Upon the Wings of Greater Things
The creative endeavours of Starla Huchton
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.
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.
One great thing about being an indie author is flexibility when it comes to a book cover, and the ability to change it fast when a problem comes up. Today, I’m going to show you the cover for my next release, but I’m also going to show you some of the less tidy bumps in the road I hit on the way to the finished product. I thought folks might like an inside look at this process, and I promise it’ll be faster for you than it was for me. ;)
Occasionally I have conversations with people that make me think there’s maybe a need for me to post about certain topics. Yesterday, I had a rather in-depth discussion with an author friend who was attempting her first teaser images and was wondering if I had any advice (spoiler: YES I DO OMG). If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, teaser images are a quick impact way to promo your book, and typically include a very short excerpt of your story, an eye-catching image, and the title/author name. The conversation I had about teasers made me really stop and think about the subject, which leads me to believe maybe other folks might have the same questions my friend did. So, here goes. Here’s some things to consider when building a teaser image for your book:
So, I’m way, way behind in posting this, but house repairs from a water leak, a sudden influx of design work, and a book release sort of piled on top of me all at once. But now, I’m back at it and am here to bring you another post in the indie author cost/recoup series. This time, we’re talking about physical promotional costs.
Another week, another post. This time, we’re talking about the advertising costs associated with book sales. Admittedly, this is the part I hate. I don’t know many people that like the marketing part of selling books, honestly. I die a little inside every time I share a promo post on Facebook or tweet out a link to my book. Mostly, it’s because I don’t feel like being my friend comes with the requirement of buying my books. I know a certain portion of my social media network is there only to hear about my books, but… yeah. Really not my favorite thing to do, and I’m probably a terrible salesman, but I’m getting a little better with the not-throwing-up-in-my-mouth thing when I do promo.
So why do it? The things above are free. It doesn’t cost me a cent to tweet my book or post to my Facebook author page. I still do it, because how else will people find out about my books if I don’t tell them?
With the holidays mostly over, I figured it was time to get back to business. Namely, continuing this little series about indie author cost and recoup. If you want to start at the beginning, I’d recommend going here first.
I know I said I was going to talk about editing next time, but after thinking about it for a few days, I thought there might still be some questions regarding hiring someone to do a cover for you. In the last post, I gave some tips on how to make the DIY method cheaper, but I felt like I needed to go into a little more detail about the process of working with someone else for the cover, especially for those just starting out.
Glad to see you guys are still with me! Today, in this little series on the cost/recoup of indie writing, we’re tackling covers. If you’re not sure what this is about, I’d suggest going back to the introduction of this series, and following up with the one I published last week.
