Self publishing part 2
You have the edit done, and you have the format looking good. What next? Well you can send it off to beta readers. Beta readers are usually easy to come across. The purpose of beta readers is to catch things you or your editor didn’t catch. Now you can do this between edits if you would like to. So why you have the beta’s reading. You can now focus on the cover. Now, some people work on the cover before. Whatever groove you find works for you works. Some can be DIY, you can buy a pre-made or you can pay extra to have a one of the kind made for you.
We are taught to never judge a book by a cover. But we know we all do it. You are looking for that sexy cover, that cover that pops and screams-READ ME!! As a writer you want the best for your book. You want people to see your cover and go: ooohhh what is that? I think creating covers is almost the hardest part of self publishing, at least for me. You want your cover to pop, but you want your cover to show your story as well. Erotic, romance, paranormal, fantasy, science fiction, horror, thriller, ect. You want to show something of the story.
For Blood Witch, which is a paranormal romance, I saw Leslie and Nathan, but in black in white, with Leslie’s eyes silver, a feature of her being a blood witch. I wanted some blood on her arm, as the only color other then the title because it fit. Dakota Trace who created most of my covers takes my ideas and created great covers for me. From Space Rebels, The Unicorn & The Serpent, Blood Witch and my newest Awaken the Elements, she has managed to make my vision come through.
You can find a great number of cover designers through online searches.
Here are a few links that might be useful:
http://fantasiafrogdesigns.wordpress.com
http://telltalebookcovers.weebly.com
http://dusktildawndesigns.com
http://www.coragraphics.it/premade.html
http://www.ebookindiecovers.com
For those who want to DIY you have to use stock images. A cheap place to find some is:
http://www.123rf.com
And like always you can always contact indie writers and ask where their covers were made. You can find info usually in the copyright page of the book too.
Next post I will talk about the ISBNs, Copyrights, and publishing.
