Rhoda Baxter's Blog, page 4

Love, Comment, Subscribe by Cathy Yardley

I can’t believe I haven’t read any Cathy Yardley books before. I’m fixing that now. I finished this one and immediately started on the next book in the series

I’ve been meaning to read this book for ages, and I can’t remember why it’s taken me so long to get to these. It’s a real pity because I totally loved it.
I enjoy reading about characters who are smart and competent at what they do (it doesn’t really matter what they actually do, it matters that they’re good at it – if that makes sen...

Book Review: Minor Disturbances at the Grand Life Apartments by Hema Sukumar

This is a brilliantly evocative book. It follows four people who live in the Grand Life Apartments. Kamala (whose daughter has gone off to university, leaving Kamala feeling a bit lost), Revathi (whose job is treating her apallingly and whose mother is nagging her to get married), Jason (who is running away from his heartbreak) and Mani (who owns the building and is fighting a battle of his own).
We get to meet each of them and see the ups and downs of their lives.
It’s a quiet book – nothing ...

Good Girls Die Last by Natali Simmonds

This book was described at Falling Down for the #MeToo generation. I think that’s a great description.
Em is having a terrible day. She’s been fired, let down, generally used and ignored and… she needs to get the airport for her sister’s wedding. It’s a boiling hot day in London and there’s a transport strike on. The only way she can get to the airport is if she walks.

Everything that happens to Em is relatable – they are all things that happen to women on a daily basis. She’s ostracised i...

Make a short teaser animation for a thriller using Canva

Okay, I don’t write thrillers, but if I did, I would totally use this. This is a funky animation that shows blood flowing into a word until it is readable.

Just hit the big red button to watch the video in YouTube.

If you’ve found this tutorial useful, please share it (and subscribe to my YouTube channel – I’d be very grateful).

If you’d like a free Canva template – sign up to my newsletter here: https://jeevanicharika.com/canva-for-authors/

Join the free Canva for Authors ...

Supercharge your social media with Canva bulk create

If you’ve just had a blog tour or had a book on Netgalley, grabbing all the reviews and making lots of social media posts can take ages. Now, you can do it really quickly, using the cool trick in Canva.

You still have to capture all the reviews, but you can bung them straight into a design and having something ready to go in the time it takes to make a cup of tea.

Just hit the big red button to play the video in YouTube.

If you’ve found this tutorial useful, please share it (and ...

Book review: The Housekeepers by Alex Hay

This is one of the best books I’ve read this year! Lady con-artists and an audacious heist. I raced through it.
Mrs King and Mrs Bone are both so well described and easy to root for (they aren’t NICE, but they’re each relatable … and formidable in their own way!).
I loved the heist aspect of it and was genuinely tense reading the climactic scenes. There was a subtle mystery thread running through the book, which added an extra layer of intrigue.
Wonderful!

Also, that cover is just amazing.

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Canva for Authors: How to turn your ebook cover into a 3D book image

If you’re with a digital first publisher (or a digital only publisher), you will get your ebook cover image well before you get any print copies. You want to have nice packshot (3D) pictures of your book to show off on social media, so how do you convert it?

There are ways to do it within Canva itself, but in this video, I show you another website. www.diybookcovers.com, which let your easily convert your 2D ebook cover into a set of 3D images. I will walk you through the process and even giv...

Canva for Authors: How to do 3D overlaps in Canva

Sometimes, you want images to overlap and look like they’re going THROUGH each other – like the flowers going through the text in the thumbnail below. So, how do you do that in Canva?

Let’s find out.

In this video, I show you how to create a book cover using free elements and how to layer the images so that they go through each other convincingly.

Click on the red play button to watch the YouTube video

If you’ve found this tutorial useful, please share it (and subscribe to my ...

Canva for Authors: Templates – the simplest way to make book marketing images

Making book marketing images can be daunting. After all, we’re writers, not graphic designers (unless you are a graphic designer, in which case, you already know all this stuff and more). So how do you make pretty images if you haven’t got a clue where to start? Canva templates, that’s how.

In this video I go through the two types of templates – the ones available in Canva itself (usually for free) and the ones that you can buy from places like Etsy for a small fee. They really are the simple...

Straight as a Jalebi by Ritu Bhathal

I was offered a copy of Straight As A Jalebi to read in return for a review quote. As you know, I try to keep up with any new romance novels that feature South Asian characters, so I was delighted to read it.

Sunny is the ‘good’ son. He works in the family business and is generally very straight-laced. His niche shop in Birmingham has started a collaboration with the Indian clothing designer Milan, whose dazzling wedding clothes are bringing UK desi brides to the shop in droves.

Milan...