I was in truth amazed that so many people actually took a look at post number 1). Phew! I wasn't only talking to myself! Now of course I'm anxious that nobody will bother with post 2...
So yesterday I listed the steps I needed to take to publish this book as an ebook. Step 1) was to design a cover for the book - one that will stand out from the 800 000 or so other ebooks, that will tempt prospective buyers to take a closer look and also give an indication of the story. No pressure there right?
Unhappily I am creative with words, and pretty much nothing else, so I had absolutely no idea what the cover should look like - no clue at all. Bearing that in mind I decided to do my research and find a professional designer who would do my cover for a reasonable price. As with everything else on this particular journey, it proved to be a nightmare - too many choices and most of them wanting far too much. Now while I am sure the prices are an accurate representation of the quality of the work produced, it must be remembered that I am an indie author and I don't have much in the way of financial wherewithal.
In the end I selected a designer and was a little taken aback to receive a query as to what I wanted on the cover. I mean, if I knew what I wanted on the cover I probably could have done it myself. So I explained that I really had no idea, and gave a brief outline of the story. In due course my cover was emailed to me and proved to be a resounding disappointment. In a nutshell it was blah. The designer made a few changes, but appeared to have no more clue than I did. Obviously I was at fault for not supplying the picture I wanted, at least that was how I felt. Ah well, when in doubt do it yourself!
Of course doing it myself meant first getting some sort of clue - all I really had was a clear idea of what I didn't want (thank you designer). More hours were spent researching book covers and pictures until finally I had 3 different pictures. Then I had to turn these pictures into a professional looking cover. I tried several different programmes and only proved to myself how totally clueless I am. Finally I wrestled with powerpoint and managed to produce 2 fair looking covers. But they were still a bit blah.
When in doubt take a break so I did, and came back to it the next day before work (really, life as an indie about to be self published author would be so much easier if I didn't have to go to work each day) and in 10 minutes I had myself a cover I was happy with. I understand terms like soft edges and translucent and glow in a totally different way now!
So, all done right? Wrong! The lovely cover now had to be altered to the correct number of pixels to suit Smashwords and Amazon. And that I found so frustrating that I was sorely tempted to throw the laptop out the door. Thank goodness I have a super cool sister who works with computer programmes for a living - she has way more patience than I do. Bless her heart she altered the pixels for me - sadly I then had to add the text in again and then she once more worked her computer magic and voila! I have a cover.
Now this blogging being a whole new thing for me I have no idea how to add a picture so I'll tell you my plan is to add here a picture of the cover so you can see if you think it is worth all the frustration. Also so you know what it looks like and thus make it easier for you to find when you go to buy the book, haha! (No, really)
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