Hiring a Book or Cover Designer

Happy Friday! It's time for the weekend! I can hear you cheering. Today, I'm going to give you some tips on what to look for when hiring a designer for your manuscript and cover. I'll give you a list of questions you should ask, what you can expect from your designer, and what you should prepare in advance. So grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

First and foremost, you should prepare a creative brief. Your brief should include:

• Your name and pen name
• Your address and billing information
• The book's title
• Genre
• Blurb
• Any review matter you'd like included
• Cover copy (the text that appears on the back or inside flap)
• Your vision for your book
• Other books in your genre (for reference)
• Headshots, logos, or any other imagery that must be included (like awards the book has won)

Now that you have your brief, you should approach a designer. Before handing over your brief, you need to ask some questions to make sure you're hiring someone that knows their stuff. Ask things like:

• Have you ever formatted for XYZ company's specs before?
• Do you have a design degree? (While this isn't necessary, it doesn't hurt to know going in.)
• What software do you use for design?
• Can I see some of the other work you've done?
• Explain bleed to me. Bleed is the area of the image that hangs over the edge and is cut away during production.
• What is kerning? Kerning is adjusting the space between letters.
• What is tracking? Tracking is adjusting the space between a whole line of letters.
• What's the standard safety margin for live elements? Standard safety is .25" from the edge for books. Some production houses call for .125". Either answer is correct. However, CreateSpace wants .25".

If your designer nails all these questions, you've got someone that most likely knows their stuff.

What you can expect from your designer:
A good designer will give you three very different choices to start with. They'll ask you to narrow it down to one and give you up to two revisions on that one design. Once you decide on a cover, the interior should compliment fonts used and look and feel of the book. Again, I'll use The Bird as an example:

Note the font on the cover of the book and the design elements around the border.

Now note the font on the chapter heading and number and the design elements around the edges of the page.











Watch out for the designers that mix two script fonts, two serif fonts, or two sans serif fonts in their design. This is a basic Typography no-no because it always comes off looking like a mistake.

Your designer should provide you with all files:

• Thumbnails
• Cover sized and formatted for digital uploads
• Cover sized and formatted for display on a website
• Entire cover for production house, formatted properly and in proper color space (CMYK ONLY)
• Cover in black & white
• List of fonts used

They won't give you the original files they built. Don't ask. This is like you writing a story and someone else wanting to tinker with it and release it with your name on it without you approving the changes.

Your contract should include:

• Statements saying the artwork is yours once the work is done and that you're free to use it in any way you see fit at no extra compensation for the designer or any third party.
• Deadlines and penalties for not meeting them.
• A guarantee clause stating all work is original and designed by them.
• A clause stating all artwork contained in the design is free from copyright by third-party entities.
• Number of revisions allowed at no extra charge.
• Payment arrangements in detail.
• Your name, their name, and all addresses associated with you both.
• Number of files you'll receive and sizes/specs.

This is protection for both you and your designer. They should never ever balk at signing a contract.

I hope this helps many indie authors get the quality and professionalism they deserve in a designer. Over on Joel Friedlander's blog today, there's an interesting post about judging a book by it's cover. I beg you to go give it a read.

Any questions? Leave a comment and I'll get back with you ASAP.

Don't forget to enter the giveaway while you're here!
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Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Formatting Your Manuscript for Print

Happy Thursday, good people of the blogosphere! Since it's so close to Friday and Valentine's Day, I thought I'd give you all a little something to look forward to! Let's first discuss that all important thing I like to call formatting a print book then we'll get into the awesome rafflecopter prizes I have up for the winning. So, grab your pens and notebooks and let's get going!

When you format your manuscript for print, there are a lot of things you need to take into account. Just slapping some text into your book works, but it won't wow your readers and make them want to pick up your book for keeping.

In my book, The Indie Author's Guide to: Building a Great Book, I go into how to format your manuscript in MS Word. Why? Because it's a standard item on most computers. I give you the bare bones on how you can produce a legible document for print. Best of all, I made it just $2.99 on Amazon and Smashwords. But what about getting creative?

If I went into designing a book for print in InDesign, many of you would be scratching your heads. I tried to keep it simple and easy to understand. But there's a lot to be said for either hiring someone who knows InDesign to format your book or buying the program and learning how to do it yourself.

Here are a couple of examples of things that can be done using a program like InDesign to format:

 Chapter 1 Page 1 of The Bird

Chapter 1 Page 6 & 7 of Yassa













I've applied stylized formatting to the Copyright page and the front matter as well. The interior of The Bird is full bleed so the page you see there will be trimmed .125" all the way around. It'll be beautiful and give my book that little something extra.

A good book designer will know odd pages are always on the right, even pages are always on the left, and front matter gets no numbers (unless roman numerals are used - often for a forward or introduction). Ask these questions of your designer before you hire them!

I talk about all these things and SO much more in my book. I designed the print edition small so you can carry it with you or keep it on your desk and it not take up a ton of space. My first printed edition of Yassa is in a larger typeface for those who would like to read without their glasses. I've gotten a ton of thanks for that. In the Mystic series, every book looks the same. The interior is simple because the subject matter is serious. Above all else, it's consistent.

This all leads me to my point: Think long and hard about your print books. If necessary, talk to a graphic designer or reader and ask them what the most alluring covers and interiors entail. Take copious notes and implement them when designing your book.

Now, on to the giveaway! In keeping with the ideas presented in The Indie Author's Guide, I'm giving one lucky winner either a digital identity package OR a book cover design OR a book formatted for print. Another lucky winner will get an advance printed, signed copy of The Bird, a huge Mystic~Bronya cover poster, three postcards featuring Mystic and Yassa, and a Mystic bookmark.

Without further ado, here's the entry form:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
GOOD LUCK!

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Using Your Thesaurus

Happy Wednesday, good people of the blogosphere! I'd like to talk a little today about using your thesaurus and why you should. So, grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

Thesaurus: the·sau·rus  /THəˈsôrəs/ Noun 1. A book that lists words in groups of synonyms and related concepts. 2. A dictionary or encyclopedia.

Have you ever been stuck in a rut trying to come up with new words for the same descriptions? Do you find yourself using a word too often and aren't sure how to find a new one? Are you unsure if you're using a word too often? There are two tools that can help you out of this conundrum: MS Word's built in thesaurus and the Word Frequency Counter (free) online.

First, copy and paste your text into the box on the Word Frequency Counter website and look at the numbers it returns. Scan down the list and keep your eyes on the larger numbers. You don't want to see too many instances of words other than a, the, and, then, etc... If you find a word you've used 77 times (or even 25 times) that's not a common word, check for variances (ing, ed, etc...). Copy and paste it/them to a notepad note.

Now open MS Word and have your find feature activated. Type in the word and click Find Next. The first instance of the offending word should be highlighted. Click off the find window (NOT off the word) and put your cursor over the highlighted word. Now, right click and hover the mouse over synonyms. A fly out menu will appear with word suggestions. HINT: If your word has ing, ed, or any other modifier, change the word back to its most basic form and try again. Choose a word from the list and change it. Do the same thing with other instances of the word.

Examples:
breathing heavily = sucking in air intensely
longing = craving, hankering, hungering
sad = depressed, gloomy, cheerless, poignant

Using a thesaurus can give your writing that extra two-punch it needs. Become familiar with this feature of word and bookmark the Word Frequency Counter so you can reference it often.

I'm going to be starting a giveaway tomorrow. It's gonna be BIG! Make sure you come on back to enter for your chance to win. It'll be a little something for readers and a little something for writers.

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Flipping the Switch

Happy Tuesday! Hi, good people of the blogosphere! I hope you all had a good Monday. Nothing like a great Monday to preclude a fabulous Tuesday, eh? Today we'll be talking about twisted characters; or, the switch, if you prefer. So, grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

What's in a switch? Well, you have to first think about who's in your novel. You've filled out your character bios and given everyone a role, thought about your plot and where your main character will go from the beginning to the end (the journey), and considered who's going to be good, bad, or just a pain in the arse, right?

That's where the switch can come in. Look closely at your characters and their lives, then go read my human nature series of posts (found under the first heading - Writing) and think about your characters' lives, habits, personalities, and experiences. What can you bring to the front to make them false friends? Consider carefully because if your character doesn't surprise you with what they're doing, they won't surprise your reader.

Switches aren't always foregone conclusions. Sometimes, a switch can come in the form of someone leaping out from around a corner and yelling, "Boo!" They surprise you. Just keep in mind: Their proclivity was bent that way to begin with. It can't come out of nowhere. There should be some vein of something you show a peep of through your story to make the character's switch believable. But don't ruin it for your reader by foreshadowing too much.

Now, this can be a good guy who turns bad, a hidden society that the reader doesn't know existed until that moment, or a person lost from the character's past that comes back seeking revenge, love, or acknowledgement. Your choice! Yet another reason a character bio is so damned important.

Anyone have an example of a character switch that worked well? If so, please share with the rest of the class!

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Writing a Twist

Happy Monday, good people of the blogosphere! It's the start of a brand new week and I'd like to take this time to talk about excitement and twists when writing a novel. Today, we'll be talking about writing a twist. Tomorrow, who knows? Perhaps I'll go into The Switch and how to do it. We'll see. Get your pens and notebooks ready, it promises to be an interesting few days.

Writing a twist is surprising your reader with something unexpected. There can be little foreshadowing when writing a proper twist in a story. Your readers need to say, "I did not see that coming!" Whether it makes them laugh, gasp, or drop their jaw in horror, the reveal of your twist needs to be the two punch. If you can make it come out at the end of a chapter that's even better! It makes your reader turn the page.

Now, for you readers out there: Have you come across a book that slapped you with the two punch when you least expected it? Did it leave you satisfied?

I read three books like that last year. Two of them were part of the Canopy series by Crystal Lee. When I wrote that just now I realized I mentioned her last week, too. Funny how some authors stick in your head, eh? Anywho, the third was by Robert Chazz Chute titled Bigger Than Jesus. I gave it five stars on Amazon and Goodreads because it was funny, fun, well written, and had twists and turns I never saw coming. The perspective was unusual (2nd person) but I found it kept me engaged in the story and was a perfect choice.

Notice these books stayed with me because of the twists. Others stayed for other reasons but we're talking about twisty novels here. Let's not digress, mkay? Think of only those novels that surprised you with a turn in the plot you didn't see coming and I'll do the same. Yes, this was me catching myself.

In the first chapter of Bigger Than Jesus, I got the first twist. It came at me like a Mike Tyson right hook, was perfectly placed in the storyline, and kept me going on to chapter 2 to see what happened next. It wasn't until the last chapter of Canopy book 1 that Ms. Lee gave me the twist and I was left with my jaw on the floor when I realized the truth and waiting anxiously for book 2. It wasn't just a cliffhanger; it was a shove off the damned cliff and I was left hurtling toward the ground at breakneck speeds. Good thing she writes fast! I now await book 3 because book 2 did the same freaking thing! Arghhhhhhh!

A plot twist must be planned as you think out your novel in order for it to work well. Writing in a plot twist on the fly rarely works. I'm not saying it never works; don't get in a tizzy. I'm saying it rarely works. When it's inserted on the fly, you usually end up needing to go back and change other things for it to work properly in your story line. If that's okay with you, no biggie. If you're one of those that can't change things to make a super awesome plot twist make sense later, don't do it.

Remember, a plot twist isn't the same thing as a character twist. A plot twist changes the whole plot of the book. Character twists only change who done it.

Have you written a most excellent plot twist lately? Read one? Let's hear about it!

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Dark Expectations Blog Tour + Giveaway!

Happy weekend, good people of the blogosphere! Today, I bring you a stop on Janiera Eldridge's blog tour for Dark Expectations. It's book two of the Soul Sisters series. Check it out and have some fun entering the giveaway at the bottom!

Title: Dark Expectations (Book 2 in the Soul Sisters Trilogy)

Author: Janiera Eldridge

Release Day: October 31, 2012

Synopsis:  With Ani taking her place as queen, there are some enemies lurking she could never imagine! There's a secret compound in California that wants to know the secrets to making a vampire or werewolf. When they kidnap Ani during a trip back to California they might actually get what they want. Her sister Dana, her lover Diego and other vampires do everything they can to get her back. If they don't succeed, they face being controlled completely by the human race forever! Dark Expectations is the exciting sequel to Soul Sisters that's full of adventure, danger and what it means to be queen!

Buy Links:

Amazon (Paperback & Kindle)

Goodreads

Coming soon to other online book retailers in late January!

Title: Soul Sisters (Book 1 in the Soul Sisters Trilogy)

Author: Janiera Eldridge

Release Day: October 18^th 2012

Synopsis: Soul Sisters is an urban fantasy novel about African-American twin sisters Ani and Dana who have a rather unique secret: one sister is human while the other is a vampire. While the sisters have lived peacefully with each other for many years one fateful night will change both their lives forever. When a drunken man tries to attack Dana (the human sister) Ani (the vampire sister) protects her sister with all of her ferocious power. However, when the vampire’s leader Donovan finds out about the public display he calls for the sisters to be assassinated for disobedience. Ani and Dana now are in for the fight of their lives to protect each other as well as the lives of their dedicated friends who have joined them on their mission for survival. If Dana and Ani can make it through this time of uncertainty, Ani can take her new place as vampire queen. Soul Sisters is expected to be a trilogy; The book also features a multicultural cast of characters that brings a new edge of chic to the vampire world!

Buy Links:

Amazon (paperback&Kindle)

Goodreads

Coming soon to other online book retailers in late January!

Author Bio:  Janiera enjoys feeding her book addiction when she not writing. She is also a book blogger at Beauty and Books where she mixes being a book nerd with keeping things chic. When not reading or writing she is freelance writing in the entertainment industry.When trying to relax she likes a huge yard sale on a Saturday morning, rainy days to read by and nacho cheese is her kryptonite. Soul Sisters is her debut novel.

Connect With Janiera:

Twitter: @LazenBeauty

FB: Janiera Eldridge

Blog: http://janieraeldridge.blogspot.com

Goodreads: Janiera Eldridge

US Giveaway Only!

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Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Entering a Competition - ABNA

Happy Friday, everyone! If you're a writer and you don't already know about the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest, I don't know what rock you've been dwelling under. It went live just a few days ago and closes to entries on the 27th of January.

I wrote my pitch of 288 words and uploaded a 4k word excerpt and my manuscript for The Bird. I'm feverishly working to get it polished to perfection so I can replace it ASAP. While the draft they have is good, it's a third draft and doesn't have the polish I demand.

So, this is a short post today. I need my editing time. I have a special post for you all tomorrow and will be doing a giveaway so come on back for that. My blog here is one of the hosts for a blog tour! Yay! We'll have some fun!

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo