That's it - I'm DONE!

J

JamesTXSD

Active member
As many of you know, I have been working on a book about our travels with Molly the cat. It has been a long labor of love.

My book, Cat On A Leash, was published today as a multi-format ebook at Smashwords.

Here's the link to my book page, where you can sample or purchase the book: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/27714

I would appreciate any feedback - you can sample the first 30% of the book for free. With the discussion here on the different eReaders, the book is available in formats for all the popular brands.

Thanks for the encouragement, C-Brat friends.

Best wishes,
Jim B.

CatOnALeash_coverE2.jpg
 
Reading the title, I thought there'd be one more 25' Cruiser for sale. :lol:

:cat Cats on boats?!.... :huh: SSSSHHHHHH! :shock: ...don't tell Meredith.
 
I said on his other forum (the over 200K views one) that I'd like to have the first copy. Well, I may not have had the first one, it had been there for a couple of hours but I bet I'm the first one that finished reading it!

It helped that I felt like I knew Molly and her Mom and Dad pretty well already, although I have met none of the trio. It also helped that I knew of the sad ending (as do you all), or I would have bawled nearly as much as they must have.

It's a great read, folks that don't have access to the Brats or the Blog won't see the pictures. I opened two other windows and brought pictures of the drama up on the screen as I read it (helps to have a REALLY big flat screen!)

Thanks Jim, Joan and particularly Molly for a compelling and very readable story. Can't wait for the sequal and Izzy can help write that..

:love :hug :cat Molly!!

Charlie (Please buy Izzy some prime 'nip with your proceeds from this sale!)
 
Charlie, thank you very much for the kind words and your purchase. I get a count on the number of samples and sales, but it doesn't tell me who makes a purchase. I would sure like to be able to thank each person who has bought the book, but no way to get that info.

So, for those here (including Charlie) who have clicked to buy, please know that I don't take that lightly. My sincere thanks.

I will continue to pursue a printed version, so I can get Charlie his autographed copy.

Best wishes,
Jim
 
Captains Cat":2arndw94 said:
I said on his other forum (the over 200K views one) that I'd like to have the first copy. Well, I may not have had the first one, it had been there for a couple of hours but I bet I'm the first one that finished reading it!

It helped that I felt like I knew Molly and her Mom and Dad pretty well already, although I have met none of the trio. It also helped that I knew of the sad ending (as do you all), or I would have bawled nearly as much as they must have.

It's a great read, folks that don't have access to the Brats or the Blog won't see the pictures. I opened two other windows and brought pictures of the drama up on the screen as I read it (helps to have a REALLY big flat screen!)

Thanks Jim, Joan and particularly Molly for a compelling and very readable story. Can't wait for the sequal and Izzy can help write that..

:love :hug :cat Molly!!

Charlie (Please buy Izzy some prime 'nip with your proceeds from this sale!)
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Sorry Charlie, but I was online and probably bought the first one or very nearly around 9:30 CDT this morning, shortly after Jim posted. But I am sure you were the first to finish reading it, as I am only up to Chapter 7 the other prospective. Thanks for reminding me that I can view pictures from the blog and CBrats albums as I read.

I was glad to see that I could load it to my PC in a PDF file and read it on the big screen as well as the Kindle version and read it on my Droid.

Anyway Jim, hope it is a best seller.
 
thataway":2vfciivt said:
Impressive: 215 pages! Good on you all!
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Hmmm. With the .pdf version, it's only 124 pages.... I want a discount.. :mrgreen:

And no, I didn't think I had the first copy and said so but I still think I was the first to finish it. I'm a fast reader.... And can't wait for the movie to come out!
 
Captains Cat":1hpczoku said:
thataway":1hpczoku said:
Impressive: 215 pages! Good on you all!
Click to expand...


Hmmm. With the .pdf version, it's only 124 pages.... I want a discount.. :mrgreen:

And no, I didn't think I had the first copy and said so but I still think I was the first to finish it. I'm a fast reader.... And can't wait for the movie to come out!
Click to expand...

Interesting... when I began the formatting process, I was told to ignore the number of pages. In fact, depending on whether you hold the iPad horizontal or vertical, it comes up 258 pages or 490 pages! As a PDF file, it doesn't have the feature of being able to change fonts or sizes, so the number of pages is fixed.. and it was about 200 pages on my original. The iPad version generates a Table of Contents with quick-links to each chapter, the Kindle version doesn't. I had originally sent our daughter a PDF file, and she said it was very hard to read on her Kindle (really small to fit the "page"... she was delighted with the .mobi file for the Kindle, since she could change fonts and type size. Seems that each format type has some pluses, but they all get the same number of words. :wink:

I wasn't going for any certain number of words or pages - just wanted to relate Molly's story. Molly made it to a couple C-Brat gatherings, so some of the folks here got to see her in action - on her leash. I appreciate the interest and support here.

If Hollywood comes calling, I'm thinking Tom Hanks to play the lead... do you think he'll wear a cat-suit? :mrgreen:

Best wishes,
Jim
 
Doryman":3gdb3cs2 said:
Jim, how did you solve the problem of including photos in an eBook?

Warren
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Easy... no photos. After all the work of sorting through and laying out images, I went back to square one: telling the story. Photos would work for PDF or ePub for the IPad/iPhone formats, but would be less than great for the B&W eReaders. So, rather than have two different versions, I felt this was the best solution.

Best wishes,
Jim
 
Jim,

Way to go. Must have been a hard decision to have to go without any photos. I know you are an interesting writer, but wow, no pix. That's like pizza with no cheese. Glad we have the backdoor available for them.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
Wefings":3h3uklcm said:
Congrats Jim ! If there is a huge influx of new C Brats , we will know its so they can see the Molly pictures !
Marc
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It was only in the past week that I decided to add - then take out - photos. This project has been developing for quite a while. It took a month or so to write about 90% of it, then months away from it so I could finish the last couple chapters. Then, the long process of trying to find a literary agent or publisher. The publishing business has "pulled in", like many others in this current economic climate; most were not accepting new authors.

When I started this, it was never meant to be a picture book. I knew that it would be cost prohibitive from a printing standpoint. Once we bought the iPad, and saw what a great color eReader it is, it made Joan think that I should add photos. Being a married guy, I trudged ahead with that. After getting the images (and most were the snapshots of Molly) arranged, I ran the file through an ePub converter... what a gawd-awful mess! Then, the "crash course" in formatting and getting some suggestions from ePublishers regarding the various formats for the different eReaders... and the suggestion to remove the images. That may be for the download speeds, as well, since images really increase the file size.

So, in this nearly two year process, the photo inclusion was only a part of the plan for a few days. A few long days. :wink: The photos were not integrated into the story, but used as a divider page between chapters... it didn't turn out that way after the conversion.

Charlie's idea of going through the photos here while reading the book was pretty inventive... indicative of how clever this C-Brat bunch is. :D

On the other hand, it would be nice if an increase in activity here meant that the story made some folks think "yeah, we could do that boat cruising stuff". 8)

When Dan came up with the Captain Jim comic strips, it was with the thought that there is a large contingent of baby boomers out there who are looking for an adventure beyond the working world. Molly's story is unique because of the boating aspect and the way she took to that, especially her contentment with being onboard Wild Blue.

Dan and I have another project in the works... he is a great illustrator.

Thanks again, C-Brats, for your interest in this story.

Best wishes,
Jim
 
localboy":2okopggo said:
Reading the title, I thought there'd be one more 25' Cruiser for sale. :lol:

:cat Cats on boats?!.... :huh: SSSSHHHHHH! :shock: ...don't tell Meredith.
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No way, Mark; Wild Blue fits our needs. When we first got home, Wild Blue seemed mighty small after driving the cruiseboats all summer. :wink: But, she is still our "just right" boat. The only way I'd consider moving on would be to move up in boat size... and that would mean no trailering... which would mean living aboard. Joan says I can do that with my next wife. :mrgreen:

Re: Cats on boats. We did one trip without a cat onboard... just didn't feel right. Little Izzy has had some big paw prints to fill, but she is a very adaptable travel companion. Like Molly, she just wants to be where we are. Tell Meredith. Take the cat(s)... it just might mean even more time on the boat. 8)

Best wishes,
Jim
 
The only way I'd consider moving on would be to move up in boat size... and that would mean no trailering... which would mean living aboard. Joan says I can do that with my next wife.
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She also said do not let that cat in the house. :D :D :D
 
"Charlie's idea of going through the photos here while reading the book was pretty inventive... indicative of how clever this C-Brat bunch is. "

Thanks Jim, fooled another one!

I think I'd put some links in places that would take a reader of an electronic version to your album someplace that had the pictures that illustrate the text in it. I'll try it with the .pdf copy of "Molly" that I have and see how/if it works...

Charlie
 
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