C.B.’s Comments (group member since May 01, 2015)

C.B.’s comments from the Support for Indie Authors group.

Oh, trust me. None of my blurbs are serious in the slightest, and I always try to get a pun in every paragraph at least, so I am all for it.

I understand it all too well, even funny books can have plots. :)

I have disclaimers in my blurbs! People don't always read them, I know this as a fact, but I think they are helpful!

If the tone of the book is humorous, and if it doesn't take itself seriously at all, then I think you should go with the third option, but even more so. Kill it with crazy. (If the book is)

Who is this book marketed to? What is the demographic?
I need more information.

:)

I had a thought to consider.

Maybe don't have a rainbow, often used as a symbol for LGBT items, on the cover of a book called 'Learn to Receive'. That strikes me as a bad marketing idea.

Sorry, but felt the need to warn you.

Alex G wrote: "the biggest caveat with GIMP: save often! "

With different file names!

Gippy wrote: "And Amazon allowed you to use it? Amazing!!! !"

No no. Sorry, that was a joke.

I say I invented a genre because my books really don't fit anywhere specific. Amazon has yet to give me my own category though!

I really do wish I could click 3-4 categories per book. Two just isn't enough.

Ken wrote: "Well, that's true for normal people, but my giant monster brain is artistic on both sides."

My giant monster brain is on a shelf in my laboratory. It is from a Green Dragon named Stephen.

Ken wrote: "Nooo, I never sketch. I just play around with images until I like what I see, mainly because I usually never know what I really want until I see it."

Well... as long as you play around. ;)

Design uses the Right side of the brain. Computers use the left. If you start full out computer program, especially when you are new with it, you will be in full out left brain mode and the creative juice needed for design will not flow as well!

This is why I recommend sketching, or fiddling about with images to find things you like, or something right brain, before starting your design! :D

Ken wrote: "I just did two reviews, one yesterday, one today, and I leave them at Goodreads, the vendor where I bought it, and the blog on my website. Then I put a mention on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ wit..."

That's one of the reasons why we like you Ken.
You can stay!

That was a big text wall, and a lot to take in! :D

If anyone ever needs help, just send me a message! Bring a sketch of what you want your cover to be and I can tell you what is the best way to go about making it.

Yes, a sketch. You are sketching your covers out first before jumping on the computer... right? :)

I use Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign for every cover I have. Yes, all three.

Illustrator for the line art, silhouettes, logo designs.
Photoshop for background, character colouring, and final flattening to a .jpg so there are no issues when it displays on screen.
InDesign for all of the layout, and non fancy text.

They, and the programs that emulate them, are all useful for different parts of cover design.
For example, Photoshop is great for photos and colouring, but there is no way to be precise when laying out text. InDesign is great for laying out text, but it doesn't do vector shapes well. Illustrator is king of logos but it has terrible graphic filters.

Individually any of them can make a cover. If you dabble in two or three of them though you can really make your cover design easier in the long term. At the very least design nice graphics in a Photoshop like program and take them into a layout program like InDesign for an easier time with text layout! (You will quickly realize why Photoshop is terrible at text layout compared to InDesign and fall in love ♥.)

Yes, that is a big commitment! It depends on what your cover needs though. Certain covers can certainly get away with only one program!

Just come and show us so we can help you tweak the result! We are good like that here!

The best advice I have ever been given was from Kung Fu Panda.

There is no secret ingredient.

There is nothing specific you can do to become special. Nothing works better than anything else. It just happens, sometimes for some people, for some reason. There is no top tip. There are no magic words. There is no way to do it.

The longer you try, the better the odds. The more you try the better the odds. Odd, I know.

I have a character in one of my Novelettes who 'doesn't proofread what he writes' and 'makes mistakes while typing'. As the books are set in a world where people need to type to talk, it lead to him having some errors while talking. It is even tied to the plot.

I made sure to call him out on it and mention it a few times when it was happening. I think that would help you as well. If you make sure that early on in this story there is an angry diary entry about 'loosey' Mrs. Fitzgivings giving her a bad mark due to words 'spelt' wrong and bad grammings and that she can stuff it up her fat rump because the story I told was super amazin'! - Then you sort of cover yourself.

As many or as few places as they want to! :)

Christina wrote: "Hmm... But there's only six blush shades. ;)"

Hehehe.

I've always thought of myself more as Gayme of Thrones, than 50 shades of gay.

Rachael wrote: "The Return of the Jed
West Side Tory
Spider-ma
The Handmaid's Ale

BTW, it's great to meet another Cabin Pressure fan! I love Douglas's word games."

They all make great car games, and I will admit that my friends all play Yellow Car.

Did you know that Spider-Ma was the original title of Charlotte's Web? (Fun fact that isn't true!)

Speaking of which:

Charlotte's We

I don't even know why it is in Contemporary now - I tried to get it into Shifters, not contemporary.

:)

Oh well, I suppose the important thing is that my keywords are better now, regardless of the category they are actually in!

I added 2-3 keywords to all of my books, and now am in 'Contemporary' in one. Nothing new showed up besides that.

Some more Stephen King:

The Dark Hal
Under the Dom
I

Steal This Boo