Judging A Book By It's Cover. The Evolution Of An eBook Cover

-Mark Barry

I always wanted to write a football hooligan novel. 

Most Americans would never have heard of the pastime which dominated male culture in Cities across Great Britain in the seventies and eighties, but the hobby was pretty widespread. 

I was actively involved in my younger days and had a resource to draw from.

In November and December last year I put together 60k novel on er, off-field activities at Notts County Football Club, in Nottingham, England - the oldest football league club in the world. 

Then, after getting the bug bigtime, and discovering a talent for fast writing, I started writing other books and before you know it, I had four, one planned and a publishing company. 

Trouble is, while I can write a storm, I am an idiot when it comes to Art.

 I have to say that I have no artistic talent whatsoever. 

CSE Grade 5 Art in 1980. 

My Art teacher, the glamourous but waspish Mrs Dowell, in the days when these things were allowed, humiliated me in front of 25 other children by laughing at my publicly displayed effort. 

And that was that with my aspirations to paint landscapes in Sherwood Forest.

UV "Kent Cover" Version One Feb 2012

So when it came to covers, I was worried. 

Then, I thought, how difficult can this BE in a world of technology! With all the packages available, you too can be Picasso, a Renoir, a David Bailey.

So in February this year, I travelled to Kent and started designing the five covers.

Using Open Office Draw, Google and a notepad and pen, I came up with the above for the football hooligan novel.  

At the time, I wanted a pseudonym for the book - hence, Simon Haddow. (Shadow - Mask - Geddit?) 

This is a photograph of some West Ham fans taunting Millwall supporters stretched a bit in a Cubist, Twilight Zone, dreamlike state

When I showed him the finished product on my now defunct website, a friend asked me where I got the photograph. 

I said Google. 

He then went into a ten minute rage about copyright (being a top photographer and graphic designer.)

I never gave it a second thought. I thought Google Images was a public access thing. 

It took me about a day for my friend Kelly and I to design the above, choose the colours, the fonts and all that - and ten seconds to delete it.

Version II didn;t take too long. As Trainer (Sneaker) Culture  was a key aspect of the football hooligan scene in the eighties, I decided - indeed, became fixated - upon the notion of using a sneaker on the front. It seemed to say everything to me. 

Ultra Violence "Diadora Plain" Version II March 2012

I took a photograph of one of my trainers, a Diadora Borg Elite with Gold Epaulettes, and messed about with it on Open Office. 

Notice that the font layout and texture is the same as Version 1. Just different colours.

A week later, I was on the treadmill in my local gym and my trainer came up to me and told me he'd seen all the new covers on the website. He asked me what I'd used to design them. I told him. Open Office. Great JPEG conversion reliability.

Well, he went quiet. 

A lovely young lad called Adam. Top notch gamer. Has a Solid State hard drive and that.  Knows Java. I like to think he's a good friend of mine and as I plodded along at 8k an hour, I realised he didn't like the covers but he was far too nice to tell me. 

Not just the Ultra Violence one. 

All of them.

Gulp. Launch date for the books coming up like a bullet train in open country and five new covers to design.

Version 3 below is my attempt at a Seventies "Reader's Digest" approach. A thematic branding in trendy black and white, with a stark bottle green afterflash. I like the symbolic flash of red.

All five look identical to this. I loved the big green number and I quite like the aesthetic combination of grey and green. I used Word. 

I spent an entire week doing this and I couldn't wait to put the five covers on the website.

UV "Fifty Shades of Grey" Version III April 2012

I did so.

Sales went through the floor. 

That's where Dawn Smith of Dark Dawn Creations got involved.

In my short time on the Amazon Forum, I met Dawn. 

Early June. None of my books were selling. My friend and close associate, Kelly, had feedback that my covers were unappealing. 

As I have never bought a book in my entire life (and I have a sneaky collection of around a thousand), based on its cover, I didn't think that a cover made a jot of difference.

Maybe when I was about to starve, I would see the error of my ways.

One night in early June, Dawn advertised on the forum as a cover designer saying she had slots available. 

It was just too good to be true. I e-mailed her straight away and she got straight back to me. I asked her to assess my covers and she said she would.

Well. 

She didn't mince her words. I was chastened.

And with that, I was the last customer to get a deal.

Together, on Yahoo Messenger and Yahoo e-mail, Dawn and I worked on the five covers. 

Here's Version 4.

UV "County Road" Version IV June 2012

I took the photograph of Notts County's Meadow Lane stadium one afternoon in mid June. 

The guy in the hat is a Random from one of the Stock sites. 

I had never heard of Stock, but I had heard of multi thousand pound lawsuits by now and I won't make that mistake again. 

The bloody ball is Dawn's idea. 

All my books have my name in this format - based on Stephen King's First Edition hardback "Skeleton Crew", in solid block letters. Dawn came up with the colours for the title and I added the red graffiti idea. 

In all, it took us about eight nights/days - there are 8 hours between the UK and Arizona - to produce six covers (including one newly written book). 

Dawn suggested I drop the Green Wizard branding as it was fatally flawed after my abortive launch. I did so, with heavy heart, though only temporarily, and the brand has helped the marketing in other ways.

You can see them all in the photo folder of Green Wizard Publishing on Facebook or on Dawn's website.

Together, Dark Dawn Creations and Green Wizard Publishing are working on the paperback cover designs (UV is already out). I can honestly say that visiting the Amazon forum - a battleground if there ever was one - that afternoon was one of the most important (and lucky) decisions I've ever made. 

Thanks, Dawn!!

Mark Barry

Green Wizard

Find Mark at: 

Green Wizard Publishing Facebook

The Wizards Cauldron

The Independent Paperback Bookshop

Mark Barry has become a good friend in our months of planning and co-conspiring, and I look forward to seeing his dreams come to fruition. As the founder of Dark Dawn Creations I have helped many authors get the cover they desire cheaper than they could have imagined, and I have gained many friends. I will help any one, regardless of budget or genre. Stop by my website and drop me a line, I'm always here to help. 

Til next time, may your muse be at your side, and your writing the light that guides you. 

Dawn

Using your Pen Name Wisely

For many authors including myself the use of a pen name is common. Authors who wish to genre cross or just want to keep their real name private may choose this option. In the last year my pen names have become an extension of me. There are a few key details that you need to make sure you have covered if you do not want your pen names coming back to haunt you. 

• Remember that your pen name is an separate identity. Try not to link your pen name to any of your personal accounts, blogs, or address.

 

• If you choose to genre cross you will be writing under two different names, this can get a bit trickier. Now you have to make sure you do the above, twice. On top of that, you do not want to use an author photo for the second pen name if it can be avoided. Your bio should also be changed.

 

• Do not use one pen name to promote another. It is still shameless self promotion.

 

• If at all possible create your own publishing house. This is the best way to write under multiple pen names and have them all associated, with out giving you away. 

For each pen name you create you need to be prepared to promote that name and the books associated with it. That means two or more of everything. Facebook fan pages, blogs,Twitter accounts, etc... The list could go on for days. Treat each Pen name as a separate persona. (This is the fun part) Try not to be too crazy or go too far off base. This can be a sure fire way to forget the details of you alter ego.

I tend to treat my pen names the way I would a character from a book I would write. Get to know your "other self". Along with completing a bio you need to be ready to answer any question some one may have, regarding that particular personality.This means you have to create a whole story for this person. Most authors choose to have only one or two pen names for that reason alone.

Some of the greatest authors of our time have employed the use of pen names, especially early in their careers. Stephen King wrote as Richard Bachmen, Nora Roberts as J.D. Rob, Ann Rice as Ann Roquelaure, to name a few. 

Until next time, may your muse be at your side and your writing the light that guides you.

Dawn.

 

Fiction Writing, Using an Active Voice

Purdue OWL

One of the things I forget so often on this blog is that writing is the most important part of self publishing. I've posted articles on how to do just about everything from formatting for kindle to uploading on Google Play. However I never post on the writing aspect of self publishing. Mostly I do this because it is my assumption that every one who reads this blog already knows how to write. After I got a response back from my editor the other day, I reconsidered this.

 I very seldom write in the third person. Some stories however just need to be written that way. One of the things my editor mentioned to me was that I have trouble using the active voice when writing in the third person. I've taken writing courses, was in honors English classes through out school, and yet still I did it consistently in my latest work. So I thought I would give a little refresher not only for myself but any one else that might be struggling with the same thing.

    A good way to check your work for passive voice is to look for the words, had, has, is and was. Are there a lot of them? If you find sentences that contain those words, can you find a way to reword them? Passive voice is usually unclear and and lengthy. Adding words that don't need to be there and making what is supposed to be happening fuzzy.  Here are a few examples of active vs. passive voice.

A successful project was expected by all the

staff.(passive)

All the staff expected a successful project (active)

The Drawing is being reviewed by Bill. (passive)

Bill is reviewing the drawing. (active)

   In a sentence written in the active voice, the subject of the sentence  performs the action. In a sentence written in the passive voice the subject receives the action.

It's a very simple rule that sometimes we can find hard to stick to, especially when writing in the third person, past tense. The way ninety percent of fiction is written.  For those of you who don't or have never had this problem, my hat is tipped to you. For those of you like me, that find your self falling into this trap, this article is for you.

Til next time, may your muse be at your side and your writing the light that guides you. 

Dawn

Hiring Content Writers, Should You?

Photo courtesy of KROMKRATHOG

   Most of my blogging comes from the heart and is specifically tailored to the small following I've earned. It's personal and friendly and as informative as I can make it. It is also a lot of hard work the further I get into my own self publishing adventure. With multiple blog pages to tend to, and books to write, edit, and design some days I can hardly find time to post.

   Many of you may have noticed that my post at the beginning of this week was not by me. I was stuck, at a loss for words, and quite frankly fed up. So I gave my friend Damien a ring. Content writing is what he does for a living along with being an eBook author. I love his hubs and contributing articles to other blogs, so I plead for help. As usual, he came to my rescue.

   Now,lets get into the basics of hiring a content writer, as I  so recently learned. You have to have what you want to be posted in mind. Subject matter, word count, and SEO effectiveness should all be considered before contacting a web content provider. Cost should also be taken into account as well. You can hire them at affordable rates for every post you make on your blog, or the occasional "I don't know what to write" post.

   There are several places you can go to find your self a content writer depending on your needs. If you are looking for a more long term contract you might want to try places like Odesk, or textbroker. If you're looking for the occasional post, freelance might be the better option.

   The average cost of a web content article is approximately two cents a word. For a five hundred word article, it would be about ten dollars. While some may balk at paying some one to do your post, you know you are getting quality that generates splendid amounts of views, engages your audience, and sales. Content writers know more about SEO and bringing traffic to your site than the average Joe.

   I never thought I would hire some one to put content on my blog. Now that I have I'm glad I did.  He helped pull me out of a slump and has gotten my little blog a weeks worth of attention over the last couple of  days. Views from sources that have never bothered to look this way before. It may be back to just little old me for now, but who knows. A self publisher's work is never done, and at times more demanding than you are ready for.Web Content writing may be just what you need to help you through a slump or back you out of a deadline nightmare.


   Damien is always up for hire and does everything from content writing to formatting eBooks, and all of it at  reasonable prices. He is available in a long term contract or a case by case basis.

  Until next time may your muse be always at your side and your writing the light that guides you.
Dawn.

SEO Meant for Indie Authors Served Simple

 

  by Damien Darby

 

How To Improve Website Ranking

 

         From Thousands to a Few: SEO and You!

 

 Online SEO gremlins, otherwise known as web crawlers, are hungry and want to devour your creative genius. Did that get your attention? Good, now, the real question is, “How does a potential reader find your ebook?”

 For those of us Indie authors that can’t afford special marketing packages, expert web content providers, or wizards of the webpage design realm, it’s all about what you know and what you can teach yourself. SEO meant for Indie Authors, when well executed, is among the most powerful tools any author seeking to be the Rambo of the ebook revolution has at their disposal.

Plenty of Indie authors turn to blogging for marketing purposes once they’ve got their work as polished as it’s going to be; the book cover squared away, and the product is online ready to be consumed. Heres a breakdown of Indie Author SEO.

           Every Post is a Min-Ebook

Daily Lit Project

 

Did you know that search engine companies are improving the artificial intelligence of their services all the time? Increasingly web crawlers prefer personalized, pertinent, and interesting content over commercialized nonsense. I’m referring to the old school outbound marketing content that was haphazardly designed to play footsy with the law of averages. Spam isn’t going to cut it anymore, trust me. What an author needs to do is hone in on a specific concept, genre, or community and become something useful to those human beings.

For example if an Indie Author SEO enthusiast decides they want to maintain a blog dealing with their particular niche, say Paranormal Romance, then every single post on that blog should be approached like an ebook.

• Shoot for 600-900 words per post
• Completely and utterly unique!
• It’s easy to edit less than 1000 words…don’t slack off 

Using Keywords To Increase Ranking

             Keywords and Creative Writing

No one likes the feeling of being sold, preached at, or overtly treated like a mindless zombie consumer stumbling into products by accident (This is where a large percentage of sales come from though). As authors it’s our job to select keywords that fit the niche of our blog and then insert them into our posts in such a way that the reader has absolutely no idea that it’s even happening. Those keywords are not for the reader really, they’re for the web crawler’s digital minds scouring the net for problem solving paragraphs.

Every single working day, five days a week, the author needs to try their best to write at least one solid post that not only follows the bulleted tips above and the ones below, but also has two key word sets in it. Consider the system an infinitely useful and productive Indie Author SEO habit.

“New Paranormal Romance ebooks” or “Popular Paranormal Romance ebooks” are a couple examples. The sky’s the limit, but each post should hide them; conceal them in a fluid, interesting, and polished post. SEO meant for Indie Authors doesn’t have to be a head-ache, it’s actually be quite fun.

• Make sure titles are creative and informal
• Don’t go beyond 1.5% with keyword densities
• Talk personably, with conversational speech. Unless you want to sound formal, but I wouldn’t suggest it. 

Inbound Marketing Made Easy

 Indie Author SEO and Inbound Marketing Strategies

 

The point of using keywords for marketing an author is to bring readers to the blog, engage them with great content, and then build a following. With each new day blogs are becoming more visual. One of the most enthralling things about blogging for me is finding pictures online that link to other blogs and including them in my posts.

Realize that this, all of this, while some of it may seem old, rustic, and stagnating, social networking and the way information is shared through the internet, IS IN ITS INFANCY. However, certain trends aren’t going away.

• Make the articles easily scannable with creative and catchy subheadings.
• Integrate pictures (Site the pic, especially when from another blogger’s post) and hyperlinks around them.
• Use Reddit, Pinterest, Facebook, Digg, Twitter etc. to spread each and every single post after you’re done.

Hope This Helps!

SEO meant for Indie Authors is a snap, and becomes like a pleasant summers day chore after a while. One that reaps bushels of good stuff. Figure out what the niche of your blog is, include some unobtrusive links to your ebooks (Ideally under a separate window from the default screen), and make sure to use keywords in every single solitary post so help you God! 

Damien Darby is an eBook author, fitness trainer and a web content writer.  He loves making use of his time by helping others and is always available to be of service.

 

Google eBooks?

photo courtesy of Stuart Miles

  Self Publishing On Google, Can It be   True?   

    Okay I admit, I have been a little self absorbed lately. I just learned that Google has an eBook store. As I checked my email this morning I noticed a new button at the top of my page. Google Play. Interesting, so I click it. I find out that Google has an eBook store. You can not imagine the hyperventilating that went on. When did this happen? How did I miss it? Of course my first thought was, can I self publish on it?

     So I did a little research. The answer; yes you can. It is still a little under developed as self publishing markets go. They accept PDF format only or you can send them a hard copy and they can enter it manually. While the later is probably not a good idea if you want to get you book up there fast, the former sounds like it might work.

   Now my research into this new avenue has not gone very far, ( A fifteen minute scour of the internet at best.) I will be looking into this more as the weeks come. Crimson Fury will be due to come off of Select on the second of next month and I plan on opening up new self publishing channels for that book. You can bet your bottom dollar that Google will be one of the first I try out. I will keep every one updated on the process of uploading to Google books, and how well it works. 

   As always I wish all of you the best. May your muse be at your side and your writing the candle that lights the way. Until next time,

Dawn