Tag Archives: publishing

Hidden Memory Status Update

A brief status update today on my path to publication!

I wrote previously on my findings on alpha readers, and Hidden Memory (book 1) has been out with my expanded alpha reader list for more of this initial feedback. My work of late has been on filling out some of the gaps in book 2 of the series. I finished my run at it this week and will be moving back to addressing the new feedback on Hidden Memory.

Before I jump into this round of editing, I am researching some of the administrative/business work. Some of this was speaking with an accountant about how the taxes would work and if I would need a new LLC for selling my books and doing state taxes. While I am still debating on the LLC part, I will need to do business under my name and pay B&O taxes. Based on the thresholds, I think I will only have to file those taxes annually. Unless all of you spread the word so thoroughly Hidden Memory hits the top of the charts right out of the gate. Crazier things have happened.

The publication checklist I received through some friends gives me a lot to think about for action items to complete soon. I have been focusing on frontmatter and backmatter. This work has been reading example acknowledgments and about the author sections in preparation for writing mine with the names on my acknowledgment list. This location also has good information on copyright pages that I have found useful for the frontmatter.

Feedback from a couple of alpha readers indicates a map would be helpful, so I am looking into a simplified version of the Inkarnate map I maintain for my use during writing to include at the front of the book. It will need a note about a cartographically challenged author and distances being more accurate as written than drawn. At least it will be directionally accurate. I also enjoy maps in books I read. The final map will need experimentation on how it translates into the e-book, but I have some time to verify.

One decision I am debating is the second format to target for publication. Do I look at turning the e-book into a physical book or an audiobook? Both have their merits, and over time I will likely get to both, but I think I only want to tackle one at a time. If you have any preferences or thoughts on this question, I would love to know what those are and your reasoning.

Cover Art Reveal

The art for my first book is complete! Another step on the journey to publication. There will be additional iterations along the way, as I will need changes for physical books and might need adjustments for the final uploads to digital publication, but I’m checking this off for now.

To share a little about the process, I previously mentioned I reached out to three artists and was waiting on timelines and quotes. After selecting artist Jonathan Lebel, we started communicating more about what I was looking for in the image. I wanted a figure with a sword in a forest, with the forest showing subtle signs of going through a drought. The forest would be more of the focus than the figure.

I helpfully provided a detailed example of what I imagined it would look like.

First cut, I had to change the figure a bit, as the wings needed to be larger to fit with the story. Now she is wrapped up in them fully like a wrap dress or chainmail. We also went back and forth on font a few times, as this was about the book and not the art, so we needed the title to pop out at you. The first font selected also looked more like a romance novel, so we ended up changing that out.

The original flowy font had my test group (friends) thinking romance novel.

I researched other novel covers. The layout, the font(s) used, and the colors are all very important, as a cover is part of the book advertising. If I had to highlight only one lesson learned from this process, it would be to do more research about covers up front to determine more than only what I want the image to look like. The positioning and fonts used are just as important, and I will have more specific preferences for them at the start when I do this again.

I ended up going to Font Squirrel and searching for the Cinzel fonts for my cover. This is a font available for free download and use at &Discover. I described the font as striking with elegance when I was sharing it with my test group. The change was amazing and I loved how it fit the theme I was going for much better than before.

A big thank you to artist Jonathan Lebel for working with me on this cover. You can see his work on ArtStation at this link, and I’m sure it will not be difficult to spot the images that had me reaching out to him. He also provided the butterfly wings you now see at the top of my website pages. Should you happen to pick up my book once it is out, you can read all about those wings. More goals for 2021!

Custom Cover Art

People are scary. At least they are to the chronically shy. Maybe you are like me, maybe you know someone like me, or maybe you are going to shake your head like my extroverted husband, but interacting with people is not comfortable at all. I was voted “shyest” in my middle school class for valid reasons.

More than once as a child, I finished my meal and asked for an ice cream cone. My parents gave me a dollar and said I could go order one. Sure. No problem. They would watch, which meant I would be the one going up to the counter and talking to the teenager at the register… That did not happen. There was either no ice cream or I bribed my little sister to order for me.

I am no longer that hesitant, but talking to strangers requires preparation and a great amount of energy to push through some interactions. Quotes for a fence repair – script, job notes, and a self pep-talk with each call. Figuring out how to get cover art and sending messages to artists? While I would prefer things magically appear with zero interaction, at least most of this is via email.

A note first: there are standard templates you can use for digital self-publishing through the main retailers, and they are often free, so I would say to not let the cost of a cover keep you from publishing. However, publishing is also about marketing your product, which is your book, so I decided to spend some saved up marketing money and look for a digital artist to bring my vision to life.

To begin my search, I lurked around a Facebook group my husband found dedicated to beta readers of fantasy novels. Eventually someone – not me – asked in a post where all the great cover art came from, and the responses pointed me to ArtStation. There are others artist sites, but this is the one primarily recommended to me. With my vision in mind, I performed multiple searches, scanning the results for images sticking out to me as similar to what I want for my cover.

Much scrolling later, I documented three artists with work I could reference in my request. Considering reaching out to them was too much for that evening, so I waited and wrote up a draft of my message the next day to send. I am now discussing my idea with artists, and the initial sketches are promising. I have heard a price-range of $300-$1000, so we’ll see what it ends up at for these quotes.

If I had to share lessons from the process so far, I would say this: Do not be afraid to ask the author / reader community questions instead of waiting for someone else. Have an idea for your cover art and share some basic information about your book with the artist so they can help it fit the theme. Know that custom art is not cheap, and respect your fellow creatives for the time and effort they put into their work as well.

I am going to have this same difficulty talking to beta readers, and receiving their feedback, but that is a concern for another day.