Deadly Obsession available in Paperback!

My paperback is out; you can read it by turning pages. Wow, its a GREAT feeling!

And it wasn't that difficult. Of course, I thought it would be (difficult) when I started because it was an unknown entity. But Createspace was amazing. The site takes you step by step through the process, and if you make a mistake you can go back and change it as many times as you like. 

Before I started, I read through the various stages so  I knew what I had to deliver from my side, such as a cover to the correct dimensions, a blurb for the back cover, the correct layout, the correct font. 

On my first attempt, I simply used the same layout as I had for the Kindle version - well, when I received my proof, the typeface was so big you could read it from a distance of  ten yards. 

Through all my iterations of this book, I found the following to work best for a paperback novel:

• black print on cream paper, not white
• 5x8 in size, nothing larger
• Palatino Linotype, 10
• review the digital proof as well as a hard copy
• provide a professional cover

I've been through it with a fine tooth comb; its been edited and proofed for grammar and typos; its been tweaked and turned and tossed and tinkered with - its should be in its best shape yet. 

I hope you enjoy Deadly Obsession as a paperback. If you do, please let me know. 

At the moment its only available on Createspace,  but I expect it to be out on Amazon.com within the next few days. 

If you have any comments, I'd love to hear them (please keep them constructive). 

Writing rocks!!

Tips to Design Your Book's Front Cover

Your book's front cover is the picture that speaks a thousand words. It's what your book looks like to, hopefully, millions of viewers and readers out there. You've got to make it good, and there are a number of ways in which you can do this.

If you don't have a specific idea in your head, and there may be many of you who don't, that's OK, because as with anything there is a simple formula you can use.

1. What is your book about?

The front cover is the face of your book. This is the first thing your reader will see, so it needs to be designed to draw the reader in. It needs to give the reader a taste of what they can expect to find in the book. The front cover is the epitome of show, don't tell.

Many writers will have a picture in their head of how they want the cover to look. If not, these questions may help you:

·        What does your main character do? Are they a detective or a sailor or maybe a painter?

·        Where is the book set? If your main character is a sailor then maybe the book is set on the high seas.

·        What happens in the story? Is it a murder? Is it a love story? Is it a drama?

Try to incorporate images that start to tell the story for you.

2. Is there a key/major theme?

You're unlikely to find the front cover of a murder mystery depicting two people in love under a starry sky. Likewise, any self-respecting romance is unlikely to feature a bloodied knife on the front cover.

Take the key theme and try to find images that illustrate it.

3. Where to find the images?

There are a multitude of websites offering images - some free, some not. It all depends on what you are looking for.

If you manage to find something free online then use it, but if not, it's a relatively small investment to purchase five images. Usually these images can be downloaded over a set period (up to one year), so if you don't use all of them now, you can use them for your next book.

Here are some useful websites:

·        www.shutterstock.com

·        www.istockphoto.com

·        www.gettyimages.com

·        www.alamy.com

·        www.imagesonline.com

4. Colour scheme.

What genre have you written for? If your book is a mystery, you'll probably want to steer clear of colours such as pink or lavender? Thriller, mystery, crime novels call out for dark colours full of foreboding. Chick Lit, on the other hand, works well with the use of white, pretty colours, and pastels.

Consider the colour of the spine of your book. This is particularly important if you are producing a paperback or print-on-demand edition.  At some stage, the book will sit on a shelf, and that's where the spine comes into its own. Make sure that your spine colours work well with the font colour so your title and name stand out.

5. Layout - DIY or Pro?

Here's where it can get tricky. If you're not a graphics person or don't have some rudimentary knowledge of graphics software, you may decide to opt for a professional to lay it all out for you. I did.

After days of trying to get to grips with a software programme, I gave up. After all, I want to spend my time writing rather than trying to get my head around a completely different skill.

6. Front cover hook

I'm a fan of a hook on the front cover. It's a teaser; a tantalising insight into what the book is about. I always remember the story - legend, by now, I imagine - of the guys who concocted the screen story for the film, Alien.

Their challenge was to summarise the story to the film makers. They described it as "Jaws in space."

Those three words give you the Alien story in a nutshell. No need to explain, no need to embellish.

Thing is, you don't want to give away too much on your front cover, but you do want to use words to précis the story into a bit size chunk of a taster.

7. Back cover blurb

Here's where you set the scene a bit more. Here's where you introduce your characters and the journey they are about to take in the book. It's a short pitch or synopsis, and there is an art to getting it right. Get a few drafts together, and pass them amongst your friends for feedback. You're looking for an I'd like to read that response or I'm dying to know what happens to them.

8. Your name or pen name?

This is ultimately a personal choice. You write under whatever name you choose. People may advise you why a certain name won't work or why something else would work better, but essentially it is your choice.

One thing I would say - these days with personal branding and the stratospheric rise of social media, people (readers) are looking to connect. In that quest to connect they want to get to know you, and they want to know the real you.

Just something to bear in mind.

9. Proof

You will have done it to the manuscript in various stages of rewrites and you will have done it with the final draft of the manuscript but sometimes seeing it in a slightly different format to the one you normally work in, may help you to see things more clearly.

Proof it one last time.

Remember, the more professional you can make your book the better. Be proud of your work, it's taken a tremendous amount of time and effort on your part.

Your book's cover puts a face to the name - make sure the face you put out there is a good one.

Self-publishing - Paperbacks

For the uninitiated, yes, you can self-publish in paperback yourself for no cost!

This was a glaring example to me of how I shouldn't let previous experience close me off to new possibilities. You see, I've had a fairly lengthy career across marketing, PR and events management and one of the things I got to do was manage a print production process. In those days, digital was embryonic at most, and final print costs per unit (one item) were totally dependant on print runs (total number of items printed). I take the time to understand behind-the-scene stuff with anything I do, so this made complete sense to me.

What I hadn't taken into account was technology - don't ya just love it! Before digital, I was used to organic growth, now in the digital age, we are accustomed to exponential growth and even more recently, the explosion of viral growth!
Long story short, I finally woke up to find that what I had learnt was not true and what I couldn't conceive of, was. Hello technology!

How does this relate to self-publishing your own paperback at no cost to yourself? It's called Print-On-Demand (POD).

It is possible for yes, you've guessed it, Amazon, to print one paperback book complete with full colour cover to fill one order!

As you can imagine that shot to hell my perception that if I wanted to self-publish in paperback, I would have to go to some small-time printer, scrape together the funds to get 100 copies published and then store them in my garage with practically non-existent means (financial and marketing platform) to sell them.

Amazon has given us indie authors, Createspace. So, what does Createspace do for you?

• Formatting
• Size of book
• Colour of paper
• Selection of cover templates to choose from
• ISBN

As with the process on Kindle Direct Publishing, I strongly recommend you read whatever guidelines you can on Createspace before you start. Remember, I'm only relating my experience with a novel, that means I have no internal images, no strange fonts or complex formatting, no table of contents, no bibliography.
Once everything is in place, your book is ready, and Createspace highly recommends that you get a proof copy sent to yourself to see how it looks.

You see there is one major difference between publishing on Kindle and publishing on Createspace - and that's the formatting.

This is my story... (wow, did I laugh!)
My Kindle edition looked great - I used an Arial font, 14 pt - and when I checked it out on Kindle Previewer, it looked pretty cool, I have to say so myself.
So, I took the same format, did a bit of work fitting it into the trim size (actual dimensions) of the book and finished the process.
I immediately ordered my proof copy which is free of charge, but you pay for the shipping. Not trusting myself to handle the anticipation of waiting three weeks for the regular delivery, I selected the fastest delivery time and then put myself on bread and water for the rest of the month (only kidding!).
It arrived three days later and I cannot put into words the thrilled awe I felt when I held my book in my hands for the first time. But I digress.
When I opened the book, it looked like it was meant for someone who was visually challenged - the font was huge! (I myself am visually challenged, so no offence meant or taken).
Yes, I'd seen it online and there it looked great, like my Kindle version on which it was based. But in print, it looked so wrong!
This is the value of the proof copy underestimate it at your peril.

You see, font styles and font sizes that look great on an e-reader do not necessarily look good on the printed page.
It appears that sans serif (Arial, Verdana, Trebuchet) better suits e-readers and serif (Times, Georgia) suits print. Just one of the things you'll learn on the self-publishing journey.

I am currently revising my paperback version (still in process), but am strongly leaning towards Palatino Linotype for the font, 10 or 11 pt.

Hope this helps
Until next time.