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

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

Mike wrote: "Yeah, it was always so intimidating to START a novel, I thought I would need 8 million spreadsheets with character development charts and a freakin' plot-o-matic 3000 to start a book. "

I had constructed an 8 million page spreadsheet with a built in plot-o-matic 3000 after a week. That is just how I write though.

I love spreadsheets. I think they are neat.

Mike wrote: "I wrote my first novel accidentally."

By Accident? I Love it!

I understand though completely with what happened after. My idea started as a quick little short story and it became a three part fantasy novel series overnight.

Here is an answer you never will hear again.

I started to write out of spite.

I had a fight with my boyfriend who had a grandiose dream about being a famous writer. In all the time we were together though he hadn't even written enough to fill up a greeting card.

I told him if he wanted to be a writer, he needed to write.

He told me that you just can't 'start' to write something. You need to plan.

I told him to start planning then!

He told me that he already had a plan, but for the last chapter of book 2.

I told him to start writing that then. That he could go back and write more after, just to start.

He said that you just can't start to write in the 'middle' of a book series.

I told him that you can. Famous authors have done that before. Lots of them.

He shrugged me off and left in a huge huff. What did I know? I didn't want to be a famous author with my own book series.

Oh yeah, well I will show you! (I said)

Then I stayed up until 3am in the morning writing a novel from an idea I had on a post it note. I got 5 chapters done in one spite filled anger fest. I was in an odd mood at the time, a bit 'repressed' perhaps, which is why it became naughty.

We broke up the next day, and I didn't tell him I had started to write. (But he did find out much later, so spite accomplished!)

Before then I had written a few overly complicated Dungeons & Dragons Campaign settings (even a 500+ page one with custom rules my friends and I still use) and some video game design documents. Oddly, I did't consider that 'writing' until after my novel was in the works and I looked back and was all like 'well duh, I have been writing non-competitively since like grade 4. Why didn't I take creative writing in Grade 12?'.

My book is coming out in June!

I fear I saw this too late though... :S

I took it I to Photoshop and played Harold. Orange or yellow was nice and bright. more contrast. :)

Change that red to orange. Be amazed at the pop! :D

Lori wrote: "I too used CreateSpace's cover creator for my books. I keep a file of art that I find on the net that I might use later for cover art. It is simple and if you use your own collected art pieces with..."

Be careful. Just because you find an image online it doesn't mean that it isn't under copyright.

It is probably safe to assume that if you find it on the internet, that it isn't safe to use. With things like Google search by image, you can quickly get in hot water from photographers and artists.

Is it wrong that I want Gwendoline Christie to play an amazon feminist warrior woman? I hope not, as she would be amazing!

My thoughts on Fiverr, this Book of the Month Club, and all the similar services is this:

Many of these people are the people who spam book groups on Facebook Message boards sixteen times a day with the same book. Who clog twitter with 100s of tweets of 100s of books. Who post things on places where it doesn't even make sense for the target audience. They don't react to questions, they don't participate in conversations that their posts start, and they are quickly ignored by every single person ever.

Sure, they might have 10,000 Twitter followers, but they are not on anyone's lists except for people waiting to see their promo show up in the feed. Their posts are hardly ever read.

It honestly seems like a poor waste of time to me. There are books that I have been spam-botted at me so often that I would never in a million years buy them. If anything, those author's use of services like this has prevented me from buying their books.

So personally I think that many of these services actually alienate you from your readers. I think your time would be better served twittering yourself about things besides your books, commenting on others blogs that are relevant to your genre, or photoshopping lovely hats onto Riley's avatar in exchange for being featured!

Nichole wrote: "Greetings Everyone! I have a book that I'm looking forward to publishing this summer. I have not decided, though, what to do about my cover design. Should I have someone design, try to do it myself..."

Templates from self-publishing companies tend to look like just that. Templates. They often don't fit the book at all. I wouldn't recommend using one. They sort of take all the zing out.

It is hard to recommend what to do, it really depends on your skill level and artistic ability. But I think you should try to design one on your own. Look at many many books first though, and focus on contrast and legibility. Show it to us here... and then we can let you know if you should hire someone. :D

Chrome Horses, Exhausted would be a pretty awesome title for nearly anything.

Igzy wrote: "I like C.B.'s suggestion of "Losing Jackson" myself."

I like that as well. I am pretty amazing... even when I didn't suggest that! :D

Five Reasons to Fall actually was my favourite so far.

Some random mixes with words mentioned. Some are nonsense, just typing everything I can think of to brainstorm ideas.

Taming Jackson
Chained Jackson
Sadie: Chained
The Chains of Jackson
Jackson's Chains
Sadie's Cycle
Kickstand Love
The Reluctant Biker
Reluctant Chains
The Cycle of Love
Reluctant Cycle
Broken Chain
Cycle of the Chains
Chained: Cycle
The Cycle: Vicious
Sadie Cycle and the Amazing Wonderbike of Action Jackson

Ade wrote: "C.B. wrote: "I just had an idea:

A Vicious Cycle"

Vicious Cycle sounds great but there is a Vicious Cycle by Katie Ashley novel coming out this month.."

Yes, I just searched for other books and my punch appears to have been stolen.

What is the guy's name? Perhaps we can work with that! PS. I hope his name is Micheal.

I just had an idea:

A Vicious Cycle

Diana wrote: "I think it is great to connect to each other. I am in a facebook group for The Wolfpack, which is a lot of authors of shifter romances, and it is a very active group.

It might be cool to have links to everyone's blogs on the SIA webpage I've seen, if the owner of the webpage was interested in doing that. "

Wonderful Idea. I think a list of authors, their websites, their twitters, their genres, and their facebooks would be just lovely!

Ann wrote: "Thanks everyone! It's definitely still a work in progress. I will brighten up the text and I want to include some more sparklies. The reason I used the cloaked person with their back to us is so th..."

PS. If you darken the cloak just a little bit, it will also have more contrast against the blue! POP! Contrast! *Jazz Hands* :D

Ade wrote: "Diana wrote: "C.B. wrote: "... wait a second here. Are these Bikers or Bikers?"

Here in Southern California, people who ride bicycles are Cyclists, so biker means they ride a motorcycle. That is h..."

Please, start a new thread about Title Help and list them there. We will be glad to help you brainstorm and work out your ideas! :) We can't help if you don't share!

Although I think I might need to take Gearshift for my newly supplied book idea - Gearshift: An Elf and His Bike

Ann wrote: "Okay, so I was playing with The Two Lands cover last night."

Ann,

Personally I like the second one. The image is far more mysterious than a simple path. You want to know more.

Just remember: Contrast! Your writing is the same tone as the background on that one. If it was just brilliant white the text would pop and provide that instant visual pull!

Ade wrote: "C.B. wrote: "Ade wrote: "It is completely unrelated. Unfortunately, I couldn't find another title that fits the feel of the novella.

My heroine is Sadie, a young woman with a troubled past. She ha..."

I see. So they are cyclists and not motorcyclists. That makes a big difference, and the picture fits then.

:)

It is fun, but there is a crazy stalker cyclist in it... and it is a romance... but not a windswept Fabio affair... but still... hmmm... So the fun title might still fit...

Title? Let us see what we can come up with then!

Backpeddle
Backpeddling
Switching Gears
Gearshift
Cyclepath
10 Speed Crazy