Blood Moon is Book of the Day

Just got notified this morning that my young adult paranormal suspense book, BLOOD MOON, was awarded 'Book of the Day' status at indiebookoftheday.com.



Check it out: Indie Book of the Day

Rain Drops On Roses and Whiskers On Kittens...

Aren't most of us fans of The Sound of Music? Back before DVRs, cheap satellite tv and the internet, we had only a few channels to watch and a schedule we had to stick to. There were certain shows you could count on watching once a year that were 'event' television:

1) The Wizard of Oz

2) A Charlie Brown Christmas 

3) The Sound of Music.

Now, I will admit there were a few other special things like Charlotte's Web at Easter time and some other Charlie Brown shows, but these were the big 3 nobody missed.

My mom, sister and I would look forward to the night The Sound of Music was on...I think it would be something like 3 or 4 hours long with all the commercials built in. We all knew the lyrics to every song by heart. Even some of the lines...

This week, they are showing the Broadway version of The Sound of Music live on tv with Carrie Underwood and Stephen Moyer. Is anyone else looking forward to it? 

I am!

I know the Julie Andrews version so very, very well, I want to see a fresh take on it. Hear some new voices sing the classic songs and see a 'stage' version. 

Carrie Underwood has the singing chops for it. Hoping the acting is good...but I'm not expecting an Oscar-winning performance from her. Should be a LOT of fun!

Who else will be watching?

Guest Post on Just Paranormal Romance

Please visit my guest blog post today at Just Paranormal Romance:

K J Gillenwater's Guest Blog Post

The topic I chose is regarding NaNoWriMo and how it helped me become a published author. Enjoy!

How to Achieve 'Top Tweet' Status

Since I have teenagers, I knew last week was the PSAT for juniors. This gave me an idea to tweet yesterday about my SAT vocab novel, BLOOD MOON. Here is what I tweeted:

Did your child wilt at the sight of the PSAT last week? BLOOD MOON - fun way to prep 4 the SATs: http://tinyurl.com/mmczow2  #satprep #homeschool

I had used the #satprep hashtag before, thinking this would be a way to connect with kids or parents who are thinking about studying for the SATs. The #homeschool hashtag I've tried also, because I am hoping that some homeschooling types might think of my book as a tool for their child for non-traditional SAT study.

Typically, when I use a hashtag in one of my Twitter posts, I like to click on it to see what other kinds of tweets are using it, or if anyone is using it at all. That's when I noticed this:

Somehow my tweet was selected as the "Top Tweet" under the #satprep hashtag! 

I didn't know what that meant or how I was selected, so I did some research.

1) Top tweets are selected by Twitter using an algorithm. Back in 2010 Matt McGee interviewed Twitter's Chief Scientist who had this to say:  “Top Tweets is a new algorithm we developed that finds tweets that are catching the attention of other users,” he says. “The algorithm looks at all kinds of interactions with tweets including retweets, favorites, and more to identify the tweets with the highest velocity beyond expectations.”

2) Up until April this year, Twitter used to support an account called @toptweets where my tweet would've appeared for all the world to see. 

3) Oddly enough, although the algorithm info I've found on Twitter's own website claims that "Top Tweets are Tweets that lots of people are interacting with and sharing via retweets, replies, and more," my tweet has had no RTs or replies from anyone other than myself. 

Right now, I'm just coasting on this additional bit of self-promotion. Not sure if my post will keep this 'top tweet' status for long or if this will produce any sales. I'll let you know what happens, if anything, in a future blog post. As of now, I see NO benefit to me at all!  No sales that I can see and no increase in twitter followers.

Apparently I Have a Knack!

Currently, I am in the middle of reading Laura Hillenbrand's book Unbroken. I happened to pick up this book because the pastor at my church included it in a sermon about six weeks ago. The book is the true story of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic athlete who ended up as an airman during World War II. Not only does he survive a plane crash into the Pacific, he survives weeks of drifting in a life raft and then ends up in a Japanese POW camp.

As I got deeper into the book (very good, btw), I thought, "This would make a great movie." So I searched on IMDB to see if maybe someone had the same thought I did.

Ta-da! Unbroken is coming to a theater near you in December 2014!

This seems to be my fate as of late. Out of the last 4 books I've read, 3 of them are being turned into movies. And, no, I didn't realize any of them were headed for the big screen when I chose them. I am not sure what that says about my ability to pick books. Maybe it says nothing. However, I suppose it gives me a bit of insight into how difficult the life of an agent must be.

An agent ends up with hundreds, if not thousands, of books to read. Out of the pile, the agent must find the gem. How do you describe to people out there what a 'gem' is exactly?

I have quite a few book samples on my Kindle. Whenever I hear about a good book, I typically head to Amazon to see if I can download a sample. If the sample is good enough, I will buy the rest of the book. Generally, I will know if I like a book within a few pages. Sometimes it takes a whole chapter to get the feel for where the story is headed and if I like the writing style.

Now that I think about it, though, maybe my taste is very middle-of-the-road. If the books I'm choosing are books worthy of movie-dom, maybe it is because I am a reader who is your average person. Who knows?

Perhaps Hollywood studios should have some 'average Americans' give input about what books they have enjoyed and get a consensus about what would make a good film. Just like product developers get input from consumers about new products! Now that would be a fun group to be a part of. Rather than let a small handful of powerful people in the movie industry tell us what we want to watch, ask the viewers!

Hey, Hollywood, I'm available if you're looking for an opinion!

TV Shows - Hit and Miss

I am here to report on what I've discovered this year with a few of the new tv shows. A couple of misses for me, but hopefully at least one show that I will stick with for awhile.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Not for me. Gave it 2 episodes. 2nd episode was worse than the first. Bye-bye! Reasoning: some bad actors, contrived plots, didn't really care about anyone, unclear overall goals.

Hostages - Not for me. Gave it 3 episodes. Not worth my time. Bye-bye! Reasoning: plot holes big enough to drive a bus through, once you roll your eyes about a dozen times during an episode can you really continue to spend time watching it?

Sleepy Hollow - Liked it. Have watched 4 episodes. Only 1 episode was below average, other 3 kept my interest. Reasoning: likeable leads (Abby and Ichabod are great actors), clear goals, some mysteries that are hinted at but left for later reveals, good atmosphere, fun times with Ichabod adjusting to modern life.

Those are the only 3 shows right now that I have given my time to. I am sure there are a few that I have missed, but I know there are some upcoming that I want to see. (Almost Human, I'm looking at you...)

What shows are you enjoying? Do you disagree with my assessments? Let me know!

What I Like to Read

For an author, I think I'm a little bit weird when it comes to reading. I don't really read in the genre I write. At least, not that often. The last few books I have read were a mix of regular suspense and non-fiction.

My non-fiction reading as of late has all been focused around North Korea. Although I just picked up Laura Hillenbrand's book "Unbroken" about a World War II vet who ended up in a Japanese Prison Camp. But if you read a good book about prisoners in North Korean prison camps, let me know...

I think some authors would find it strange that I don't read in my genre (paranormal suspense). For me, I think it helps to keep my plotting purer. I don't head down a path that is familiar or 'expected.' I write what I want to write. I don't care if it's unusual or different than the books already out there.

If I read every werewolf book available before I wrote Blood Moon, perhaps I would have followed a plotline that 'fit the market' rather than what worked for me.

This can be a problem, though, because maybe my books don't fit in a category. I know that was true when I was looking for an agent for my book, The Little Black Box. A mind-controlling black box that makes people commit suicide...uh, what now?

I did get a few requests for the first few chapters. One agent asked for the whole thing and had very complimentary things to say...but no one decided to sign me and try to sell the story to a big publisher. Was it too weird a concept? Maybe. But these are the stories that come out of my head.

After taking a break for a few years from my writing, I am diving back into some old projects. Currently, I am reviving an idea I had for a 3-book series about strange things from outer space and a Navy petty officer who finds herself caught up in the middle of it all. I think it's a fun idea. Since I was in the Navy for 6 years, perhaps this would come with a built-in selling feature...who knows?

One thing I won't be doing is reading science fiction or military thrillers to see if I'm doing it right. If this book is too weird for the regular publishing world, I can just publish it myself in this day and age. Let the book speak for itself. Right?

Paranormal Palooza Coming in October

October 1 - 31 author Ruth Silver will be hosting a number of authors who write paranormal books on her website for Paranormal Palooza.  I will be featured along with my book, THE NINTH CURSE, on October 17th. Mark your calendars and get ready for some fun! There will be giveaways and excerpts posted by a slew of authors.

PARANORMAL PALOOZA coming in October!

BLOOD MOON now uploaded to Smashwords

In the last week I have worked hard on completing a 2nd edition of BLOOD MOON. Due to some unforeseen formatting issues on the Kindle Fire, I went back through the whole book and fixed all 1000 numbered SAT words for a better reading experience. I also added the blurb after the cover so that readers can be reminded why they bought my book in the first place. :-)

The updated version has now been uploaded to Smashwords and Amazon.

For those unfamiliar with Smashwords, it is a website where authors can upload their books for sale and distribution with numerous book sites such as Barnes & Noble and Apple's iBookstore. It will take a bit for those additional distribution channels to have my book available for sale. Once that happens, you should be able to buy my book in any format you want.

Smashwords sells my book also in multiple formats. You can visit the link below to purchase BLOOD MOON at their site:

Smashwords Sales Page for BLOOD MOON

I will keep you updated once my book is available at other sites.

Blood Moon available for purchase in PDF format

Today marks the day I can now offer my book, Blood Moon, for sale in other venues. I gave the Amazon KDP program a shot for the first 90 days, and now I am branching out into other formats and websites.

If you notice in my sidebar, there is a PayPal button. You can now purchase the PDF version of Blood Moon directly from me, the author, for the same 99 cents I was charging at Amazon.

The PDF version is a slightly better version, if you ask me. Originally, I had footnoted all 1000 SAT words with the definitions at the bottom of each page. That way, as you read, you could find your definitions and move on. Unfortunately, due to formatting issues with e-books, I had to scrap the footnotes and only leave numbered SAT words throughout the text.

If you use a traditional Kindle reading device, you can hover over each word and let the Kindle dictionary help you with the definitions.

For those who were waiting for other formats, please click on the BUY NOW button in my sidebar. Once I receive payment, I will deliver the PDF directly to your email inbox.

My next challenge is getting Blood Moon uploaded for Barnes & Noble, the iBookstore, and other online resources for books. Thank you for your support and happy reading!

Adventures in Gold Mining

My husband and I took a short camping trip over the weekend to try out our new sluice box. Yes, you read that right, we bought a sluice box.

For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated with finding treasure. Probably runs in the family as my mother was the one who took us places when we were kids to 'find' things: yard sales, gold panning in California Gold Country, etc.

Over the years I have searched for emeralds in North Carolina, diamonds in Arkansas and now I'm into gold. Probably because I happened to live in an area of the U.S. where there is lots of gold to be found. Or at least, there USED to be a lot of gold to be found.

A few years' back, we took a trip to Montana and did some gold prospecting in an area where you were allowed to try your hand at panning on public lands. We found a few itsy bitsy flakes and brought home a bucket of dirt that we meant to pan through at our leisure. It's still in the garage, but, hey, we can take our time, right?

This weekend, we headed out into the wilderness to camp in a meadow that is near a decent-sized stream. At the end of this stream there are the remains of a gold mining town. So, there is definitely a reason to believe there is gold along this stream. How much and where it can be found is the mystery.

We bought the sluice intending to power through the pay dirt and find ourselves some major gold. After reading the very basic instructions that came with the sluice box (basically, 'put your sluice box in the river and dump dirt into it'), my husband tried to find some useful instructions on You Tube. We were looking for angles or water speeds or *anything* that might actually be helpful. What we found:

1) Lots of videos by scary-looking men with bad facial hair that claimed everyone else's videos were crap.

2) Lots of videos by scary-looking men with bad facial hair using mike set ups that only picked up the sounds of rushing water, rather than any helpful advice.

3) Lots of videos by scary-looking men with bad facial hair giving no useful advice whatsoever about: how to keep your sluice box from filling up with dirt, how to set up your sluice box in the stream so that water funnels into it properly, how to angle your sluice box with rocks to keep it at the correct slope and to keep it from floating away.

After several hours of trying, we did end up running dirt through our sluice. It did result in a lot of black sand in the carpet beneath the metal grid. We maybe found a tiny flake of gold that we proudly brought home in our snuffer.

I gave up around 2 o'clock. My husband kept going (as men are wont to do when they have a goal in mind) and finally moved to a new spot on the stream that afforded him lighter material with a lot of visible black sand and a better set up for the sluice that resulted in less dirt build up.

To some, the experience may have been a failure. But, instead, we have renewed enthusiasm to keep trying. Once we have mastered the sluice box, we just need to find the right spot on the stream to start raking it in.

Letterpress - a game for word lovers

I just got back from a 10-day vacation to visit family. My sister, who plays Words with Friends with me quite regularly, announced she had bored of the Scrabble-like game after discovering Letterpress. She has had a rep in our family for skilled word slinging ever since beating my mother at Scrabble when she was 13.

At her encouragement, I downloaded the game to my phone.

I am not one who enjoys reading detailed instructions for games of this sort. I like to wing it and see if I can figure out how to play before I worry about the finer points of beating my opponent. I don't care if I lose multiple times because it is more about using my brain than beating someone. (although winning is a nice reward for using my brain...)

If you like words - the more complicated, the better - then you will love Letterpress. I won't describe how you play the game, because it takes a bit of time to catch on. In fact, I'm still catching on. The basic premise is that you spell the longest word you can in order to capture letters on the board. Once a word has been played, it cannot be played again. If you can add 'ed' or 's' or 'un' or  'in' or any number of suffixes and prefixes to a word that has been played, you can capture all those letters. So it helps to know lots of word building tricks.

Here is the link to their website:

http://www.atebits.com/letterpress/

I have an iPhone, so I am not sure if it is available for other smart phones.

You have no idea how addicting this game can be. A quote from my sister when she first showed me the game, "If you're wondering how many games you can have going at once, I found out. It's 50."

LOL.

Do Facebook Ads Work?

In the last couple of months since the release of my new book, Blood Moon, I've been attempting various ways at marketing myself. There are so many books out there and so many good writers. One book scores while another book bombs without any real rhyme or reason that I can see. I am pretty confident saying it doesn't really depend that much on one book being better than another. There are LOTS of well written books.

(Side Note: Case in point would be the book, The Cuckoo's Calling, which was barely scraping by in the sales department. Then the word was out that the author was J. K. Rowling and sales skyrocketed. Was her book somehow better than other crime novels because it was written by her? I am dubious. But her name has built-in marketing power.)

Today on Facebook, I accidentally clicked on their marketing link. I'd never considered an ad on Facebook. I think I've maybe clicked twice on ads I see in the sidebar. But I found myself thinking, "What the heck?" What could it hurt to try?

So I created a Facebook ad this morning for my book, The Ninth Curse. I chose to only pay for clickthroughs, rather than impressions. Who knows if an impression does anything at all?  An impression probably works better for a product that has a multi-faceted ad campaign, and I was only going to be advertising on Facebook.

I set my daily advertising budget at $2.22. That would allow for 3 clickthroughs per day. The total period of my advertising will be 30 days. So even if I spent my entire budget, I would be well under $70 for that month of advertising. Not bank-breaking, by any means.

Not sure if this will do anything to boost sales, but I thought it would be an interesting experiment. I'll keep you updated on my results over the next month.

UPDATE: After only 1/2 hour of my ad being available on Facebook, I have had 3 clickthroughs! This suprised me. Also, I clearly do not understand the cost per click. Although I had 3 clickthroughs, I've only used 74 cents of my $2.22 budget for the day. It looks like the price per click varies depending on a number of algorithms I don't understand. We'll see if any of the clickthroughs result in an actual purchase!

Marketing Yourself is Hard

I am not a social butterfly kind of person. I have a small circle of peeps that I interact with (mostly family) and I'm cool with that. However, I think that limits my capabilities at marketing myself... which stinks.

Many writers are introverts. Possibly because we express ourselves better on 'paper.' I do a better job of explaining myself in the written word than I do speaking off the cuff. In fact, I've been known to put my foot in my mouth more times than I care to remember. Introvert does not mean silent. At least, not in my case.

Combining limited social skills with introversion results in a horrible marketer. I feel self-conscious talking about my books, promoting myself with guest blog posting, or mentioning the fact I'm an author. I carry around business cards with my book cover and a blurb on the back, but keep forgetting to hand them out or feel goofy doing so. I need to figure out how to get over this!

I think my book, "The Ninth Curse," is just as good as many books out there for sale. Although I was published with a reputable smaller publisher (thank you, Samhain, for taking a chance on me), my sales were pretty anemic. I didn't expect big things, but I was hoping for slightly better sales once my book made it onto Amazon and was available as an e-book.

Honestly, I believe the biggest problem I had was very few reviews. I've had an acquaintance or two who bought my book tell me they enjoyed it, but they did not take the time to review it. Frustrating to say the least. You really need a LOT of reviews in order for someone to believe that a new author has the chops to write a good book.

The other thing I have heard is that the best thing you can do is to write another book. Recently, I uploaded a new book to Amazon. Self-published as an experiment. Blood Moon is in the same genre as The Ninth Curse, paranormal, but is directed at a teen audience. Without the backing of a publisher, I am definitely floating in a huge sea of self-published books. I am not sure if this really helped me at all.

On the one hand, I enjoy sharing my writing with anyone willing to take a chance on it. On the other hand, I get frustrated that I haven't done a better job of getting the word out there about my books. I suppose I should just get back to the writing, since I'm better at that part. Either I need to ditch my loathing of promoting my work, or I need to stop complaining about it.

For all those readers out there my plea is that you write a review if you love a book. That's the only way an unknown author even stands a chance to sell her books. So, please, take the time to write a review today. The author will be grateful for it.

The cat came back...

We have two cats at my house. They don't get along that well. One is more of an outdoorsy cat that lives on our boat cover in the summer and sleeps in the garage most of the time in the winter. This cat, Mackenzie, is a great hunter and is lean and mean most of the time. Just this spring she actually killed a rabbit and dragged it through the cat door into the garage leaving only feet and a few other parts behind. So, yeah, she's pretty tough.

Our other cat is a mess. Arrow is overweight. She has asthma. She broke off her two bottom teeth somehow and had to have emergency surgery over Thanksgiving weekend last year to stop an infection in her gums. She doesn't jump well. She's more of a housecat who likes to think of herself as much cooler than she really is.

Yesterday morning my husband noted that he had not seen Mackenzie for a few days. We were trying to remember the last time she'd appeared in the yard (we have a pretty big, unfenced yard in the wilds of Idaho). My last memory of her had been a barbecue on Sunday night. I couldn't remember if I'd seen her come in the house to eat since then.

My husband called her outside before he left for work (yes, he worked on the 4th of July), but Mackenzie did not appear. Since I work from home, I took a couple of breaks during my day to look for her. I called her several times. Only Arrow appeared.

I was worried. We have coyotes and other wild creatures in our neck of the woods.  Although Mackenzie is pretty adept in her outdoor lifestyle, you just never know when something bigger and badder might get the best of her.

Yesterday afternoon I was glad to see Mackenzie make an appearance to eat at the cat bowl!  She walked in as if she'd been there all along. I was so relieved.

On our way to the fireworks display last night, we drove past a neighbor's hay field that had been recently cut. My husband mused that perhaps Mackenzie had been staked out near the field for the last few days taking care of the mice whose homes were exposed. That seemed like a reasonable explanation.

What a relief, though, to have our Kenzie Cat back home! We had something else to celebrate yesterday...the return of a good friend.

I couldn't watch

On Sunday night we recorded Nik Wallenda's tightrope walk attempt across the Grand Canyon. Glad we recorded it because the commentary and build-up was so ridiculous!  But as for the walk itself, I couldn't watch. The rest of my family was riveted to the tv, and I was staring down at my smartphone.

Why?

I am horridly afraid of heights. Even heights seen on a tv or movie screen. Just a few glimpses of Nik Wallenda suspended 1500 feet above the canyon floor was enough to nauseate me.

My fear has gotten worse as I've gotten older. I don't like ferris wheels, tall buildings (even looking up at them is enough to freak me out), and most definitely cliff edges of any kind. I will never sign up for The Amazing Race because I know I'd end up having to bungee jump off a bridge or pitch myself out of an airplane or walk down the side of a building. All horrifying challenges.

I think a fear of heights make sense. We aren't built to fly or climb walls like a spider. We are breakable. There is no real need to stand on the edge of anything. It is a built-in fear based on basic survival instincts, so I'm glad my fear is a strong one.

Maybe if I were an engineer who drafted the plans for suspension bridges or skyscrapers, I'd feel better about things. For now, though, I'll leave the bungee jumping, skydiving, rockclimbing to the daredevils and crazy people.

And next time there is a Nik Wallenda special on tv, I think I will just ban myself to the bedroom where I can play Candy Crush or Words with Friends until I get the 'all clear' signal from my husband.

The Stress of Summertime

So the kids are out of school, and I work from home. This is a good thing and a bad thing.

Good thing = Don't have to get up at 6:15 am to make lunches / get kids out the door. My summer wake hour is 7 am. Yeah, I'm a morning person. So sue me.

Bad thing = Kids camp out in living room all day long on their laptops making noise / messes and intruding into my Quiet Work Zone. My office is in my bedroom, and the master bedroom just happens to be on the 1st floor. If they get a rowdy game of Minecraft going, it can be difficult to get my work done.

Good thing = Don't have to pick up kids at 2:30 pm and interrupt my work focus. Or my afternoon internet surfing. ;-)

Bad thing = Kids eat a LOT more food when they are at home. Which means more dishes. Um, and why haven't I taught them to reuse drinking glasses? Do you really need to put that 3rd drink of Kool-aid in a *clean* glass????

Good thing = Don't have to worry about after school activities and making a zillion trips into town. Have I mentioned how happy I am that the school musical is finally over? Rehearsals, extra rehearsals, rehearsals that go over time, dress rehearsals...ARGH!!!!!

Bad thing = Kids get bored and want you to make a zillion trips into town so they can see their friends, go shopping, etc. Next thing on the list is to get the daughter her driver's license. So very very very close.....I think we both can't wait for that one.

I suppose I should make more use of my morning hours when the kids are still asleep. For some reason, though, I pick up steam by about 2 in the afternoon and pour it on until dinnertime. That is when the kids are at their peak noise-making / mess-making stage.

Somehow work gets done. Kids fall into their summer routine. And by August we all can't wait for school to start up again! (Okay, maybe that's just me)

Why Vocabulary is so Important

I've always been someone who loves words. Spelling them. Reading them. Writing with them. Just one of those things that I've been interested in since I was a young lass.

For me, the vocabulary part of the SAT was going to be my shining moment. It was the one area I had never been worried about. My high school English teacher had prepped me well. I loved her assignments. We were to read a challenging book, keep track of words we didn't know, and then once a week we were to write a few short pages using those new words.

This was golden for a word lover like me. The new words I learned out of books like "The Time Machine" by H.G. Wells or "Tom Jones" by Henry Fielding would be the starting point for me to get my creative juices flowing.

I also remember my sophomore or junior year of college. I took a Modern Fiction class with a friend of mine. There was one kid in our class who used what I called "50-cent" words regularly...in his questions to the professor, in any presentation, etc. Words that were so esoteric and so bizarre for a 21-year-old to be spouting, that one day, we decided to keep track of all the words he used. And we came up with a brilliant contest: After class, we both had to write a story using those words and then see who wrote the best one.

The challenge was on!  I wish I still had the list of words...but there were some good ones, as I recall. Immediately after class, I headed back to my dorm room and whipped out a 2-page story using all the words. I met up with my friend, showed her my work, and she said, "You actually did it?"

Although she had agreed to the contest, apparently she'd seen it as a joke. I saw it as an awesome challenge.

Writing "Blood Moon" reminded me of those two times in my life when vocabulary gave me inspiration to write. Instead of needing a 'writing prompt,' I just needed a vocab prompt!

Formatting for Kindle - Some Tips & Thoughts

This week I uploaded my new book, Blood Moon, to the Kindle store. I think now I have a pretty good handle on how to set up my Word file next time to avoid a lot of formatting in the future. It's really not that big a deal. Someone suggested skipping the automatic Table of Contents (TOC) in Word and doing it a completely different way, which sounded very time consuming.

Instead, I used the automatic TOC, ran my file through the Kindle Reviewer program and checked out what the TOC looked like in all formats. Once I saw that it was a mess, I knew what to do. I went back to my original file, removed the huge tabs with the leder dots between the chapter title and the page number, chose a style of TOC that was simpler and then everything was fine. The TOC needs to be narrow and fit in the middle of the page in order to work on all platforms. A very easy fix.

Another thing I learned is that the superscript I added next to each SAT word in the book messes up the dictionary look-up feature on the Kindle Fire. Unfortunately, that was impossible to check in the Kindle Reviewer. I can only look at the presentation of the text, not the functionality. So I'm a little irritated that readers using a Kindle Fire won't be able to look up the definition of each word as they read, which was my original intention.

My original intention was to have footnotes with the definitions for each word at the bottom of the page. However, I found out Kindle format does not support that. So I had to remove all the footnotes and add the superscript, so each word would be numbered.

Now I know I have to put a space between the word and the superscript so that a reader can use the dictionary lookup feature in Kindle Fire. On my regular Kindle, however, the word lookup works just fine.

The things you learn.