Upon the Wings of Greater Things

The creative endeavours of Starla Huchton

Making Your Self-Published Book Look Good, Part Five: Building the Cover (Print)

by // Leave a Comment

Welcome to this post series! If you’re unsure what this is or where I’m going with it, I’ll refer you back to this post for all the intro stuff. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover, so let’s jump right in!

So your ebook cover is complete and ready to knock the socks off of readers. It’s possible you’ll decide to stop there, but… why? It doesn’t make a lot of sense to invest time and money in editing and cover design if you’re going to ignore the huge segment of the literarily-inclined population that EXCLUSIVELY read print books. If you want to see a return on your investment in this endeavor, you want to make your novel available in as many formats as possible. So how do you go from ebook cover to print spread?

[Read more…]

Making Your Self-Published Book Look Good, Part Four: Building the Cover (eBook)

by // 1 Comment

Welcome to this post series! If you’re unsure what this is or where I’m going with it, I’ll refer you back to this post for all the intro stuff. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover, so let’s jump right in!

So you’ve decided to DIY your book cover. You’ve nailed down your visual genre markers and collected the elements you need to assemble the idea floating around in your head. Now what?

[Read more…]

Making Your Self-Published Book Look Good, Part Three: Stock Imagery

by // Leave a Comment

Welcome to this post series! If you’re unsure what this is or where I’m going with it, I’ll refer you back to this post for all the intro stuff. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover, so let’s jump right in!

Now that you’ve figured out what you’re aiming for with your book cover, it’s time to put the plan in motion. Where do you start?

Unless you’re a highly skilled artist or photographer, it’s likely your next step will be locating stock imagery to match the vision in your mind’s eye.

[Read more…]

Making Your Self-Published Book Look Good, Part Two: Beginning Steps for DIY Covers

by // Leave a Comment

Welcome to this post series! If you’re unsure what this is or where I’m going with it, I’ll refer you back to this post for all the intro stuff. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover, so let’s jump right in!

A good book cover will take a combination of money, time, consideration, and effort. Either be prepared to invest money in a knowledgeable designer, or time and effort (and maybe money, too) in developing a LOT of new skills. When it comes to design, you should know your limitations and your budget, and plan appropriately with them in mind.

[Read more…]

Making Your Self-Published Book Look Good, Part One: Introduction

by // Leave a Comment

For events all around the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced gatherings to be in one of two states: cancelled, or virtual. Balticon 54 was no exception to this. For the past decade, Memorial Day weekend has been spoken for on my calendar because of this convention, and this year was no different, thanks to a lot of hard work from a lot of volunteers. I was again an invited guest, and Zoomed my way through different online events, which will all, at some point, be available to view on YouTube.

However, one of them simply didn’t have enough allotted time for me to get out all of the information I’d prepared to present. It’s an enormous topic, but folks were really interested in what we offered, and so I decided to compile a blog post to share the notes I’d originally intended to deliver verbally. But what was planned to be done with that singular panel, I’ll be breaking up into a few different posts, because… well, it’s A LOT of stuff, and the whole goal was to offer good advice and resources for people seeking information from those who’ve been doing this for a while.

[Read more…]

Books, Podcasts, and Balticon! An Update.

by // Leave a Comment

Well, it’s certainly been a while since I last posted here. Whoops.

If you aren’t following me on social media, you could be wondering where I went and what I’m up to. Short answer: nowhere and stuff n things. I’m here today to update after months of nothing here on the blog. So let’s get down to the new stuff you can go seek out and explore!

[Read more…]

Humaning 101 (Or, How to Fake Extroversion)

by // 7 Comments

helpful tips

Being an author is sort of a strange thing. As a writer, I spend a lot of time by myself, submerged in worlds only I live in. It shouldn’t come as a surprise, then, when I call myself an introvert. I’m not good with large groups of strangers and, more often than not, I feel like a failure as a human when I’m unable to do what “normal” people seem to do in those situations.

So what happens when it comes time for events when success is riding on coming across as human? Basically, you fake it.

[Read more…]

Balticon Panel Review: Getting Noticed in the Self-Publishing World

by // 2 Comments

helpful tips

So, this past weekend was Balticon 49, and, as always, it was a lovely (albeit exhausting) time. It’s great to catch up with old friends, but I had something else I took away this year from the experience. On Monday, the last day of the con, I had the extreme pleasure of being part of a panel on how to stand out as a self-published author when everyone is self-publishing. Now, I’m not sure I’m a foremost authority on this, but I think I’ve got a pretty good idea of some basics, and the other four people on the panel generally agreed with what I had to say and added bits of their own that left me nodding in firm agreement. So here’s the gist of the discussion distilled down for you.

[Read more…]

ENDURE Series Info and Stuff

by // 1 Comment

Well, it’s been an exciting week! Maven dropped on Monday and emails have been going in and out of my computer like crazy! Writing the book is not the hard part, but everything after, it would seem. It’s all good stuff coming down the pipe, however, so I’m happy to be as busy as I am. It means I’m doing something right with this series!

A few things first, some links to get out of the way.

[Read more…]