CHECKING OUT CREATE SPACE SITE 

CS is very user friendly still being a newbie I managed to stumble around what later became obvious.  First step setting up the title of your MS. One of the reasons I chose to go with indie publishing is having complete autonomy.  TITLE: A long time ago I just knew the perfect title for my novel was A Hint of Darkness. It epitomised the essence of the story.  When I made the decision to split the book (it really was too cumbersome) I went back & forth between The Story of Emmaline & The Journey of Emmaline. I chose the latter. Emmaline endured quite a journey; one which I shared with her. I could predict her every thought, emotion & action.  That may sound weird but once I begin to write my characters take on a life of their own. Ellie of course, had her own journey & fond as I am of her there were times I felt a bit annoyed at her behaviour. She is quite wilful.
Back to reality & more autonomous decisions. COVERS:  Here I had the expertise of graphic artist & designer Chris Brunton.  Who as well as being completely professional is also a saint. Not once did he yell at me (maybe muttered a few times) when I kept changing bits. It is more difficult than I realised to get perceptions across without any artistic talent to express them. I spent months in finding the two pictures of Emmaline I wanted for the covers. I needed one portraying her youthful beauty for A Hint of Darkness & another showing a more mature & self-assured woman for The Journey of Emmaline. Over a number of years, I compiled a folder of possible pictures. I eventually settled on one. Alas it was from a famous portrait.  My beloved husband who is quite talented tried to draw it for me. sadly, drawing didn’t quite have the refinement needed. I eventually found what I was looking for on a site where you could purchase photos of models in suitable costume.  Chris worked his magic & did the rest. I’m very happy with the outcome.
Three viable ways to do your book covers. Design it yourself & upload to CS. Have it professionally done as I did. Pay to have CS do it for you. Before doing the finer points for your cover you need to know number of pages to calculate spine thickness etc. Follow the steps & work forward. I started with cover first & gave myself lots of hassles. Number of pages can change as you format the layout. You need to do know exactly what is required. Be super-organised to save hassles. I’m all set up for next time.








Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Excerpt: A Hint of Darkness

A Hint of Darkness  alludes to the darkness of betrayal. Emmaline and Ellie are born in different centuries, yet linked by kinship and the bonds of sisterhood. Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved.’ William Jennings Bryant 1 From the journals of Emmaline Gidley-King  Cooktown North Qld Australia  11 th February 1879 Mama: will I never be free of her malevolent presence? It has taken the most commonplace, yet startling of events, to prompt me to begin my writing. Last night, exhausted by Lilli’s constant demands, I fell into bed without performing my hair-braiding ritual. This morning confronted by a wild tangle of curls, and bemoaning my lack of discipline, I attempted to drag a brush through the knotted black mass. Through tear-starred eyes I surveyed my image in the mirror. My breath escaped in a hiss. Mama’s dark almond eyes stared back at me. That despised face. I recoiled in hor
Read more

STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD

Image
AUTHOR OR BUSINESS PERSON? You can be an artist & still have a good head for business Your books are launched, first flurry of sales has slowed, so what now? What happens now separates the authors from the business people. Gone are the days when one of the big publishing houses looked after your marketing. Now its DIY promoting or you are on that slippery downhill slope to obscurity. As well as living in the age of self-publishing we also live in the age of online opportunities. Okay so there might be a million other books out there to compete with yours, HOW DO YOU MAKE YOURS STAND OUT? Hard work & perseverance is the short answer. Let’s break that down. Getting your name out there is number one. I’ve had 1000 eye-catching bookmarks printed & I hand them out or leave them where they hopefully will be seen. I’ve started selling my books at local markets. I am exploring online sales sites other than those listed with CreateSpace/ Amazon.  I am looking at Payhip at t
Read more

BOOKS PUBLISHED –NOW HOW TO GET YOUR NAME OUT THERE?

 26 TH March 2019 BOOKS PUBLISHED –NOW HOW TO GET YOUR NAME OUT THERE?   Finding a way through the maze of creating an author platform and still having time to write, is a major problem for many authors. But if your name isn’t out there and on people’s reading list you might as well turn off your computer & concentrate on writing letters instead.   I have been on the mailing list for AUTHORS PUBLISH for some time. Reading bits here & there.   Not doing too much with the info. NOW I have struck gold. I downloaded their free copy of HOW TO PROMOTE YOUR WORK edited by Caitlin Jans who is also the editor of Authors Publish Magazine. Fourteen authors have contributed to this work. I have no doubt it will take me some time to work my way through & utilise the information. I’ve set myself up a daily to do list. The contents are set out in an easy to follow index, it is the magnitude of what I’m looking at & where I go from here that has me jumping up & down.  
Read more