MacGourmet 4.2.1 for Mac OSX has been released

I am delighted to announce that Mariner Software has just released MacGourmet Deluxe 4.2.1 for Mac OSX. MacGourmet Deleux has important bug fixes for and feature enhancements available in this latest release.

Mac customers with active support entitlements can upgraded to MacGourmet Deluxe 4.2.1 the next time they launch MacGourmet.  Gourmet 1.1 for iOS is under active development at this time and should be released shortly.

Change Log For MacGourmet Deluxe :

4.2.1 MacGourmet Deluxe - September 6, 2015

• Updated the web site importer to support additional sites. 
• Fixed a printing display bug introduced when the font slider was fixed in 4.2.
• Fixed an issue in the Help menu when accessing the Knowledge Base.
• Fixed several small bugs in the web importer. 

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Four months as a Mariner Software Affiliate

Back in mid March of this year I signed up as a Mariner Software Affiliate and after a couple days Teresa had me all setup and ready to go with my new Affiliate Account and discount code along with some graphics from the internal marketing department. In the beginning, I must confess that I got off to a very slow start and just posted on my personal web site about my discount code and then shared that post on my Google+ account. One of the reasons for my slow start was because I was in the middle of building my house and other obligations that life has set out for us.

So after that first post and share I didn’t do any further work on the program until around mid July, this is when I started to have some additional free time to devote to my back burner affiliate program here. To be honest I was actually a little surprised after asking for my sales numbers from marketing and being told that I had actually racked up 13 sales from that first initial post.

And this got me to thinking, “Geez what would my sales have been if I had been actually continued working on my affiliate program? I could possibly be the Donald’s running mate.” Joke!

So with my current sales in mind and additional time there was but one thing to do, right? Get to work and and see if I couldn’t improve upon my sales even further.

I currently have an account on nearly every social media network as well as a few blog accounts. So to start with, I posted a blog post about Mariner Software products. This way I could then link back or share on my social media accounts. I also started posting in Mac-centric forums and sharing my discount code that was provided to me. This way people interested in purchasing Mariner products could use my coupon code and save 25% off their new purchase. I then also linked those post back to my original web site post.

The reason being is that I want to build a structure so I can facilitate the search engines of each of the social networks and then the broader larger general search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo. That way I would have everything seamlessly going in one general direction with the hopes of sales resulting from a good stable structure. I personally believe building a successful affiliate program is like building a house, we need a strong stable foundation to build upon then have a building plan for the structure itself.

After Googling for a few hours and finding some nice Mariner Software reviews from review sites I posted about those reviews on my own site with links back to the original post. This helps the initial reviewer get additional traffic and SEO benefits but I added in my affiliate code and discount to the bottom of each post, So its a win win for everyone involved. These post were also shared on my social media accounts and after about three weeks I could actually start to see my own SEO payoff.

By The first week of August I checked back with marketing once again to see if my post were effective and if my marketing strategy was starting to pay off and produce sales. Once again I was pleasantly surprised that I had by this time increased my sales to around 5 to 6 sales per week. This is great because it had only been three weeks since I had actually started seriously working on my affiliate program.

This past week was another busy week for me and I didn’t get much accomplished on my Affiliate program. Fortunately, this is one of the really nice benefits of affiliate marketing. We can work on our program with as much or little time as we want without having the stress that’s involved with a hourly or salaried position. Sure a guaranteed paycheck is nice but as a part-time way of making a little extra income, its hard to beat getting payed doing the things we really enjoy in life without any additional stress.

Another good thing about this strategy is that if I’m busy one week, my post from previous weeks are still generating clicks and potential sales. As time goes on and as my post count grows, the residual income becomes a little more secure. It’s like getting payed in the years to come for the lean times now while working on gaining our initial following.

In closing, I hope to see more affiliates in the coming months because there is alot of room on this huge internet for all of us to have fun and earn some extra money while sharing great software with our current and future friends.

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MacGourmet Deluxe 4.2 has been released

Yesterday we released MacGourmet Deluxe 4.2 which fixes the import issue we have had for several weeks. I won’t go into detail on what a massive undertaking this was (in a nutshell, MacGourmet is now parsing the data from recipe web sites _within_ the app opposed to using the third party software), but needless-to-say, it taxed our resources. For this version, there are only 20 or so sites in the Recipe Import Assistant that are supported but we will be adding more over time (the supported sites now are the most popular so it’s likely your favorite site is listed). Here is the official bug fix list for 4.2:

-Updated web site import to use internal code. This replaces the deprecated/terminated online app.
-Added latest nutrition database, fixed a number of display issues in nutrition view.
-Updated preferences pane.
-Fixed a display issue with the font slider control, added help tag.
-Fixed a display issue with the List Editor with Yosemite.
-Fixed a bug using 2 finger scroll in Chef view.
-Fixed a crash when printing Beer Notes. Added several printing templates.
-Fixed a crash when printing Cheese Notes. Added several printing templates.
-Fixed a number of typos and small bugs.

Moving forward, we will be adding this new code to MacGourmet 4, both the Mac App Store versions, as well as Gourmet for iOS. All of this should be complete shortly.
One caveat to this new web import functionality is that older versions of MacGourmet/MacGourmet Deluxe (pre-MacGourmet and MacGourmet Deluxe 4) rely on the online code that was shut down and unfortunately can’t be salvaged. We tried to come up with an alternative to this issue but being that the previous 3rd party source is no longer, there really wasn’t an option. If you have a pre-MacGourmet/MacGourmet Deluxe 4 version and wish to use the new web import feature, you will need to upgrade to MacGourmet Deluxe 4, which you can do on our web site.
As a side-note, if you are running the Yosemite OS, we strongly encourage upgrading to MacGourmet Deluxe 4 (whether we had this import issue or not) as Version 3 is no longer being developed and isn’t completely compatible with Yosemite.

Thank you for your patience with this issue.

Michael Wray
Mariner Software

You can use any of these 4 coupons in Mariners online store and save between 5% and 25% off the retail price of new purchases or one of the 5 pack bundles.

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Four Mariner Software coupon promo codes available for 2015 savings

Do you need a Mariner Software product today such as Mariner Write, a word processing application or Mariner Calc, a spreadsheet application.

How about MacJournal and WinJournal desktop blogging software, Montage screenwriting software, Contour screenplay development software, Mariner Paperless digital document management software and Mariner Persona character development software.

You can use any of these 4 coupons in Mariners online store and save between 5% and 25% off the retail price of new purchases or one of the 5 pack bundles.

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Mariner Software Montage

What is Mariner Software Montage ?

When you watch a TV show, a film or a play, it’s hard to see the structure that goes into each one. But it’s there. And, it’s pretty specific. It’s one thing having the idea – it’s something else getting that idea into the format needed to get noticed. That’s where Montage comes in.

Screenwriting – art with words

Screenwriting is a creative process but it’s not a free-for-all. It requires a specific type of formatting – from typestyle to line spacing and indentations. You can have a blockbuster idea but without the proper screenwriting format, it won’t get read. Montage, a screenwriting product developed exclusively for the Mac, contains everything you’ll need to create the right format so that your script won’t be another addition to the circular file.

It’s very useful and easy to use.
by VCCR2010

The graphic novel I wrote using Montage just hit bookstores worldwide this week. It’s called SWEETS: A New Orleans Crime Story. Reviews are fantastic and so far sales are strong. The book even won a Spinetingler Award!
Kody Chamberlain

“The main advantage I see of using Montage over other software packages I’ve looked at is its simplicity and ease of use, focused on the writer. It opens quickly, has an easy-to-use and easy-to-learn interface, and at the same time has nearly all the features you’d actually need or use from more complicated and expensive programs.”
N. Andreson
a Montage user

Puts Final Draft to shame. “Sure Final Draft is the _industry standard_ but why spend hundreds when Montage does the trick? I can export my work to Final Draft in the end anyway.”
Kevin Curran
a Montage user

Have Final Draft, will travel.

Let’s face it, Final Draft screenwriting software has been the industry leader for many years. For some users, a transition to a new screenwriting tool would be both challenging and intimidating.
Montage includes a built-in Final Draft importer which allows you to drag and drop your Final Draft documents (fdr format only) right on Montage and have them open in the Montage format.
What’s that? You say you have a writing partner who needs to work in Final Draft (for some bizarre reason!)…we can help there too. Have the ease of creating your work in Montage’s intuitive and elegant interface AND the convenience of saving your Montage script as a Final Draft file format (.fdr).

We’ll do all the heavy-lifting

Montage is designed to automatically structure your writing – you don’t have to worry about learning a complicated process. We’ve even included templates for almost every genre: TV, film, theatre, musical, comic book and more – just take your pick and Montage will do the rest.

View your script from every angle

Looking at your work from different perspectives, like any other type of art, is a good thing. Montage provides multiple views such as the Script View, so you can see what you’re writing page by page. The Outline View lays out your script scene by scene and allows you to organize your script and even set its status.

Don’t let yourself be distracted

A Full Screen Mode is a feature to keep you free from background images, e-mail and all the other stuff on your computer’s desktop. A clutter free desk will set the stage for focused writing and productivity.

Now you’re ready!

Writing a query, constructing a synopsis and sending your script, Montage assists with that too so you’re not left with a nicely formatted screenplay but nothing else. With the hundreds of included industry contacts through the integration with Apple’s Address Book – all you’ll need is determination.

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Mariner Software Mariner Write

What is Mariner Software Mariner Write ?

Elegantly efficient and powerful, Mariner Write has everything you will need to turn out great looking documents. Tired of having 4 million features in your word processor? No worries. Whether you’re a professional writer, educator, student or an average sort, Write has just the right amount of functionality needed to be your go-to word processing app.

From the get-go – designed for the Mac

Mariner Write is no “after-thought” or retooled product. It was specifically developed and purposely designed for the Mac from the very beginning. Mariner Write opens as a clean and uncluttered place for you to start to write. But don’t be deceived by its simplicity, it can do whatever you ask. Use the Smart Cut and Paste feature so you don’t have to worry about whether you properly selected the correct character space. View different parts of your document at the same time with the Split Pane. Mariner Write is more than able to see you through your word processing task.

Word Processor of the Year
2013 Reader’s Choice Finalist
About.com

I want to write, format text and save documents as documents for future use. Nothing I’ve seen beats Mariner Write for that. I just felt you had a right to hear some validation for what you’ve done with this program.
Bob Mendel
Mariner Write user

How about the bottom line first? Barring any dramatic change in its
performance or my experiences with Write, it is likely Mariner Write will be
the only word processor I use on my MacBook from here on out. Even if or
when Microsoft produces a Universal version of Word, I’ll stick with Write.
John Mandes
Mariner Write user

Did you want the kitchen sink?

Well, we’d hate to disappoint you but unlike the other word processor, Mariner Write has all the features you need for that important letter or technical document but without extra and often times, meaningless items. Sometimes all you need is to create customizable headers, footers, endnotes, footnotes or a simple style sheet. With Mariner Write, your document will always look clean, consistent and professional. Or do you want 41 kinds of Word Art?

Flexibility is key

Mariner Write offers all the flexibility that even the most advanced users need. We’ve included many options for keyboard shortcuts for those who work with repeated tasks as well as, Mail Merge to automate mailing, a powerful Find Dialog, an intuitive Font Panel and much more. It’s all designed to give you the power to create the word processing environment you want to see.

But, we can play well with others

We understand that other areas in the space-time continuum use other word processing products. Ok, we’ll just come right out and say it, MS Word – we understand that a lot of folks use Word. Not to worry – Write opens MS Word files and will save your document as an RTF-Word file so you won’t have to feel all alone in the universe.

So what more do you need?

You don’t have to look anywhere else for a feature rich, word processing app built for the Mac. Mariner Write is tried and true and reasonably priced – just like all of Mariner’s products – and will stand up to whatever you throw at it. And anything the competition can dish out too.

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Mariner Software Narrator

What is Mariner Software Narrator ?

What do Agnes, Kathy, Alex, and Junior have in common? They are the voices of the Mac OS and they are used by Narrator, a text-to-speech and dictation app for your Mac. Have one or multiple voices read back your story (a great tool for novel or screenwriting that have conversations between two people), or help you study for a part in a play. Dictate a letter and listen as it is read back to you. The possibilities are endless.

Bring words to life!

It’s really quite simple. You can paste text or import an RTF, .txt, or .doc file into Narrator and you can hear it read back to you. Control the rate, pitch, inflection, and volume to give the voices a wide range of expressiveness. There are also silent read-along options for stage directions or if you need to just read out your own parts.

Amazing app for writers. I’ve had this app for two years and it has never disappointed. I’ll be honest, it is amazing how many errors that you catch in your own writing when you have your book read back to you. I took the suggestion by Narrator to buy additional voices and found them to really enhance the listening experience. I’d recommend this for any serious author.
Glenn Luther
Narrator user

Narrator: been looking for this type of app for a long time. As an assistive technology professional, I’ve been looking for a application to allow me to introduce folks to computerised speech in an interesting/fun way: particularly young children..
David Woodbridge
Narrator user

“I love it! Narrator even lets me use some third party high resolution voices.”
Jean-Luc Lebrun
Narrator user

I kinda of tested it out during the 30 day trial period and i had to get it. Not that many playwrights out there i guess cause i only found out about this project thru amazon not locally. I like hear my plays out aloud at home so i can have a clear sensing of it before it is vocal performed!!! thanks Mariner!!! and oh if you want more voices you would have to buy but other than that its great!!!
Starlink
A Narrator user

Assistive technology.

The Mac is good at assisting those with learning and sensory challenges with its VoiceOver and other assistive features. When it comes to TTS (text-to-speech) Narrator takes it one step further. Once you copy text or import it, you can assign voices to read out different parts. For example, you can select Victoria to read out the part of a novel or play when you need a female character, or assign the voice of Alex – whatever you want or need. Need something read back to you in Italian? or purchase Vittoria, the Italian voice (or many other voices from different languages) available from our partners at Cepstral. With its flexibility, Narrator can be a product to assist anyone who desires to maintain their independence or enhance their learning experience.

Dictation.

Narrator doesn’t just talk back, it will listen too! Use the Mac OS Enhanced Dictation for offline use and continuous dictation with live feedback. Dictate a letter, compose a short story. When you go back to add punctuation, Narrator enhances the feedback of your dictation with pauses and emphasis when it comes across commas and periods. Narrator is not without a sense of humor. Included are novelty voices like, Hysterical and Good News – all designed to enrich your TTS or dictation adventures.

A product that likes to learn.

To help you improve the pronunciation of tricky words, Narrator includes a Dictionary preferences feature. Enter a list of words to look for, and add the words or phrases to use in place of those words. You can replace an acronym or symbol with a more elegant phrasing or spell words differently so they are pronounced correctly.

Take your voices with you.

You can export what you have created in Narrator directly to iTunes, where you can listen to it time and again. Sync your Narrator files to your iPad, iPod, or iPhone. Narrator enables you to create your own audiobooks from text. For example, pick a book from one to the 42,000 free books provided by Project Gutenberg, assign characters and export it to iTunes to enjoy whenever you wanted. There is also an export option for ACC sound files to use with other sound playing software such as a soundtrack in iMovie or as a screenshot voiceover.

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