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

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

Oh. It is Earth.
I can see that now that I look closer. Okay... well then... you did what I suggested already. Neat.

Okay, time for more suggestions that may or may not already be implemented.

Fonts: Impact Font was once a great font. All of its... impact... has been completely destroyed by Internet Memes. Many people can no longer take impact font seriously anymore due to it constantly being associated with cheezburgrs. I think you should remove that font and use... nothing that comes standard with your computer. Those fonts are often overused and are not terribly distinct from a branding standpoint.

http://www.dafont.com/ or http://www.fontsquirrel.com/

Look there for a font that is suitable to your book, try many, make sure they are 100% free. Avoid fonts that are on the most popular lists, 1,000,000s of downloads is not going to look 'original' anymore.

Move the title up, and the subtitle down. They are crowding your planet, it needs to breath.

Your author name should be in a different font than the title. This gives you 2 fonts total on the cover. Any more and it will look font overdone.
Pick a font that is distinct from your title font. You can get away with a nice normal font, even right from the computer here. The title will probably be bulky and sans serif, so make your name think and with serifs. If you take your name and kern it wide (space between letters) so that it fits across the entire bottom while remaining smaller, it will create an epic feel to your name, like a movie poster.

Background Get a space picture with stars is my suggestion. The gray, the white, the black, it is all flat. The earth is real and it shouldn't be on a flat background. It is in peril so it needs to look in peril. Take that earth that looks all sickly and give it an 'outer glow' of some other sick colour. It will irradiate energy, like the Earth is glowing with the festering bile that it is!

You might even zoom out a tad, give Earth a bit more room to breathe.

Earth is really really sick. I couldn't tell it was Earth until you told me. Maybe tone back the sick on it so it is more obviously Earth?

Colours White text is a bit stark. SInce the background will be darker go for something lighter, but not stark white. Something that contrasts Earth. Maybe a light purple or blue.

Hope that helps! :)

Perhaps you could find one of the NASA pictures of another planet in our solar system, and then shift the hue to something more alien? Maybe Mars, as it isn't terribly distinctive.

It would help this from looking as flat since there would be a space background already, and the NASA pictures are free for everyone. Check the rights for the photo, and the use. They may vary as to how you can use it!

Welcome back Jenycka!

First of all, your author interview is still one of the most popular pages on my website. You do indeed have fans! :) They are constantly looking for you and ending up on my page.

That said, a mere I am sorry for my absence, thanks for your thoughts is really enough. :)

Alternatively, you could just pick without saying anything happened.

Alternatively, you can tell people that you were transported in time back to the 1980s, and couldn't find the right parts for your flux capacitor to get home. Thankfully, after stopping the werewolf rebellion from taking over the time stream (You're welcome btw), you were allowed to return home through the early cryogenic technology of alien marmosets. Not all the kinks were worked out (marmosets are notoriously bad with calendars), so you arrived six months later than you planned.

That's what I'd say!

Lisa wrote: "I have no complaints about Createspace but I will say, if you are in Canada and using them, use the expedited shipping. In my experience it is actually cheaper than the standard. Here's why. If you..."

That explains the different shipping fees... thanks!

Christina wrote: "Psst: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/..."

Sure, I worship you, but I can't be expected to read everything you write. That would be exhausting! :D

An author friend told me about http://www.booklinker.net/.

They allow you customize your shortlinks for books and author profiles. You can pick the front bit, and type the end bit to avoid those Goo-18ajwe0 links. (They look like GetBookAt.BookName)

It stores all your links together so you can go back and find them and it seems to keep a total of how many times people click the link.

I suspect that you could make say 3 different links for the same book, and put them in different places you advertise, and actually check which social media sites are actually getting you clicks!

Can someone do that who gets lots of clicks? An interesting experiment at least.

It is also free!

I have ordered books from Createspace a few times.

- Review copies of first book - They messed up the shipping. I got expedited shipping for free.
- First shipment of first book - They messed up the shipping, I got expedited shipping for free.
- Second shipment of first book - They messed up the quantity, I got six extra copies for free.
- Review copies of second book - They messed up the shipping. I got expedited shipping for free.

So far... I will say I am a fan of Createspace.

Oh yes, I did it with permission, and now my version is the real cover! Neat!

Anyone who invites you to D&D night is someone to keep! They made the right choice with you I'd wager! :D

Thank you K.C.! I wouldn't ever change it back to the way it was! :D

I planned on not telling many, many people I was a writer. But someone let it slip, and my cover was blown. I made a pseudonym for a reason, but apparently that didn't work out.

I have a few stories.

Family:
When word got out that I had written a novel (and heavens forbid that it had multiple sexy bits in it), I became the subject of a wildfire of controversy throughout the members of my family not since witnessed since the 'Great Multiple-Partner-Boyfriending' of my cousin in 2004.

Everyone knew within hours, and many 'worried' and 'supportive' phone calls happened soon afterwards.

I still get awkward questions every once in awhile from one of them asking about how things are going. They flinch before I reply, so I let them down easy. I know they don't want to read it, I'm sure they don't even know the title, and they don't need to know. I am fine with it.

Two family members have bought it, and one stole a copy because I guess they had their reasons (?). My sister is a beta-reader for me now, and one of the only people that knew before the explosion hit (it was her own fault for leaving 50 shades on the couch!)

Friends:
Me leaving a chapter 36 outline on my pile of papers is what lead to my first fan. She devoured the book, slapped me for my mistakes, and we fixed it together. She still beta reads everything.

I have had a lot more responses from friends and acquaintances than from family. Have you ever had an awkward conversation with your straight male friend because he bought and read your gay Elfrotica book and loved it? I have. It was one of the greatest moments of my writing career. I also have friends that are 'going to read it soon', but I have written the other 2 books in the series and they are still in Chapter 6. No pressure, if they don't read it, they don't. They bought it, they can use it as a doorstop, I don't mind (anymore).

Community:
The response from other writers and random readers has been amazing. I have lots of new author friends, I love this group, and I even have new facebook friends, and a few of them don't even try to have online sex with me... (Does anyone else have that problem with some fans? Probably not) Authors here have been more supportive than a lot of my friends and family, it amazes me, and warms my heart to nice guy now Grinch sizes.

Special:
Telling potential dates that your hobby is being a writer I found was dating suicide. The amount of people that just stopped the conversation was staggering. Then you tell them that it is a video game parody sex romp? You may as well tell them that you write about stomping on kittens in heels (you are in the heels there, not the kittens).

However... I was really fed up with people acting so odd about it, so I vowed one day that the very next person that messaged me on a dating site would not be let off easy. Trust me, they were not. I pretty much followed their 'Hey there!' with a long and intensive questioning about the dynamics of how they thought Hydra sex would work (multiple heads after all).

They said it was the best conversation they ever had on a dating ap. They needed to meet me. Our first meeting was dinner followed by a live reading of the first few chapters of my book. Almost two years later now and they still refuse to stop talking to me about it. ;)

Alternatively, perhaps Dr. Evil stole your mojo. Have you considered international espionage?

8000? I was super happy that I got 50!

This is something I want to point out, it may seem condescending, but honestly it isn't. I completely mean this:

For someone that is having writer's block, that was one heck of a long post about it.

It was 1302 words long. It was the length of a few blog posts, or about 1/4 of a full short story.

I think you are looking at it through the wrong camera lens.

Edit: P.D. is of the same mindset as me it seems!

I don't think that many of the places claiming to have free ebooks even have them. It is all just a link scam and they are just trying to get anyone, especially the author I'd bet, to click that button.

Don't.

Most people know this already, it is a total scam. Even the people that do pirate know this. Those sites pull information that is public, like GoodReads reviews for example, to auto-generate many pages of links, to get anyone to click, and more often than not - the target is you. Who has more interest in keeping your book safe than you?

I am pretty sure any book that is for sale will get these. It is just the nature of it. Unfortunate, but true. I honestly doubt many books are actually pirated properly beyond the super big names.

YouTube is easier to fight pirates, but still hard depending on what happens. Videos are easy to get claims on, There is a button, you click it, they look into it... but the click baiters are sneakier than that. I had a long standing ticket because someone was daily 'livestreaming' my book's info in a click attempt, and hundreds of others. You cannot report livestreams on youtube, and it was a mess. I eventually got the account banned, so I stopped hundreds of click bait livestreams (you're welcome!)

You might find someone who has your information in their profiles, or other things you can't click. YouTube does not make it easy, but at least you have a chance. I suspect most of the pirate sites have a link to 'report piracy' that is actually just a link to get your info.

Maybe ignore it? It is hard I know.

Yeah, so this happened...

Yep. I vote for what they all said!

probably not, but more certainly wouldn't hurt!

also, some categories are much smaller, you'd probably have a better chance to get in.

I think it is time to try something new! I am doing this and it is helping me greatly.

Write a little thing. Not a three year epic, just 10,000 words or less. Release that bad boy and give it away. It will get you some new notices!

Sweet Maker!

Ben...
This...
We...
Wow... just...
uh... but...
How? What?!

I think we need to be friends Ben. I really do.

Sorry, not trying to hijack your thread... but wow. Just wow. I just released this book. Notice a resemblance?



I'd say we are on the same wavelength here. Seriously. Be my friend.

You might Metroid and Nintendo, and I might be Gauntlet and Atari, but wow. Seriously. Freaky.

Okay, I also plan to help!

You need to shift it a bit more away from the original. Nintendo... is the Disney of video games. They come down hard and without mercy. Sorry, but it is very true, ask YouTube.

So what needs to be modified...

Password pak. Is that relevant to your book at all? Probably not. Get rid of the magnifying glass since it is completely identical, and use that space to promote your book! a quick 2 word idea there, like Beta tested, or something.

Adventure series. I don't know what yours says there, it is small, but that needs to go. that logo is spot on, traced even. They own that. That needs to go. What happens in your book that could replace it? Jumping from explosions?

Your seal is different enough, but maybe change the shade. That Nintendo 'gold' is pretty famous.

The ground. That is the ground from Metroid. You need to change it. Did you draw the fire or the moon? :)

Otherwise I like the art. Maybe a few pixels could be removed to make his face and shoulders a bit 'rounder'. I've done lots of pixel art, so if you need any help, just ask.