Thursday, July 05, 2012

Coming Soon: Home Inspection, a novel by Dinah








Roy has convinced me that e-publishing on Amazon is the way to go with my  novels and my summer project is to get them up on Amazon's Kindle Direct.  One option on the Kindle e-publishing allows for authors to give their books away for free for a few days to promote them, and if this is an option I can use, I will be offering the first book, Home Inspection, for free to our Shrink Rap readers.  I've been aiming for a July 15th release date, but the wretched derecho and the power failures that have ensued may have slowed things down.  The young woman who is designing a cover for me had a tree in her bedroom and no power for 5 days, so we'll see.  A lot needs to get done in the next few days for this to happen by the 15th.


I just set up a Facebook Page for Home Inspection, if you'd like to read a little about it, click here.
 
While I wrote this novel many years ago, it is very much like a book version of the HBO series In Treatment.  The entire course of the book takes place in a psychiatrist's office and Dr. Julius Strand struggles with his own issues -- many of the same issues that In Treatment's Dr. Paul Weston faced around divorce, relationships with his children, and finding meaning in his life -- as he helps two patients sort through their own romantic confusion.  

But wait, you don't have a Kindle or an e-reader?  You can download a free Kindle app to your PC, Mac, iPad, android, blackberry, iPhone, or iTouch.  If you'd like a real book, I'm hoping to simultaneously get the books up on Amazon's CreateSpace which will allow readers to order hard copies, but I haven't even begun to figure that one out.

More novel news soon....

9 comments:

Reader1 said...

Pass

Carrie said...

That's awesome!! I can't read books on electronic devices (although I did get halfway through "The Hunger Games" before my husband bought me the hard copy), so keep us posted when the hard copy comes available!! :)

Serenity Kapy said...

I hope this letter finds you well. I came across your very interesting website that provides valuable information and perspectives on psychiatry-related topics. I would like to introduce you to an exciting social media platform that connects health care providers with patients, which I believe aligns with your work in improving patient access to health information. This platform is also a network of physicians from various specialties.

Sarebear said...

shoot. blogger just ate my comment.

Sounds great!

why dothey make the numbers in the word verify so blurry you'd need two inch thick glasses to read them? I'm not a young thing anymore.

Sunny CA said...

Great idea! I will download and read it happily.

I have a Kindle Keyboard, plus a Kindle app on my BlackBerry, and just added an iPad to my e-reading arsenal. I read books waiting for my gas tank to fill, standing in the grocery line, etc.

Carrie, I prefer eReaders to books because I can change font size until it is just right for me, and I can look up words on the built-in dictionary by clicking in front of the word. Since I am used to the "perfect" font and built-in dictionary, I get frustrated with books, except for cooking. I don't mind spaghetti sauce in a cookbook, but hate the thought of it hitting my pink leather Kindle cover.

I wonder if I have one bit of Apple electronics that Roy does not have. I just bought the newest iPad with Retina display, with both WiFi and cellular (64GB), and a cute pink cover and Wacom stylus. Have a Retina display yet?

Sarebear: I agree about the fuzzy photos. Yikes!

Carrie said...

Sunny,

Maybe eventually I will change my mind! I've tried to read 1 book on my iPhone (never finished it) and one on my husband's Kindle (finished it in hard back). He hates the kindle, so it's basically mine if I want it - he uses an iPad to read. I downloaded "Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" on my iBooks app on my phone the other day, but I haven't tried to read it yet. I just prefer to hold a book in my hand and feel where I am in it! Lately, when I read things on my phone, I just feel like I must appear to be yet another iPhone obsessed antisocial. Which I am. But why encourage it further by adding books to the mix? ;)

Oh, and I do think that owning an iPad would be the one thing that would change my opinion of eReading, but that's the one piece of Apple technology that I haven't gotten around to! How do you like the new iPad? Doesn't get too hot, does it? That was my one fear with buying one! Now, however, we've gone and bought a house, so the iPad shall have to wait. :O)

Sunny CA said...

The new iPad does not get hot at all. I love, love, love it! I bought it Sunday, then went to the Apple store for two one-hour seminars on Tuesday, beginning and intermediate use of iPad. I had not used a touch screen before, so I felt I needed the instruction. It really helped. I learned things I didn't know that I needed to know and would not have thought to ask. For example, you can hit the "on/home" button and the "off" button at the same time and you have just taken a .jpg screen-capture. I'd have used it for years without figuring out that one!

I learned from another attendee that I can get free digital magazines of those that I subscribe to (using the numbers on the mailing label) and sure enough it worked and now I have the most amazing looking magazines. National Geographic is "WOW" on iPad.

The camera is super-sharp, and I am picky, because I was a professional photographer for 25 years. PhotoBooth has a kaleidoscope option, and though PhotoBooth is set up to use the low-quality video-conferencing camera, you can click a curved arrow icon and it switches to the high-quality camera facing outward, for the most amazing kaleidoscopic, abstract, pattern images. I have two images I have taken that knock my socks off, and I thought that I had seen everything in photography. Really. I felt that I had seen and taken, every possible image; but a new world of images has occurred to me because this "camera" is so unique. I took a really cool "Thermal camera" image, also. Very abstract. This really amazes me. During my professional career I took, by my estimates, about 1.25-1.5 million photos. I was working at being as creative as possible throughout my career, including using PhotoShop for manipulation. I have considered myself to be completely burned out photographically. I went to the Apple store to buy the iPad and had not even thought about the camera it has because I thought it would be low quality and I have all sorts of top of the line pro gear. Why would I bother? Somehow, the night I bought it, I started fooling around with the camera, and found myself re-engaged with photography. I quit the photography business in late 2009 (though began the process of ending my photo career in 2008). I find this aspect of iPad amazing. The fact that it could get me shooting again is beyond amazing. Earlier this year, my husband bought me a Panasonic Lumix Micro 4/3 camera with a set of lenses, hoping to get me shooting again. it is smallish and cute, but it did not work. I am not a fan of the camera. I tried it a few times and it is not especially fun to use (for me) and the results are disappointing compared to a pro camera. Then my spouse nudged me to get an iPad because I talk about it, but continued to put off the purchase. I think he thought I'd read Kindle on it and surf the web. Here I am shooting pictures with it. Strange world.

I also am using the Kindle app on it, and much as I live my Kindle, I fear it will be left on a shelf to gather dust soon. I still "love" my Kindle, though, so I have them both on my desk, both swathed in bright pink.

Sarebear said...

I like the Kindle PC app. We have an old slow laptop someone gave us last year when they had a big windows snafu and everything needed reloaded and they didn't want to bother. So my hubby set them up on a new one and reloaded everything. I figured it'd be perfect for Kindle, and it is.

I haven't read anything all the way through on it yet because, while I've looked at alot of the free books (that usually changes daily, there's different places to find lists of these), none of them have either been good enough or engaged me enough to keep going.

I still think I might find some free gems though so I still look now and then. I've got a few on my to-read list to check out.

although I have like 300+ books on my goodreads to read list, lol. I'll bump Dinah's to the top. Cause who wants to wait two years? (I read fast and alot).

Is it possible for a kindle pc app person and a kindle pad user to share books across the country? I know little about this stuff.

I longingly look at ipads, I could do so much with em! My birthday money is me money I can be irresponsible with it if I want. So I've got just enough to get a fire or the new what is it nexus pad? that runs chrome/jelly bean or something like that?

But there's so many things I "ought" to spend it on; I try to not . . .

oh dang, there I go rambling on about every semi-related thing, with no good point to make. I hate it when I do that, and I do it alot. Ugh.

Anonymous said...

Many of the classics are free on Kindle.