Amanda Fleet's Blog, page 16

Cover reveal!!

Many thanks to the Hive Mind (my amazing friends who gave me such valuable input over the designs) and of course to the designers (MiblArt). The cover has gone through a few iterations and tweaks, but I'm finally able to share it with you all...

So, without further ado, here's the new cover for Lies That Poison.


The ebook has been uploaded to Kindle and the (hilarious) spelling error it thought it had found was "summun'" which was in a dialect section ("Hannah allus said it was Edward’s fault. Left Beatrice wi’ child and married summun else."). Of all the bits of dialect, that was the only one it didn't like!

So, the ebook text is loaded, the paperback version is loaded, the cover is finalised, the keywords and categories are all done. Less than two years after Joffe Books published it (22nd September, 2017), both the ebook and the paperback will be published by my imprint. The ebook is available now (here!!); the paperback will be available from Saturday. The new version has some bonus material in it at the back - an exclusive interview with me.

Phew! It's been a bit of a vertical learning curve, but I got there!

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Progress!!

Apologies for the brief post, but it's all a bit busy at Fleet Towers. Where I'm at with Lies That Poison:

I'm almost ready to sign off on the coverI have the interior file for the paperback readyI have the ebook file ready (only Kindle at this stage)I have it all loaded up on Amazon (other than the covers)I still need to check a few things, but it should be available very soon!
Thank you for all your patience. It's been a bit of a vertical learning curve, but I'm getting there!

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The dust settles...

After last week's surprise unpublishing of both books (I was anticipating one - Lies That Poison - but not the other - that was done in error), I'm feeling a little more sanguine about everything. But I just have a shed-load of work to do. So much that a) I feel somewhat overwhelmed, and b) this post will be short!

Because the books were enrolled in KDP select, I can't re-release the ebook until those 90 day periods have finished (as far as I can tell - anyone with other info, please let me know?). For Lies That Poison, that's 11th September, but for The Call, it's not until November 10th. Hence me being so upset when it was unpublished early in error - it still had 75 of its 90 days left - leaving me with it neither on sale published by Joffe Books for that time, not able to be re-released by me for that time either.

I can re-release the paperback versions before those dates, but not the ebook, so that's what I'll be working on.

More news as and when I have it.

As for the trilogy... I have the final edits for the first book to work on. Book 2 is now with Fiona (my editor) and I have some changes to book 3 to type up before that too heads to Fiona's desk.

Time to make a big pot of tea, dust myself off and get on with things. Live and learn. Live and learn...

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More news...

At the time of writing (27th August, 5.15 p.m.), Joffe Books have unpublished both of my books. I am anticipating getting the rights back for them on September 11th (Lies That Poison) and November 10th (The Call), though I have queried why I'm not getting them back immediately, as they are now unpublished.

Apologies to anyone trying to buy them. I was given no notice that they would both be unpublished in quite this way.

Shiny new notebooks!

[Yeah, I know, I could write this as a post almost every week... but these are just gorgeous! And not available to buy anywhere - so I feel super special!]

I was recently asked to give feedback on some prototype notebooks. Actually, this happens quite a lot, as I write for Nero's Notes, but this came directly from the producer - Cambridge Imprint.

If you don't know their stuff, go check it out. It's just glorious! Anyway, I'd contacted them to ask if they would ever consider doing their hardback notebooks with lined paper instead of plain (I'm too messy to use plain neatly and making a mess annoys me). It turned out they had some prototypes and wanted feedback. Quel dommage!

They're amazing little books. At 12 cm x 18.5 cm, they're a perfect size to go in a bag and the paper is perfect for fountain pens (so I'm very happy!).

So, what will I use them for? Ah... a (currently) secret writing project. Keep you all posted when I can.

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News!

I can finally share something with all of you (subscribers already know this...). Both Lies That Poison and The Call will be being re-released as I'm getting my rights back from Joffe Books.

It's been a difficult decision, but, I hope, the right one.

Both books will be getting some bonus material added before the re-release. Lies That Poison should be getting re-published in September, and The Call should be re-released in November. They will both be available up to those dates, but there may be a short gap between them being published by Joffe Books and re-released by me.

I'm hoping to share the new cover with you for Lies That Poison very soon! That was the 'other project' I talked about last week. I'm currently working with a great cover designer, finalising things.

Watch this space... there will be some competitions and giveaways coming! Some will be exclusively for subscribers to the newsletter, so sign-up below (if you haven't already).

Enjoyed reading this? Why not subscribe to my newsletter? It comes out once a month and subscribers get a free novella and all my special offers. No spam, I promise.

How to find a book cover designer

Over the last couple of weeks, I've been researching book cover designers. I started by going through the list of cover designers that Joanna Penn has on her website (https://www.thecreativepenn.com/bookcoverdesign/). It's not an exhaustive list, but I needed to start somewhere and these were people that either Joanna Penn had used herself, or who came recommended to her. There are about 70 names on the list I think and I looked at every site, plus another set of sites that had been personally recommended to me. There's also a list on ALLi of recommended services: https://selfpublishingadvice.org/self-publishing-service-reviews/ graded by how much they trust them and I looked at anyone who was in their 'green' (trusted partner) category. I would recommend checking that page once you've chosen your shortlist, in case ALLi have flagged up any issues, even if you don't use it as a starting point.

After trawling through 100+ book cover designer sites, let me share my tips and tricks to make the process as easy as possible! Most of these apply to getting a custom-made design, rather than a pre-made, but some apply to both.

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Carrots and sticks...

My expression after an hour of research...I can think of more exciting things to do than to find a cover designer... trawling through potential designers isn't a quick job - after all, I want the right kind of cover for these books, since I feel like I've spent half my life writing them (okay... that's an overstatement, but after all the time and effort of writing them, and the cost of a professional editor, I need the right cover!).

My brain will explode if I spend all day at it, so I've produced a list of 'rewards' that I can get to if I've put in a decent chunk of effort on the cover designer research! In no particular order...

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Do you need a professional book cover?

Yes. You do.

[Maybe I should leave this as possibly the shortest blog post ever, but that's not stunningly helpful!]

I have a number of writer friends. Some of them are traditionally published, some are indie-published. Even those who are 'doing it all themself' are rarely actually doing that, and rightly so. They've hired editors and cover designers and quite probably a number of other people in the process of getting their book out there. As an indie, you have to shoulder a lot of stuff that traditional publishers do for you, but always get an editor. And unless you're a graphic designer or do book covers for a living, leave it to the professionals!

Why?

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Focus and planning...

Not far off what my planning sessions look like!Man alive, I have a shed-load of stuff to try and do in the next three months! I think (think) I've drawn up a plan that will let me shift the work without it killing me, but it's really made me consider how I maintain focus when I have a gazillion different things to be thinking about. All too often I feel so overwhelmed that I do nothing, and then feel even more overwhelmed, and annoyed with myself for not getting stuff done.

When I'm writing, although I feel busy, I'm busy on one kind of thing, really - the book. This quarter though, I have a lot of very different things I need to focus on. How do I deal with that?
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