Jodee Speaks – Page 12 – Self Publishing Advisor

How Your Cover Can Change Your Book Fair Experience

Book fairs give self-publishing authors the opportunity to expand their careers by making connections and promoting their books. These events are a great way to network with publishing professionals and learn about the industry. In addition to marketing your already published book, you can also do market research for future projects. But here’s the catch… if you want to be have a great book fair experience, you should make sure you have a great book cover to catch people’s attention.

Let’s face it. Everyone judges a book by its cover. The image on the front of your book is the first thing readers see, and if it isn’t professional and eye catching, there is a good chance they will never pick up your book. This is true even at book fairs. There will be many other authors an promoting their books there, so if you want to make a good impression, a great book cover is important.

For self-publishing authors, the key to a great book cover is choosing a custom design. While standard designs can look nice and professional, they don’t have the same pizazz as a custom design and they can’t capture the essence of your book in quite the same way. Check out the graphic below for excellent example of the difference between a standard cover and a custom cover.

Now that you understand the importance of a great book cover, it’s time to start displaying your book at book fairs. Here is a list of some of the most popular book fairs for self-publishing authors.

Book Fair, BEA

Book Fair, Beijing

Book Fair, Bologna Children’s

Book Fair, Frankfurt

Book Fair, London

Book Tour, Global

ABOUT JODEE THAYER: With over 25 years of experience in sales and management, Jodee Thayer works as the Director of Author Services for Outskirts Press. The Author Services Department is composed of knowledgeable customer service reps, publishing consultants and marketing professionals; together, they all focus on educating authors on the self-publishing process in order to help them publish the book of their dreams and on assisting authors with marketing and promoting their book once published. Whether you are a professional looking to take your career to the next level with platform-driven non-fiction or a novelist seeking fame, fortune, and/or personal fulfillment, Jodee Thayer can put you on the right path.

Jodee Speaks, Uncategorized

In-House vs. Third Party Illustrators for Book Covers

Children’s authors already know the importance of a great graphic artists, but even authors who write for older audiences need to understand the importance of a great artist and how to find one. While your book may not be filled with graphics, there is one image that can make or break your book’s success — your cover.

A great graphic artist will help you great a custom book cover that catches readers’ attention, demonstrates your professionalism as an author, and represents the essence of your book. By using a generic cover or a poorly created one, you may send your readers a negative message about your work and they may be less intrigued to buy and read it. Because a graphic artist is so important to the success of your book, you need to make sure you hire a talented, trustworthy one.

Before hiring a graphic artist, understand that there are two types of custom covers:

1) A custom cover –created by a professional graphic artist

2) An illustrated custom cover – The illustration is created by a professional illustrator and then that illustration is used in a custom cover design created by the professional graphic artist.

It is helpful to know which type of cover you’d like for your book before hiring a graphic artist. Another important decision is whether to use a third party graphic artist or an in-house graphic artist. Using a third party artist can be more expensive and complicated to work with.

It is important to know . . .

Some third-party graphic artists require you to share a portion of your royalties. This creates an ongoing cost instead of a one-time fee for the service.
You need to know what the trim size of your book is prior to the artist beginning work.
The graphic artist needs to know specifications about bleed and gutters for the self-publisher being used.
You should arrange for the graphic artist to provide high-resolution image files, not just hardcopies.
Be sure to get a written contract.

If this sounds like a headache, there is an easier way. Instead of hiring a third-party graphic artist, you could hire an artist through your self-publishing company. To learn more about hiring a graphic artist from your self-publishing company, contact a representative at your publishing company.

Book Design, Jodee Speaks

The Importance of a Custom Cover

You’ve heard the cliché “A picture is worth a thousand words.” This is especially true in the publishing industry. The cover is the first impression a reader gets of your book. Therefore, it needs to be appealing and professional, but it should also reflect the tone and style of your book. If you have a specific vision of your book’s cover, you are probably considering a custom cover. However, there are two different types of custom covers. Here are the basics.

Regular Custom Covers vs. Illustrated Custom Covers

Regular custom covers are created with photos from a photo image site. Illustrated custom covers are drawn by professional illustrators. If you take a trip to the bookstore or browse book covers online, you will see that covers with photos and covers with illustrations are two very different styles. Also, illustrated covers offer more unique designs. The type of custom cover you choose depends on your vision.

Choosing a Cover

When deciding whether to choose a regular custom cover or illustrated customer cover, consider these questions:

What do I want my finished book to look like?
What do other books in my genre look like?
What insight has my market research provided about cover art?
What is my budget for cover art?

I’d love to know, do you plan on using a regular custom cover or an illustrated custom cover?

ABOUT JODEE THAYER: With over 20 years of experience in sales and management, Jodee Thayer works as the Manager of Author Services for Outskirts Press. The Author Services Department is composed of knowledgeable customer service reps and publishing consultants; together, they all focus on educating authors on the self-publishing process in order to help them publish the book of their dreams. Whether you are a professional looking to take your career to the next level with platform-driven non-fiction or a novelist seeking fame, fortune, and/or personal fulfillment, Jodee Thayer can put you on the right path.

Jodee Speaks

Dust Off That Manuscript and Self-Publish in 2014

Last week we said goodbye to 2013 and welcomed the new year, a time for fresh starts, commit to change, and most importantly, a new determination to meet our goals. For some writers, the new year is the perfect time to produce new works. For others, dusting off an old manuscript might be just the ticket.

If you have abandoned works taking up space on your hard drive or in a desk drawer, don’t let them go to waste! Dig them out and see if a dash of new year enthusiasm and determination is all they need to become a great book. Follow these steps to freshen up your manuscript for self-publishing in 2014:

Awaken. It’s time to wake up and reassess that long-dormant manuscript. You may remember it as either utterly brilliant or complete rubbish (although I suspect if you considered it literary gold, you’d have self-published it by now). All writers feel one of those extremes about their own work just after completing it, and it’s almost never as good or bad as they think. Bring it out of deep freeze and give it one more chance.
Dissect. Dig into each page like you’re reading it for the first time — and leave no stone unturned. Set aside whatever feelings or impressions you once had about your manuscript and look at it with fresh, new eyes. You’ll be much more objective about it now that time has passed. Pretend it’s someone else’s work, if that helps. You may find strokes of genius you didn’t recognize before.
Reshape. Of course, along with unearthing forgotten brilliance, you’ll likely also find your fair share of thorny passages that inspire “What was I thinking?” moments. Time to toss out the junk and tighten up that manuscript. Be merciless: it is okay if your manuscript looks and sounds completely different when you are done. The new year is all about redefining and changing.
Build. Fill in the “bald patches” – elements of your story that require elaboration, such as further plot and character development. Build on what you already have to complete the manuscript.
Nurture. Cultivate a plan to nurture those parts of your book that are weakest. Sprinkle it generously with notes about what changes you need to make as you review and review again; gradually, your writing and your overall story will transform into the masterpiece you imagine. New year projects aren’t about quick success; they are about a year of nurturing your goals and dreams.
Expand your mind. Read the works of others. See a good movie, or listen to your favorite music. Exchange ideas with other writers. The idea is to borrow inspiration that will better inform your book.
Realize. Once all your efforts have turned your old manuscript into a great book, it is time to take your product to market and enjoy the success of completing a book. You did it, and readers can’t wait to read your work!

Fresh eyes and a few good brainstorms may produce all the fresh ideas you need to turn that literary new year project into a chart-topping book published in 2014. Good luck!

Jodee Speaks, Uncategorized

It’s Not Too Late to Give (or Get) the Gift of Self-Publishing

Merry Christmas, everyone! With just a few days left until Christmas, you may be rushing to get last minute gifts or to give last minute ideas to people who still need to shop for you. Well, it’s not too late to give or get the gift of self-publishing.

Many self-publishing companies offer gift certificates that can be used towards a variety of publishing and marketing services. For instance, Outskirts Press offers instant gift certificates in the amount of $99. Here is how their process works.

Click the “Add to Cart” button on the page and complete the transaction on a secure server.
Outskirts Press will email the purchaser to find out who the special author is and whether to include any special messaging on the gift notification.
If the writer isn’t yet registered with Outskirts Press, they will create a free account and apply the $99 credit to the new account.
If the author is already registered and/or published with Outskirts Press, they will apply the $99 credit to the existing Publishing Center account.
Once the credit has been applied to the writer’s account, Outskirts Press will notify the writer via email of the special gift using any messaging provided.

The turnaround time is typically 2-business days, and there is no searching for a parking spot at a busy mall, waiting in a long line, or paying expensive shipping charges. Whether you want to make Christmas shopping a little easier for your friends and family or you are looking for the perfect gift for the writer on your shopping list, the gift of self-publishing is a great option.

I’d love to know, what are you asking for this year?

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