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Navigating iBooks (iBooks FRiDAY 2)

 

So you’re ready to make the leap to iBooks . . . but it’s not familiar. You’re not sure how to find your books, your library, how to find new content . . . and how to buy a book without that big familiar gold button?

Don’t worry. It’s so easy that you’ll be amazed. And I’m going to show you how in a few simple steps.

Here’s my iPhone screen. You can see that the iBooks icon is right there, with its open book. Touch it, and the app opens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is what I see: it’s a screen that says ALL BOOKS–my iBooks library. I can have the books displayed by recently opened, alphabetical by title or author or by category. The titles are shown, with author name just beneath, and the covers are there, too. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That’s great, of course, but to have a library, first you need to find some books to buy or download. How do you do this? Just look down. See options on your bottom bar? The star is FEATURED books, basically the home page for the iBooks Store. Or you can touch TOP CHARTS to see the best-selling books. Or if you know the author/title/category of the book you want to read, touch SEARCH.

 

 

 

 

This is what you’ll see if you touch FEATURED. Across the top of the page is a slider, which offers special promotions, like iBooks Exclusive books and free or sale books. You can see preorders and trending/topical books, and you can flick through them all.

 

 

 

 

 

If you touch SEARCH, this is the page you’ll see. Notice the trending list–all clickable–and the search bar up top. You can type in author names, book titles, genres, sub-genres or just about anything else.

 

 

 

 

 

You’ll see that I typed in football, and I got a list of suggestions: football books, football romance and more. I can add more keywords to further define the search.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, I clicked FOOTBALL ROMANCE. And this is my results page. Hmmm, there’s some seriously good stuff here! Liz Matis, Julie Brannagh and Bella Andre . . . so hard to choose what to read next.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I decided to check out Jami Davenport’s book GAME CHANGER. This is the book’s page. Notice the details, the reviews and the ‘related’ (more books by the author, more books in the series, also-boughts, more books like this and top books in the genre). You can also hit the SAMPLE button to get a taste before you purchase, or you can click the price button to BUY THE BOOK. If the book is free, instead of a price you’ll see the word GET there. And GET it you should!

 

 

 

 

Once you buy your book, it goes into your library, and all you have to do is touch the title in order to read it. The first page might look something like this. The blue arrow I drew points to the iBooks blue arrow–which takes you back to your library. The green arrow I drew points to the book’s table of contents. And I circled in green where you can adjust font size, search the book or bookmark a page.

 

 

 

 

So now you have it. Super easy, right? Nothing to it. My challenge to you now is to go play on iBooks. Open up the app on your iPhone or your iPad, and see what you can find. Check out some cool books by this chick Tawdra Kandle. Or, sure, anyone else. Whatever you like.

Next Friday I’ll tell you what iBook I read this week. I’ll just tell you it was soooooo freaking good! (That’s what we call an iTease.)

 

 

Why iBooks? (iBooks FRiDAY 1)

Once upon a time, I read books just the same way the rest of the world did: paperbacks or hard-cover books that I could hold in my hands and turn the pages . . . usually procured from the library or a book store.

And then came ebooks. I had a Nook first . . . I bought my first Kindle Fire well after I’d published my own books. But even before that, in 2011, I had my very first iPhone. Still, I didn’t know anything about iBooks (which wasn’t really even a thing then).

In the last three years, though, I’ve read more on my iPhone than on any other device. Yet I’ll admit it: I usually read using my Kindle app. I’ll bet many of you do, too.

Recently, though, I’ve realized that it’s kind of ridiculous. After all, my iBooks app is specifically designed to work on my iPhone. And there are features which are super-cool on iBooks, like integrated music and playlists . . . and many of my favorite authors release exclusively on iBooks now, too.

So I’ve made a commitment: for the next year, I’m only buying–and reading–my books on iBooks. I’m also going to share what I’m reading and maybe give you some fun things I learn about along the way.

Which leads us to the next part (a bonus post for this first iBooks FRiDAY) . . . which is about how to navigate in iBooks for those of us who haven’t been there before and might find it a bit confusing.

Read it here–and be sure to follow along with me!

#AprilReadingChallenge: A Cover You Love

Welcome to April! It’s my favorite month of the year . . . for many reasons. First, of course, it’s spring. When I lived in a more season-oriented climate, April was the first month when we could count on more warm days than cold ones. And it was the month of daffodils, tulips and forsythia. The air was filled with fragrance.

And April is *my* month–I celebrate my birthday on the 7th!

This year, I also have a huge release on that same day. AGE OF AQUARIUS goes live on the 7th.

So when I saw this reading challenge for April, I thought . . . why not?

April 4: A Cover You Love

I love so many covers! Eeeek, decisions, decisions . . .

Okay, let’s start with this one by Olivia Hardin. A Dangerous Season is one of my favorites of her books, and I just adore this cover.

And then there’s this one by Violet Howe. I love all three of the covers in this series!

 

 

And of course, I’m a little biased toward THIS cover, too! 

#AprilReadingChallenge: Favorite Children’s Books

Welcome to April! It’s my favorite month of the year . . . for many reasons. First, of course, it’s spring. When I lived in a more season-oriented climate, April was the first month when we could count on more warm days than cold ones. And it was the month of daffodils, tulips and forsythia. The air was filled with fragrance.

And April is *my* month–I celebrate my birthday on the 7th!

This year, I also have a huge release on that same day. AGE OF AQUARIUS goes live on the 7th.

So when I saw this reading challenge for April, I thought . . . why not?

April 2nd: Favorite Children’s Book

This is not easy! I’m going to fudge a little and give three answers:

  1. Favorite grade-school book: Mr. Pine’s Mixed Up Signs by Leonard P. Kessler (The book that taught me how to read!)
  2. Favorite middle-grade/chapter book: (This was REALLY tough!!) Look Through My Window by Jean Little. I fell in love with this story and read it over and over . . . I’m not sure if it was the idea of the big old house they moved into, or maybe the cousins coming to live with them (I always wished for a bigger family), but this story is warm, wonderful and amazing. If you haven’t read it, grab it NOW. Seriously. Life changing stuff here.
  3. Favorite young adult book: When I was in high school, we really didn’t have young adult books. We went from Laura Ingalls Wilder to the classics or adult lit. Of course, we had Judy Bloom and her forbidden book Forever, but that is in a class by itself. (Ahem.) My favorite young adult that I’ve read in the last five years would have to be Jesi Lea Ryan’s Arcadia series. I love book #2 especially.

#AprilReadingChallenge: April TBR

 

Welcome to April! It’s my favorite month of the year . . . for many reasons. First, of course, it’s spring. When I lived in a more season-oriented climate, April was the first month when we could count on more warm days than cold ones. And it was the month of daffodils, tulips and forsythia. The air was filled with fragrance.

And April is *my* month–I celebrate my birthday on the 7th!

This year, I also have a huge release on that same day. AGE OF AQUARIUS goes live on the 7th.

So when I saw this reading challenge for April, I thought . . . why not?

APRIL 1st: April TBR

This is always complicated, because often reading time is hard to find. *But* I know some of my favorites are releasing amazing books this month, so . . .

Man Candy by Melanie Harlow I discovered this author very recently, reading her latest release If You Were Mine and then the one before it, After We Fall. (Yes, I’m reading them backward, but it doesn’t make any difference.) Man Candy is on this month’s list, for sure! These are terrific, well-written romances with tons of heat and well-developed characters (you know how important that is for me!). I highly recommend them

The Hot Shot by Kristen Callihan Yes, I am a sucker for all things KC and especially her Game On books. These are consistently well-written, amazing football romances, and I am counting the days until April 18th! 

All in the Landing by Olivia Hardin This is not an exact link as it’s not up for preorder yet, but I happen to know it’s coming April 25th . . . and I’ll have it in MY hot little hands even sooner! Wahooo! This is a new book in my favorite Rawley Family series by Olivia, and since I got hooked in the prequel, All in the Takeoff, I can’t wait for this one. 

What’s on YOUR April TBR? Well, along with the above, might I suggest . . .

Age of Aquarius Coming April 7th

 

Zone of Action: Career Soldier Book #4 Coming April 18th (Cover in the newsletter this week!)