# Romantic Suspense - Kindle Style



## mamiller (Apr 28, 2009)

Hello all,

I just wanted to introduce myself to the forum and talk to you about my Kindle book, *WIDOW'S TALE * http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00147RWB8

Serena Murphy was losing her mind.

Every night Serena stood on the deck of O'Flanagans Tavern, searching Maine's rugged coast for a sign of her husband's body. Though he was pronounced lost at sea, Alan Murphy still haunted her as only his malevolent spirit could. In the loft above her tavern, Serena hears footsteps pace across her living room floor, yet when she turns, no one is there.

Alan would not let a little thing like death stop him from tormenting her. If she could just find his body, surely this torture would stop.

It had been ten years since Brett Murphy saw his sister in-law, although the separation was by design, to avoid temptation. Now Brett was in Victory Cove, not to declare his feelings for Serena, but to discover the truth about his brother's death. In doing so, he must battle Serena's ghosts, both real and contrived.

For more information, please see www.maureenamiller.com And may I just add, it's great to be amongst my peers!!!


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Here's a link. . . . . .. Maureen, head over to intros and welcomes (http://www.kboards.com/index.php/board,3.0.html) and tell us a little about yourself. . . .we love authors. . .especially those who really become part of our little world here.

Ann


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## mamiller (Apr 28, 2009)

Hi Ann,

Thank you so much for the welcome, words of wisdom, and the WIDOW'S TALE link.  I'm ready to recruit you!
I will definitely follow your link and introduce myself.  

Maureen


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## LCEvans (Mar 29, 2009)

Maureen,
Your book looks good, though I don't read a lot of romantic suspense. Still, intriguing concept, and I like the rugged setting--good place for a body to wash up. I got a sample and will likely buy the book.
Linda


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## RJ Keller (Mar 9, 2009)

Hi Maureen! I don't have a Kindle as yet, but I'll buy your book on the Mobipocket site soon.
I note that it takes place in my home state. Are you from Maine, too?


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## mamiller (Apr 28, 2009)

Howdy!

I'm actually from New Jersey, but every possible free second I had, I would drive up to Maine.  I love it there.  The cover of the book is actually Boothbay Harbor, but the fictional town in the book (Victory Cove) is definitely much more rugged.

Thanks for the kind words!

Maureen


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## vwkitten (Apr 10, 2009)

I downloaded the sample of this one for my mother.  She likes romantic suspense.  I only get to sample with my mom's Kindle as I haven't sold enough books to buy my own yet (She left it here for a whole week after coming to town to see her grandbaby and I've been going through samples like crazy.)  

I noticed that the formatting is a little off.  There are no indents for the first line of each paragraph, making it hard to tell where one paragraph stops and another starts.  One author to another... I noticed that Amazon digital does this with manual tabs (ignores them).  Be sure to check a few pages into the sample before clicking that button.

I just love seaside ghosts.  It makes me want to go paint. =)  

Happy Reading (and writing),
Trish


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

vwkitten said:


> One author to another... I noticed that Amazon digital does this with manual tabs (ignores them).


Use paragraph indent ... Format, Paragraph, Format ... First line indent 0.5


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## vwkitten (Apr 10, 2009)

Yes the paragraph format works for me as well.  Those manual tabs won't show up no matter how hard you try.

Trish


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## mamiller (Apr 28, 2009)

Thank you soooo much for catching this!  I had looked at the sample, but perhaps a little too hasty!  

Do you think I'll be able to 'select all' and change the formatting?  Or is this going to be a doozy??  

I truly appreciate the feedback.  

Perhaps the ghosts in the book  have been playing with the formatting.


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

mamiller said:


> Thank you soooo much for catching this! I had looked at the sample, but perhaps a little too hasty!
> 
> Do you think I'll be able to 'select all' and change the formatting? Or is this going to be a doozy??


Are you using Word or Word Perfect? First, do a find and replace. In Word Perfect, you can match codes. Insert "left tab" and leave the replace field blank. That will remove all the tabs.

In Word Perfect, you can just go to the beginning of the document and insert the first line indent. I think in Word, you'll have to CTRL A to select all and then format it.

Whenever I'm doing a major format change, I back up my original file in case I mess it up.'



> I truly appreciate the feedback.


No problem. We try to help each other here.



> Perhaps the ghosts in the book have been playing with the formatting.


I personally believe in gremlins. They live in my house.


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

One other thing.  Using first line indent can mess up the centering of your Chapter headings.  Make sure you check that and reformat those lines.


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## vwkitten (Apr 10, 2009)

If you do the kindle format in a different file (keep your original just in case -- good thought Gertie -- I wish I did that as often as I preached to do it), you can customize the formatting for Kindle without making weird stuff happen in your original.

Shortcuts for this format in Word -- Yes CTR+A selects all.
Then Go to Format --> Paragraph and look at Indentation
There is a "Special" drop-down box --> Choose "First line."  
It will default to .5 which is good.  Click on okay and go upload it again.
Be sure to hit publish again.

(Oh hey -- it will take a day or two for it to fully publish but eventually it automatically updates it for those who have already downloaded it)


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

vwkitten said:


> (Oh hey -- it will take a day or two for it to fully publish but eventually it automatically updates it for those who have already downloaded it)


I think that's outdated information, Trish. Once you download a book, you don't get new updates, much to the author's and reader's dismay. It _shouldn't_ work that way, but several authors here have had that problem. I had to call Amazon, get them to delete the old version, and then re-buy the new version.

If you have seen otherwise, please let us know. We'll all be anxious to know it.


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## mamiller (Apr 28, 2009)

Karma.  I found the trick in Word just before you mentioned it!    It looks much better now!  I hit Publish and said "God be with you on your way." I also made a backup.  

I am so happy you saw that.  I swore it had looked fine before.  But my eyes aren't what they used to be.  Working on the computer too many hours.

I wish I could give you a free copy, but I'm not sure how to do that with Amazon    
At a minimum, I'm looking up your books!!

Thank you ladies!


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

mamiller said:


> Karma. I found the trick in Word just before you mentioned it! It looks much better now! I hit Publish and said "God be with you on your way." I also made a backup.
> 
> I am so happy you saw that. I swore it had looked fine before. But my eyes aren't what they used to be. Working on the computer too many hours.
> 
> ...


Glad to help. Before you look at Ariana's Pride, I have a couple of corrections to make, too. Give me a couple of days. The sample should be okay, though.


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## mamiller (Apr 28, 2009)

Worry not, Gertie.  I will be the LAST person to be critical.


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## Carol Hanrahan (Mar 31, 2009)

Maureen,
My Kindle is s'posed to get here this week.  When it does, I'm going to try the sample of Widow's Tale!
I'm almost afraid to think about all the books I want for my Kindle!
Where's the thread about Kindle names?  I need to start thinking about that.


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## chynared21 (Oct 28, 2008)

Carol Hanrahan said:


> Maureen,
> My Kindle is s'posed to get here this week. When it does, I'm going to try the sample of Widow's Tale!
> I'm almost afraid to think about all the books I want for my Kindle!
> Where's the thread about Kindle names? I need to start thinking about that.


*Carol, don't forget about all the accessories that you'll need *


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

chynared21 said:


> *Carol, don't forget about all the accessories that you'll need *


It's like dressing your new little baby. But don't forget that she/he needs to be fed (books)!


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## chynared21 (Oct 28, 2008)

Gertie Kindle 'Turn to Page 390' said:


> It's like dressing your new little baby. But don't forget that she/he needs to be fed (books)!


*Yeah...and I've been feeding mine a bit too much lately  I need to start reading faster...lol.*


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## vwkitten (Apr 10, 2009)

mamiller said:


> Worry not, Gertie. I will be the LAST person to be critical.


Oh me too... I'm so glad you were nice about the corrections. I personally love to get feedback of all sorts and I don't take a lick of it as criticism, but I'm afraid of hurting author's feelings. I think a lot of people are afraid to post suggestions to authors for the same reason and I LOVE that we are giving them examples of how open authors are to them!!

Thank you and HUGS... we're right there with you...
Trish


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## mamiller (Apr 28, 2009)

Congratulations, Carol!  The Kindle is coming, the Kindle is coming!    

When I was a little girl, having a new coloring book before anything had been done to it....there was so much promise..so much excitement at what I was going to be able to do with it...


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

vwkitten said:


> Oh me too... I'm so glad you were nice about the corrections. I personally love to get feedback of all sorts and I don't take a lick of it as criticism, but I'm afraid of hurting author's feelings. I think a lot of people are afraid to post suggestions to authors for the same reason and I LOVE that we are giving them examples of how open authors are to them!!
> 
> Thank you and HUGS... we're right there with you...
> Trish


The thing is, we need to help each other. We're not in competition. We're all in the same boat; trying to navigate our way through this self-publishing thing. I've had a tremendous amount of help from Jeff, and I'm happy to pass along what I have learned.

Too many people are ready to give a negative review on Amazon because of formatting issues that have nothing to do with the quality of the writing or story. There's a difference between critiquing (helpful suggestions) and criticism (unhelpful nastiness).


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## crca56 (Dec 20, 2008)

i got it earlier today, along with several others recommended here, but i haven't turned on my wireless to download. i am looking forward to reading it though.


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## mamiller (Apr 28, 2009)

Thank you, Carolyn!  I hope the formatting is ok.    As you  might have seen on the previous threads, there were ghosts in my book  

Enjoy the book and enjoy Kindle.


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## vwkitten (Apr 10, 2009)

During my visit with my mother, I suggested your book.  She read the preview and was hooked.  She then downloaded the whole thing and is enjoying it.  I'll pass on any further comments she has.  I peeked and the formatting was fine.

Good job... my mother is hard to impress.
Trish


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## Brenda Carroll (May 21, 2009)

mamiller said:


> Thank you, Carolyn! I hope the formatting is ok.  As you might have seen on the previous threads, there were ghosts in my book
> 
> Enjoy the book and enjoy Kindle.


I don't mean to be eavesdropping, but you say there were ghosts in your book?  What does that mean? Real ghosts? I have a few in my book, too, but I put them there on purpose. Seriously, what do you mean 'ghosts'? Brendan


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## Meredith Sinclair (May 21, 2009)

Gertie Kindle 'Turn to Page 390' said:


> The thing is, we need to help each other. We're not in competition. We're all in the same boat; trying to navigate our way through this self-publishing thing. I've had a tremendous amount of help from Jeff, and I'm happy to pass along what I have learned.
> 
> Too many people are ready to give a negative review on Amazon because of formatting issues that have nothing to do with the quality of the writing or story. There's a difference between critiquing (helpful suggestions) and criticism (unhelpful nastiness).


This if I might add, what makes me come here, I love to see you all supporting each other. This thing where every author has each book with its own thread and then adding yet ANOTHER one, makes me think it is all competition... I don't really think it looks good on the authors....

Just my $.02, FWIW.


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## Brenda Carroll (May 21, 2009)

Meredith Sinclair said:


> This if I might add, what makes me come here, Just my $.02, FWIW.


I like what Gertie said "Too many people are ready to give a negative review on Amazon because of formatting issues that have nothing to do with the quality of the writing or story. There's a difference between critiquing (helpful suggestions) and criticism (unhelpful nastiness)." I had thought of that myself when I got a couple of complaints because they were about formatting and not at all about the story. I would love (maybe...) to hear the readers' thoughts on my storyline... my characters... everything I've worked for over the past twenty years... I know that we have to hear the truth even if it hurts, but spelling is not everything... actually it's not really much of anything in this day and age. Where I work, there are many, many, many dead trees with scribblings all over them and these are people with degrees who can't even spell 911. Hmmmmm.


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## koland (Nov 24, 2008)

Brendan Carroll said:


> ...but spelling is not everything... actually it's not really much of anything in this day and age. /quote]
> 
> It may not be everything, but it is a basic that cannot be ignored. Grammar and punctuation are close seconds in the race. None of these are worthy of comment in a book review if they are done correctly (or even if the mistake is only an occasional one), but are if the author displays a complete lack of knowledge or inability to "follow the rules." I don't critique web posts of those who can't seem to remember that 'loose' has to do with tightness and not loss, but attempting to read a book with this error strewn throughout is painful. One recent purchase my mother made (on the Kindle and self-published) was so full of incorrectly substituted words that she started keeping a list of them (and I guarantee that that was not the intent of the author: to make the book a contest of "find the error" rather than to enjoy the story).
> 
> I've also seen Kindle editions so badly formatted that they are practically unreadable (usually dumps of a text document to the DTP engine and not just public domain "publications"). The reviews on Amazon are of a "product", not "book reviews" per se, although the book's content are part of the packaged product, so is the package itself. You might think that grading the product by the same criteria as you high school English teacher is unfair (especially if you had one that graded solely on grammar and not on content at all), but so is a "book review" that gives out stars based on what the book could have been, had the author only bothered to buy a few commas (one sample I trudged thru needed several dozen of these in just the first two "pages"; I can't imagine trying to read thru the entire thing), run a spell checker (but not on automatic, as Microsoft's engine is not perfect on it's corrections) and get someone to read it who knows English (or the language used, for those in non-English areas) well enough to catch basic errors. Those jobs should be taken care of at a major publishing house (but obviously are not as well done these days), but must all be done by self-published authors, on their own. It's best, however, if they enlist at least one other person to do these steps, as most people will continuously read over what is a glaring error another will spot, as the mind tends to read the intended text and not the actual.


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## Brenda Carroll (May 21, 2009)

koland said:


> [to "follow the rules."
> The reviews on Amazon are of a "product", not "book reviews" per se, although the book's content are part of the packaged product, so is the package itself. You might think that grading the product by the same criteria as you high school English teacher is unfair (especially if you had one that graded solely on grammar and not on content at all), but so is a "book review" that gives out stars based on what the book could have been, had the author only bothered to buy a few commas (one sample I trudged thru needed several dozen of these in just the first two "pages"; I can't imagine trying to read thru the entire thing),


I'm thinking maybe you are an English teacher? I taught science, myself, and scientists tend to lean more toward what's going on rather than what is written in the book that comes after discovering the secrets of the Universe. I, personally, think, that, too many commas, takes the reader's breath away (speaking of breath, my editor always gripes at me because I mix up breathe and breath and quite and quiet, which I firmly believe resulted from a head injury trauma I suffered when only six years old. You see, I was riding my bike and flipped it up and over a concrete embankment. When I woke up, the policeman asked me and I quote "Can you _breath_? That's _quiet_ a bump on your head, young fella.") Anyhow, I will need years of therapy to correct this problem. To all of my readers and would-be fans who turn ther backs on my wonderful _tells _ because I can't _tell_ the difference between 'tail' and 'tale', I beg forgiveness.


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## mamiller (Apr 28, 2009)

Brendan Carroll said:


> You see, I was riding my bike and flipped it up and over a concrete embankment.


ahhh...that explains the eyepatch.


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## Brenda Carroll (May 21, 2009)

mamiller said:


> ahhh...that explains the eyepatch.


Me dear father used to tell me, whenever things happened to me, "Well, it's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick." Obviously, I inherited the eye thing from my dad. Not that he wore an eyepatch, but he had been poked on occasion.  I'm particularly fond of guys with eyepatches in the movies like the Klingon general on _Star Trek Movie: the Undiscovered Country_. Yeah, yeah, I'm a Trekkie. And then there's the Captain Ron character played by Kurt Russell. Recently, there's a fellow on _the Tudors _ right now who gets all the girls and he has a patch. _Hmmmm, now don't get me wrong, I want to be the patch-wearer_.


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## vwkitten (Apr 10, 2009)

When were you going to tell us about Rogue's Wave? Did I miss another thread on it?



Trish


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## mamiller (Apr 28, 2009)

Aahh, Trish, you sleuth, you discovered ROGUE WAVE.

WIDOW'S TALE is the award winner in the family so it gets the publicity. ROGUE WAVE was simply something I wrote to warm me up after spending so much time on the cold, rugged cliffs of Maine.  
Seriously, though, I write romantic supsense, and Rogue Wave had a little bit too much emphasis on the 'romance' and less on the 'suspense', so I tended to downplay it.

Now that you've brought it out of hiding, I'll sum it up from its blurb...

U.S. Geological Survey expert, Nick McCord cannot account for the destructive waves assaulting the Windward coast of Oahu. The only viable culprit is the new housing development, Manale Palms and its attractive contractor, Briana Holt.

Try as he might to find blame with Briana and her site, the truth remains a mystery as yet another threatening wave attacks the coast. Now allies, Nick and Briana narrow in on the source of these anomalies and find themselves in a struggle to save the island coast and their very lives.


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## Meredith Sinclair (May 21, 2009)

mamiller said:


> Aahh, Trish, you sleuth, you discovered ROGUE WAVE.
> 
> WIDOW'S TALE is the award winner in the family so it gets the publicity. ROGUE WAVE was simply something I wrote to warm me up after spending so much time on the cold, rugged cliffs of Maine.
> Seriously, though, I write romantic supsense, and Rogue Wave had a little bit too much emphasis on the 'romance' and less on the 'suspense', so I tended to downplay it.
> ...


I did see this title somewhere, but somehow did not know it was you. My DD has my Kindle right now, thinking of giving it to her and upgrading, then I can read more of this cool stuff I find on here. I have you on my list as well as a couple of others. I am just the kind of girl who refuses to load stuff and not read it until later. To me it is kinda like buying groceries before going on vacation... pointless. Afterall, when I want it it only takes a minute or so to load so why do it and "crowd my shelves" so to speak... yea, I am a little, no a LOT OCD! Sorry  But I DO SO want "Widow's Tale" really bad.


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## mamiller (Apr 28, 2009)

Between you and me, Meredith...WIDOW'S TALE has a new cover coming out, and with it a 'sale' price.  I'll post it here on the board, but that was just a little 'insider' information.


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## Brenda Carroll (May 21, 2009)

mamiller said:


> Between you and me, Meredith...WIDOW'S TALE has a new cover coming out, and with it a 'sale' price. I'll post it here on the board, but that was just a little 'insider' information.


Awwwww.... thank you....  You are so sweet to announce your sale, I have been looking at your book too and now ya giving away your secrets to others...


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## Meredith Sinclair (May 21, 2009)

Brendan Carroll said:


> Awwwww.... thank you....  You are so sweet to announce your sale, I have been looking at your book too and now ya giving away your secrets to others...


Hey! That was a SECRET! Don't you go announcing it yourself to everyone, Brendan.... Oh wait that would be good for you would it not mamiller?


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## vwkitten (Apr 10, 2009)

I saw the new cover on your website -- it is very nice.  My mother downloaded Rogue's Way before her trip to Medjugorje (sp).

Trish


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## mamiller (Apr 28, 2009)

Thank you, Trish.

It's good to see you on Facebook 

I could sit down and write a novel with no problem, but to determine the intricacies of Facebook..._that_ is a feat I have yet to master. I'm learning fast, though!


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## mrockzzz (Jun 29, 2011)

Since you initially announced your book have you seen great success with your books on Kindle?


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