My latest Kindle book, Words Taken from the Sky, is a collection of poems and photographs that have some kind of connection to the sky. The poems were written over a wide range of time, from the 1960s to 2022, mostly while living in Denton and Austin, Texas. The photographs--all black-and-white--date back even further. Some were taken in the South China Sea and Tonkin Gulf in 1964-65. Others were taken in the 1970s and 1980s, during my days as a photographer and photojournalist for several newspapers. And some of the images are from my "unemployed" and "retired" collections.
I am well aware that almost nobody buys poetry books anymore, no matter how low or high they are priced. My new one is 99 cents or even $0.00 through some Amazon promotions. However, even if someone just looks at a sample page or two, I may get some kind of micro-royalty (likely fractions of a cent). If someone buys it for 99 cents, I will score a book royalty of $0.33. (Excuse me for a moment, please, while I check the current prices for available mansions and repossessed Maseratis.)
I tried to format the book so it can be read (and photos viewed) on Kindle devices, tablet computers, and even smartphones. But poetry and ebooks can be a rocky marriage sometimes. On some devices, the book may appear more or less as I intended it. On others, there may be some loosey-goosey formatting. But the words and pictures generally will be in there, at least close to where they are supposed to be. Don't be surprised if you have to scroll or jump to the next screen to get the last line (or last few lines) of a poem.
A paperback version is in the works. Those usually are created from PDF files, so there should be better formatting control, as well as the ability to work with different typefaces, heading colors, and other enhancements.
In the meantime, operators are standing by to take your...[click].
-- Si Dunn