Follow @HTBphotos on Musero

Attention ARTISTS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS:

Finally, a social media app designed for artists and photographers.

MUSERO: a social network run by people who are dedicated to artists, who are dedicated to beauty, and who worship creation.

How to Join Musero

It’s easy to join. Just download the Musero app from your mobile phone, create your login and start posting your art and photography.

About HTBphotos

Tall Palms – La Jolla @HTBphotos

Katharina and her husband John Notarianni enjoy photographing wildflowers, wildlife and stunning landscapes while traveling. HTBphotos represents their collaborative efforts.

HTBphotos are available exclusively on Dreamstime.

Self Publish Your Book 3 Ways on KDP.Amazon.com

Kindle Digital Publishing (KDP) now offers hardcover books (with a case laminate cover) as an option for authors who self publish their print-on-demand books. Previously Amazon’s KDP only offered paperback books which are not ideal for coffee table / photo feature books.

Over the years many of the authors I have helped publish have wanted to offer a hardcover version but without the expense normally associated with this option. Usually the author would have to order a certain number of books, store and sell them. Now, Amazon’s KDP allows authors to create a hardcover version of their book as a print on demand book! That means, no additional production expenses out of pocket. Amazon does take their usual share of profits, however in exchange they offer a trusted global distribution system to sell all versions of your book: eBooks, paperbacks and now hardcover books, too.

What is Self Publishing?

In case you are considering whether to publish your book, it may be useful to know that self publishing is an avenue of publication of media by its author without the need to involve publisher. The term usually refers to written media, such as books and magazines, either as an ebook or as a physical copy in paperback or hardback using print-on-demand (POD) technology.

Trim Size

Now Amazon offers 16 trim size options for paperback books, and five trim sizes for any book you also wish to offer in hardcover:

  • 5.5 x 8.5”
  • 6 x 9”
  • 6.15 x 9.21”
  • 7 x 10”
  • 8.25 x 11” 

Page Count

Another difference between Amazon’s paperback and hardcover specifications is the page count.

  • Paperback can be anywhere from 24 to 828 pages
  • Hardcover must be between 55 and 550 pages

Design Your Cover

KDP has cover design software to design an elegant cover for your paperback and hard cover books. You will need to change your cover size for the hardback. Here are some tips:

Note that the case laminate covers Amazon produces are made of chipboard, and wrapped with laminated paper. Amazon does not offer the usual clothbound or dust jacket option you may be familiar with. As a result, be sure that your cover design wraps around the edges of your cover. Simply extend your design beyond the actual cover dimensions (this is referred to in the industry as “bleeding”).

The basic requirements for Amazon hardcover cover designs are:

  • Your background should extend 0.51” past the edge of the front cover;
  • All text and images should be 0.635” from the edge of the book; and
  • No text or barcodes should be within 0.4” of the spine.

Get Help from a Professional

Having trouble with the layout, or worried you are formatting your book or cover incorrectly? To ensure your book layout and cover look as good as possible, you can hire a book designer who can help maintain your ideal aesthetic while working within Amazon KDP’s rules.

Healing Time Books Publishing and Website Services
Healing Time Books Publishing and Website Services

Healing Time Books helps authors utilize today’s digital technology to publish their books.

Contact info@healingtimebooks.com for help with your self publishing project.

Photo credit: Studio Media Inc on Unsplash

Tribute to Dr. Eleanor ‘Reenah’ McGill (1939-2021)

It was with great sadness we learned that our dear friend Dr. E. Reenah McGill passed away at the end of last year. She will always hold a very special place in our hearts.

Eleanor “Reenah” McGill was born in 1939 to James and Maude McGill in Onalaska, Wisconsin. She had a passion for knowledge earning a Master of Arts, Master of Chinese Medicine, and a PhD of Philosophy in Oriental Medicine. She was still practicing acupuncture.

Throughout her years, she also lived in Germany, Georgia, Minneapolis, and LA before settling down in the Weston area of Wisconsin to be able to enjoy her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. She loved to travel to China, Peru, Mexico, taking an Amazon Cruise and travelling to so many other countries.

She is preceded in death by her parents, James and Maude and, her siblings: Frank McGill and Deb Kropelin. Reenah’s memory will live on in the hearts of her family and friends.

We first met Dr. Reenah McGill at her clinic in Los Angeles. She was impressive in the scope of her knowledge in her medical practice. She used her skills as a doctor of Chinese medicine, neurobiofeedback, and a new type of acupuncture called Esoteric Acupuncture, developed by Mikio Sankey, to make a remarkable difference in her patients. Reenah was a highly accomplished scholar and practitioner, always looking for new topics to explore and learn about in detail and overcoming any challenge with determination and resolve.

Books by Dr. E. Reenah McGill

Due to her type 1 diabetes condition which developed suddenly late in life, she became very interested in nutrition and other healing modalities. Dr. McGill and hypnotherapist Dr. Zaugg collaborated and published ‘Eat Right Lose Weight, Introducing the 5 Element Nutrition & Hypnosis System’ which is available on Amazon.com.

Eat Right Lose Weight book by Dr. E. Reenah McGill and Dr. Marianne Zaugg

Poetry by Dr. E. Reenah McGill

Dr. Reenah McGill was well known for her brilliance and delightful sense of humor and her poetry reflects her personality. Poetry MS Volume 1 and Poetry Volume 2 by Dr. E. Reenah McGill include her poems written over a span of more than forty years. They represent and reflect many changes in her life situations, thoughts and desires.

Poetry M S Volume 1 by E. Reenah McGill
Poetry M S Volume 2

Source of family memoriam information: Published by La Crosse Tribune on Dec. 22, 2021.

In Memoriam: Richard C. Richards

We were very sad to learn that our dear friend and author Richard Richards passed away peacefully earlier this month. He had a clever sense of humor and wit that will be missed. It was an honor and a delight to help him publish his books.

Professor Richards had many accomplishments with his latest efforts resulting in two published books ‘A Philosopher Looks at The Sense of Humor‘ and ‘Poems that Almost Got Away: Reflections on Death and Life‘, and many iris hybrid introductions. During his lifetime, Richards was deeply involve in everything iris and contributed regularly in the form of presentations of his latest findings and seedling introductions at regional and local chapters of the American Iris Society, namely The San Diego Iris Society. His award winning irises included tall bearded irises ‘Amethyst Winter’ ‘Marty Richards’ ‘Easy Being Green’ and ‘Classical Brass.’ He also introduced a species cross iris unguicularis ‘Zzyzx.’ His hybridizing program focused on a producing a true green iris. While his program produced many greenish examples, they also came in a variety of other colors, such as the dramatic purple irises he introduced. Due to his exacting standards, every introduction had to be tall and sturdy with many buds. Richards was also an expert on Pacific Coast Native Irises which he also hybridized for fun and introduced ‘Clarice Richards’ in honor of his mother who encouraged his passion for growing and hybridizing plants.’

Richards Tall Bearded Iris ‘Easy Being Green’ – winner of AIS and AIS Region 15 awards including President’s Cup 2012

About Richard C. Richards in his own words

“I meet death occasionally for lunch, but we only talk about trivial things. We’re not really good friends, but we tolerate each other. Many of the poems in ‘Poems That Almost Got Away’ deal with death. That is a respectable topic for a philosopher, a poet, or anyone else who wants to understand this crazy disease called life, and not simply to get through it with as little thought as possible. Death to me is a concern, but not a preoccupation. I meet death occasionally for lunch, but we only talk about trivial things. We’re not really good friends, but we tolerate each other. Sometimes I joke. Sometimes you cannot tell whether I am joking or not. Neither can I…sometimes.

I remember little of my conception and birth. I assume it took place, but I was not in a position to appreciate it. It was all just a whirl of chromosomes and genes. Plus a rude exit into the world at Moscow, Idaho. They tell me it was in 1935. They could be wrong.

I had what was, compared with children today, an idyllic youth, spent in an atmosphere of no TV and other digital devices, mostly because they had not been invented yet. We roamed the fields and woods near Boise, Idaho, fished, and threw rocks at Neanderthals, who were plentiful at the time.

A move to Santa Barbara, California, after the late, great WWII introduced me to the world of thinking, stimulated and occasionally threatened by some really great teachers at both Santa Barbara High School and the University of California, Santa Barbara. At the latter I discovered my true vocation, but became a philosopher instead. UCLA put the cap on my bottle of education, and I spent nearly forty years teaching at California State Polytechnic on a one-year temporary appointment. I got all the mileage out of that appointment I could.

My first marriage produced one son, Randal, who produced nine grandchildren, who produced four great grandchildren so far. A wonderful marriage to Marlene “Marty” Richards added immeasurably to my life.

The philosophy of humor has interested me for years, and with retirement, I decided to write the book, A Philosopher Looks at The Sense of Humor. It has a serious intent and a humorous approach. That way I can offend a larger number of people: both the humorous and the serious.

My funeral occurred several years ago, but it did not take. But I got to put the fun back in FUNeral.” — Richard C. Richards, La Mesa, CA

Get 15 images free

Discover HTBphotos by John and Katharina Notarianni on Dreamstime! For your website, digital and print marketing efforts.

Get 15 images free on your first order!

Copyright 2022 Healing Time Books and HTB | Website Design by Katharina Notarianni. All Rights Reserved.

Zoom Bombings and Zoom Etiquette

HTB | Website Design – advice about Zoom bombings, a new threat, and zoom etiquette for meeting hosts

Several years ago I started using Zoom for my webinars, mainly because I didn’t consider myself a speaker/presenter and was more comfortable at a computer. No surprise, since I am a web designer and publisher! In the meantime I have had a lot of opportunities to participate and host meetings via Zoom and I still love it.

In fact, one of the positives that has resulted from the last 2 years of intermittent quarantine and adjustments in our Covid-19 affected environment is that almost everyone who is online or has a smartphone has had a zoom meeting experience. I love that even tech challenged and people who consider them too old to learn new tricks are getting on Zoom easily.

While there are other webinar services, I am a fan of having choices, and I am glad that Zoom rose to the challenge to become the obvious favorite service. Zoom Meetings allow for direct interaction, breakout sessions, recording, archiving, audio only and video tracks for reposting and more. If you are a tech person like me and need to screenshare for better communication with your client, Zoom has a screensharing option for the host and the participants which the host controls.

Here are some tips when you host a meeting to ensure a great experience for your meeting attendees:

Make introductions – introduce yourself to the attendees and especially in a smaller meeting, be sure to acknowledge individuals by name to create a more familiar environment.

Create your environment using virtual backgrounds– at an in-person meeting you would be more aware of the quality of the environment, making it specific to your theme. It is easy to select an image or video to act as a “virtual background” with Zoom’s virtual background feature. In fact, I often find wonderful nature photographs on Unsplash.com which create a relaxing mood for my meditation events.

One thing to be aware of is that sometimes body parts like hands and hair merge with the background image when you move around too much, or if the color of your outfit matches too closely. If you need to demonstrate something with your hands, or show movement, it’s best to avoid the virtual background altogether and instead consider installing an actual screen, or hold your meeting in a more neutral setting like an office.

Look at the camera -This probably sounds obvious, however, the tendency is to look at yourself to make sure you are presenting well. Instead, make an effort to look at your camera so that the attendees feel that you are talking directly to them.

Eliminate noise – It may seem obvious but unless you are the host you probably aren’t aware of background noise. Driving or walking and breathing while you are hosting a meeting generates more noise than you think. Barking dogs and landscape maintenance crews with loud blowers and mowers can’t be helped sometimes. Even notifications that ding on your computer will be relayed. Some of these you can control and others you cannot. If you are outdoors or in a car, when it is your turn to talk, stand still and slow down your breathing to a normal rate or pull the car over to reduce road noise. And if you remember, turn off the sound notifications on your device during your meetings.

Best Sound Quality – If recording the event and repurposing the content is a high priority, get a high quality noise cancelling microphone. If necessary you can opt to wear a headset with a noise cancelling microphone, like Apple’s Airpods Pro.

Host Meeting Controls – As a host you have many settings you can choose when you create your meeting. Did you know you are able to set up the Zoom meeting to allow others to unmute themselves, or for the Host only to unmute people. For the Host only to screen share, or to allow multiple people to screen share? You can also assign co-hosts for your meetings.

Warning – Zoom bombings are real! I recently learned about zoom bombings through a personal experience when a few people showed up during an online event and immediately unmuted themselves and proceeded to make disruptive noises and comments.

As a Zoom Meeting host, you can mitigate some of this risk by not posting meeting passwords, requesting people to register and then set up a waiting room so you can allow people who have been verified to enter the meeting. In a more public meeting where all are invited it’s not as easy to control however the meeting host always has the option to mute everyone. Some meeting settings to adhere to include:

  • Disable “Join Before Host”
  • Enabling “Co-Host”
  • Disable “File Transfer”
  • Disable “Allow Removed Participants to Rejoin”

Zoom added two new security features that hosts can use to address these disruptive and uninvited Zoom bombers.

  1. Suspend Participant Activities enables hosts and cohosts to suspend meeting functions, including video, audio, in-meeting chat and breakout rooms.
  2. Report Disruptive Attendees enables users, not just hosts and co-hosts, but also the meeting participants to report disruptive behavior like Zoom bombing from within the Zoom client using the “Security” badge. All account owners and admins need to do is enable reporting for non-hosts in their web settings.

Sources: Entrepreneur; TechCrunch; and Security Intelligence

Copyright 2022 Healing Time Books and HTB | Website Design by Katharina Notarianni. All Rights Reserved.

#1 Bestseller in Business Mentoring and Coaching

Are you involved in network marketing? In NETWORK MARKETING 2.0 REVEALED, you will find loads of tips on how to navigate the Network Marketing world and create your own success story!

– Buy your copy today:

Featuring HTB author Katharina Notarianni on ‘3 Keys to Accelerating Your Network Marketing Business.’

Bestselling author and publisher Katharina Notarianni and her husband, John Notarianni are focused on building successful residual income businesses to share healing products that have helped them balance the body, mind, and spirit. Their success story is featured in NETWORK MARKETING 2.0. Visit BodyMindSpirit.Online for information about health transforming products.

Bestselling authors celebrate #1 bestseller Business Mentoring and Coaching

In 2008, Katharina Notarianni launched Healing Time Books, a publishing company with a mission to help small business owners and authors make the most of today’s digital technologies to self publish their works, and HTB Website Design provides mobile-friendly website design services.

For over twenty-five years, Katharina Notarianni, as the Tara Channel, together with her husband, John, have helped guide others on their personal journey of self-realization to transform their health and wellness. Find out more about Tara, as channeled by Katharina Notarianni, at TaraChannelLive.com.

Pantone Color of the Year: Very Peri

Recently announced by color experts at Pantone, 2022 Color of the Year is a beautiful shade of blue and violet red called Very Peri (periwinkle!).

Pantone Color Palette using Very Peri - HTB Website Design by Katharina Notarianni
PANTONE COLOR OF THE YEAR: VERY PERI

How to implement this color in your web design, publishing projects and products? First, you’ll need the web color hex code (#6667ab) or RGB (102, 103, 171) or CMYK (68, 64, 2, 0) so you can begin designing with this color. Read more great ideas about how to implement Very Peri in an article from Creative Marketing.

Design Your Color Palette

Pantone Connect is a free online interactive tool provided by Pantone so you can create color palettes using Very Peri.

Pantone Color Palette using Very Peri - HTB Website Design by Katharina Notarianni
Use Pantone Connect to create your own color palettes

Here are some interesting Pantone Color Palettes (click on an image to load the carousel for a closer look):

Featured images courtesy of Pantone.

Get creative! Post Your Project!

Have fun and let us know how you go with using Very Peri in your website design or publishing projects. We’ll post the best implementation of Very Peri here on our Facebook page.

Copyright 2021 Healing Time Books | HTB Website Design. All Rights Reserved.

Stock Photos for Branding (Get started with 15 free images)


Find that UNIQUE picture

Wondering how to fit high quality photos into your branding strategy but worried about the expense of a photographer?

Photographers are definitely necessary if you are including yourself or your products in the image. And stock images are great for finding a series of images that uniquely say “this is me, this is my company, this is my brand.”

There are millions of photos available through stock photography sites. You can subscribe to a stock photography site to get access to their entire collection, or license only those that you want.

And, once you find the ones that resonate with your audience, you can buy exclusive rights to them so that others aren’t able to use those images.

Get EMOTION-al

A picture tells a thousand words… The imagery speaks to our imagination and activates an emotion, and suddenly memories and thoughts pop up related to the image. This is the impact you want when you choose images to brand yourself and your business. Images that bring emotion to the branding will differentiate you and at the same time make it easier for someone to remember you.

Brand Yourself with Images

In addition to a logo did you know choosing an image and using it over and over again can become an important part of your brand? For the EMOTION-al reasons stated people will remember you and your brand better if they consistently see the same logo, colors and imagery.

Free Photos Offer

Dreamstime offers high quality stock photos for licensing. With over 157 million images to choose from, you are sure to find many that can distinguish you and your brand.

Get 15 photos free during the first week of your subscription:

Hurry Sale Ends Soon!