Fran Macilvey's Blog, page 25

A bit more about ISBN numbers

A bit more about ISBN numbers

I should like to say a bit more about ISBN numbers, though let us be clear that a book can be published without an ISBN, which stands for International Standard Book Number.

However, if you are aiming to publish and want people to find your books, I strongly recommend buying your own ISBNs and allocating them to your book(s). An ISBN is a cataloguing tool that many libraries and public search facilities insist on. Once allocated to a book, an ISBN lasts a lifeti...

A few more thoughts about book cover design

A few more thoughts about book cover design.

Given the importance of every book cover, here I offer a few more thoughts about book cover design

There are programmes available free on the web – so much is free to use on the web to assist indie publishers – for anyone who wants to design book covers. The wealth of experience grows more sophisticated and user friendly every day. There are tutorials and lots of free on-line help – as well as some excellent books! – to get us started with book co...

Basic elements of book cover design

Basic elements of book cover design. 

Briefly, a book cover will have the following elements:-

~ a publisher name. As an indie publisher, you may want to have your own publishing name, one which reflects the genre and content of your book. If you are thinking of publishing more than one book, or a series of books, you should definitely invent for yourself a publishing name that is meaningful to you.

~ A publisher logo. If you look on the back of books, you will see many publishers have lo...

Basic requirements for book publishing

Basic Requirements for Book Publishing (continued)

Turning to the points I made in my previous post before we can think of publishing, we need a decent enough book that we want to publish. By which I mean, we must accepted that a published book moves away from our sphere of influence and ends up as semi-public property.

My first book, Trapped is the story of my life with cerebral palsy, and, as such, publishing it was a huge leap of faith into the unknown. Would it be savaged by the critics?...

What we need when we publish our own books

What we need when we publish our own books

Mary Cassatt (1844-1926)   The Reader

What follows is a brief summary of points to be remembered when we are publishing our own books.  And I suppose the most obvious question to start with is, are we going to publish with only one platform – we all know, I think, which platform I am alluding to here – or are we going to go with multiple platforms?

The basic requirements for an indie publisher are:-

~ A decent enough book which we want to publish. B...

What I have learned about publishing independently

What I have learned about publishing independently.

There are several things we need to decide, when making up our minds whether to self-publish. My next series of blog posts will attempt to summarise what I have learned about publishing independently.

There are a series of basic questions that need to be answered before we even think of publishing a book.

~ Have we got the time to do some research – aka read some books about publishing – that will help us decide what our priorities are, for...

Publishing my third book

Publishing my third book

I am what is known in the trade, apparently, as a hybrid author. That is to say, I have a book published with a mainstream publisher, and I am also published independently. (It’s interesting what you learn when talking to other publishers at book fairs.)

My third book, Making Miracles is set for publication this month, June 2018. I am so looking forward to having it finished; and excited that a project that has taken about a decade to materialise is finally happening...

Living near my mother

Living near my mother

For most of her life – probably since the age of three, when she first got left behind and had to avoid falling off a cliff and find her own way home – my mother has done, and fixed and sorted most of everything in her life for herself. Whatever she could not manage – rooofers, plumbers, electricians – she paid for. Even a supremely competent Queen’s guide needs some help, sometimes.

She is, in so many ways, a hard act to follow. But, since she moved into her own flat r...

Writing Book Six

Writing Book Six

My sixth book, which happens to be the third in my Lisa Somerville trio of novels about a lawyer and her clients – of which I have had the first chapter written for a couple of years, now – is becoming, as I think about it, less of a future prospect and more of a current reality. I will be writing it soon.

The thought of changing gear and starting on my third book of fiction brings mixed feelings: excitement, the thrill of what I might discover, together with the realisation...

Writers block reconsidered

Writers block reconsidered

I’m going to assume, for the purposes of this post, that writer’s block exists, and that there are those of us writers who simply find it impossible – or have found it impossible – to write.

For anyone for whom the soothing routines of writing seem like a distant dream, I can offer a few ideas that might help to remove writer’s block.

~ If we are tired, let us rest, without judgement about our failure today, to write our usual four thousand words. “But I always man...