E-Books, Piracy, and DRM

I had a conversation on Twitter the other day with someone who was surprised and dismayed at how easy it is to illegally download e-books online.  He discovered you can find most books just by searching for them, and wondered why anyone would do such a dastardly thing.

Meanwhile, on a book blog elsewhere on the internet, a furious blogger shared her feelings about piracy.  "It's just like shoplifting!" she insisted, encouraging people to share the anti-piracy buttons she created on their own websites.

Who are these pirates?  Who is so cruel as to STEAL books from hard-working authors?

Pirates Are:

• Cheapskates.  Some people won't pay for anything they don't have to.
• Lazy.  They don't want to put in the effort of going out and buying something.
• Moral.  A few do not want to support certain industries, but still want to enjoy the fruits of it.
• Wary.  They've spent too much money on things they ended up hating in the past.
• Ignorant.  Piracy has become very easy, and some people don't realize it's wrong.
• Poor.  Many pirates (particularly teenagers) don't have any money to buy a product legally.

Pirates Are Not:

• Potential customers.  Most pirates will never legally buy your book, whether it's because they're too cheap, too lazy, or have a personal issue with the publishing industry.  They are not taking business away from you.
• Dark, shadowy demons lurking in alleys.  They're normal folks.  A lot of them are kids who don't have credit cards for online purchases, or that mom down the street that doesn't realize BOOK WAREZ isn't a legitimate site.  (No, that's not a real place, as far as I know.  Don't look it up.)
• Shoplifters.  There's a huge difference between stealing a physical product, in which the book is removed from the shelf after the publisher has paid to manufacture it and thereby preventing someone else from buying it, and downloading.  Nobody gets paid, but nothing is lost, per se.

Let's face it: Piracy is wrong.  If you can't or don't want to pay for something, you are not entitled to having it anyway.  Sorry, but it's true.

However, there can be benefits to people illegally downloading your books.  They will read your work and discuss it, encouraging others to buy your work.  Some may leave reviews on Amazon or other websites, and positive reviews are a bigger boon to the author than the dollar or two they would receive in royalties.  Others may obtain your book illegally and then buy the sequels because they liked it so much.  Good books will make money regardless of piracy.

I don't like DRM (digital rights management).  DRM doesn't hinder most pirates, after all.  Anybody who wants to download something will do it.  DRM does, however, inconvenience customers who may want to copy or share the book they have legally purchased for legitimate reasons.  They shouldn't be limited in the number of times they can download it, or limited in how many devices upon which they can read their e-book.  Likewise, readers should feel free to share their books with other readers in some limited fashion.

As long as it's within my control, I will never put DRM on my e-books.

What do you think?  Is piracy really like shoplifting?  Are pirates evil?  And would pirates or ninjas win in a fight?

Thoughts on Jacqueline Howett and independent publishing

By now, many people in the book blogging world have heard about Jacqueline Howett.  I'm sure she hoped to be famous, but I don't think this is how she intended on having it happen: after a blogger took the time to read and review her book (with a generous two stars), she went onto his blog and called him out by telling him he was wrong and her book is fantastic.

Everybody is discussing her response now, and while most of it involves unkind words in the author's direction, some of it involves unkind words in the direction of self-publishing, too.

Self-publishing (aka indie publishing, which also includes small publishing companies outside the Big Six) has been surrounded by a stigma for a long time, which I've discussed in the past.  There are a lot of writers out there who don't take the time to present a polished product and/or conduct themselves in a professional manner.

Some people are trying to make a living with independent publishing.  A few are succeeding.  Others have more humble goals -- I just want people to enjoy my books, darn it! -- but are still trying their hardest to legitimize independent publishing.  It's not a "vanity" thing as it was once suggested.  This has become a great way to get your writing out into the world.

I'm sure Jacqueline Howett is thoroughly embarrassed by now, so I won't make any judgments in her direction.  Everybody makes mistakes.  We don't come into this world knowing the right way to behave in every situation, and common sense can be elusive at times (particularly when our pride is already wounded by criticism).

That said, self-published authors who behave in the vein of Jacqueline Howett -- both in her conduct and the quality of her book -- are making it hard for serious authors pursuing independent publishing.  One day, such poor behavior won't have as much of an impact on the reputation of all self-published authors, because indie publishing will probably be the standard, but this is a delicate time.  A big transition is happening in the publishing world.  This kind of thing does not help anyone.

Have werewolves been done too much?

Werewolves have a long history in folklore.  Theories on their origin range from serial killers to prehistoric tribes becoming hunters, although it's probably because people were just darn scared of wolves back in the day; where there aren't werewolves, other countries have myths about were-hyenas and -tigers and -bears, oh my!  Some think werewolves came about as an explanation for a variety of illnesses

Werewolves persist in popular culture because they can be a metaphor for so many things.  Their close ties to the phase of the moon may resemble a woman's hormonal cycle, which is usually about a month long.  The transition from human to animal can signify the coming-of-age that everyone undergoes in their adolescence.  I've also seen werewolves used as a metaphor for coming out of the closet as gay, although I think there are better myths for that one.

But even though werewolves are flexible, they've been showing up an awful lot in pop culture.  From Twilight to The Wolfman (or The Wolf Man!) to The Vampire Diaries and Harry Potter, everyone is happy to share their take on werewolves.  There's a lot of talk about vampire fatigue, especially since even Stephenie Meyer is sick of vampires, but have we reached werewolf fatigue, too?

I don't think so.  As with all story ideas, it all depends on the individual take.  The Vampire Diaries was interesting because a potential werewolf has to murder someone to trigger the curse, which is the complete opposite of what we saw in the Twilight books, where it was a heritage thing brought on by the presence of vampires.  Writers have moved from strictly werewolves to shapeshifters, too, like in Skinwalker or the Mercy Thompson books, which opens up a whole new world of possibility.

In "Six Moon Summer," my book coming out on April 29th (shameless plug!), lycanthropy is spread in the traditional fashion -- surviving a werewolf bite -- although there's somewhat philosophical and theological debate about its nature.  Is it a curse or a blessing?  Is it ultimately a choice?

Werewolves are fun.  They're gory and romantic and much earthier than vampires.  There's still a lot of untapped potential out there, although I believe it will take increasing levels of creativity to find it.

What do you think?  Are werewolves overdone?

Highlight on Indie Books: Dorothea's Song by Ron Vitale

Dorothea's Song by Ron Vitale 

Overview
Peter is a dreamer.  With his home life falling apart and his spiritual life in crisis, his safe haven is his French teacher-- the only adult willing to listen to his problems and sympathize.  He begins to craft an elaborate tale of epic fantasy to share with her, casting his teacher in the lead role.  The story soon takes on a life of its own.  Dorothea is a fierce elven warrior in a kingdom on the brink of collapse, and the climax (inside and outside the story) is a compelling read.

My Thoughts
I particularly enjoyed Peter's parts of this book.  His troubled home life is something any reader can empathize with, and it was interesting seeing the problems escalate in his fantasy world as problems escalated in reality.  Although the writing is somewhat unpolished, the raw quality suits the tenor of the book.  The domestic conflict contrasts nicely with the traditional high fantasy setting, which (as a genre) tends to be rather grand.

At only $0.99 in the Kindle Store, Dorothea's Song is a worthwhile way to pass the weekend.  But the best part is that it's available in a variety of formats: you can get it in PDF, hard copy, or download the audio book for free (!!).

Meet an Author Monday

It's Meet an Author Monday again!  This is an awesome meme hosted by Cali Cheer Mom.  I spend so much time following Super Relevant Industry Blogs that I sometimes forget to follow other writers, too.  Here's how it works:

READERS:

• Follow as many authors as you like. Just follow the Linky list and hop from author to author. The idea is to find as many "new to you" authors as you can, and hopefully some great new reading material as well.  Leave a comment as you hop from blog to blog!  We'd love to chat with you!

AUTHORS: 

• Follow the Meet an author Monday host (Cali Cheer Mom) along with any of the wonderfully talented authors on the list.
• You will need to enter your name and blog url into the Linky tool.
• Grab our super cute button and place it in a post. (THIS IS IMPORTANT!) If you don't create a post for the hop, your readers won't have a place to comment, and the hop will stop with you. So create a post, paste in the Linky code and start hopping!
• The purpose of the hop is to meet "new to you" authors and discover great new reads. Follow as many authors as you can. Leave a comment and introduce yourself!
• If you'd like to share the Linky list in a post on your blog ( Please do!) just follow the link and grab the code.

The pricing debate

How much should an independent author charge for her e-books?

There's two schools of thought on this.  The first believes that you should charge as little as possible (usually .99) to attract readers.  The second believes that such low pricing is insulting to the authors.  Most agree that the sweet spot for e-book pricing is somewhere between .99 and 5.99, and it's also generally agreed that the 9.99 (and up!) charged by many publishers is much too high.

Passionate debate rages about pricing e-books.  I had a hard time choosing the price for "Six Moon Summer."  Although I think it's a great book, I don't anticipate making many sales; I'm an unproven author with no marketing budget.  (I duct tape my sneakers together to avoid buying new ones.  Poor, poor, poor.)  So I would be comfortable charging .99 for it, since that would allow new readers to find me without having to risk much money.

But I think .99 really is the right cost for short stories and sales.  A short-ish YA novel (only 200 pages) like mine likewise shouldn't be 5.99, since I feel that's appropriate for average-length books by familiar authors.

I have chosen the cost for "Six Moon Summer" at release as 2.99 since it seems like a nice spot in between.  Hopefully that will encourage people to buy me without attracting the .99 cent crowd, who I have heard tend to be hoarders rather than readers.  ;)  Not that I judge; I'm kind of a hoarder myself.  But I'm flexible and willing to change after I see the reaction.

What do you guys think?  What is the right price for e-books?

Saturday Round Up

Lisa Rivero>> How to Lose Yourself in Your Writing Don't you love when you get in the Groove of writing?  Don't you wish you could find that flow more often?  Lisa Rivero talks about making that happen!

Ashley Graham>> How being a writer is a lot like being clinically depressed  As someone facing a lifelong struggle with manic depression (aren't we all?) this post -- and its Barbie! -- was a good chuckle.

Talk to YoUniverse>> A Character-driven Approach to Kissing Scenes and Sex Scenes  You can just fling sex scenes about in your writing all higgledy-piggledy, or you can do it the right way!  Talk to YoUniverse discusses how.

Lit Drift>> The Five Stages of Editing  I don't think I ever get past denial.  ;)

Ron Vitale>> Why You Need to Buy a Kindle if You're a Writer  The pros and cons of Kindle ownership.  I was an early adopter of the second gen and pretended it was a writing expense, not a guilty pleasure.  Tee hee.

Helpful Baby Fridays

Shopping carts and bulk savings are so interesting.  You have no idea.

Helpful Baby was extra helpful this week, because he's trying to cut teeth!  Bloody gums and all.  Poor little bean.  He was fabulously helpful by throwing fits until mommy returned from an Important Job Interview (because no comfort is as comforting as the boob), spitting up on books I'm trying to read, smashing the keys to insert commentary into my blog posts, and having his First Real Solid Poop in the middle of an extremely emotional scene.  The poop went all up his back, too!  (For your information, apricots and bananas aren't as nummy on the way out as they were on the way in.)

You know, I used to ask myself, "What is my writing missing?"  And now I realize it's poop, spit-up, and various other bodily ejections.

Thank you, Helpful Baby.  Really.  I never would have realized my books needed more blowout poops without you.

How is your Helpful Baby helping you this week?  Post a picture of your baby on your blog (whether s/he be an infant, fur baby, or helper of any other persuasion), share a fun story about them, and drop a link in the comments!

Time to actually make a nice blog design...

I'm going to be tinkering with my blog design over the next few days so that it doesn't look like every other blog out there.  As nice as the birds are, they tend to get around.  Skanky birds!

As a dabbler in design of all kinds, I could probably do this myself, but I'm feeling kind of lazy.  Any recommendations on good designers/resources would be dearly appreciated!

Writing emotionally

I'm working on a new project, and I've been getting really emotional about it.  I don't want to go too much into it yet, but there's a scene where the perspective character sees what she's missing, and I can't seem to write it without breaking into tears!

I've heard this is completely normal from other writers on my Twitter.  Yet, somehow, I have never found myself crying over a character's plight before.

Now I'm bawling and snuffling and generally acting completely undignified over my perspective character, and nobody's even dying!  I'm not sure if I'm a better writer, more empathetic, or if motherhood has turned me into a giant wimp who cries over everything.

It makes it kind of tricky to sneak in writing when I have a spare moment (like on my break at work) because I get back to whatever I was doing red-eyed and snuffling.  Bleh.  I hate crying.

Do you all get worked up over your writing?

5 Ways to Catch Errors in Your Manuscript

Indie authors need to be just as good at editing as they are at writing-- if not better.  I have talked about the problem with indie authors in the past (hint: it involves unpolished writing).  To escape the stigma self-publishing carries, we need to be sure that our books are really really good before they go out.

I edit my own books for the same reason I design my own covers:  I'm poor.  Stinkin' poor.  Eating Top Ramen for breakfast poor.  Drinking two buck chuck poor.  Wearing socks that are more hole than sock kind of poor.  The kind of poor that-- you know what, I'll leave it there.  Poor.

If you can afford an editor, great!  Get an editor.  Those of us still wearing underwear from middle school ten years later have to learn to see their manuscript objectively and edit it ourselves.  (What?  These Superman panties are awesome.)

After you've been through a manuscript a few times, it's hard to step back and see it from a new perspective.  Sifting through 80,000+ words is challenging.  Fortunately, it's not impossible.  While you'll probably never catch everything, you can do your darndest best.  You'll feel better when you get your first one-star, "this was barely edited!" review if you tried your hardest, I promise.

Print the book
This is my #1 best method.  I print the manuscript and edit it with a good ol' red pen.  Somehow, it's easier to see the mistakes than on a computer screen.  Afterward, I type the whole thing from scratch.  It's a lot of work, but it's pretty efficient.

Have a friend read it
Hopefully, a friend who doesn't like you very much and isn't afraid to hurt your feelings.  Spouses don't work because they usually love you too much to be honest.  Let someone who hates you (a frenemy, perhaps?) tear your work apart and find everything you've missed.  You'll thank them for it after you're done crying.


Use an e-reader
After my last post, you're probably thinking I'm a shill for e-readers.  I'm not!  They're just awesome!  But if you take away the ability to make revisions and reread your manuscript in a new form, you'll catch a few more things.  Bonus: If you're e-publishing, it's a good chance to catch formatting errors.

Take notes
Yeah, while you're on that e-reader?  Take notes.  In a notebook.  Yes, like you're in grade school.  I know I did everything I could to avoid notes while I was in school, but it's great for editing purposes.  Don't just stick to grammar and spelling-- take notes on your themes and characters and other "big picture" elements.


Read it aloud
This is probably the single most time-consuming editing method possible, but it's awesome for catching awkward sentences and improving flow.  Even better if you read it to your frenemy!  Because you can only read at the rate you speak, you can't skim and miss anything.

What are your tricks for catching all your mistakes?

5 Things Traditional Publishers Need to Change to Stay Competitive

I've heard from multiple sources that indie authors like me (but more like JA Konrath and Amanda Hocking) are going to kill traditional publishers.  It's a pretty story, but I don't think this is true-- there's plenty of room in the publishing industry for indie authors and traditional publishing companies alike.

That said, it's inevitable that publishing is necessarily undergoing a huge transformation.  The evolution of technology has completely changed the game.  Here are five things I believe traditional publishers will need to do to stay competitive.


Stop Printing Paperbacks

Whaaaat?  Book lovers everywhere shriek and flail!  Why would you want to stop printing paperbacks?

Paperbacks are intended for casual, throw-away reading.  E-books fill this need much better with lower costs and less environmental impact.  Plus, the internet has made impulse book buying even easier than strolling past a shelf while buying groceries.  They can make so much more money on e-books than they ever did on p-books.  (See what I did there?)

Hopefully, books will never entirely go away.  We should always be able to buy the books we love in the form of lasting, beautifully bound hardbacks.  But for the sake of costs and the poor forests (think of the forests!), paperbacks need to die.

Publishing is horribly wasteful.  They print too many, and when bookstores don't sell them all, they try to foist them off on other businesses.  Failing that, huge quantities of books are tossed in the Dumpster.  That's right.  All those beautiful books we lovers cherish are just survivors of a huge, constant book massacre.  If you really love books, set them free.

And while we're talking about e-books...

Support E-Readers

Pick an industry standard format (like epub) and stick to it.  Support e-readers that support this format.  Publishers can use all the money they save discontinuing paperbacks by researching better e-reader technology to make it the most pleasant, consumer-driven experience possible.

Instead of fighting technological change, publishers can embrace it and try to innovate.  Stay ahead of the curve!  A particularly ambitious publishing company might even be able to get on this quickly enough to beat the industry giants, like Kindle and Nook.  There's also a lot of potential money in getting more readers onto e-readers.

Plus, by making books available on as many e-reading platforms as possible (mobile phones, desktop computers, handheld devices, etcetera), it makes that impulse buying thing worse.  Believe me, I know.  I have way too many books on my Kindle that I haven't read yet.

Learn from the Music Industry's Mistakes

I'm talking about piracy.  The RIAA has spent a lot of money taking a lot of individual pirates to court and charging ridiculous sums of money for a few downloads to recoup "lost costs."  What they don't seem to realize is that these pirates are not, and never would be, customers.  For any number of reasons, they would never buy the album they downloaded illegally.  Fighting against them makes the RIAA look evil.  It's not great for PR, and it's a waste of time and money.

The publishing industry can avoid Evil Status by taking innovative anti-piracy measures.  Reward paying readers for buying the books.  Pirates are sometimes cheapskates or lazy-- you can turn both into customers by making books cheap and easier to buy than steal.  And the principled pirates ("I won't buy music because I don't want to support the RIAA!") won't have a leg to stand on.

Vary the Catalog
The costs of e-publishing are lower, so the risks are also lower.  By eliminating most printing and focusing on cultivating talented writers, publishers can take on riskier projects and offer a wider variety of stories and genres appealing to a broader market.

The Internet has made it so anyone can find anything on any subject they're interested in.  People expect entertainment to be shaped to their preferences.  This is why more people are abandoning cable and satellite for online services like Netflix and Hulu, too-- they allow people to watch any show they want at any time they want.

Readers will likewise expect new books to be available promptly in any form they desire.  I've talked about the niche zombie kitten/transsexual alien market.  By catering to these niche preferences, traditional publishers can build an even larger readership than they've had in the past-- but they'll have to take a risk on more authors.

There will always be a smattering of books following the trends set by best sellers (like the swaths of Twilight- and Harry Potter-like books that came out after their release) because they are certain to sell well.  But this way, smaller interests will get their time in the limelight, too.

Lower the Price of E-Books
Readers aren't stupid.  They know that when they buy a paperback for $4.99, they're paying for the costs of paper, ink, and glue, in addition to paying the author and all the operating costs of the publishing company.  It's a tangible product that takes up shelf space.  It's worth $4.99.

 

An e-book has fixed costs.  Once they've put in the one time investment for cover, layout, editing, etcetera, there's no additional cost per unit other than the small royalty taken off the top by the distributor.  You don't have to print an e-book.

 

So why are they still charging $4.99, $7.99, $9.99, or more for e-books?  Amazon has been fighting this pricing scheme for months and making little progress.

 

Independent authors can charge anything they want for their books, and frequently offer their work at $2.99, $.99, or even free.  As more talented authors move to independent publishing, this will begin to pose a bigger threat to traditional publishing companies. But they don't need to worry... as long as they catch on and lower prices, too.

 

On the subject of piracy, lower costs will also discourage illegal book downloading.  Piracy is all about cost and convenience.  As long as buying books is cheap and convenient, people generally will not go to the effort of locating and downloading illegal copies.  Convenience is already taken care of where e-readers are concerned -- you can buy books directly on most devices -- so publishers need to start looking at cost, too.

What do you guys think?

 

Does indie publishing pose any kind of threat to traditional publishing?  What should publishers do to remain competitive?

Meet an Author Monday

It's Meet an Author Monday, hosted by Cali Cheer Mom!  Amble on over and join the blog hop!

Critiques: Find them, use them, love them

In my experience, the best way to get better at writing is to find the harshest critic you can and throw yourself at her mercy.  I used to be part of a pretty cool critique group with some awesome writers who absolutely shredded my work, and it was fantastic-- as well as painful.

Even though hearing people say less-than-glowing things about my writing stings, it was the best learning experience I've ever had, and a hard one to replicate.  I've been looking for critique partners since then who are willing to go through my writing with the same level of detail (in return for the same, of course), but it's tough finding partners who are good at giving and getting critiques.

We all know the golden rules of critiquing:

• Be honest
• Be polite
• Find something good to say for every bad thing you say

Which makes a hard process a lot more pleasant.

But taking criticism well is a skill, too.  A couple people in my critique group were particularly bad about this, and it made for frustrating exchanges.  Here are what I think should be the golden rules of accepting criticism:

• Don't argue.  It's rude and ungrateful.
• Remember that criticism is largely subjective and different partners will give you different tips.
• Your critique partner isn't out to get you, so don't be insulted.
• Take what helps and politely ignore the rest.
• Don't argue.

Can I emphasize that last one a few more times?  I knew one writer in particular who felt she had to tell me why I was wrong about every single remark I made on her manuscript, which was really dreadful.  I spent hours reading and making notes on her book, and she got mad about it rather than trying to learn.  I'm sure I wasn't right about everything, but jeez, she could have told me not to bother if she didn't want to use what I was offering.

One workshopping method requires that a writer sits quietly while accepting criticism from everyone in the group.  She can take notes and thank everyone when they finish, but she can't try to "defend" herself.  I'm a big fan of this, but a lot of people (the aforementioned writer included) seem to think it's like going through a gauntlet.

I enjoyed this style of critiquing at a writing conference in Portland once.  You get to read an excerpt of your writing to a big group of people, who go through their notes when you're done, and all you can do is thank them.  It was exhilarating and scary and immensely educational.

What do you guys think? Should you accept criticism silently, or is it okay to argue?

Also, if any writers out there are looking for critique partners, feel to drop me a line.  We can try each other on for size.  (Please note I'm only interested in novel length speculative fiction.)  My email is smreine {at} gmail (dot) com.

Stop thinking, start writing

I've noticed a lot of articles on the specifics of writing lately.  These include, but are not limited to:

• Creating characters
• Plot structure
• Getting through the beginning
• Getting through the middle
• Getting through the-- you get the idea
• How to write great descriptions
• How to cut back on description
• And so on.

It's awesome if you find these kinds of articles helpful, but I think budding authors do themselves a disservice by focusing too much on the details of the Writing Craft.  If you read a lot (as all writers should), you probably already have a decent sense of plot, character, and descriptions.

This isn't to say it's not worth studying the Writing Craft, because it is.  A good way to go about it is find an experienced partner (or group) to critique your work and really get down into the nitty gritty of it.  It's a great learning experience that articles can't really give you.

But you can't critique what you haven't written, which brings me to my point: To become a better writer, you need to read and write a lot.  You'll discover the techniques that work best for you on your own.

Stop thinking so much and go write.  Now.  I mean it.

(That was meant to be a pep talk, by the way.  In reflection, I kind of sound like a jerk.  But that doesn't mean you shouldn't go write.  Heh.)

Beauty in variety

I'm a total writing polygamist.  I just can't dedicate myself to one book at a time.  Right now, I have two YA projects going, one urban fantasy project, and an erotic spy thriller.  Plus a smattering of short stories I can't seem to finish.  Yikes.

It's fun hopping from a project intended for 15/16 year olds to a project full of filthy sex at gunpoint, then over to some classic urban fantasy with an extra dash of gore, and back down to YA projects again.  Sometimes I catch myself writing my teen characters with potty mouths and have to go back to clean it up, lest I set a record for YA books with the most four-letter words, but otherwise I keep things straight pretty well.

I'm a genre girl at heart.  Always have been, always will be.  Even so, it's good to have some variety in subject matter-- if I'm stuck on a porny scene in my erotic spy thriller, I can always take my time writing some clean teenage angst on a YA book.  This way, I'm always in the mood for something.

Of course, this also means I've got about a dozen half-finished projects sitting around that all creep forward on the Progress Meter about as fast as my fingernails grow.  I sort of wish I could really crack down and focus myself once in awhile.

How do you keep yourself focused and get projects done when you're in an aimless writing mood?

Saturday Round-Up

Kate Hart>> Genre Grudge Match Awesome graphs of what's hot in YA.

The Creative Penn>> How to Write the Back Blurb for Your Book A great break down of what you need to include in the blurb for your book.

YA Muses>> Putting the Revision Checklist to Work I love this revision method.  It was unfamiliar to me, but I've been trying it out this week, and it's pretty awesome.

Kristen Lamb's Blog>> The Antagonist, Part One: Introducing the Big Boss Troublemaker  Goals, conflict, and antagonists.  You know it's good when it features Julia Roberts alongside Sauron.

Tom Mallory>> Public Safety Beat Pointers A few tips on writing dialogue for cops.

Helpful Baby Fridays

It's that time of week again!

My little man naps on his grandma's shoulder.  D'aww.  Even his wrist has fat rolls!  Look at it.  I said look at it.


This week, Helpful Baby assisted me in final edits of my book by going to his grandparent's house for a few hours (what a doll), helped me wake up at 2:00 in the morning for extra writing time by getting gassy and fussy, and sated his mad teething urges by slobbering all over my printed manuscript.  Thanks again, Helpful Baby!  Always so helpful.

How is your Helpful Baby helping you this week?  Post a picture of your baby on your blog (whether s/he be an infant, fur baby, or helper of any other persuasion), share a fun story about them, and drop a link in the comments!

Highlight on Indie Books: Made to Love by DL Kopp

I've been on a quest to read as many indie books for Kindle as I can find lately, so I thought it might be time to spread the love around and review a few of them.  I'll try to do one every week or so, depending on how many I read.  Drop me an email at smreine {at} gmail (dot) com if you would like me to take a look at your book.  (Kindle only, please.)

Made to Love by DL Kopp

Overview
So here's the deal: Calliope is the queen of the Magical Lands of Myth and Faerie, but she doesn't know it.  Whoever mates with her first is going to become her king, and three guys are up for the job.  One is an ancient, beautiful siren, another is a Frankenstein-like monster (some assembly required), and the third is -- yes, I'm serious -- a unicorn.  I won't spoil who wins, but let me tell you that it involves mad scientists, a unicorn army, and tentacles.

My Thoughts
I spent half the book with my jaw hanging open and the other half rolling around laughing.  It's full of inconsistencies and strange metaphors, but so cleverly written that I can't decide if this book is an elaborate joke or what.  It made me laugh out loud in a few places.  I still don't know if I'm laughing at the book or laughing with it.

Even though Made to Love was short, it dragged in a few places and could have used some editing for consistency.  Since it's only 99 cents, it's definitely worth reading for a few confused laughs, if nothing else.

Buy it here for Kindle, and here in paperback.

Made to Love is not available on Barnes & Noble or the iBookstore.

The importance of being your own cheerleader

I finally allowed my husband to read "Six Moon Summer."  He spent all day going through it and taking little notes, and he seemed totally absorbed, so I thought that he was going to have all sorts of nice things to say when he finished.  He even stayed up a little late to read.  Always a good sign!

Finally, he came to bed.  When he didn't bring the book up, I prompted, "What did you think?"

In the five minutes that elapsed between reading it and coming to bed, he seemed to have forgotten about it.  "Oh.  I liked it."

That's it?  I liked it?

Now, to be fair, we're both pretty wasted by taking care of our chubtastic five month old, but I expected a tiny bit more engagement.  I was ready to talk shop.  He was ready to climb under the covers and pass out.  (Helpful Baby had other plans in mind and demanded an unusual amount of attention at midnight, so we're no more refreshed today than we were yesterday.)

My other advance reader was extremely enthusiastic about the book, so that assuages my wounded pride a bit.  But even if she didn't love it, I wouldn't lose heart.

The only cheerleader a writer needs is herself.  Sure, others are nice, but you have to be convinced that your book is the end-all, be-all or you surely won't succeed.  And you have to be convinced of this even if people say a lot of terrible things about your writing.  Criticism is inevitable.  Some people will go out of their way to hate what you've written, even when 90% of the other readers love it.  You've got to let it wash over you and keep going.

I find it helpful to occasionally throw a mini-pep rally for myself when I'm getting down.  I reread my favorite scenes, think back on how much fun I had writing and editing, and visualize where the project is headed.  And occasionally I wave pom poms.  ;)  It probably sounds dorky, but it works for me.

How do you play cheerleader for yourself?

The Issue with Indie Authors (and Why it Doesn't Matter)

As an indie author, I consider it my sworn duty to support my kindred, so I've been buying and reading a lot of self-published books lately.  Some of them are surprising gems, but many of them are all but unreadable.  It's pretty hit-and-miss, but since most indie authors price their books low, I can afford to buy them and discard what doesn't appeal to me.


Reading many self-published books has brought me to the conclusion that the majority of indie authors aren't published for a reason.  The bar to traditional publication is set high, and that's a good thing; publishing is a business, and the publisher needs to know they'll make money off of your writing.  Good writers often make good money, although quality and profit aren't always linked.

The normal reason indie authors (including me) aren't traditionally published is this:

The writing isn't good enough.

And as it turns out, that's not very important.

Good Writers, Bad Market
Sometimes the writing isn't "good enough" because of poor quality, as I've seen in my epic journey through indie novels.  There is nothing to prevent Johnny Down the Block from publishing his magnum opus riddled with typos, after all.  But this isn't always the case.

There's more to Good Writing than just, you know, writing.  I'm not talking about editing, either, even though it does end up being more than 50% of the work.

I'm talking about market appeal.  The market has ebbs and tides like the ocean, and trends come and pass.  A book of adequate quality may hit the market at just the right moment to become a best-seller, while a fantastic book may arrive after a half dozen similar novels and go unnoticed.

Agents and publishers know what they're doing.  They have their fingers on the pulse of the market, and they have a pretty good sense of what will and will not make money.  It's unreasonable to expect them to take on something that will not make a profit.  It is a business.  They have to stay afloat, and that's okay.

That said, you can be a good writer without hitting the market.  And that's okay too.


If You Write It, They Will Come
For every agent and publisher unable to take a risk, there are a thousand readers looking for something  unusual to enjoy with their coffee in the mornings.  That's the delight of niche markets: a traditional publisher probably can't afford take on a book about zombie kittens and the transsexual aliens who love them, but that doesn't mean there's no readership.

An independent author doesn't need to worry as much about profit margins.  She doesn't need to retain employees, pay rent on a building to house those employees, or appease stockholders.  An independent author can afford to seek out the niche zombie kitten/transsexual alien market.  Even if she only sells 2,000 books, her overhead is low enough that those 2,000 books might be as proportionately successful and profitable for her as a mid-list book for a traditional publisher.

Such is the beauty of independent publishing.  We can be certain that if you care enough about a story and characters to write an entire book about it, there will be interested readers.  There might not be a lot of interested readers, mind you, but they're out there.

We can also be certain that you can be good at writing without being the kind of Good Writer a publishing company needs to keep itself in the black.  If you have labored over a book and love it, there's no reason not to publish it.  The zombie kitten/transsexual alien market will thank you.


The Enduring Stigma of Self-Publishing
That leaves Johnny Down the Block continuing to make life hard for his indie brethren.  If only he would run his manuscript through several harsh critique groups before hitting the "publish" button.  If only he would read "Eats, Shoots, and Leaves" and dedicate it to memory as though it were his personal Bible.  If only he would dedicate as much time to studying quality prose as he does scribbling his rough draft.  If only, if only...

We can all thank independent authors like Christopher Paolini and Amanda Hocking for helping legitimize self-publishing.  We should also thank Amazon and company for providing us with the tools we need to be successful at it.  But independent authors should also take care to make sure we look good, rather than helping perpetuate the idea that self-published books are bad.

Readers take a risk every time they buy a book by an unproven indie author.  We should always reward their trust with good writing.  It's the only way to move away from negative stereotypes and be taken seriously.

So take note, indie writers: Have a few friends read your manuscript.  Have a few enemies read your manuscript.  Get the opinion of anyone and everyone who will let you know honestly what they think.  Find a good critique group and use it.  Sit on your book a few weeks/months and reread it with fresh eyes.

And before you publish the book you love for the readers waiting to enjoy it, ask yourself one question:

Is my writing good enough?

5 Ways to Battle Writing Procrastination

I elevate procrastination to a work of art.  It's really magical how many clever ways I can think of to escape writing when I need to do it.  Although I could probably write a post or ten on fun ways to procrastinate (the first of which would be all about blogging and Twitter), it would probably be vaguely more helpful to talk about ways to actually get work done.

Just so you know, yes, I am procrastinating right now.  Thank you for asking.

• Make a promise to yourself that you will start, but you don't need to finish if it's too hard.  All you have to do is open the file and write a sentence.  That's it!  Anyone can write a sentence, right?  The most painful part of procrastination is the thought of stopping what you're doing to start something else.  If you can get past that, you can usually keep going.  (If not, at least you wrote one sentence!)
• Get going early.  I've found success doing important things as soon as I wake up in the morning when I'm too sleepy to realize there are more fun things going on.
• Or get going late.  It's ten minutes until you need to leave for that movie with your fellow procrastinating friend.  What should you do?  Put on your shoes?  No!  Write!  The pressure of knowing I'm almost out of time often spurs me to have an extra productive ten minutes.  This one drives my husband nuts because he hates being late, and I have a hard time stopping once I start.  Use this with caution.
• Find something else to procrastinate.  That's right.  Use writing as a method to procrastinate something else.  My favorite is doing the dishes or cleaning the litter box.  ;)
• Enlist a friend to hold you accountable.  I'll tell one of my partners-in-crime what I intend to get done today so they can ask how I did later.  I can't bear the BURNING DISAPPOINTING SHAME of telling someone I haven't gotten around to it and will often try to make progress to preserve my family's honor.

Well, look at the time.  That post was some very effective procrastinating right there!  (I'm such a hypocrite.)

What do you guys do to get writing done when everything else seems more interesting?

Designing Your Cover, Part Three: Revisions, Titles, and Printing

Find parts one and two here!

We've brainstormed and made rough sketches of cover ideas.  Now we have a draft of a cover we like, but I feel like it's missing something.  So what do I need?  More brainstorming!

I'm fond of the flow created by the sweeping moon and the angle of the wolf's body.  I'm not fond of the cold blue all over the image.  I also don't like the font anymore.

The one thing that I really feel this is missing is a girl.  I would love to see a human on the cover, too.  While I was perusing stock art, I saw something I feel would work perfectly: a girl walking away from the camera in the forest.  I won't use the forest, but I love the idea of putting the girl behind the wolf.

After hours of Photoshop wizardry, I've placed the girl and made some other adjustments to warm up parts of the image.  (This is not actually a progress picture.  This is the final cover with titles/effects removed.  I didn't think to save a progress picture.  Heh.)  For the record, the photographer of the girl is velourya-stock and the model is exquiseophrine.

I had a lot of fun with this photomontage and I learned a lot in the process.  I would love to have this as a poster in my office. :)

My main character is a blonde, so using this model bugs me a tiny bit.  Her hair was lighter in the original stock photo, but I couldn't seem to make her really blonde.  My attempts looked cheesy.  The dark hair matches the tone of the cover well, so I'll just pretend it's a different girl from the book and leave it alone.  This is an important part of keeping one's expectations reasonable: I'm working with what I can find, so I can't expect perfection.


Titles and Other Effects

Six Moon Summer is the first in what I hope will be a series (although if sales are really terrible I might not write a sequel).  I want to add something to the cover that I can keep consistent between all covers to make it obvious they're part of the same series.  I elect to add a grunge effect to the top and bottom of the cover, which I can carry between covers in different colors.  See?  There's a method to my madness!

I spent about a million years trying out different titles for the book.  Yes.  A hundred million years.  I just couldn't settle on something I liked.  Here's a few samples:

As you can see, I even experimented with changing the title to "6 Moon Summer."  It seemed kind of hip.  I don't know.  Yikes.  None of them are really bad, but I'm just not feeling it.  Some of them are too serious and adult-looking for a middle grade book.  Others are too slasher flick.

Anyhoo, I settle on a design similar to that last image there with a different font.  I really like the idea of using a scribbly font to reflect Rylie's journaling throughout the story.

A couple notes on typography:

• Don't use a really recognizable font like Papyrus or, Odin forbid, Comic Sans.  Not only will people pick on you, your cover will look terrible.  Trust me.
• Pick one or two typefaces and stick with them.  One typeface for your main title and another for the subtitles is adequate.
• Place your titles using grids.  That is, don't throw your text higgledy piggledy all over the cover
• Ease of readability is your priority.
• Unless you're a "house name" and certain your name will sell books, keep the author name smaller than the title.  ;)  It's okay, your ego will survive.

 

Print a Copy

There are things your eyes can see in print that you might not be able to make out on your computer monitor.  Your settings might also be funky, making your computer an unreliable tool for analyzing the picture.  This is when I print a good quality version of the cover.

If you have a photo printer, that will probably be fine.  I think home printers are a scam for ink (a scam I tell you!) so I've used my local CVS.  You can upload a picture to their website, have them print it out, and pick it up in an hour.  Other drug stores may have similar deals, and I think Walmart does it too.  I'm not promoting any specific photo service.  I wasn't thrilled with CVS's interface.

Anyway, printing up a copy lets me see that the picture is a tiny bit too dark, the wolf's face looks funny, his right eyeball is wonky, and some of the elements I added in the back don't completely mesh.  I make a few revisions here and there and a couple additional tweaks

I'm really happy with this cover now (aside from the dark-haired model).  I've received some feedback where viewers feel lukewarm about the orange on blue, but I love it.  I don't think you should keep something ugly, no matter how much you like it, but you also can't make everyone happy.

Now that I have a couple printed copies, they make perfect wall decorations in my office.  Aw yeah!


Getting Ready for Print

Remember how I mentioned the bleed in the first post?  That's the border around the image that the printer will cut off when producing your books.  This isn't a big deal if you're only doing ebooks, but if you're using a printer like Lulu or Createspace, you need to research their specifications and make extra sure you have nothing important running against the edge.

I'm fond of Lulu, so I'll download their files and double-check my layout to be sure it fits.  They also have the specifications for a full wrap-around cover, which is where you do the art for the back, spine, and cover in one file.  You should do a full wraparound cover if your printer allows it.  You need to know how thick the spine of the book will be based on the number of pages in order to get the size right.  This will vary from printer to printer.

I might get into the back cover later, but for now, we're done!  We have a beautiful cover ready to be printed on our book.

I think I'll get into interior layout next.  It is too much fun!

Post your book covers in the comments if you've designed them yourself.  I'd love to see them!

Designing Your Cover, Part Two: The Rough Draft

Missed part one?  Find it here!

When we left off, we had taken a look at the book and the market to come up with cool cover ideas.  Not all of them are great, but they don't have to be-- that's the wonderful thing about brainstorming!  Now we're going to make thumbnails out of some of those ideas and start drafting a cover or two.


Creating Thumbnails

The easiest way to make thumbnails might be grabbing a pencil and sketching it out on a piece of paper, which has the advantage of being infinitely flexible.  I've found this method is too specific, though, since I won't be creating the source material for my cover and I need to keep an open mind.  If you're lucky enough to be an artist, this is probably your best starting point.

Instead of drawing my thumbnails, I prefer to create them in a simple image editing program.  I begin by collecting stock photos of my concept, making careful note of each picture's origin so I can contact the creator if I use it, and then layer them together.

Some great resources for stock photography include stock.XCHNG, Deviant Art, and iStockPhoto.  Each has its own advantages and disadvantages.  stock.XCHNG is wonderful and free, but their catalog is limited, so the pictures tend to get around.  I've seen a few indie covers with unmanipulated stock.XCHNG photos, and it's a little embarrassing.  Deviant Art has varied photography with frequent updates from its userbase, but the quality isn't always great and you need to check with the artist to make sure you can use their stock for commercial purposes.  iStockPhoto has images of fantastic quality and variety with an excellent searching mechanism, but they also get expensive.

You don't need a fancy editing program for thumbnails.  Even MSPaint will do.  I like to use Pixlr, which is free and requires no download.

Here's a few thumbnails I cobbled together from the concepts I came up with in the last post.

1.) A girl writing in her journal in front of the moon

2.) A journal in the forest with the moon overhead and a pool of blood beneath it

3.) Mountain with several phases of the moon passing overhead

4.) Wolf by the lake with multiple moon phases overhead

Notice the iStockPhoto watermark on a couple of the thumbnails.  I try to wait to buy my stock photos until I'm sure I'll use them, since the photos in that first cover alone cost $75.  Yikes.

Any of this may change later.  I don't want to get too specific here; I'm just trying to see if the execution of my ideas is as good as they sound in my head.  These are deliberately sloppy and cheap-looking.  We don't want to spend too much time making them look lovely, since we'll start over from scratch on the rough drafts anyway.

You'll note I don't have thumbnails for all the concepts, since I tried a couple of them and decided they were too dumb for even the minimal effort of thumbnails.  #4 also came out of nowhere.  Consistency isn't my bag, baby.


Analyze Your Covers

What are the positives and negatives of each cover concept?  Be honest with yourself.  I'm sure you like all of them -- you made them, after all! -- but try to look at them from a practical standpoint.


1.) A girl writing in her journal in front of the moon: I like that it features a girl who resembles the protagonist.  You can probably guess it's YA at the very least.  I'm not enthusiastic about this idea, though, and it's not just the $75 in photography I would need to buy.  I don't want to develop this into a rough cover.

2.) A journal in the forest with the moon overhead and a pool of blood beneath it:  I was really enamored with this idea, but the execution isn't too hot.  This looks more like horror than YA fantasy/romance.  I will also not develop this one further.

3.) Mountain with several phases of the moon passing overhead: I kind of like it.  The idea is pretty and serene.  I don't think you can guess what the book is about based on the cover, but I'm enamored with the moon phase idea.  I'll make a draft of this one to see how I feel about it.

4.) Wolf by the lake with multiple moon phases overhead: I like this one better.  It uses the moon phase concept of which I'm growing fond, but the wolf makes the concept a little clearer.  Most people connect the moon and wolves to werewolves.  I don't like the wolf I used in the thumbnail, so I'll have to find a better one.  I will also try a draft of this cover.

On the whole, I feel like I'm struggling to grasp the popular style of current covers.  I admit I'm giving second thought to whether or not I really need to have my wisdom teeth pulled, or if I could just go hire someone.

No!  Impacted wisdom teeth hurt!  Must design cover!

Phew.  Moment of weakness.  I'll take the designs I've liked so far and move on to...


Creating a Rough Draft

This is where the real work begins.  You will want to use a better image editing program than MSPaint here.  Pixlr has a lot of great features that might work if you're crafty.  The GIMP is kind of like a freeware version of Photoshop preferred by many poor people.  I am blessed to possess a copy of Adobe Photoshop CS5 on my laptop and will use that.

I am not equipped to write Photoshop tutorials here.  There's way too much to touch on.  Take your time to read tutorials online with your friend The Google to learn techniques.  I can't really recommend any tutorials in specific-- you'll have to look up what you need for your particular cover.

A few little tips:

• Leave ample space for your titles
• Consider "eye flow," which is where the viewer's gaze will be drawn by the layout of elements in your cover.  Ideally, you want them to look over the cover and feel encouraged to open the book.
• Make the colors brighter than you think they need to be.  They'll come out darker in print than on your screen.
• The file you work with must be VERY high resolution.  My paperbacks will be 6" x 9".  The file, therefore, is 6" x 9" at 300 dpi.
• Don't put anything critical against the edges of the cover.  This is called the "bleed," I believe.
• Keep your elements large so it looks as good from a distance as it does up close.  Imagine that your reader will see this on the shelf of a bookstore from at least a few feet away.

I began developing cover #3 up there by collecting stock images of the moon and doing a digital painting of a mountain and lake using another stock photo as reference.  This was the result:

Okay, I already broke my tip about making a bright cover.  I could modify this, but by the time I'm this far, I don't want to tweak it anymore.  I think this image I created is lovely (although I might be biased) and I'm enamored with the multiple moon phases, but I don't want to spend any more time tweaking it.

First off, you can't really tell what the book is about.  You also can't tell the genre.  For all we know, it's literary fiction.  And there's no real focus on the cover other than the moons.  All in all, it's kind of pretty, but not a good cover.

By the way, I picked that font up off DaFont.  I thought it looked kind of like a sign at camp or something.  Opinions have been mixed on this font, so I will probably experiment with other fonts later on different covers.

I moved onto designing cover #4 here.  (For the record, I'm using stock art by DA users ashensorrow and moonsongstock right now.)

I like this a lot better.  It still needs tweaking (too dark!) and I think I want to experiment with shades of brown on the cover since this cool blue doesn't really scream "summer."

But it's missing something.  I'm not really sure what.

This is the part where we take our rough draft and move onto getting feedback so we can work on the final draft and getting ready for print.  But we'll save that for part three!

Are you working on your cover?  I would love to see your work in progress in the comments!

Saturday Round-Up

Here's a sample of what I've been reading this week.

Fiction Groupie>> Query Writing: How Brief is Brief?  A helpful treatise on the importance of brevity.  This applies to writing query letters and the copy for the back of your book!


Love Romance Passion>> Small Press v. Self-Publishing  The advantages and disadvantages of choosing to self-publish rather than going with a small press.

Fantasy Faction>> The Sentence Fragment: A Matter of Style  Appropriate times to use incomplete sentences.  (Like this one!)

Steph Su Reads>> eBooks and the Book Lover  Stephanie Su argues why print books will always matter.

Adina Giannelli>> Children's Literature at the Cemetery  A beautiful, heartbreaking piece about reading to lost loved ones.  I can't even THINK about this one without starting to cry again.

Featured blog of the week: Me, My Shelf, and I.

Comment with your recommendations!  I'm always looking for a new read.  :)

Review: Priscilla the Great

Priscilla is a pretty ordinary seventh grader-to-be. She has a super awesome smart best friend, a super overprotective dad, a super annoying brother who sings Christina Aguilera in the shower, and a SUPER hot crush. Oh, and she can shoot fire from her hands.

"Priscilla the Great" was as good as the title suggests. Although the plot is an unremarkable series of comic book tropes, they're delightful coming from the perspective of the young narrator, who is spunky and shameless. The author asked for a little more suspension of disbelief than she earned, and the book felt like it should have ended about two chapters earlier, but "Priscilla" was nevertheless a quick and wonderful read.

I picked this one up at the recommendation of Makeshift Bookmark, who was raving about it on Twitter.  It's available right now on Kindle for only $2.99, and it's definitely worth the money!

Helpful Baby Fridays

I've already mentioned my Helpful Baby once or twice on here.  I've decided to celebrate Fridays by sharing my favorite picture of him from the week!

Oh lookazabooboo.  Helpful Baby is five months old on Monday (be still my heart!).

This week, Helpful Baby has helped me design several covers for my upcoming manuscript, "Six Moon Summer."  His expertise includes mashing on the keyboard, closing windows I'm trying to work on, drooling on my cell phone when I receive responses on Twitter, and attempting to steal my wine glass at every opportunity.  Thanks, Helpful Baby!  I would never get anything done without you!

How is your Helpful Baby helping you this week?  Post a picture of your baby on your blog (whether s/he be an infant, fur baby, or helper of any other persuasion), share a fun story about them, and drop a link in the comments!

Special thanks to Me, My Shelf and I for the great meme idea!

Designing Your Book Cover, Part One: Concept

Before I get into this, I would like to make a very important disclaimer.

Hiring a professional to design your cover art is probably the best investment you can make in your book.


Do I really need to explain?  Writers are (usually) not graphic designers. There are a lot of complex factors to consider in designing a cover, which is best left to someone skilled who knows what s/he is doing


That said, my family is poor.  We live on one modest income so that my husband can stay home with our son, and economic conditions are making that one income dwindle.  I don't mind being poor.  All I really want to do is write and spend time with my family, and both of those things are free.  However, it does mean that I have to look at my budget and decide, "Would I rather have my teeth worked on or a fantastic cover?"  (I'd rather have a cover, actually, but my teeth are kind of important too.  Heh.)

So!  I design my own covers.  If you're doing it like me, you have to take your time and try to do it right.   Your cover is very important.


I've designed a few covers before.  Only one of them has made it onto a Published Book Which Shall Remain Nameless, but I try to get practice in when I have a free weekend.  It's time consuming, but I enjoy it.  A few thoughts before we begin:

1. Keep it simple, stupid.  When you don't know what you're doing, a simpler project is more likely to come out looking good.
2. Do your research.  Look at as many NEW books in your genre as you can to get an idea of what's popular.  Read up on graphic design.  Learn about layout and typography.
3. Use quality source material.  If you buy stock photos, get good ones in the highest resolution possible.  Buy high-quality stock art, brushes, and textures.  Don't skimp.  It will still turn out cheaper than hiring someone.
4. Do multiple treatments.  Your first cover may not be the best design, even if you're totally in love with it.  You can go back to it if you don't make anything better.
5. Get outside opinions.  Find a few people who will give you their unbiased thoughts on the design.  They don't have to be professionals-- most of the people buying your books are readers, after all.
6. Be realistic in your expectations.  There are some stunningly gorgeous covers out there. You probably won't be able to make one yourself without a bigger time/money investment than you're prepared for, and certainly not on your first try.  Professional cover designers have access to photographers, models, and tools that you do not.

Ready to devote hours to making your cover?  Then let's do one more check real quick: Can you afford an actual graphic designer?  Because if you can, you should.  Don't be cheap.

No?  Still poor like me?  Great!  Let's get to work!


Analyze Your Book

What genre is it?  What are your themes?  What are the most important, distinctive elements of the story?

I'm currently working on the cover for "Six Moon Summer," which is about a girl who survives an attack from a monster and begins transforming into the thing that nearly killed her.  It takes place at a summer camp in the mountains.  The main elements I might want to include are:

• wolves (werewolves, to be precise)
• the teenage characters
• the mountain/forest
• the summer camp
• a journal, which is heavily featured in the story
• the moon, of course

I probably won't include all of these at once, since that would be a pretty cluttered cover, but it gives me something to start thinking about.


Analyze the Market

"Six Moon Summer" is young adult, but it's also romance, fantasy, and a little bit horror.  We must consider our target audiences here.  Visualize your ideal reader and think about what kind of covers would appeal to them.

Start looking around at recent releases in your genre.  Book blogs are great for this.  It seems like abstract covers featuring a single strong element (usually a photograph) are pretty popular right now, probably because of the Twilight books.  You'll see this on books like Bumped, Blessed, and Switched.  Attractive, moody people on the cover also seems to be in vogue, which is something you see a lot in adult urban fantasy as well.  I noticed this on books like The Abused Werewolf Rescue Group, Dark Mirror, and Beautiful Dead.  Notice that even the attractive moody people are usually alone on the cover.  Simplicity isn't just fashionable; it's good design.

Don't try to directly emulate another cover.  Not only are you at risk of plagiarism, it prevents your book from distinguishing itself from the rest.  It's okay to deviate from the trends, too.  Who knows?  Maybe you'll be the first to catch the next trend.


Conceptualize the Cover

Now that I have some idea of what similar books look like and what elements I might want to include on mine, I can come up with a few ideas for designs.  I'll usually try out at least five or six concepts before I start doodling.

Since the book is called "Six Moon Summer," it would seem a little strange if I neglected to include a moon on the cover.  I will likely focus on this as my primary element.

• A close up on a wolf's eye reflecting the full moon
• The mountain with several phases of the moon passing overhead and the camp visible in the back
• A girl writing in her journal in front of the moon
• The phases of the moon-- six of them, perhaps ;)
• A journal in the forest with the moon overhead and a pool of blood beneath it
• A moon with glowing wolf eyes

I could come up with more ideas, but I'll start here.  Keep in mind where you plan to get the source material from-- if you're not a photographer or artist, you're going to be limited to stock art.  Don't get too complex or too specific unless you're certain you can get what you need.

Next up: The rough draft