Beta Labs to download the latest version of City Lens for your Lumia 800, 900 or 710 windows Phones.
Source: Nokia Beta Labs, via: Nokia Conversations


text:
PardonServicesCanada needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 201 designs submitted by 69 freelance designers.
We are looking for a logo that summons up the brand values of Pardon Services Canada. We are the longest-standing pardon service company in Canada, and we have helped thousands of Canadians clear their criminal records with quick, effective results and fearless defense. We have proven our worth time and again, winning many battles since 1989.
We are the most accurate, the most efficient and the most precise of all the pardon service companies in Canada. We fight tirelessly, always, to ensure that our clients are righteously defended.
Pardon Services Canada
We need a logo that reflects our values as a quick and accurate crusader for justice. To learn more about the company go to http://www.pardonservicescanada.com, however, we are revamping the entire look, so don't base your work on our current design.
The logo should include the name, "Pardon Services Canada" as well as "Est. 1989" or "established 1989." We are looking for something professional, yet not as cold as a traditional law firm. The logo should be as simple as possible, yet striking and original. Credibility, integrity and courage are our hallmarks.
We don't want to come across as too generic, boring, or soft.
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


text:
Starting MSRP from * $34,700
Houston, TX Chevrolet Silverado 3500HD
Davis Chevrolet boasts a large stock of the Chevrolet Silverado 3500HD in Houston, TX for you to look at. If you are looking for a new 2018 Silverado 3500HD, our Houston Chevrolet showroom is a great place to begin your search. You will find any specific information regarding Chevrolet Silverado 3500HD specials that we may be showcasing, as well as our current inventory, vehicle specs and much more.
Houston New 2018 Chevrolet Silverado 3500HD
Chevrolet vehicles are famous for their incredible performance, stability and all-around good value. While it is tough to make a mistake with any one of the new 2018 Chevrolet models, the Chevrolet Silverado 3500HD really is a special automobile we're certain you will enjoy. Feel free to contact us anytime at (866) 606-0780 to organize a test drive or come see the inventory at our showroom in person. Davis Chevrolet also has a friendly auto loan department to help you get in the automobile you are looking for at your neighborhood Houston, TX Chevrolet dealership. We hope to see you soon!


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(CNN) -- Canadian singing sensation Justin Bieber was left shaken but unhurt after an overenthusiastic fan jumped on stage during his concert in Dubai and attempted to grab him mid song.
The gig had already caused controversy among fans after Bieber arrived on stage two hours late.
The incident, the latest of a slew of controversies on the singer's "Believe" tour, sparked a buzz on social media sites, with his fans, or 'Beliebers', rushing to check their idol was safe.
CNN looked at social media sites to see what happened and how fans, detractors, and the teen superstar himself, responded.
Mobile users, click here to see the Storify.


text:
With advent season beginning yesterday, commenter Fontane couldn't have picked a better time for the annual plea that someone, anyone, finish the Advent Rising saga.
There is nothing, and I mean nothing, I wouldn't give to see the rest of this trilogy.
About Speak Up on Kotaku: Our readers have a lot to say, and sometimes what they have to say has nothing to do with the stories we run. That's why we have a forum on Kotaku called Speak Up. That's the place to post anecdotes, photos, game tips and hints, and anything you want to share with Kotaku at large. Every weekday we'll pull one of the best Speak Up posts we can find and highlight it here.


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Apparently Silver Lake's cachet knows no boundaries. A sign reading "Coming Soon Silver Lake Juice Bar" has appeared on a Hillhurst Avenue storefront in Los Feliz. The new juice bar, which is an outpost of Silver Lake Juice & Tea in Silver Lake, is the most recent example of how the neighborhood's name has been stamped on businesses far outside its generally recognized boundaries. For example, in Echo Park, there is the Silver Lake Medical Center, which rises above the 101 Freeway (the hospital refers to this as its "downtown campus." Meanwhile, anyone who wants to attend classes at Bikram Yoga Silverlake will have to travel to Atwater Village.
In fact, the Silver Lake brand is being exported to Orange County. That's where Silver Lake Juice Bar plans to open it's third location in Newport Beach.


text: At the Republican National Convention, politicians and power brokers will descend on security-ringed conference centers to jockey for control of their party, and then campaign for control of this country. Pacifica Radio and KPFA will bring you UNconventional coverage —asking politicians questions they don't get from other media, broadcasting voices from the protests outside, and, of course, bringing our own analysts onto the microphones to dissect the platforms and speeches. Hosted by Mitch Jeseritch and Sonali Kolhatkar; with Larry Bensky and Davey D.


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The Smashwords Style Guide
By Mark Coker
rev 9.24.14
Copyright Mark Coker 2008-2014
Smashwords Edition License Notes:
This free ebook may be copied, distributed, reposted, reprinted and shared, provided it appears in its entirety without alteration, and the reader is not charged to access it.
Also by Mark Coker, Published at Smashwords:
Smashwords Book Marketing Guide (how to market any book)
The Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success (ebook publishing best practices)
The 10-Minute PR Checklist - Earn the Publicity You Deserve (PR strategy for entrepreneurs)
Boob Tube (novel about soap operas)
What Smashwords publishes, what we don't publish
How to distribute books with Smashwords
How ebook formatting is different from print formatting
Introduction to Meatgrinder: How we convert your book into multiple ebook formats
Understanding the different ebook formats
The beauty and utility of simplicity
AutoVetter helps identify common formatting errors
Step 1: Make a back up
Step 2: Activate Word's Show/Hide
Step 3: Turn off Word's "AutoCorrect" and "AutoFormat" features
Step 4: Turn off Track Changes
Step 5: The Nuclear Method
Step 6: Hug a loved one
Step 7: Managing and modifying paragraph styles, fonts
Step 7a. How to choose the best paragraph separation method (first line indent or block?)
Step 7b: How to implement your chosen paragraph separation method
Step 7b-a: How to define a proper first line indent
Step 7b-b: How to define trailing "after" space for block paragraphs
Step 7b-c: Special tips for poetry, cookbooks and learning materials
Step 7b-d: How to define proper line spacing
Step 7b-e: Managing font color
Step 8: Check your normalized text
Step 9: How to automate the removal of tabs and space bar spaces
Step 10: Managing paragraph returns
Step 11: Managing external hyperlinks
Step 12: Designating chapter breaks, page breaks, section breaks
Step 13: Working with images
Step 14: Text justification
Step 14a: Centering text
Step 15: Managing font sizes
Step 16: Style formatting, symbols and glyphs
Step 17: Headers and footers
Step 18: Margins, page sizes and indents
Step 19: Add the Heading style to your Chapter headers (optional)
Building Navigation
Step 20: Building navigation into the manuscript
Step 20a: Creating the NCX
Step 20b: Creating the linked Table of Contents
Step 20c: Advanced link building (Footnotes, Endnotes)
Step 20d: Troubleshooting and testing
Front Matter
Step 21: Front matter
Step 21a: Blurbs (optional)
Step 21b: Title and copyright page (required!)
Step 21c: Add a Smashwords license statement below copyright page
The End of Your Book
Step 22: The end of your book
Step 23: Preparing your cover image
Step 24: Review requirements for Premium Catalog distribution
Uploading Your Book to Smashwords
Step 25: How to upload your book
Step 26: How AutoVetter works
Step 27: After you publish – check your work
Step 27a: Check for EPUBCHECK compliance (important!)
Distributing Your Book with Smashwords
Step 28: How Smashwords distribution works
How to Market Your Book
Step 29: Read the Smashwords Book Marketing Guide (how to market any book)
Step 30: Read the Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success (best-practices of successful authors)
Step 31: Watch our video workshops on YouTube
Welcome to Smashwords!
Welcome. If you're not familiar with Smashwords, a quick introduction is in order.
I founded Smashwords in 2008 to makes it fast, free and easy for every writer to professionally publish and distribute an ebook.
Today, Smashwords is the world's largest distributor of ebooks for self-published authors and small independent presses. We deliver books to major ebook retailers including Apple iBooks, Barnes & Noble, Scribd, Oyster and Kobo. In 2013, Smashwords authors sold over $30 million worth of books at retail. Every year, our books touch millions of readers thanks to our ever-growing global retail and library distribution network.
We give you the tools to publish with pride and professionalism.
This Smashwords Style Guide is one such tool. In the last six years, this guide has helped over 100,000 authors and publishers around the world release over 300,000 high-quality ebooks through Smashwords.
Don't be intimidated by the length of this guide. It has a lot of pictures.
The Style Guide is written for non-technical readers. No prior experience is assumed or required. I present simple, step-by-step instructions to help you produce a professional-quality ebook that meets the requirements of major ebook retailers. All you need is a word processor, preferably Microsoft Word, and the patience to follow step-by-step.
Like everything in life, ebook formatting is easy once you know how. I'll show you how.
Smashwords accepts manuscripts in two forms, either as a Microsoft Word .doc file or as an .epub. Here's how to choose the best option:
Word .doc - We recommend the Microsoft Word path as the best option for most fiction and narrative non-fiction authors because it's the easiest method to produce high-quality ebooks that are readable on any e-reading device. It will also generate your ebook in multiple ebook formats at the Smashwords store, making your book readable on any e-reading device. By using Microsoft Word, it's also easy to modify your book at any time.
Direct .epub upload – In 2012, we introduced a new upload option we call Smashwords Direct which allows authors and publishers to upload professionally designed .epub files. The Smashwords Direct option accommodates authors and publishers that don't use Microsoft Word in their publishing workflow, or those with complex books that require more sophisticated formatting and layout than is possible with Microsoft Word. Learn more about Smashwords Direct in this blog post - http://blog.smashwords.com/2012/12/smashwords-supports-epub-uploads-with.html or on our Smashwords Direct help page at https://www.smashwords.com/swdirect
Books formatted to the Smashwords Style Guide earn inclusion in the Smashwords Premium Catalog, which is the collection of books Smashwords distributes to major ebook retailers such as the Apple iBooks store (51 countries), Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Flipkart (India's largest online bookseller), Oyster, Scribd, OverDrive (sells ebooks to over 20,000 public libraries), Baker & Taylor (the Blio.com e-reading app and the Axis360 platform for public libraries) and new retailers coming soon. Your book will also be available as a multi-format ebook at our own fast-growing Smashwords store at Smashwords.com, where customers can pay one price and access your book in multiple formats such as .mobi for Kindle devices, PDF and .epub for all other devices.
Over 90% of our authors' sales come from our distribution network rather than the Smashwords store. This is why you want your book accepted into the Premium Catalog as quickly as possible. This Guide will show you how.
All you need to publish at Smashwords is a finished manuscript, a computer, an Internet connection, Microsoft Word or similar word processor (or, a professionally designed .epub file for the Smashwords Direct option), an ebook cover image, and the time and patience to follow this Guide. Patience is key. If you try to take short cuts and skip over the sections that follow, you'll frustrate yourself and delay distribution.
To learn some simple, time-saving keyboard tricks before you get started, see the Appendix at the end of this guide. If any terminology in this guide is confusing, check out our comprehensive e-publishing glossary of terms in the Smashwords FAQ at https://www.smashwords.com/about/supportfaq#glossary
Do-It-Yourself, or Hire Help? – If you don't have the time, patience or skills to properly format your book to Style Guide requirements, or you find yourself cursing and swearing (never good!), consider hiring a fellow Smashwords author to help you. I maintain a list called "Mark's List" with the names and contact information of several Smashwords authors who have volunteered to provide low-cost Smashwords Style Guide formatting services for around $40 and up. The list also includes low-cost cover designers ($40-$150). We offer the list as a public service. We don't earn a referral fee if you hire these freelancers. If you want a referral, you'll find the list at http://smashwords.com/list. Please note: you're hiring the freelancer, not Smashwords. By hiring them you will not receive preferential customer support or fast-tracked approval. However, because they're Smashwords formatting experts, they'll give you a clean file that will usually earn you Premium Catalog approval on the first attempt.
Formatting template – Here's a link to a Smashwords template file, for use with fiction and narrative non-fiction ebooks. http://bit.ly/SWebooktemplateV1 Once you click to the link, you can click "Download" to open the file in Microsoft Word and save it to your local computer.
The template above is somewhat unusual in that it contains extensive instructions. Consider it a companion resource to the Smashwords Style Guide. It's not a substitute for the Smashwords Style Guide.
In future updates to the Smashwords Style Guide I'll add more links as we build out a library of example files.
What Smashwords Publishes, What We Don't Publish
Smashwords is a professional publishing and distribution platform for serious writers.
Smashwords publishes only original and legal works, direct from the author or the exclusive digital publisher. We do not publish public domain books. We also don't publish incomplete or partial books, or books that appear elsewhere on the Internet under other authors' names, as is common with Private Label Rights scams. If you write erotica, all your characters must be adults 18 or over. And finally, we strongly discourage any book that advocates get-rich-quick "systems" for making money on the Internet. To publish at Smashwords, an author or publisher is simply required to abide by the Smashwords Terms of Service and follow the instructions in this Guide.
How to Distribute Books with Smashwords:
Smashwords is the world's largest distributor of ebooks from self-published authors and small independent presses. We're always working to open up new sales channels for our authors and publishers. The Smashwords distribution network includes major ebook stores and libraries, including Apple iBooks, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, FlipKart, Oyster, Scribd, OverDrive and Baker & Taylor Axis 360.
A significant advantage of formatting your book to the Style Guide and distributing through Smashwords is that you upload it once to Smashwords and then we take care of everything else. We'll produce the files and data necessary to support the unique requirements of each retailer, and we deliver everything to them per their requirements.
You'll centrally manage your ebook distribution through your Smashwords Dashboard. If you want to change the price, or upload a new version of your book, or update your cover image or book description, you do it once from your Dashboard and then we propagate the update out to all our retailers. You can update your book as often as you like, and all at no cost.
This centralized control is a major time-saver for our authors. We help you spend more time writing and less time hassling with distribution!
You'll also gain access to powerful sales, marketing and merchandising tools, many of which are only available to Smashwords authors and publishers. We're always working and innovating to give our authors and publishers a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
Once your book is accepted into the Smashwords Premium Catalog, it's ready for distribution across the Smashwords distribution network. To achieve Premium Catalog distribution, your book must satisfy higher mechanical standards required by the retailers such as having a quality book cover image, good formatting, a proper copyright page, and other requirements clearly outlined here in this Style Guide.
How Ebook Formatting is Different from Print Formatting
Before you embark on your ebook publishing adventure, it's helpful to understand the differences between print book formatting and ebook formatting.
With print books, you control the layout. Print is a fixed format. The words, fonts and images appear on the printed page exactly where you want them to appear.
Ebooks are different. Don't try to make your ebook look like an exact facsimile of a print book, otherwise you'll disappoint readers by creating a poorly formatted, unreadable ebook.
Ebooks are designed for "reflowability," which means your words and paragraphs will shape shift and reflow and look good on any screen size, whether it's a small iPhone or a larger iPad, Kindle, or personal computer screen. Reflowability enables your reader to customize the font sizes, fonts, and line spacing to suit their personal reading preference and device.
With print books, readers use page numbers to navigate. With ebooks, there is no "page." Ebooks use hyperlinks to navigate, and as you'll soon learn, this opens up exciting opportunities to make your words more accessible to readers.
In order to prepare your words to be stirred up and reconstituted in this digital soup, it's important your Smashwords source file is formatted to liberate the words in digital form. The Smashwords Style Guide will teach you how with our step-by-step instructions.
Introduction to Meatgrinder: How We Convert Your Book into Multiple Ebook Formats
We affectionately call our ebook conversion system Meatgrinder. Don't let the name intimidate you. Meatgrinder is your friend.
When you upload your manuscript to Smashwords as a Microsoft Word .doc document, Meatgrinder automatically converts it into multiple ebook file formats that make your book readable on any e-reading device, such as the Apple iPhone, iPod, iPod Touch, Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, Sony Reader, Kobo reader, Android smart phone, a computer screen or virtually any other device with a screen.
If you upload a properly formatted Word. doc, Meatgrinder will produce a professional-quality ebook for you. If you ignore the simple formatting instructions in the Smashwords Style Guide, Meatgrinder may turn your book into hamburger. Please follow the instructions! If you make a mistake, don't worry. You can always click "upload new version" from your Dashboard to instantly correct any errors.
The advantage of this automation, especially if you carefully format your book to the Style Guide, is that Meatgrinder will allow you to instantly publish a high-quality, multi-format ebook, ready to be enjoyed on any e-reading device. This automation also allows us to offer this conversion and publishing service at no cost to you. You can update your book at any time for free.
Meatgrinder creates reflowable ebooks that look great on any e-reading device. As I mentioned in the previous section, "reflowable" means that the text of your ebook will look great on any screen size. Reflowable books enable your customer to click a button and instantly enlarge the font size for more comfortable reading.
Meatgrinder does well with straight-form narrative, and narrative + images, so we excel at fiction, narrative non-fiction, poetry and other ebooks that are mostly words. Luckily, straight narrative comprises probably 90% of all ebooks purchased by readers. With some tweaks, flexibility and patience, Meatgrinder can also support most of the other 10%.
Meatgrinder supports custom styling, which helps you create professional-quality ebooks your readers will enjoy.
Smashwords supports pictures and images, but here ebooks – due to their reflowability – lack the precision of print on paper. With some Smashwords formats (such as plain text), page breaks will appear where you don't expect them. Images may not appear in the exact position you intended, or the print-quality image that looks great on glossy paper may not look so great on a black and white e-reading device, or on a small cell phone screen. In other words, you should expect that your ebook will look different from a print book. With patience, experimentation and an open mind, you can make it work.
Some format outputs have limitations. For example, a picture book or manga that's all images is impossible to convert into plain text (it wouldn't be a picture book anymore!).
Meatgrinder has some minor limitations. It doesn't support tables or columns, for example, and neither do most e-reading systems. It doesn't support dropcaps. We'll provide workarounds in this Guide, or you can upload a professionally designed .epub which can support these more sophisticated features.
In the meantime, the benefits of such minor compromises outweigh the downside. By giving up the control of fixed format print layout, you gain a lot with reflowability by making your book accessible to millions of potential readers across our ever-growing distribution network. If you follow this Style Guide, you'll learn how to make a professionally-formatted ebook that looks as good as or better than most ebooks from large publishers.
We care about quality, and you should too. If you ever hear an author or reader complain that their Smashwords book looked like [insert your favorite expletive], it means the author didn't follow the Style Guide. Please take the time to follow the guide. You've invested years – possibly even a lifetime – to write your masterpiece, so take 30 minutes or an hour to study the Guide start to finish and learn how easy it is to create a great-looking multi-format ebook that will make you and your readers proud.
Understanding the Different Ebook Formats
One of the important benefits of Smashwords is that we take your single file and convert it into multiple ebook formats. Why is this so important to the success of your book? Because readers read on many different devices, so the more formats you offer, the more books you'll sell.
You should publish your book into as many digital formats as possible (even if certain formats translate less well than others) because this expands your potential audience of readers. Review the outputs of each format for acceptability after you publish.
Here's a summary of the formats offered:
EPUB - This is your most important format! EPUB is an open industry ebook format. This is the format we distribute to Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Oyster, Scribd, and others. If your book is available in epub, it can be read on the most popular ebook readers and ebook reading software applications (Like iBooks or Bluefire on the iPhone or Aldiko on Android devices), and will gain the widest distribution via Smashwords' distribution outlets (EPUB is a requirement for inclusion in Smashwords' Premium Catalog, and it's what we distribute to every retailer except Amazon).
Mobipocket (Kindle) – Mobipocket, A.K.A. MOBI, allows your books to be read on the Amazon Kindle, so this is an important format for you. Mobipocket is supported on many handheld devices and e-reading applications. Mobipocket is a requirement for distribution to Amazon. Even if you already upload direct to Amazon, don't disable the .mobi format at Smashwords, because many customers enjoy purchasing .mobi books at Smashwords.
Palm Doc (PDB) - PalmDoc is a format primarily used on Palm Pilot devices, but software readers are available for PalmOS, Symbian OS, Windows Mobile Pocket PC/Smartphone, desktop Windows, and Macintosh. Be sure to turn off "smart quotes" in your source file, otherwise they may appear garbled in your PDB file. Our PDB is little more than ugly plain text.
PDF - Portable Document Format, or PDF, is a file format readable by most devices, including handheld e-readers, PDAs, and personal computers. It's a good format if your work contains complex layout, charts or images. Odds are, if your work looks good in Microsoft Word it will look good in PDF. PDF is also a good option for readers who may want to print out your book on their home computers. On the negative side, PDF is a rigid, inflexible format because it's not reflowable, so it's horrible for reading novels. Your customers can't easily change the font size or style to match their preferences, the text isn't reflowable, and the reader is forced to read page by page.
LRF - This is the old (mothballed) format for the Sony Reader. Sony later moved to the EPUB format, so LRF is less important than it once was, though it's still useful to users of the older generation Sony Readers.
RTF - Rich Text Format, or RTF, is a cross-platform document format supported by many word processors and devices. It is not efficient with lots of images. Meatgrinder has a bug which can cause the text in the RTF to appear as SMALL CAPS. Smashwords plans to discontinue the RTF format before the end of 2014.
Plain Text - Plain text is the most widely supported file format. It works on nearly all readers and devices. It lacks formatting, but will work anywhere. For best results with plain text, your source document should not contain images or fancy formatting.
HTML SmashReader – This is our online reader that allows customers to sample or read your book from their web browser. Your sample pages will be indexed by Google, which will increase the ability for potential customers to find your book, even if they didn't know your book is what they were looking for. Think of it as serendipity on steroids. If your book looks good in our HTML reader, it will probably also look good in EPUB and MOBI. Linked tables of contents (ToCs) don't work in the HTML reader.
More options coming - In the future, we'll add support for other formats based on author requests. If there's a particular format you want, drop us a note.
The Beauty and Utility of Simplicity
The secret to ebook formatting success is "Keep it Simple!" Unnecessarily complex formatting or layout will hinder the readability of your ebook.
Remember that readers will read your book for the magic of your words. You want your formatting and styling to make your words more accessible to the reader.
Simplicity doesn't mean you must format your book as plain text or make it "dumb" or "lacking styling" As you'll learn in the sections that follow, Smashwords supports sophisticated, customizing styling, but like all good things in life, you should use styling in moderation. Although we'll show you how to apply custom paragraph styling, try to minimize the number of styles, because too many styles can make your text appear busy. If your current formatting includes more than five or ten custom paragraph styles, you're asking for trouble. I'll teach you more about styling options in Step 7.
AutoVetter Helps You Identify Common Formatting Errors:
AutoVetter is your friend.
AutoVetter is our automated formatting checker that inspects your book the moment you upload it. AutoVetter provides you instant feedback regarding potential formatting problems. If you get AutoVetter messages, don't despair! They're easy to fix.
The AutoVetter messages will be reported to you on your publish confirmation page (the page that appears after your Meatgrinder conversion completes), and also at the top of your book page and in a publish-confirmation email. You can also access the AutoVetter messages from your Dashboard after you publish, underneath the "Premium Status" column. If the Dashboard link reads, "requires modification," click the link.
Once you learn of an AutoVetter error, fix it immediately. Otherwise, the errors will prevent or delay your book's acceptance into the Smashwords Premium Catalog which will prevent distribution. Once you fix the issue, go to your Dashboard and click the "upload new version" link.
The following errors may prevent your book from gaining inclusion in the Premium Catalog:
- more than 4 consecutive paragraph returns in a row (creates blank ebook pages)
- tabs (eliminate all tabs, which you created by hitting the "Tab" key)
- indents made with space bar spaces or tabs (a common bad habit of all authors)
- exotic fonts (instead, stick with Times New Roman, Garamond and Arial)
- large font sizes (11 or 12pt is best, 14pt is a recommended maximum)
- text in columns (we don't support columns)
- text in tables (ebooks don't handle tables. Import tables as images)
- text in text boxes (Ugh, the horror! We don't support text boxes. Use the nuclear method, explained a little later, to reliably eliminate text boxes.)
- multiple conflicting paragraph styles for your body (for example, don't mix Normal style with Body Text style)
- automatic footnotes (not supported, may cause the conversion to fail)
- text wrapped around floating images (instead, right mouse click on image, click Format Picture: Advanced: In Line with Text, then use Word's center button to center)
- and finally, to avoid the copyright error, carefully follow tip 21b below
Your source file is the file you'll upload to Smashwords for conversion and distribution. This section summarizes how you can get your manuscript into a format ready for upload to Smashwords.
Word .doc Files: This is the recommend option, and the most popular option selected by Smashwords authors. The remainder of this Smashwords Style Guide provides instructions on how to format your book as a Microsoft Word .doc file.
.Epub files: Smashwords accepts .epub files (version 2, not .epub3), provided the file passes the EpubCheck validation system at http://validator.idpf.org/ To learn more about Smashwords Direct, our direct .epub upload feature, visit https://www.smashwords.com/swdirect
InDesign Source Files: InDesign is a common layout application used by professional print book designers and publishers. Smashwords does not accept InDesign files. However, InDesign will allow you to export your manuscript to the .epub format, and you can upload this to Smashwords if it's formatted to the Style Guide. Also from InDesign, you can export your book to the .RTF format. Once it's in RTF format, you can reopen the file in Microsoft Word, save it as a Word .doc, and then follow the Nuclear Method to clean up all the gunk InDesign creates in your RTF. With the Nuclear Method, you open your file in Word, copy and paste it into Windows Notepad (or some other simple text editor that strips out all formatting), close Microsoft Word, then reopen Word to a fresh new Word document, then copy and paste the book from Notepad back into Word, and then carefully re-apply the minimal necessary formatting by following the Style Guide.
PDF Source Files (Not allowed): You cannot upload a source file as a PDF. If you only have your book in PDF form, here's a free online service that will convert your PDF into a Word doc: http://www.pdftoword.com/ You upload your PDF to them and then they email it to you as a Word file. But be warned, the output it gives you will *not* be ready to publish on Smashwords. You will still need to perform clean-up. To save time, you're better off contacting whoever converted your original manuscript into PDF and ask them to forward you the original source file, saved as either a Word .doc or .RTF file.
If You Only Have a Print Book: Many authors only have print copies of their books. How do you bring your book to life as an ebook? It's easier than you might think. Consider this cool service called Blue Leaf Book Scanning, which uses optical character recognition technology to convert your book back into digital form. For around $25.00, they will scan your print book and send it to you as a Microsoft Word file. I've seen the raw files they produce, and they're remarkably accurate. However, the service is not infallible. The Word file they send you will still require careful proofing, editing and reformatting. http://www.blueleaf-book-scanning.com/book_scanning_service_order.html
Final Draft files: If you're a screenwriter, scriptwriter and playwright and you work in a program called Final Draft, save your document as an RTF file (however, you will need to manually correct the margins), and then open it in Word, save it as a Word .doc, and clean up from there.
HTML Source Files: If you only have your source file as an HTML file, follow these instructions: 1. Open the HTML document in a browser. 2. Copy and paste the entire document into a new Word doc by clicking "Edit: paste special" within the Word menu, then selecting "unformatted text" as the output. 3. From here, you'll find that you've got a consistent number of spaces, such as four spaces, making up your indents. This won't work, so do a CTRL+H (press the CTRL key and the H key at the same time) search and replace and search for ^p space space space space (the "^p" symbol for a paragraph return followed by four taps on the space bar) and replace with only ^p. This will eliminate the leading spaces at the beginning of each paragraph. 4. Next, CTRL+A the document, right mouse click, click paragraph, and then under "special" do a first line paragraph indent of .25". 5. Next, clean up the remaining minor issues, like manually removing the indents from your title and copyright pages, and, using Word's center button, center those sections.
Q: How long will it take for me to format my book for Smashwords?
This depends on your knowledge of Microsoft Word. Most authors, if they take the time to carefully study and implement the Style Guide, can successfully complete their formatting in under two or three hours. Most experienced Smashwords authors can complete a book in under one hour. Novels are the easiest to format. If you decide to skip the Style Guide because you already have decades of experience in publishing, then you'll frustrate yourself and waste time. The Style Guide has a lot of pictures to help guide even computer novices down the path to formatting success, and it'll save you money in the process. We created Smashwords so you shouldn't have to pay anyone a penny to publish. However, if you don't have the time, skills, or patience to follow the instructions, and you'd rather hire someone to help you, see "Mark's List" of low cost formatters (fellow Smashwords authors) at http://www.smashwords.com/list, who for around $40 to $100 can professionally format your book.
Q: Do you distribute to Amazon?
Yes, but only for a limited subset of our authors. If your book earns over $2,000 in sales at Smashwords and our retailers, you can request distribution to Amazon by contacting our support team via the "support" link you'll find at the bottom of any Smashwords page. Learn more at http://smashwords.com/distribution
Q: Some retailers allow direct author uploads. Why should I use Smashwords?
Great question! The simplest, shortest answer is that we save you time. We help you spend more time writing and less time fussing with the management of multiple upload platforms. If you want to update your price or cover image or fix a typo, you do it once at Smashwords and we distribute the update to all the retailers. We make it easier to manage multiple books. We provide consolidated sales and tax reporting. All big time-savers. Your writing is what makes you unique. It's your unique contribution to the world. We think the more time writers spend writing, more the successful they'll be. We're always working to give Smashwords authors a competitive advantage in the marketplace with exclusive tools, and we're always sharing cutting-edge best practices knowledge that will help you publish more professionally and successfully. We think over the long term, authors who partner with Smashwords will be more successful than those who don't.
Q: Can you share time-saving tips?
Yes! You've already taken the first step, which is to read this Style Guide. It will save you a lot of time, prevent frustration and help you get your book distributed more quickly. Other tips: 1. Jump down to my Keyboard Shortcuts section in the Appendix if you want a quick refresher on some keyboard tricks that will save you time and reduce errors. 2. Follow the Style Guide's steps in sequential order. Don't skip any steps. 3. Take a look at my sample template file at http://bit.ly/SWebooktemplateV1. 4. Use Microsoft Word because you'll get the best, most predictable results. 5. If your book has been touched by multiple word processors during the writing, revision and editing, consider using the Nuclear Method below to clear out the formatting gunk and start fresh because these other programs have a habit of introducing hidden corruption into your file.
Q: How many books will I sell, and how do you pay me?
Any book, ebook or print, is difficult to sell. Some Smashwords authors haven't sold a single book. Others sell thousands of copies each day. The latter group is not the norm, so you should keep your sales expectations modest. Read the free Smashwords Book Marketing Guide to understand what we do to help you sell your book, and what you can do for yourself. Also read The Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success (also FREE!) to learn the best practices of the most commercially successful Smashwords authors. You are responsible for writing a book that resonates with readers, and for marketing that book. Our responsibility is to help you get your book published and distributed. Over 90 percent of your sales will come from Smashwords' rapidly expanding network of ebook retailers, thus the urgency for you to follow the Style Guide so we can quickly distribute your book. All your sales originating at Smashwords.com, our small retail operation, will be reported instantly to you. Our Daily Sales feature will give you same-day sales results from Barnes & Noble and next-day reports from Apple iBooks, Kobo and OverDrive . Learn more about how Smashwords royalties are calculated and paid by reading our Royalty FAQ.
Q: What types of books are most difficult to format for Smashwords?
The most challenging books at Smashwords include large-format coffee table photo books, and picture books for children where the words are embedded in the image. Smashwords ebooks are designed for reflowability, so they can be enjoyed on screens large and small. Large format pictures, or tiny text embedded in images do not read well on small screens. With some special care, you can modify most types of books to work well on Smashwords. For children's picture books, for example, liberate the text from the image so the text can become reflowable.
Q: Can I upload a work in progress?
No. Smashwords is only for books that are complete and ready for public consumption.
Q: Can I upload only a sample chapter or two?
No. We only publish complete books. If your story doesn't represent a complete reading experience, you can't publish it at Smashwords, because our customers expect a complete story. However, when you upload your complete book, you can designate a certain percentage of the book, starting from the word one, which we will make available as a free sample.
Q: Can I upload public domain books?
No. We do not publish public domain books.
Q: Can I upload "Private Label Rights" articles to Smashwords?
No, never. We have a zero tolerance policy on PLR. It's a violation of our terms of service for anyone to upload it to Smashwords. If you're not familiar with PLR, it's generic content that is licensed and republished by multiple people. I consider PLR a scam. I wrote about PLR for Writer Beware at http://accrispin.blogspot.com/2010/03/guest-blog-post-scam-of-private-label.html If we discover someone has uploaded PLR content, or content that originated from PLR source material, or PLR that was later modified using "article spinners" to evade PLR detection systems, we will close their account without warning and they'll forfeit all earnings. If you're not the original author of the book, or you're not the exclusive distributor or publisher, we cannot publish the work.
Q: Can I take my Smashwords ebook conversions and sell them elsewhere?
We ask that you don't do this. Why? Our free conversion services, for which we have invested significant resources to build and continually improve, are provided to Smashwords authors and publishers as a free benefit of our ebook distribution services. It's bad karma to take the files we create and upload or sell them elsewhere. Just as you're trusting readers to honor your copyright, we trust our authors to respect our terms of service. Of course, you can do anything you want with the Microsoft Word source file you create.
Q: Do I put my cover image in the manuscript file?
If you're uploading a direct .epub using our Smashwords Direct feature, it should have the cover image inside the .epub file. If you're uploading a Word .doc file, it's best to not include your cover image inside the manuscript because Meatgrinder will automatically insert your cover into your EPUB and MOBI formats. If you want the image in the PDF and RTF formats, you can import it into the top of your Word file. The downside of doing this, however, is that this will cause your cover image to appear twice in your EPUB and MOBI versions.
Q: Do you edit my book prior to publishing?
No. It is your responsibility to upload a completed, professionally written, edited and proofread book.
Q: How important is it that my book has been proofread and copy edited?
Extremely important! Don't publish your book at Smashwords until it has been thoroughly proofread for grammar, spelling and typos. One of the biggest criticisms leveled against self-published authors is that their work is not professional quality. Don't perpetuate this stereotype. Take pride in your work and invest the necessary effort to have others proofread and copyedit your book prior to publishing it on Smashwords or anywhere else. Your readers will thank you and your book will be more successful.
Q: Will Smashwords format my book to make it look perfect?
No. If we did that, our service would not be free. Our technology is completely automated. We provide you the free tools, and the knowledge to use them. All file conversions are automated by our Meatgrinder file conversion system.
Q: Does Smashwords provide professional formatting and text design services?
Smashwords does not provide paid services of any kind. This guide provides guidance on how to prepare your book for quality ebook conversion through Meatgrinder. If you decide you require assistance visit http://smashwords.com/list to obtain my list of low-cost formatters and cover designers.
Q: I've already formatted my book perfectly into separate versions for PDF, EPUB, Mobi and others. Can I just upload my books and bypass the Meatgrinder?
At present, we only accept Word .doc and .epub. In the future, our Smashwords Direct feature may add support for direct uploads of Mobi and PDF, and possibly other formats.
Q: Can I use "drop caps" at the beginning of a paragraph or chapter?
A drop cap is the large initial capped letter you may see in the first paragraph of a chapter in a print book. A drop cap usually extends down two or three lines. If you're uploading a professional quality .epub file with drop caps, then you can use them. If you're uploading a Word .doc, you cannot use drop caps, so eliminate all usage of them. A common and attractive alternative to drop caps used by many Smashwords authors is to make the first letter of the first paragraph of a chapter a slightly larger font size, and bold.
Q: Will my finished Smashwords digital book look like my original print manuscript?
Often, it will look different. It's dangerous to try to make your ebook look like an exact carbon copy of your print book. You want your ebook to be reflowable, which means it'll read well on any device or screen size. If you carefully follow the Style Guide, you'll get good results.
Q: I don't use Microsoft Word. Can I still publish on Smashwords?
Yes, though Microsoft Word is your best option. If you want to ensure the best results for your ebook, and you don't use Microsoft Word, consider investing in a copy. You can usually find it for around $150 or less. Word will give you the greatest control over your formatting by allowing you to follow the Smashwords Style Guide. If your time is valuable to you, and you plan to publish multiple ebooks with Smashwords, Word is a good investment. If you've already got an older version of Word, that's great. You don't need the newest.
If your word processing software allows you to save a file as a Microsoft Word .doc file, then it might work for you. There are numerous free Word processors that emulate Microsoft Word or will convert files into Microsoft Word format, but keep in mind they'll make formatting more difficult, they might introduce corruption into your Word document, and we can't coach you on how to use them. One free option popular with many Smashwords authors is Open Office (http://www.openoffice.org/), which is available for the PC, Mac and other platforms. You can also use Apple Pages to output a Word .doc file. We do not recommend WordPerfect because it caused our authors headaches, which causes us headaches (see next question).
Q. I use WordPerfect. Can I save my manuscript as a Word .doc or .RTF and upload it?
Smashwords authors who try to convert their WordPerfect files into Microsoft Word .doc format are often frustrated beyond belief. Based on our experience, WordPerfect does not reliably export to Word .doc or RTF. It inserts tabs instead of proper first line paragraph indents, and it introduces corrupted data and strange control characters. If you use WordPerfect, we recommend saving your file as plain text, and then reopening it in Microsoft Word. Next, follow the recommendations in this Style Guide for the Nuclear Method before reformatting with Word.
Q. Is there a maximum size file I can upload?
Yes. The source file you upload must be smaller than 10 megabytes. If your file is larger, it usually means it contains large images, or multiple images. For essential images, reduce the file sizes (see the next tip for how to do this). If you're unable to optimize the file sizes of the images, consider if each image is really necessary. If you're using images for chapter headings or similar artistic flourishes, for example, remove them and replace them with text.
Q. How do I reduce the file size of my images?
First, if your file is an RTF, save it as a Word .doc. Word .doc files handle images much more efficiently. If you're using Microsoft Word 2003 or later, Word has a GREAT feature that will compress your images without visibly harming quality. Just right mouse click on any image in the document, select format picture, then under the picture tab in the lower left hand corner you'll see a link for "compress". This will compress many images 80% or more. You can also use a photo editing tool such as Photoshop, or a free utility such as Paint.net at http://www.getpaint.net/ or Picasa by Google at http://picasa.google.com/. Please note: It doesn't impact the file size to simply click the corner of an image and drag it inward. If you want to reduce the height or width of an image, it's always best to do that outside of Word, and then re-insert the corrected image.
Q. What's the best way to format poetry?
For best results, present your poetry flush left, or, if it's meant to be centered, centered by defining the centering in your paragraph style (See Step 7 for how to manage styles or to create custom styles). Don't use indents to arrange the text on the page, because the indents could cause your poems to appear too far to the right of the screen (or worse, word-wrapped) on small-screened devices. This is why we suggest flush left. For additional poetry tips, see our special poetry tips section (Step 7b-c) in this Style Guide.
Q. Does Smashwords support preorders?
Yes! In July 2013, we announced preorder distribution to Apple, Barnes & Noble and Kobo. Preorders allow readers to reserve a book before it's available for sale. On the day the book goes onsale, the customer's credit card is charged. At Apple, Barnes & Noble and Kobo, orders accumulated during the preorder period credit all at once on the day the book goes onsale, causing your book to spike in the bestseller lists. A preorder also allows you to market your book in advance of its availability, which helps you capture orders at the moment you have the reader's attention and interest. Multiple Smashwords authors have used preorders to hit the top 10 bestseller lists, and even to hit the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists. But you don't need to achieve bestsellerdom to benefit from preorders. Preorders give your book an incremental advantage in the marketplace, and are proven to help authors sell more books than they would have otherwise sold without the preorder. Visit http://smashwords.com/preorder to learn strategies for doing a successful preorder.
Q. Should I worry about piracy?
No. The biggest risk faced by every author and publisher is obscurity, not piracy. If you price your ebook reasonably, and you make your book available for purchase at as many retailers as possible, it'll be easier for readers to purchase a legal copy than it is to obtain an illegal copy. On the off chance a fan gives your book to a friend and tells them to read it, consider it the most powerful form of low-cost marketing. That new fan will seek out and purchase your other books. Books live and die based on reader word of mouth. The most successful authors don't limit their book's distribution for fear of piracy. Some best-selling authors are even known to upload their own books to pirate sites, simply because they view pirating as cheap marketing.
Q. [Advanced] How do I eliminate Word's Indexing Field Codes?
Smashwords does not support indexing, so if your source document uses Word's field code for indexed words or phrases, you'll want to eliminate the field codes before you upload to Smashwords. The field codes become visible when you activate Word's "show/hide" command (as we mention below, you NEED to activate "show/hide" to expose your hidden formatting). Although you could strip them out manually, it would take hours and will introduce errors. Here's a quick tip that takes only seconds: See our Keyboard Shortcuts section learn how to use Word's "Find and Replace" feature (type CTRL+H) and then in the find field enter ^d xe ^? and leave the 'replace with' field empty. Then click 'replace all'. Below is an image of what the indexing field codes look like.
Before you upload your book to Smashwords, follow the steps below to ensure proper formatting of your book. The first steps focus on making Word behave.
A note about all the different versions of Word: You can use any version of Microsoft Word, even the old versions like Word 2000 (my personal favorite), Word 2003 (I like this one too), Word 2007 (Steep learning curve, but a great program once you learn it), and the newer ones such as Word 2010 (nearly identical to Word 2007). Luckily, although the user interface changes (tell me, Microsoft, why do you make Word more difficult to use with every version?), the inner guts of Word have remained remarkably similar across all versions for nearly 20 years. If, for religious reasons you're hesitant to use Microsoft Word, please reconsider. If you plan to publish frequently with Smashwords, it's a smart investment because you'll gain better control over your ebook's formatting and you'll save yourself time. If you want to use Open Office (a good free word processor popular with many Smashwords authors) or Apple Pages (also popular), you can still use the Style Guide if you're careful to implement the intent of the instructions, though you should understand up front that you might be creating more work for yourself.
This goes without saying but I'll say it anyway. Don't make the formatting modifications below on your original document. Instead, open your final manuscript within Microsoft Word, and create a copy of it by going to File: Save As: and then enter a new file name, such as MySmashwordsMasterpiece, and save it as a .doc file (the default in Word 2003 and earlier). In later versions, go to Save As: Word 97-2003. By making a backup, if you make any mistakes as you follow my advice you won't screw up your original.
Step 2 - Activate Word's Show/Hide
Word's "Show/Hide" is of my favorite editing features in Word. It reveals your hidden formatting. Do this now, BEFORE you start formatting, otherwise you might as well blindfold your eyes. The show/hide feature is designated by the "¶" mark in the toolbar (I've always thought of it as the "reverse P thingy," but for you typography purists out there, you know it as a "pilcrow."), as shown below.
The show/hide button helps you view the guts of your formatting
When clicked, it exposes your paragraph returns, extra spaces, tabs, field codes or strange formatting. It's a great tool to help polish your document for the cleanest possible conversions. If it's not in your toolbar, you can usually find it in Tools: Options: View and then under Formatting Marks click All.
Step 3 - Turn off Word's AutoCorrect: AutoFormat As You Type and AutoFormat features
I've always found Word's AutoCorrect and AutoFormat-As-You-Type to be Word's most annoying features. If you have them engaged, Word will try to guess what type of formatting you want based on how you write the paragraph, how you manually format the paragraph, or by how you formatted something before it. If you upload a Word file to Smashwords with paragraphs formatted inconsistently, like some paragraphs formatted as "Body Text" and others formatted as "Normal Text," the book will look horrible as an ebook. To turn off the features, in Word 2000 & 2003, go to "Tools": "AutoCorrect," then click on the "AutoFormat As You Type" tab and then uncheck most of the boxes, and then click on the "AutoFormat" tab and uncheck the four boxes under "Apply."
The reason we want to turn off these AutoFormatting options is because later in the Style Guide, you're going to try to simplify and normalize your text to prepare it for conversion. If you don't turn off AutoFormatting, Word will cheerfully and automatically mess things up again as you make the corrections below.
To access the same screen in Word 2007, Word 2010 or later, click on the round Microsoft Office button (upper left) then click Word Options, then click Proofing, then click the button at right for AutoCorrect Options. See the screen shot below, which is similar for most versions of Word.
Step 4 – Turn off Track Changes
Make sure you've turned off Word's "Track Changes" feature, also known as "markup mode." This is what your book looks like in Markup Mode:
Step 5 – Use the NUCLEAR METHOD to Purge Hidden Corruption
Your Microsoft Word document can become corrupted if it has been touched by multiple word processors, or if it originated in a program such as InDesign or WordPerfect, or if it originated in PDF and then was converted to Word, or if it was originally created with poor formatting practices.
Luckily, our Nuclear Method purges all your formatting and allows you to start with a fresh Word document, free of hidden formatting or corrupted styling. The Nuclear Method is strongly recommended before you start formatting. Most formatting professionals on Mark's List employ this method with every book because it helps you create a good clean multi-format conversion.
The Nuclear Method is also recommended if previous versions of your manuscript failed to convert, or if you're struggling with EPUBCHECK errors, text boxes or tables you can't find, or if you suspect your book is corrupted.
If you go Nuclear now, you won't have to do it later.
Here's how to go Nuclear:
1. Make a backup of your manuscript (VERY IMPORTANT!) if you haven't done so already, and set it aside in case the Nuclear Method fails you.
2. Copy and paste your entire manuscript into Windows Notepad (usually found in Programs: Accessories) or any other text editor. This will strip out all your formatting.
3. Close Microsoft Word. Then reopen Microsoft Word so it's showing a fresh empty document.
4. Return to Notepad, and type CTRL+A (press the CTRL key, hold it down, then press the A key at the same time) for "select all" (highlights all your text in the document) then CTRL+C for "copy," then open a new fresh Word document and paste the contents of the Notepad document by pressing CTRL+V (for paste) or click to the menu and click Edit: Paste (in Word 2000 and 2003) or Home: Paste (Word 2007, 2010).
5. From here, you're ready to format your book. Let's get started!
Your manuscript just survived the Nuclear method and surprisingly, it looks cleaner and crisper than ever. Come to think of it, so do you. You're looking pretty dang awesome right now. You've got that mysterious author look that leaves your friends and fans awestruck as they try to guess what's going on inside your head.
If this is your first time formatting, before you progress to Step 7, I want you to take a quick break and hug a loved one. Whether they're of the fleshy, furry or feathered variety isn't important. What is important is to tell your loved one you're about to disappear for an hour or two, and you'd prefer they not interrupt you unless Oprah calls, someone's choking, or the roof is on fire. Also tell them if they hear grunts or screaming they're to bring you a glass of warm milk or chamomile tea pronto, followed by a shoulder massage. Got that? Tell 'em Mark said so.
I care about your mental well-being, and I want this to be fun. You're about to publish an ebook!
All set? Okay, let's go.
Step 7 - Managing and Modifying Paragraph Styles, Fonts
Styles are cool. I'm not referring to clothing. Instead, I'm referring to paragraph styles in Word. Paragraph styles allow you to globally control the styling of your ebook. You'll apply a different style to different elements of your book, and then to change the styling, you just change the style once and the change will ripple across your book.
What are some of the elements likely to receive custom styling? How about the front matter, your chapter headings, or the main body of your text?
Start with Normal Everywhere: Word comes with many pre-defined paragraph styles. I recommend you start your formatting adventure by unifying everything around the Normal style, and then add custom styles later. I'll show you how in a bit.
Why start with Normal? Since 95% of your book will be the body, i.e. the words and paragraphs that comprise your main narrative, we start by setting the entire book to the Normal paragraph style. This saves you time. Then later, we'll highlight (by clicking and dragging the mouse over a certain text region) certain areas of text (such as front matter, chapter headings, backmatter, then click to the Change Styles menu to either define a new style for that text, or to assign it to an existing style. Next, I'll give you a sneak peek at how we'll do that.
How to Control Styles: To ensure you give Meatgrinder the correct input, follow these instructions:
If you're using Word 2007 or later, click the Home tab, then click the little arrow under "Change Style" (see image below)
… then you'll see multiple styles listed. Click the down arrow beside Normal, then click Modify…
… then the following will appear…
… click Format (#1) in the lower left, then click Paragraph (#2) to modify the paragraph style.
A screen similar to this will appear next:
In the Steps that follow, we'll look more closely at the items inside the box above.
If you're using an older version of Word (pre-Word 2007), click Format: Style, then on the left click "Normal" if it isn't already highlighted. In the center pane of the window, under "character preview," Word will show you sample text and tell you the default font style for "Normal" text. If it's what you want, then you're good. However, if it's different (as it was in my case when I uploaded my novel), then click Format: Font: and then select the font and font size you want. We recommend Times New Roman. Don't use exotic fonts because they will not translate well, and they can even cause your conversions to fail.
Once you learn how to manage your Normal style (or any other style for that matter), you'll gain much greater control over the quality of your ebook's formatting. You'll also save a lot of time and headache. For example, you can define body paragraphs with special first line indents, or with a certain font or font size, or you can define spacing around your paragraphs (more on this later in the section that follows).
Common Categories of Styles Useful for Most Ebooks
What are some of the styles you might want to define? Here are some of my favorites:
Normal – I use Word's default Normal style, and then modify it to my purposes. For fiction, I usually configure it for single spaced lines, .3" first line indent, Times New Roman, 12pt. For non-fiction, such as for this Style Guide, I configured Normal for block paragraphs (Step 7a below provides a full discussion to help you decide if first-line indents or block paragraphs are best for you) with Times New Roman, 12 pt, single spaced lined, and a trailing after space of 10pt. Kindle trick: The Amazon Kindle and its associated apps (Kindle for PC, Kindle for Mac) automatically insert a preceding first line indent if one isn't defined, even on block paragraphs. This can create an ugly, unprofessional-looking ebook. To overcome this problem, I configured my Normal to define a "special" first line indent of 1/100th of an inch (.01") to trick Kindle apps and devices to not automatically indent my paragraphs. The indent will be imperceptible to most eyes, and it should prevent Kindle and its apps from inserting the first line indent where you don't want it.