You're Under Arrest for WPIP: Wearing Pajamas in Public

http://www.everydayunderwear.com/2012/02/youre-under-arrest-for-wpip-wearing.html

Yay, I finally got here. Now that I'm here I have no idea what I will write about, but at least I'm here.:)

Maybe what I can write about is how I don't get a chance to do any writing anymore. I am now editing a chapter book, about to get ready to do another poetry anthology. I work at tutoring most days from 3:30 until about 7:00 or I work earlier but I need to make dinner or go shopping or do both. Then I spend the evening with my family and the time I have is late at night. I sometimes go into the bedroom and I am on the computer while my husband sleeps. But I don't do any real writing at that time. I do my blogs and answer the ton of email I get. So where is the time for writing?

As I have mentioned here before I am in the middle of getting a submission ready and I had to stop. I didn't have the time to spend on it. I am so frustrated that I don't find the time to write. I don't know about anyone else, but my life needs to be fairly calm for me to start writing. For poetry I need to have hours of calm and peace and then the words come to me. For prose, I need the time and energy to put things down. In the case of getting a novel ready to send out, you have to spend hours poring over the text to make sure you have a clean copy and everything seems to make sense. I know the editors will find mistakes if and when it is accepted, but it's important that nothing is glaring or wrong when you send it out.

So what does it take to get a sub ready to be sent? First of all, the one I am talking about has been through critique twice and it has had beta readers as well. I've run the first lines through a few people and they really like them. The first paragraph has been rewritten about twenty times and I have gone through it already paying attention to the comments from my critique partners. Yet I still don't think it's ready. It will only be ready when I have gone through and checked it thoroughly as an editor might.

Then my baby will be ready to go into the hands of a publisher. There is also the question of where do I send it? Should I send it to my current publisher or should I aim for a Big 5 New York publisher? This is what has me stopped, because I can't make up my mind. On the one hand there is a great deal of loyalty to my current publisher, who accepted my first novel after it was rejected for over 5 years. This is a big one too!!! Yet, a part of me, just a little part, thinks I should try a larger publisher. Maybe I would have more publicity and a real book signing tour. Of course, it could be rejected again. That would suck!! After all, now I know the power of my own words and it definitely not be cool to be rejected!!!

Anyway, it's good to have this place to vent a little. For anyone who wants to learn more about me:

My blog:
http://barbaraehrentreu.blogspot.com/

Featured Author Sylvia Browder's Blog for Women:
http://sylviabrowder.com/community-news/barbara-ehrentreu.html/

Buy Link for my book, If I Could Be Like Jennifer Taylor:
Muse Bookstore:
https://museituppublishing.com/bookstore2/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=203&category_id=10&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1

Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/If-Could-Like-Jennifer-Taylor/dp/1927085926/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329357163&sr=8-1

If you go to my blog in the next few days, I am having a drawing for everyone who comments to get a free ebook of my YA novel. This is in honor of the holidays coming up, President's Day. Don't forget to leave a comment to be in the drawing for the free ebook!!!

Well, my SF novel Twin-Bred is free for Kindle readers today....

Guess it's time to see what free access plus good reviews can do for a book! My science fiction novel Twin-Bred (Kindle edition) will be free on Amazon today and tomorrow, Wednesday Feb. 16th and Thursday Feb. 17th. (It'll be a free borrow for Amazon Prime members for the next almost-three-months at least.)

Can interspecies diplomacy begin in the womb?  After seventy years on Tofarn, the human colonists and the native Tofa still know very little about each other.  Misunderstanding breed conflict, and the conflicts are escalating.  Scientist Mara Cadell’s radical proposal: that host mothers of either species carry fraternal twins, human and Tofa, in the hope that the bond between twins can bridge the gap between species.  Mara lost her own twin, Levi, in utero, but she has secretly kept him alive in her mind as companion and collaborator.

Mara succeeds in obtaining governmental backing for her project – but both the human and Tofa establishments have their own agendas.  Mara must shepherd the Twin-Bred through dangers she anticipated and others that even the canny Levi could not foresee.  Will the Twin-Bred bring peace, war, or something else entirely? . . .Twin-Bred for Kindle on Amazon, free 2/15-2/16/12

I Blame the Bubbas

http://www.everydayunderwear.com/2012/02/i-blame-bubbas.html

POV: COVERS

LYNNE FAVREAU

Your novel has been revised, edited, and lauded by your beta readers, it is now time to design your cover. Your credibility as a professional writer, your sales and marketability are dependent on getting this part right. Write a good book and know one will ever know it if it is wrapped in a boring, nondescript, incompetently designed cover.

Sure, you can get an ill-conceived design past your friends, your book club, your online writing friends, and your mother, but strangers will walk past your book in a store or click past it on a page and never give you a chance to entertain them with your astute or witty narrative style if you haven’t capture their attention visually.

You only have a fraction of a second, and in that time you need to intrigue or provoke the reader enough to prod them to pick up your book or click on it so that they can read your perfectly executed synopsis which will pursued them to purchase your book.

WHERE TO START

The professionals who can help you.

• A Book Designer considers the concept of your book, the overall look, feel, and construction, the practical matters of your block (everything between the covers) and the cover itself. Traditional publishers employ these professional and have final say in the design. If you are lucky you might get asked your opinion but this will likely be ignored.

• A Book Cover Designer focuses on the front cover, back cover, spine and dust jacket, if there is one.

• A Graphic Artist/Designer covers many specialties, basically they bring together images and type to design for print in order to communicate. They may or may not also be illustrator/artist that creates their own art work. Make sure they have experience in designing book covers–especially if you don’t.

• An Illustrator does actual art work not the layout or bringing together of the elements. You may employ one if you are doing the cover yourself, or your designer may hire one. Whatever medium they work in they should supply you with a digital file to work with.


ABOUT COVERS

Your cover should expertly convey the theme, message or genre of your book. One that attracts the book browser and draws their attention, perhaps one your readers recognize as your brand or is so intriguingly different that one is compelled to pick it up.

I can’t stress enough how important I believe it is to hire a professional, whether a book designer, book cover designer, or graphic artist.

Doing it on your own can be daunting if you aren’t proficient in the graphic arts or one of the design programs such as Photoshop, InDesign, or Illustrator.

There are design applications available just for book covers but these tend to be cookie cutters, templates best for non-fiction. Should you choice that route, or you are self-publishing and the printer has a book cover design package note that it will also likely be similar to the cookie cutter approach.

For the most part you will be exploring these services through websites. I feel the same way about someone’s home page as I do about books cover. It says a lot about what the designer considers important, showcases their skill at communicating ideas, and indicates the quality you can expect from them.

When evaluating a service or product, first consider the design of their website. What is your first impression? Is it immediately apparent what product or service they are selling you? Is the site easy to navigate? Do they explain their product or service in a way you clearly understand? Does it appear to be professional?

A designer whose site is unattractive, leaves you guessing as to where the information is, and comes across as amateurish, tells you a lot about their commitment to quality and ability to serve you in a professional manner.

Case in point—this site is clean, well designed with lots of useful information to help you make a decision. She tells you what it is, who it’s for and how you can use it.
http://www.bookcoverpro.com/

I’m not endorsing any of the websites I mention here, just passing along the information. You’ll have to report back to us if any of you use these websites and tell us how they worked for you.

DESIGNING

Whether you use a designer or not, it will serve you well to learn the basic elements of design so that you can evaluate for yourself whether a design works or not. The ability to articulate those reasons will make for more effective communication with your designer, and give you the knowledge you need to proceed on your own.

If you don’t know CRAP, start there. This is a good book about CRAP especially written for those of you without graphic design experience, Robin Williams http://amzn.to/xeGvLk, she also has a version for web design.

CRAP is the acronym of the four principles of design. This is also crucial to website design so it is worth learning.  There are hundreds of websites that explain CRAP—see below for a few of them.

Let’s explore the actual concept or design for your book.

WHAT IS GOOD DESIGN? 

Right off, I hear you grumbling about subjectivity, and yes we all have our own opinions (damn you) but you can’t ignore the graphic art principles that drive good design. That’s akin to writers ignoring grammar rules. You can break them, but you have to know the rules in the first place for them to be deliberate choices rather than mistakes.

This is the fun part, let’s look at covers and get a feel for our own likes and dislikes.

Start by looking at your own book shelves, and those at the library or bookstore. What immediately gets your attention? What covers compel you to pick them up? Notice the typography, the colors, the spacing and balance of elements.

Study covers in your genre. What do you like or not like about them? Pick out those you don’t find effective and consider how they could be improved. Take notes, snap pictures. Start an inspiration file.

I have a board on pinterest just about covers http://pinterest.com/lynnefavreau/

Joel, The Book Designer has a few cover examples and points out what works and what doesn’t.
http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2011/11/e-book-cover-design-awards-october-2011/

YOUR COVER

The purpose of your cover is to communicate. What are you trying to communicate with your cover, the title, an image, a mood, a setting, your name?

Keep it simple, chose one idea or theme. You’re not trying to represent all facets of your book.

A cover with a menu of many different elements will only confuse and irritate the eye. Be ruthless, and judicious. Graphics, photos, and illustrations for every idea are unnecessary when the words convey the message.

If your book is titled, MOON, you needn’t have picture of the moon or maybe that’s all you have.  Don’t be too literal in interpreting your title or go full throttle and over emphasis it. For MOON, I might chose an extreme close-up of the surface, sort of a textural background to the single word in a big bold font. How many book covers have you seen with a moon smack damn in the middle? It's silly, hackneyed and unprofessional.

If you are having trouble coming up with a design, ask yourself if you are trying to design around the title instead of the novel. Perhaps the title is the problem. If your book was untitled what would the image on your cover be?

Either your title aids the images or the image aids the title—meaning which is the focus? If your title is very explicit in its image, you might opt to chose a strong font and color background without images, to emphasize it. Harmony is not what you are looking for but tension. Tension creates excitement, draws the eye, and is memorable.

Don’t be afraid to play with many different ideas before you settle on one. Brainstorm with others, peruse color sites for palettes that speak to you.

Imagine your book on a shelf, the spine is how most buyers will see it. Be bold on the spine.

Knowing how your cover will look across multiple platforms, and resized for the web are things you or your designer should also keep in mind. This will influence your selection of font and images which lose a lot of detail when compressed for e-readers, web pages, phones, ipads, etc...


INSIDE YOUR BOOK

Whether you are designing the cover yourself, hiring a friend, or going with a professional designer, learning the elements of book construction and design will help you make informed decisions.

There may be facets of publishing your book you hadn’t considered such as size, typography, layout, stock. These elements are important to your reader’s experience and anything that adds to their enjoyment can’t but help your sales and this information makes it easier to avoid the problems that detract from it.

Self-publishers who may be printing-on-demand or e-publishing, and those with little knowledge of the elements of a book will find a wealth of information here on Joel Friedlander’s site.
http://www.thebookdesigner.com/articles/

Joel’s information is practical, thorough and extensive. His focus is “To help publishers and authors who decide to publish their own books get to market with a great looking, properly constructed book, on time and on budget.”  If you are self-publishing this site is a great read. There’s plenty to learn here even if you are working with a traditional publisher.

Read about Joel’s process designing a cover http://bit.ly/828cOH Or if you are reinventing a cover, http://bit.ly/rh4Anm

I could pick out dozens of article to highlight but it’s just as easy for you to scroll through and select what’s relevant to you. Don’t get overwhelmed, you don’t need to memorize all this, just familiarize yourself with how a book is put together, especially the elements of a cover.

Another tutorial, more streamlined and quicker to read about the elements of a book is on about.com http://desktoppub.about.com/od/booksmanuals/a/book_parts.htm

With a primer on book construction and the elements of a book cover added to your arsenal you should be well on your way to putting out a product you can be proud of and given yourself an advantage over other self-publishers by having the most professional product you can produce.


LAST THOUGHT

It might be wise to consider finding someone who can maximize the impact of your platform by designing your website, blog, and publications therefore giving your brand a cohesive look that appeals and identifies you to readers. In the least, keep all of these elements of your platform in mind while brainstorming for covers and consider ways you can optimize your brand across your platform.

WHERE TO FIND THEM

Now that you are convinced you need a professional the question is,  “How do you find a designer?” After you’ve done the obvious—ask other writers who they’ve used, try these websites.

Graphic Artists
Begin with member portfolios and guild chapters. You can also learn about contracts from the artist point of view (so you know what to expect) and the glossary is a useful primer on the lingo.
https://www.graphicartistsguild.org/

When you see covers you like, note if possible who the book designer is, and if there is contact information. You’ll never know if you can afford them, or if they’re available unless you ask. If they aren’t available, ask if they can recommend someone. Like writers, they know lots of other designers at all levels, some just starting out who might be eager to work with you.

If you admire a cover from a traditional publishing house don't be afraid to contact the cover designer, nowadays most work independently.

If you have a college or university near you with a graphic design program you could ask a professor if they might be interested in doing your cover as a project, or if there is student with the skills to handle the job.

Evaluate them as you would any professional-check out their work and consider their professional attitude towards you. I’ve seen far too many illustrations done by friends or relatives that are horrendously inappropriate, or just plain bad.  Please be wary of accepting the work from those you love, familial obligation is not you acting professionally.

Here a few example from the results when I Googled the terms book cover designers, book designers and graphic artists. These are the ones that stood out to me.

http://www.bookcreatives.com/
Great site, clean and functional exactly what I like to see in a web site. All the information you’d want to know on the first page. After looking at his cover portfolio I’d see what this guy could do for me. His designs looked professional, nothing too wild, but nothing I thought came close to being a bad cover. Brian, also addresses the issues of viewing your book across multiple digital devices, web design, and blogs about your book. He comes across as very thorough, on top of the details and thoughtful.

http://www.seanakers.com/
Does website design as well as book covers.

http://www.will-harris.com/design.htm
Amused me.

Here is the example of a place that looks nice but…
http://1106design.com/
Cookie cutter covers of mostly non-fiction. Nothing special in the design or layout of the covers. I’m not saying they aren’t competent, but for the self-publisher, you are going to need to go the extra mile to stand out in order to sell. Nice and/or competent isn’t going to cut it.


OTHER SOURCES
A few sites I felt worthy of mention for inspiration or information.

• Covers
http://designarchives.aiga.org/#/collections
http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/inspiration/beautiful-book-cover-design/
http://bookcoverarchive.com/
http://nytimesbooks.blogspot.com/
http://flavorwire.com/243747/the-10-best-book-covers-of-2011

• Graphic Arts Tutorial
http://www.design-lib.com/graphic-design-basic-elements-gd.php
http://www.noupe.com/design/graphic-design-theory-50-resources-and-articles.html
http://psd.tutsplus.com/articles/web/50-totally-free-lessons-in-graphic-design-theory/
http://www.digital-web.com/articles/principles_of_design/

• Stock Photos
http://www.istockphoto.com/
http://www.design-lib.com/stock-photos-resources.php

• Self-Publishing
http://reviews.cnet.com/self-publishing/
http://dogearpublishing.net/the-competition.php

• Template
Whoever is printing your book will/should have templates complete with specification for your book size like this.
http://www1.lightningsource.com/digital_cover_creation.aspx#standardBooks
http://www.selfpublishing.com/design/production-center/templates/

• Color Palette Generators
http://www.cssdrive.com/imagepalette/
http://www.pictaculous.com/

• Articles Worth Reading
http://www.adamsmorioka.com/design-by-surprise
http://www.lealea.net/blog/comments/the-art-of-self-branding-part-one/
http://craigmod.com/journal/ipad_and_books/
http://www.alanrinzler.com/blog/2011/11/10/great-book-jackets-tips-from-4-design-pros/
BTW,  Editor Alan Rinzler, has great advise. If I ever self-publish or decide I need a developmental editor, he’s top of my list to query.

• Typography
www.thinkingwithtype.com
http://typographica.org/2012/features/our-favorite-typefaces-of-2011/

• Stuff To Look at For Ideas/Inspriation
http://www.onextrapixel.com/2011/05/04/30-stunning-creative-uses-of-typography-in-print-ads/
http://www.unstage.com/2010/03/great-use-of-typography-in-advertising-150-examples/

Perseverance

If there's anything I know about women over 40 its that we have learned to survive!  Lol!  Not only physically, emotionally, but even our desire to write drives us onward despite any obstacles that might have been in our way.

I am learning and growing as a writer who got a late start, but what a ride it is!  I was able to self-publish my first book (Legend of the Mer) and now am currently writing my second and laughing along the way as I realize how far I've come.

What a great group this is!  Thank you Samantha for helping us to get together like this!

Sheri L. Swift  ; )

non-fiction

I'm one of the newest members of the group, I think.  Still, I am going to take the bold step of posting here about the book I self-published last month.  What I Know About Fibro is the story of my 20 year journey with Fibromyalgia and the healing that it brought to my life as I listened to my pain.
For an overview of the book, you can check out the link on my blog.

http://crowingcronebewell.com/book/

Let me know what you think and I'll definitely be back to look around. let's go ladies.

A "Duh" moment

Hi everyone,

I want to share my experience in getting onto our blog. I tried yesterday and all this morning and couldn't get in, although I followed Samantha's instructions implicitly. Around five minutes ago I finally figured out why. DUH. This may help those of you who might have the same problem.

I have blogs on blogspot as well. Everytime I came to the Blooming Late Journal blog and looked up in the right hand corner, I would see my own email address and a link for my dashboard. My eyes stopped there, so I didn't see the link that said "sign out". Evidently, if you're signed into your own blogspot blog, you have to "sign out" before you can then sign into the Blooming Late Journal. Of course!! Why didn't I figure that out sooner? LOL

Anyhow, here I am, posting on our new site. Happy blogging everyone. And, thanks to Samantha for making it all possible.

Nancy H.

RE-DEDICATED BLOG!

I've been kicking this around in the back of my head for awhile now and the time has come for me to give this blog over to the group which inspired it-Blooming Late!
From here on in you will see fine blogging from a variety of genres and styles of writing from the BEST writers on the web-The Booming Late Ladies!
You will also get the first peeks of new works put out by these wonderful women that will be available for you to buy!
I hope that you enjoy reading and please pass the word on as more posts become available that this blog has posts from an entire writers group!
Thank You for reading!
Samantha Stacia-creator of Blooming Late

Putting things on hold for now

Hello followers, I had planned on restarting my posts in a different more positive tone this month.
However recent events have had me re-evaluate my life in general and I have decided to suspend my blog entirely for this year to focus entirely on my group and my writing. I MAY continue with this particular blog or start a new  revamped one next year. I want to thank everyone who has been a supporter and feel free to unfollow if you feel like it. Have a great year!
Thank You Samantha Stacia