Free Kindle for PC

 

UPDATE

Since writing this, I have a 'real' Kindle and, although I still love paper books, it's packed with e-books I've downloaded! But, for anyone yet to buy one (or have one bought for you as in my case) the Kindle for PC is still worth having.




I don’t own a Kindle. A ‘proper’ Kindle, that is. You know, the one that would have set me back around 100 quid. I’m not a gadget person. I’ve never felt the urge to buy the latest gismo that does everything bar make toast.

And I admit that given the choice I would much prefer a traditional book – a paper one. I write and I edit on a computer so for me screen-based text is work. But just recently I’ve felt I was missing out on some terrific reads simply because authors had published their work in the e-book format. Because of this, I decided to download the Kindle for PC and was very pleasantly surprised.

Probably my biggest, and most pleasant surprise, was the fact that it was FREE. It took moments to download and now sits happily on my desktop. It even came with three free classics.

I’m sure the info below will be familiar to anyone who has a ‘proper’ Kindle. It would be interesting to hear how the free version compares to the real thing (portability aside!)

Some of the free Kindle for PC features:

• The home page or ‘Library’ displays your book collection and this can be sorted by title, author, book length, and most recently viewed.

• When reading, the font size is adjustable and there’s an option which allows you to choose the amount of words you want displayed per line.

• Something else I particularly like is the facility to read two pages side by side so that it resembles a ‘real’ book. If you prefer, you can choose to view a single page at a time and maximise to fill your entire screen.

• There’s a choice of background colours – white, sepia and black (with white text) and the screen brightness option allows you to take it down through various shades of grey which also makes for less eye strain.

• A neat feature this: double-click on any word in the text and you’re presented with an ‘info window’ giving you the definition of that word. How cool is that?

• The bookmark is useful; click on this so that when you return there’s no need to go through the whole thing to find where you left off.

• If you want to make notes click ‘Highlight and Notes’ and they can be added at any point in the text. This could be especially handy when reading a non-fiction reference book.

• Use the ‘Go To’ feature to find a previously marked spot within the book – this is done by entering a location number.

• And lastly, you can download a reasonable sample of a book before you buy it.

So all-in-all I found the Kindle for PC to be a tidy bit of kit and very easy to use. And it’ll certainly encourage me to buy more books.

Downloadable from any Kindle book page.
.

Scribble Pad

Simply stacks of information for writers on this website whether your interests lie in novels, short stories or creative non-fiction.

For example, aspiring novel writers will find advice on adding subplots, the use of flashbacks, building character backgrounds, the importance of location etc.

A large section is devoted to getting paid for your writing (always a good thing!) And there are tips on discovering your writing style, finding stories, what makes a good story, feedback, beating procrastination and starting your own newsletter.

Scribble Pad is also a good source of info for print on demand works.

Altogether an incredibly useful site.
.

Tracy's Hot Mail by T. A. Belshaw

Tracy has a new office job, but she’s not about to allow that minor annoyance to interfere with important stuff like emailing her best friend, Emma. And there’s plenty to gossip about. For a start there’re her three bosses: Mr Tugger – who’s forever playing with something in his pocket, Mr Winkle – a happy soul with a lisp and a funny walk, and the serial backside-slapper, Mr Blunt.

Others at the sharp end of Tracy’s keyboard are Olivia – the office tart, Ms Broadbeam, Spotty Irene and Tommy Tightpecs the IT man. People outside the work environment aren’t safe from the Tracy treatment either as she keeps Emma up-to-date on the scandal involving Petrol Pauline from the garage and Mike the Mechanic.

And Tracy’s personal life fairs no better. Through her emails we hear all about the boyfriend – more preoccupied with girls online than with her, her benefit-cheat father, and the extremely creepy driving instructor, Mr Pranger.

Written by T. A. Belshaw, who’s found the perfect voice for this character, there was something to make me laugh out loud in every chapter of Tracy’s Hot Mail. This is a recommended read for any time you need cheering up or for when you’re in the mood for a right good goss.

Available in e-book form from:

Amazon UK

Amazon US

Smashwords

Don't have a Kindle? Try a free one for your PC - read this
.

Residential Writing Course

One of the new courses offered at Perpigne, specialists in creative and therapeutic activities and holidays in the Lot region in South West France, is Writing for Magazines.

It's tutored by Lorraine Mace, my very good friend and the co-author of The Writer's ABC Checklist. Lorraine is a columnist for Writing Magazine as well as being the deputy editor and writing agony aunt for the Words with JAM e-zine, and a regular feature writer for Queensland Writing (Australia). She tutors in fiction, non-fiction and poetry for the Writers Bureau and is the author of the Writers Bureau course, Marketing Your Book.

Over a period of five days, the comprehensive course will cover all you need to know about writing for this market including magazine analysis, the use of photographs and graphics, queries, hooks, outlines, humour and everything in between.

You do, apparently, get some time off for good behaviour from the busy schedule. Swimming, boating, walking and biking, exploring nearby Figeac, St Cere and Rocamadour and evening BBQs are just some of the options!

The Writing for Magazines course runs from 24 September to 1 October 2011
.