Less blogging leads to more procrastinating

You may have noticed – I’ve been blogging a lot less. Or maybe you didn’t notice – eek!

Poetry collection

My original intent was to work less on blogging and more on my poetry collection (for self-publication). Although I have been doing more poetry writing and editing, I’ve not been doing as much as I originally intended.

Procrastination

It’s a scourge. I do more procrastinating every day. Though I am making little dents in my “to do” list.

Blogging

So you may see some repeat blogs (I do want to refresh my content – search engines like that), but it might not be fresh.

Other fabulous blogs

With me not blogging as much, you have more time to check out these fabulous blogs –

Shawn MacKenzie – She’s my editor and is providing loads of great advice on the poetry collection. She SO gets me! Find her blog at MacKenzie’s Dragonsnest. Her Editor’s Corner is especially awesome.

***

Elizabeth H. Cottrell – Find her blogging at Heartspoken, where you will discover wise advice for connecting with God, nature, others, and self. See her new tab for The Nature Store. Elizabeth is also helping me slog through CreateSpace.

***

Linda Boulanger – Wait til you see her book covers! I’m going to tap her when I get my poetry collection together, and I have the artwork done (yes, I’m doing it myself). She creates striking covers! She can design a cover for you – no matter the genre. Check out her site. 

***

Pamela Wight – She writes over at Rough Wighting, a blog of daily living. She’s a relatively new gal pal, and I think we were separated at birth – we are so in sync! Pamela has two published novels and teaches creative writing.

***

Susannah Friis – She and her hubs write articles and publish in Brisbane, Australia. Find Susannah at Personally Speaking. She blogs to “explore life in such a way as to enlighten and broaden my own thoughts and perspectives.” She is a breath of fresh air.

***

Vaughn Roycroft – He does not blog a lot, but when he does, they are significant. He is a gentleman and a scholar, and he writes darn good blogs. Find Vaughn at Seeking the Inner Ancient.

***

Chris Eboch – Funny I didn’t “meet” her until after I moved away from NM – she’s in NM! Chris is a writer of MG, YA, and adult fiction. And she edits too. See her awesome blog at Write Like a Pro!

***

Cyndi Briggs – She blogs over yonder at The Sophia Project. Her blogs address and tackle serious stuff in a fun, sometimes introspective, way. A joy of a blog.

***

What fabulous blogs do you follow? Feel free to mention them here and provide links so we can all find them.

Creep Into the Mind of a Book Cover Designer, by Linda Boulanger

Thank you, Karen, for inviting me to your monthly event and allowing me to share how I go about creating great book covers – information that may help your blog readers design their own covers or know what information to pass on to a designer and why.

As an author and book cover/interior layout designer, I’ve designed covers across many genres, though the process always begins the same way.

1. Gather information about the story

2. Consider elements that grab

3. Search for images that might work

4. Design the cover

Information Gathering

One of the most important aspects of designing a cover is to truly capture the story. My “tag” is: Your Readers’ First Glimpse of What’s Inside. When an author contacts me I immediately start asking questions. There’s a whole list but the information that helps me the most:

-Do you have a synopsis/blurb?

-Do you already have a “vision” or idea in mind?

-Are there particular covers you’ve seen that you are fond of/prefer?

-Any particular point in the book that comes to mind that would make a reader say “aha!” when they read the book?

Without either sitting down to read your book or getting inside your head, I am never going to know your story as well as you do. And the reality of either of those two things happening before I design a cover are … well, one is impossible and the other is improbable. You decide which is which. Same goes for potential readers. They don’t know your story yet so your cover needs to convey what they need to become interested.

Elements That Grab

Next, think about elements that attract. With millions of books being offered at the press of a mouse button, your book needs an eye-catching cover (and notice how small they are when you first see them – hint: give your cover the postage stamp/thumbnail test to make sure it stands out little as well as big). One of the major elements often used are eyes. Why? They help convey emotion. Look at the six covers I’ve included and see what each one tells you about the stories, as well as where your eye goes first. Was it to the eye(s)? That’s why we use them. However, eyes are by no means the only attention grabbers so study other covers in your genre to see what they’re using and what you like.

Images

Where do the images come from? The best place to get images are stock images sites. I like the user agreements and ease of use provided by the following:

Dreamstime – Free and Royalty Free for a small fee

BigStockPhoto – Royalty Free for a small fee

Stock Free Images  – Offers truly FREE images

If you find an image someplace else, check for usage rights. Free and Royalty Free are not the same so don’t just grab something off the web and try to use it or you could find yourself paying hefty fines (that goes for blog posts and other internet usage as well). As a rule, you purchase the rights to use a royalty free image without having to pay each and every time you use it up to a certain number sold. That’s what it means on the sites I have listed and why I like to use them.

Also begin to look at images in different ways. Look at the Creepy Title covers shown. The one in the middle – using 100% FREE images from the Stock Free Images site – is a simple combination of the two pictures shown on the right. Would you have thought to put them together? Learn to rethink as well as considering additional elements that might be added. I took my girl and kitty images, added elements from some of the covers above, moved things around, and created something completely different. Does it work? Maybe. Maybe not. The key is not to be afraid to try.

Design a Great Cover

While I can’t teach you how to design, hopefully some of the things I do will either help you with your own design or when you seek out a designer. Regardless of who creates it, the end results should be the same:

-Arm yourself with a cover that will jump out at potential readers from the multitude of offerings.

-Provide a cover that shows the reader what they’ll find inside.

-Work for a cover you love and are proud to hold up and say “This is me! I wrote this story. Want to read it?”

If you have questions or need help, I’m never too far away from my laptop.

***

Linda Boulanger

Finding Linda:

Tell-Tale Book Covers – Cover Design Site

Author Site

Tell-Tale Book Covers on Facebook

Email: TellTaleBookCovers@gmail.com

FreeStockImages.com images used:

http://www.stockfreeimages.com/3890369/Gothic-make-up.html# © Dancer01 | Stock Free Images &Dreamstime Stock Photos

http://www.stockfreeimages.com/5250691/Scary-cat.html © Everyfinn | Stock Free Images &Dreamstime Stock Photos

Quick Editorial Tips V – Grammar and vocabulary lessons from home

Mom

Part of my bio says …

Karen S. Elliott was raised by a mother who wanted to be an English teacher and who worked for Merriam-Webster as a proofreader and an aunt who could complete the Sunday New York Times crossword in a day.

Mom and Aunt Agnes – “Ang” – were always correcting our grammar. I’m so glad they were such sticklers.

Lay and lie

Chickens lay eggs; little girls aren’t chickens.

So if I told Mom I was going to lay down, Mom would say, “Lie down. Chickens lay eggs…”

Ang

Exact same

“I have the exact same sweater.”

“Wayne has the exact same eyes as his daddy.”

Mom and Ang explained that exact same is redundant and should not be used together.

Continue on

“Redundant,” said Mom and Ang.

Though I hear continue on a lot in conversation and in TV commercials and see it in the written word, I don’t use it.

Me or I?

Just take out the first name(s) to determine if you need Me or I, et voila! (Mom spoke French too.)

Tina and I are going shopping. (I am going shopping.)

Do you want to go shopping with Tina, Ted, and me? (Do you want to go shopping with me?)

Profanity

I’ve been known to curse like a Merchant Marine when I lose a game of Scrabble. I’ve been known to use “WTF?” or “WTH?” here and there on Facebook.

I certainly don’t advocate using only goodie-goodie words in a police thriller or horror novel or in your memoir or blog.

Mom and Ang said using profanity was proof of a lack of vocabulary. Yeah, well. Sometimes you need a good curse to get over dropping the entire package of blueberries on the floor.

If I want to use a curse when talking with friends or when I’m online, I stop and try to think of an intelligent word (this self-checking exercise does not always work).

Posture and elbows

Mom and Ang also taught me to sit up straight, stand up straight, and elbows off the table!

***

Stick around for next week’s Halloween Fright Week, featuring Mairi Gairns McCloud, Tonia Marie Harris, Linda Boulanger, Heather L. Reid, Shawn MacKenzie, and me!

I have a new Facebook Fan Page. On this new Fan Page, I’ll be sharing links, resources, and tips on editing, proofreading, writing, and social networking. Hope to see you on the Fan Page!