Cathy Spencer's Blog, page 19

Happy Halloween!

This picture of "Jack Skellington" from The Nightmare Before Christmas caught my eye.It was created by "MrCrazyDragonpenguin" on Deviant Art.Seemed highly appropriate for Halloween.

THE MOVIE GAME, October 25, 2013

Today's game is dedicated to the movie musical!This is one of my favourite from that genre,containing some simply wonderful dance numbers.If you're a fan of classic movie musicals,naming these two stars should be a piece of cake.
Last week's movie was the comedy In and Out, starring a bemusedKevin Kline and Joan Cusack.

THE MOVIE GAME, October 18, 2013

This week's entry is a romantic comedy with a real twist!Can you guess the name of the film and the actors in the picture?

Did you guess last week's Western? It was El Dorado, starring John Wayne and Robert Mitchum.James Caan looked like a baby in the 1966 movie.  

Publishing Paperback Versions of My Novels

I thought I'd blog about what I'm doing these days when I'm not writing Town Haunts, the second mystery in the Anna Nolan series. Heretofore my novels have only been available as e-books, but I'm taking the advice of savvy authors and publishers  Kris Rush and Dean Wesley Smith to publish my books as paperbacks.

Rather than paying upfront to have my paperbacks produced and being stuck with cartons of books to store in a non-existent garage, I'm going through the print-on-demand services of CreateSpace. It costs me nothing to have the books printed and, in return, the books are sold through the Amazon distribution channels, or can be ordered by book stores, in return for a royalty based upon the price of the book minus the costs associated with their production. That way I don't have to worry about selling and shipping, remitting taxes to the government, returns, etc., so that I can get on with writing other novels. It's a good way for a self-publisher to begin.

But it's been a steep learning-curve. I had to choose the book size, which became slightly larger when I discovered how many printed pages my e-books converted to (lots), fonts, whether or not to use the CreateSpace ISBN or to get my own ISBN and use my own publishing company ("Comely Press"), formatting for the CreateSpace system, choosing the distribution services I required, and pricing.

I also decided to create my own covers, and faced an even steeper learning curve when it came to manipulating the images I wanted to use with the latest Photoshop software. Photoshop for Dummies and online tutorials just weren't teaching me enough, so our good friend and photographer extraordinaire John Mitchell, of John Mitchell Photography, rode to the rescue and spent a day showing me how to use the program and helping to produce my cover for Framed for Murder. The top image is an e-version of the front cover for Framed, with adaptations for the thumbnail view, including font placement and the yellow border. My husband took the photo in a cemetery, since I wanted to have a cemetery theme for the mystery series. I was quite taken with the grieving lady, and hope that readers will be, too. The second cover is for The Affairs of Harriet Walters, Spinster; the image is a stock photo that I purchased. I decided to go with something pretty and old-fashioned for the regency romance, and I'm pleased with the result.

I've proofed the books online, and now I'm waiting for Amazon to send me paperback proofs so that I can read them one last time before giving the go-ahead. When I do, I will have to promote the books online so that readers will be aware that they are now available in two formats. The third format will be audiobooks, but I'll tackle that project sometime in 2014when I've finished my current novel.

It would be a lot easier to go with a traditional publisher to get my books out as paperbacks, but that would entail either finding a small publishing company, or an agent who would have to find a publisher, and giving up the rights to my books while someone else made the decisions about covers, publishing, promotion, etc. . . I like the idea of having my books available for purchase for years to come instead of worrying if they will sell well enough in a six-week window to develop a following before the bookstores return copies to the publisher to make room for the next author. I like the control of self-publishing and the potential for greater financial return, so I'm willing to learn the ins and outs. Choice is good!

THE MOVIE GAME, October 11, 2013

 Today is my husband's birthday, so I will dip into one of his favourite genres that I have not touched upon yet: the Western. Hard to choose just one, but how about this classic?
Last week's film was The Blues Brothers, starring Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi. That's Aretha Franklin whooping it up with them in this musical number.
 

Nostalgic

Woke up feeling nostalgic today about some of the TV shows I used to watch as a kid. Does anyone remember "The Courtship of Eddie's Father" with Bill Bixby, Miyoshi Umeki, and Brandon Cruz?

THE MOVIE GAME, October 4, 2013

This film had a lot of energy! Can you guess today's movie?

Last week's movie was Casino Royale, and the two stars pictured are Daniel Craig in the 2006 version, and David Niven in the 1967 version. The latter was a spoof of the James Bond movies with a humungous cast including Peter Sellers, Deborah Kerr, Ursula Andress, Orson Welles, and a very young Woody Allen. The music was by Burt Bacharach and included the hit song, "The Look of Love."

THE MOVIE GAME, September 27, 2013

What do these two men have in common? They played the same lead character in a movie with the same title. What is the name of the movie and who are the two male leads?

Last week's movie was The Secret Garden, based upon the beloved book written by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

THE MOVIE GAME, September 20, 2013

This was a terrific family film of the 1990's.It was also made into a wonderful play, which my husband performed in with Drayton Theatre in Grand Bend.Can you guess today's movie?
Last week's movie was The Thin Man, with the delightful Myrna Loy and William Powellas Nick and Nora Charles.And the dog's name? Asta!   

THE MOVIE GAME, September 13, 2013

Since I'm currently working on a mystery with an amateur sleuth,how about a film revolving around a couple of married amateur sleuths? Here's this week's entry of THE MOVIE GAME.Can you guess the name of this stylish film that soon became a series?Bonus question for classic movie lovers: What was the dog's name?    Last week's movie was Million Dollar Baby starring the superbly toned and ripped Hilary Swank.The actor/director? Clint Eastwood.