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Making Your Self-Published Book Look Good, Part Six: When DIY Isn’t An Option

12.28.2020 by Starla Huchton // 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!

Does all this cover stuff seem like a lot of stuff to learn? Just because you could do it yourself, doesn’t mean you should. A lot of thought goes into successful cover creation, and an experienced artist brings skills and an eye for aesthetics to the table, not to mention a wealth of knowledge on best practices. A good designer is worth every penny, but is it possible to get that same goodness with half pennies?

[Read more…]

Categories // General News, Helpful Tips, Stuff Tags // business, design, GENERAL NEWS, helpful tips, indie authors, indie writer, Learn, marketing, self-publishing, so you want to be a writer, STUFF, UNCATEGORIZED TAGS // BALTICON, writing tips

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

06.11.2020 by Starla Huchton // 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…]

Categories // General News, Helpful Tips, Stuff, Uncategorized Tags // Balticon, business, design, helpful tips, indie authors, indie writer, Learn, marketing, self-publishing, so you want to be a writer, writing tips

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

05.28.2020 by Starla Huchton // 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…]

Categories // General News, Helpful Tips, Stuff, Uncategorized Tags // Balticon, business, design, helpful tips, indie authors, indie writer, Learn, marketing, self-publishing, so you want to be a writer, writing tips

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

05.27.2020 by Starla Huchton // 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…]

Categories // General News, Helpful Tips, Stuff, Uncategorized Tags // Balticon, business, design, helpful tips, indie authors, indie writer, Learn, marketing, self-publishing, so you want to be a writer, writing tips

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

05.26.2020 by Starla Huchton // 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…]

Categories // General News, Helpful Tips, Stuff, Uncategorized Tags // Balticon, business, design, helpful tips, indie authors, indie writer, Learn, marketing, self-publishing, so you want to be a writer, writing tips

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

05.26.2020 by Starla Huchton // 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…]

Categories // General News, Helpful Tips, Stuff Tags // Balticon, business, design, helpful tips, indie authors, indie writer, Learn, marketing, self-publishing, so you want to be a writer, writing tips

Milestones and Reflections

01.11.2017 by Starla Huchton // 4 Comments

Two of my minions had checkups today, and as I was chatting with the doctor amidst her typing in medical things, she asked what it is I do. I gave my usual answer of freelance graphic designer and author, as that’s become my knee-jerk reaction rather than stuttering, self-conscious response, at which point she asked me if I’d published anything.

This is what gave me pause, not because I was asking myself if I should give the “self-published disclaimer” (this is not a post about that because I am OVER that discussion), but I couldn’t remember what number to fill in for the “I’ve published ____ books” part.

[Read more…]

Categories // Contemporary, Flipped Fairy Tales, General News, Hearts of Valentia, Stuff, The Antigone's Wrath series, The Chronicles of ISLE, The Dreamer's Thread, The Endure series, The Evolution Series, The Night Bridge, Writing Tags // Antigone's Wrath Series, Endure Series, evolution series, fantasy, flipped fairy tales, Learn, MASTER OF MYTH, milestones, self-publishing, superheroes, The Endure Series, the evolution series, writing

Permission to Quit

09.19.2016 by Starla Huchton // 3 Comments

I don’t post too terribly often on this blog, but sometimes I think on something that feels more important and requires something bigger than a short post on social media.

Today, I want to talk about quitting.

[Read more…]

Categories // Stuff, Writing Tags // Learn, self-care, self-publishing, tips, writing, writing tips

Cover Design: Some Quick Tips

06.05.2016 by Starla Huchton // 1 Comment

helpful tips

So, I often see people posting on social media asking for feedback on their book covers. More often than not, I don’t respond to these publicly for a variety of different reasons. You never can tell who is receptive to honest feedback and constructive criticism, and typically I err on the side of caution and stay silent to avoid hurting anyone’s feelings or looking snobbish. My rule of thumb for all public postings is to keep it positive. I don’t want drama, but I do give feedback if asked privately. Not everyone appreciates my honesty, but… Anyway, I digress.

[Read more…]

Categories // General News, Stuff Tags // book covers, design, Learn, marketing, quick tips, self-publishing, tips

Guest post – Swimming Upstream: Telling the Story that Doesn’t Sell

11.09.2015 by Starla Huchton // Leave a Comment

I have a guest post for you! I’ve known Tee Morris (and his amazing wife, Philippa Ballantine) for many years, and have been blessed to have their support and wisdom at my fingertips whenever I needed it. So today, I’d like to share the thoughts of the Yodas I’ve had access to since the earliest days of my writing career. I recently posed a question that I think a lot of authors have asked themselves (or been asked by others): What makes you keep writing certain books when you’re made to question whether or not they’ll succeed?

Tee brings up some excellent points to consider here, so if you’re debating whether or not to write the thing you want to write, do keep reading.  -SH

[Read more…]

Categories // Stuff Tags // Learn, marketing, self-publishing, steampunk, Tee Morris, The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences, tips, writing tips

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