How to Thrive as a Writer in a Capitalist Dystopia by Russell Nohelty

Full disclosure: I backed the Kickstarter for this book, and even though I have a fair amount of negative things to say, I don't regret it. I found it to be an educational read.

thrive: verb (used without object)

1. to prosper; be fortunate or successful. Synonyms: advance
2. to grow or develop vigorously; flourish.
   The children thrived in the country.

Russell Nohelty is a successful writer, and he wants to share what he's learned about marketing with you. But after reading this book, I've come to the conclusion that "thriving" is not what this book is about. It's about how to survive as a writer in a capitalist dystopia.

survive: to get along or remain healthy, happy, and unaffected in spite of some occurrence.

She's surviving after the divorce.

After reading through all of the health issues (both mental and physical) that Nohelty shares with the reader, his suggestion not to strive for happiness in order to avoid falling into negativity, and the constant drumbeat of how exhausted he is from promoting his brand (blog posts, interviews, podcasts, strategizing his advertizing budget, evaluating what promotions are working, etc.) leads me to believe that he's deluding himself into thinking he's thriving; he's merely surviving.

But "survive" isn't as marketable a word as "thrive." And it's clear to me after reading this book, that Nohelty knows marketing.

And that's where this book has value. Right from the start, Nohelty gives his readers a reality bath. If you have any illusions about your chances of success after publishing your book, then he will wash those illusions away. Once he's done that, he works hard for you to accept things as they are. It's not your fault. Capitalism is a rough system with many evils; it's difficult to conduct commerce in such a system, but it's what we have to deal with. Nohelty doesn't want authors to let the system damage their mental health.

Once that's out of the way, he shares his business experience, matters of personal health, his experiences with social media, makes suggestions about automating your workflow, explains arbitrage, agonizes over the size of his mailing list, crunches the numbers on advertizing ROI, drowns you in marketing philosophy, and tries to get you to focus on what works for you. There's even a clever bit about author archetypes which he and his partner have dubbed "biomes." There's plenty more, but it can be repetitive at times and rambling, and I found myself wanting him to get on with it. But he has to get it all out there because he's trying to make a point and, IMO, he's burning the candle at both ends.

There's a workbook—emphasis on work—that goes with this book that could prove useful. But if you need a guide you can sign up for the service that he and a fellow successful marketer have devised. Nohelty goes into some detail about that in the book, and it stuck in my craw. I don't fault him for monetizing his experience, but I do feel like he's trying to upsell anyone who bought this book. And I don't really appreciate that, but hey, we live in a capitalist dystopia, so it's all fair game.

So if you're an indie writer, should you pick this up? If you've got a routine that you're happy with, then no. If you're content with your writing as a fun hobby, then also no. But if you've got at least three books under your belt, you've sold less than 100 copies (like 99% of us), and you're looking to find out what may or may not be required of you to grow your brand, then yes. It's a sobering look at one man's efforts (one who already had experience with sales and marketing) to grow his brand. Maybe you'll find something in it that works for you.

And Mr. Nohelty, if you're reading this, H.P. Lovecraft never lived in Los Angeles, much less had a salon there.

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The Pros and Cons of the Publishing Industry

Over at the Independent Publishing Magazine, guest blogger Andrew Deen outlines the pros and cons of traditional and self-publishing. Thorough yet succinct, it's a must read for every writer about to embark on the road to publishing their work.

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Amazon Now Offering Hardcover for Indie Publishers

In case you haven't heard, Amazon is now offering hardcovers for indie-published books. Now Amazon isn't the first to market (Lightning Source and IngramSpark have offered it for several years), but since Amazon is the biggest printer of indie work, it's a big deal.

You can read the FAQ for yourself here. But if you don't have time, here's the tl;dr version:

Indie publishers will not be getting a dust jacket like traditionally published hardcover books. Amazon is offering a "case laminate" cover. That means the artwork will be printed directly on the bookcover. If you're unfamiliar with what that looks like, check out IngramSpark's video on their jacketed case laminate offering, something Amazon isn't offering.

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Cover Story - David Drazul

I started a discussion on the topic of book covers on this blog eight years ago. I was disappointed that many indie authors were put in the position to sell their stories with sub-par book covers. Budgets tend to be tight unless the author's household income makes covering living expenses a breeze. Finding an affordable cover of decent quality can be tough. I asked several indie authors what route they took to get their covers and presented their stories here. I dug up affordable book cover designers and shared them with readers of this blog.

Today, I'm sharing my story. I'll try to keep it short.

When I finally gave up on traditional publishing as an avenue for my first novel, I searched for affordable graphic designers but couldn't find any. I was looking at $2,000—a non-starter. The pre-made covers available at the time didn't convey anything relatable to the story. I posted to an RPG messageboard I was active on at the time and found a guy who was eager to jumpstart his illustrator career. I got what I wanted for one-tenth the price.

I loved it when it was made, but I'll admit that, a decade later, it looks dated. Image design and editing software has improved so much. Textures and lighting are more realistic. You name it: It's improved.

As I've struggled to finish writing the sequel, I hoped that redoing the cover for Armistice Day might light a fire under my ass. Spoiler alert: It hasn't. Even beyond the pandemic, the rioting, and toxic politics, I've had my share of personal tragedy which has weighed heavily upon me. I decided to find a new cover anyway.

I've seen a ton of wonderful art on Pinterest and DeviantArt. I didn't want to commission a new piece, but rather wanted to pay someone for their existing art. Again, working with a somewhat limited budget. I approached one artist but was ignored. I looked through Shutterstock to see if I could find some images to purchase for a graphic designer to synthesize into something greater than the sum of its parts. No dice there. But one day while perusing through the pre-designed images over at goonwrite.com, I found it.

The original artwork is by Tithi Luadthong and was posted to Shutterstock. And the full image has been utilized as a wraparound design on the print version. It was great working with James again (He did the cover for my short story collection). I've got that old feeling of cover love again! I mean, what's not to love about a fully licensed piece of fabulous original artwork as the cover for my book?

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Advice From a Prolific Author

Hi all. Yeah, I know that it's been two years. Can't say that I've been reading any indie, hence no new reviews here. From time to time though, I grow curious about some of the authors that I've reviewed here and wonder what they're up to. Most get waylaid by life and their writing endeavors are stuck in the proverbial muck. I can't recall why, but I was curious about Scott Rhine today.

Scott was one of our most prolific submitters—I think he's up to two dozen books. While I didn't review anywhere near the number of submissions we got from him, I did read and review four of them. I wanted to know if he ever finished the series that I'd been reading here, so I took a spin over to his blog to find out. It took a while to find, but sure enough, he did.

I snooped around some more and stumbled across a post from two years ago entitled "5 Years in the Writing Business—Revised Advice." It really is a must read for all indie authors. Scott shares his experiences with book sales, ads, tags, series vs. standalone books, giveaways, and much more. No matter what you write, it's worth checking out just to see if he's already tried out your marketing ideas. See what's worked for him and what hasn't, then see where it fits into your plans.

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The Best of 2016

Each year, the reviewers here at the New Podler Review of Books pick the book (or books) which we feel are the very best independently published (or small press) works. The only other requirement we have is that the book was reviewed here on the blog during the calendar year.

Here are the winners for 2016:

Bertha Thacule: "I chose Madam Tulip. Its eccentric characters and witty observations make this an immensely enjoyable contemporary mystery/thriller set among denizens of Dublin's theater, art, and entertainment worlds. Fans of the first novel will be pleased to hear that a second installment in the series, Madam Tulip and the Knave of Hearts, is now available."

Richard Abbott: "The Colony, by RM Gilmour, gets my vote for 2016. It is primarily a story about travel between parallel universes, but with enough plot twists and variations that you're not always sure which way events will turn. I found the central characters compelling, and also the basic premise of why The Colony was there in the first place. The closing words suggest that there will be a follow-up novel at some point—I certainly hope so as I'm keen to find out what happens after the events at the close of this book."

DED: It took me a while to decide which book to pick for best of 2016. There were a few contenders, so I had to go back and revisit them all. After weighing the strengths and flaws of each, I finally reached a conclusion. My pick for best of 2016 is The Silver Mask by Christian Ellingsen. Yes, I was critical of the cover (I hope that Mr. Ellingsen invests in a better one), but the story was great. Ellingsen made use of a well developed cast of characters and excellent world-building to blend murder mystery, political thriller, and flintlock fantasy together to create a superb tale.

Congratulations to the winners!

The Best of 2015

Each year, the reviewers here at the New Podler Review of Books pick the book (or books) which we feel are the very best independently published (or small press) works. The only other requirement we have is that the book was reviewed here on the blog during the calendar year.

First off, I'd like to give an honorable mention to Rob Steiner for Citizen Magus and Muses of the Republic and M. Terry Green for her Chronicles of White World series. I thoroughly enjoyed their books, but as I was proofreader for them, I was disqualified from reviewing them here. Definite bias there.

There were five books I reviewed here on the blog that were in the running for best of 2015. I could take the easy way out and nominate all five, but that would be a cop out. Unfortunately none of them stood far enough apart from the pack to make this an easy decision. So I had to decide if what I considered a flaw would be just a petty gripe to other readers. In the end, I decided that the book I chose would be one that I could unequivocally stand behind.

Without further ado, this year's winner is:

In my review of the first book in this series, Unwelcome Star, I complained about the length of the book, not relating to the protagonist, and a battle scene that went on for far too long. I decided that story length was my problem and not one with the books. I think that most readers consider 500+ page books to be a plus rather than a minus. And young adult characters are always in fashion, so ignore the middle aged grumpy guy.

My appreciation for the first novel grew after I read the second book in the series. The myriad new names and terms that Faccone dumped on us in the first book paved the way to enjoying Blue Star Setting. By then, I had a better appreciation of the effort that went into what I'd thought were tangential or out of place story fragments. Faccone had a long range plan for this series, and he needed to lay the groundwork from the outset. It's in this book that you can start to see it coming together.

One thing that I praised from the start was Faccone's world building. Each world and faction is fully rendered with a rich history. Technology has blossomed into a myriad of forms. There are several factions struggling against one another to achieve their objectives. And while there are many characters, both human and AI, each of them is a unique individual with quirks and personality. It can be a bit overwhelming at first getting up to speed with all of this, but it's worth it. For space opera fans, I'd say you owe it to yourself to check out both books and join in the adventure.

For more information on Unwelcome Star and other books in the Tethered Worlds universe, please visit the author's website.

Cover Story - Michael John Grist

Sometimes, for whatever reason, the vision an author has for their book cover fails to connect with the targeted audience. Michael John Grist takes us through the process of the cover creation process for Mr. Ruins. Much like what he did to his protagonist, Grist had to tear down his idea for the book cover and rebuild it.

Mr. Ruins originally had a cover I poured all my ideas into, but people thought it looked like a bunch of worms sitting on an eyeball. :(. It wasn’t meant to be that. So now I’m talking about the glorious misadventures I had on the path to make it, what it became, why it didn’t work, and the new design that has replaced it.

To read more and see the previous incarnations of the cover, please visit his website.

The Best of 2014

Each year, the reviewers here at the New Podler Review of Books pick the book (or books) which we feel are the very best independently published (or small press) works. The only other requirement we have is that the book was reviewed here on the blog during the calendar year.

Here are the winners for 2014:

Rob: Jim Melvin's Chained by Fear gets my vote for "Best of 2014." It's book two of the Death Wizard Chronicles, which follows the adventures of Torg the Death-Knower in his quest to free the world of Triken from the mad sun sorcerer Invictus. It's adult fantasy on par with G.R.R. Martin, but with far more magic and monsters. Highly recommended.

DED: There were a few titles that I thought were very good this year. In order to narrow the list down I had to pick out the flaws in the choices, no matter how small. That got my list narrowed down to two. It was a tough decision, but ultimately, I chose Noise.

In my review, I wrote: "Noise is a revenge flick dressed up as art house mystery. Rose juxtaposes brutality with spirited, yet acerbic, prose. Meticulous attention to detail evokes noirish cinematic imagery."

Congratulations to the winners!

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We reviewed 19 stories last year and rejected over 194. Roughly speaking, that means everyone who submitted a story to us had a 9% chance of being reviewed. I wish that number could be higher, but it's just not possible with the number of reviewers we have.

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Unfortunately, Rob Steiner and S.B. Jung are deactivating themselves from our reviewer roster. Rob wants to devote more time to writing while S.B. will be starting nursing school soon. I want to thank them for their time and devotion to the blog over the years and wish them success. Come back when you can, guys!

New Feature: Author News

I may be opening up a can of worms here, but I want to try something new.

If you're an author whose work has been reviewed by us, we'd like to do a little more for you. Typically, our relationship with authors ends after we review their work. Some authors like our reviews and stay in touch with us, even if there is little reason beyond hoping we'll review their next book.

We want to do something more. Promoting indie authors is tough. Very few get the recognition they deserve. Some get more than they deserve, but that's another topic entirely. So let's work on that author promotion stuff. If you have something newsworthy to share, let us know. What do I mean by newsworthy? Yeah, I'd better clarify that. What might seem important to you might not be important to us. So I'm going to list what we do consider newsworthy.

Here's what you can share with us:

• Awards and nominations for awards. Real ones. Not those awards that you can buy: "Send us $20 to be entered in our contest! Surprise! You won!" While it doesn't have to be a prestigious as a Philip K Dick Award, it should be legit. Yes, we consider unsolicited "book of the month" (or year) nods from bloggers acceptable. Include a link with this news.
  
  
• Author Appearances. These should be of the in-person variety. Blog tours don't count. If you're going to be somewhere (book signing, book fair, etc.) with the intention of having your book signed or you're guest lecturing or answering questions, let us know. Be sure to include the where and when. No, hanging out at Starbucks doesn't count. It has to be official. We'll need a link or a picture of a flyer. For example, "Abigail Author will be at the Arkham Library signing copies of her latest release: Sleeping With Pomegranates."
  
  
• New Releases. Publishing something new? Let us know. This is separate from the submission process. We might be closed. You might not want us to review another book of yours. We might not be interested, or the reviewer who read your book might not be available. We can pass the information along to interested readers even if we can't take you up on the opportunity to review your next book. Send us a short blurb along with the release date and where readers can go for more information.

We DON'T want routine stuff like sales, new versions of old books, free giveaways, personal news, sales milestones, a list of your blog posts, links to other reviews, website updates, marketing hype, and so on. This is targeted towards promoting authors, not publishers. We don't want publishers telling us about all the books they're promoting each month. The only exceptions are for those authors whose work we've actually reviewed. If XYZ publishing sent us a book from Abigail Author, we'll accept news from them on her behalf. That goes for PR firms too.

We reserve the right to reject anything that we deem sketchy or doesn't fit in with our idea of the above definitions.

The plan is to promote author news once a month. But we'll change the frequency as we see fit. Plan your announcements accordingly. If you have something coming up on February 1st and you send it to us January 31st, you'll have to wait until we get around to it. Put Author News in the subject line so that we can filter it accordingly.

If this unleashes a tsunami of email, we'll shut it down. There's only so much we can do.

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Blog It and They Will Come

Last week I received an email from a reputable indie publishing blogger inviting me to a webinar where I could learn how to double my sales from a successful indie author. It sounded too good to be true, but since this was a reputable indie publishing blogger, I decided to give it a shot.

The webinar was packed full of writers, and many went around introducing themselves and where they were from. Judging from the introductions, many were either new writers working on their first book or veterans struggling with limited sales of their first book or two. You can put me in the latter category.

The successful indie author hosted the webinar and (surprise) primarily spent his time plugging his new book, which featured ways that indie authors everywhere could double their sales. He started off relating what he did and gave case studies demonstrating how so-and-so applied the techniques from the book and saw their sales blossom. But every example he gave involved a non-fiction author. And our successful host was a non-fiction author as well. I complained in the audience chat that all we were seeing were non-fiction examples. Anyone with a clue about publishing knows that selling non-fiction is completely different from selling fiction. Several other attendees agreed with me.

People buy non-fiction for a very specific purpose, and it can be anything. You can look up books on shade gardening in New England, building websites for mobile devices, Theodore Roosevelt's childhood years at Oyster Bay, or meatball recipes. People buy fiction just to be entertained, but the specifics are limited. It typically isn't anything more than "alien invasion sci-fi", assuming that "sci-fi" isn't as far down the genre tree as one can go. Nobody looks for "alien invaders from Barnard's Star with trilateral symmetry who choose Africa as ground zero". And even if they wanted to, they couldn't as that level of detail in sub-categories doesn't exist.

I'm not sure how much of the webinar I can relate here without trampling on someone's copyright, but I'll try anyway. One major suggestion was to convert readers into fans. The thinking was to sell product to the fans like how projects on Kickstarter offer tiers of rewards to people who donate more money to their projects. It's an interesting idea, provided you already have a readership, and someone willing to spend $50 on your 3D printed figurine of the half-elf heroine from your epic fantasy.

Fortunately for successful non-fiction indie author, he already had a readership when he applied this method. I consider that an unfair advantage. Indie fiction authors want to know what they can do to make their first paranormal romance novel, for example, stand out from the thousands of other paranormal romance novels. How does one build that initial readership?

The suggestions for fiction authors were limited. We're supposed to give away short stories for free on our website, and we should blog about the writing process.

That was it.

Don't sell your short stories to zines, give them away for free on your website. But the real kicker was: Blog it and they will come. Because people looking for books to read really want to just read the random thoughts of some random person.

Now blogging has been incredibly successful for some people, though they tend to be journalists and pundits. John Scalzi sold his first book to Tor because one of its editors read his blog (He didn't even have to bother with the indie scene). But how many of these success stories are out there? And why was that gentleman reading that blog in the first place? There has to be some sort of connection to the blogger and his/her readership. But if I had a dollar for every blogger that fizzled out, or never got past a dozen readers (like my old blog), I could pay off my mortgage (and then some).

I don't have an answer for you. I'm certainly not a best-selling author. I'd say keep trying your hand at social media. Make sure your work has been edited and hire a professional to create your cover. Whether you view it as art or product, it's important that you produce your best work. One option to try is to keep writing. Maybe if you have enough books out there, someone will stumble into one and it'll start a chain reaction.

Anyone who's found a technique that works should feel free to share it in the comments. Please, share it. Though we've hoped and tried, book reviews aren't enough to help your fellow indie authors (there might be a couple exceptions). We don't mind you plugging your success, so long as you don't try to sell us a book claiming that it will make us successful, cure baldness, have us waking up every day feeling rejuvenated, or help us lose ten pounds without dieting or exercise.

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Cover Critics

Over the last couple of years, I've written about how important it is for an indie author to have a good cover for their book. I've invited several indie authors here to talk about the process they went through to get their covers, whether doing it themselves or hiring a professional. M. Terry Green pointed me in the direction of affordable, professional designers who offer pre-designed and customizable covers—the growing list can be found by clicking on our "Book Cover Designers" tab.

While we've seen a decrease in the number of bad covers submitted here, there seems to be no shortage of lousy covers out there.

So I'm going to throw another resource at you:



CoverCritics offers a snark-free environment (the host, Nathan Shumate, prohibits it) where indie authors can receive constructive criticism of their book covers before they go to press. I'm heartily recommending that any indie author who designs their own covers, isn't sure about a cover they purchased, or just wants some feedback submit it there (it's free) before publication. When you visit the site, you'll see from the comments what's good or bad about the designs. And actual graphic designers are among the commenters. Even if you're not at that stage yet, you'll learn a lot from what's discussed there.

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Adam Copeland's Kickstarter

Adam Copeland, fantasy author and friend of the blog, has launched a funding campaign for Ripples in the Chalice, the sequel to his debut opus, Echoes of Avalon, on Kickstarter.

If you read Echoes of Avalon or are a fan of historical fantasy a la Marion Zimmer-Bradley, you owe it to yourself to check it out.

Nutmeg Book Festival

This Saturday, November 23rd, is the first Nutmeg Book Festival in New Milford, CT. The NPRoB's own David Drazul will be one of twenty indie and small press authors gathered together to meet the public and hopefully interest some of them in their work.

Please visit the website for more information including location, author roster, and genres covered.

While there are gatherings of this nature all over the world, if you're an indie author or small press whose work has been featured here on the blog and you're participating in a similar event, let us know and we'll throw a shout out here on the blog and Google+.

A New Outlet for Indie Books

Mick Rooney of The Independent Publishing Magazine offers a link to a Forbes article about a new indie outlet: Libiro.

The article claims that Libiro is intended to compete with Amazon. One of the site's founders laments that indie authors get lost in the sheer volume of books offered by Amazon, not to mention the mammoth marketing budgets that the big publishing houses have at their disposal. No argument here, but there already is an alternate outlet for indie authors: Smashwords.

Smashwords, for those unaware, offers indie authors (and small presses) a venue to sell their work as well as distribution to the major online retailers. Name the outlet and Smashwords probably distributes to them. While the site isn't without its problems (the manuscript upload engine is called the "grinder" with good reason), it provides a valuable service to indie authors.

Unlike Smashwords, Libiro isn't offering distribution to major online retailer outlets. It intends to be an online retailer in its own right. The only formats it intends to sell are ePub and pdf and it is the author's responsibility to convert her manuscript into those formats whereas Smashwords does the work for her.

Libiro is based in the UK so for American readers, there may be some sticker shock as the prices are listed in pounds. As I write this, 1 £ is equal to $1.60. While exchange rates vary daily, this isn't far from the historical average.

I'll give Libiro points for its clean interface and recommendation engine ("people who bought this book also bought") but there's no preview feature. As a reader, not to mention a reviewer, it is important for prospective customers to be able to preview an author's writing. For me it's essential. I've seen many a book fail to live up to the promise offered by the book description and I have little patience for poorly edited work. This isn't anything new. Before Smashwords and Amazon offered it, we went to bookstores and picked up books to read a few pages.

As of right now, there's little incentive for readers to shop Libiro. The selection is limited—they have 70 books as of Tuesday—and the prices are higher. For indie authors, it's great to have another outlet to sell their work, not to mention the 80% royalty. But if no one visits the store, that doesn't mean much. There's nothing wrong with competition. As Libiro grows and improves, it should force Smashwords to improve its services in order to retain its UK business. But as for taking on the mighty Amazon, keep dreaming. People aren't looking for indie authors; they're looking for books. And, in that, Amazon is king.

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Smashwords Studies Its Sales

For those who don't already know, Smashwords is an all-in-one platform for authors to publish and distribute their e-books. It has its pros and cons for both writers and readers, which I don't have the time to go into right now, but it is very popular in the indie community.

Authors who publish with them are able to track their sales and story sample downloads to gauge how well their works are faring on Smashwords. There's also aggregate reports of daily sales on other platforms that Smashwords distributes your work. But last year, Smashwords began collating all of that data to see if any patterns can be discerned from it or if its random noise.

Every indie author should read the findings for themselves. The data regarding price point, title length, length of book, and sales are definitely very interesting and something to be taken into account when an author publishes their work.

Anyone wishing to discuss it in the comments section, please go ahead! I've always had a fascination with statistics, which is all about finding patterns in what appears to be just random numbers. But I don't have anyone to talk to about this study. That's where you come in. :)

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Cover Story - No More Bad Covers

It has been a long standing tradition of independent publishing that lousy book covers were the norm. So many authors shunned investing any money in their covers that they doomed themselves to ridicule (at best) or obscurity. While it might not necessarily be prudent to judge a book by its cover, all too often it was a safe bet that a crappy cover meant crappy writing. Potential readers chuckled and moved on.

In defense of the mass of indie authors who chose low quality covers, the big stumbling block to a quality cover was price. Spending five hundred to a thousand dollars on a cover for a book that would be exceptionally lucky to earn $100 for the author was an investment most chose not to make. When I scored a cover for my novel for $200, I was psyched. But I'm here to tell you today that everyone can have a professional looking cover for $200 or even much less.

I was relating my tale of book cover design woe (which I'll share in a later post) with my friend and fellow indie author, Terry Green, the other day. She informed me that there's a group of illustrators who are targeting the hordes of indie authors with inexpensive covers. The trick is for the book cover designers to whip up a mock book cover which they will then turn around and sell to the first author to throw money down. Of course, the cover has to match your story. It would really be inappropriate to slap a scantily clad woman's ass on the cover of your "Dirty Dozen in space" novel, but someone's going to do it because sex sells.

Neither Terry nor I have worked with any of these designers, nor are we endorsing them. But when an indie author can get a cover for their book for less than $50, how can he/she pass it up. Without further ado, here's the list:

• Author Marketing Club
• CCR Book Cover Design
• Go On Write
• Kalen O'Donnell
• Littera Designs
• Phycel Designs

Indie authors no longer have excuses for bad covers. And with the money you save, you can hire an editor to proofread your work.

Thanks again to Terry Green for sharing these links with me (and now our blog readers).

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Cover Story - Libby Cone

One thing that an indie author has to be is resourceful. Book covers can be expensive and sometimes you just don't have the money to splurge, especially when you're publishing a short story for 99¢. Libby Cone explains how public domain artwork and graphic design shareware can be an indie author's best friends.

I have designed the covers (if you can call them that) for all my Kindle books and short stories. I hired a designer I found on LinkedIn to execute my idea for the self-published paperback edition of War on the Margins. She did a very good job.

When I published the Kindle edition of Flesh and Grass I used a Dutch painting that I thought was in the public domain. When I found out it wasn't, I obtained a public domain painting.

I did the "cover" for "Quantum Fashionistas" using GimP (GNU Image Manipulation Program), but had to redo it when I realized its definition wasn't high enough. GimP is somewhat daunting, but I eventually figured out how I did it the first time and produced a reasonable facsimile!

Libby Cone's works can be found on Amazon.

Cover Story - Adam Copeland

April 2020 Update: Adam's website is down or gone so no links from this article to his site are going to work.

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When hunting for an illustrator, the Web is often the best option for an indie author. Online galleries are the most convenient place to check out an artist's work. Adam Copeland realized that freelance artists are in the same boat as indie authors. They're unknowns looking to make their mark. Working together is a win-win for both parties.

When it came time to choose a cover for my book I perused DeviantArt.com, looking for artwork that was similar to what I had in mind. I found it, and made sure the artist was someone who was good, but not a professional (i.e., didn't make his living from his art). I emailed him and asked if he would be willing to be paid to make cover art for me. He was thrilled that someone wanted to offer money for his hobby and agreed.

My original concept, however, was still very complex, time consuming, and expensive, so we compromised on a simpler version. The result is the art I have now, which I've had nothing but compliments on. I've had comments such as "unique" and "iconic" and "eye catching."

I've also contracted a local artist to make images for a book trailer (you can see it on my website). That guy is a very talented up and coming recent college grad whom I met through a mutual friend. Again he wasn't a "professional" and his cost was significantly affordable for the quality I got. I blogged about the process we went through in creating my trailer which you can also find on my website.

The movie trailer can be a great marketing tool for an indie author. Here are Adam's blog posts about his experience:

• The First Steps
• A Focus on Individual Image Creation
• Part 2.5 – Music
• Story Boarding and Finish

On Adam's website, you'll find a list of places where you can purchase Echoes of Avalon and read excerpts from the book.

Cover Story - Thomas Carpenter

In his search for an illustrator, sci-fi author Thomas Carpenter found one much closer than he thought. He graciously shared his book cover experience with us and offers some advice to other indie authors.

Initially I hired out cover design to a friend that did work similar to book design. The first covers he made for The Digital Sea and The Godhead Machine were passable, but not exciting at all. After he made those, I asked him to do the cover for my YA dystopia novel called Gamers. Unfortunately, we didn't see eye-to-eye on the design process. He hadn't read the book and didn't understand the YA market, so I fired him. In the meantime, my wife had purchased Photoshop with the idea that eventually she could make covers. Once I fired the other guy, I asked her to go for it (she'd done a short story cover by this time, which was a good starter cover). We'd walked the bookstores and studied covers for a while so we know want we wanted.

The only problem was that we were about to leave for a few weeks and the book had been waiting for two months for the cover, so in a forty hour period, she made the cover to Gamers from scratch. It's still one of my favorites. After that, I realized she could do it and, except for my anthology series and a few early short stories, she's been doing all my covers. She's also gone back and redone the covers to The Digital Sea and The Godhead Machine. I couldn't be happier, plus the savings on an in-house cover designer is huge.


Having said that, we both know that for a different type of book, like a fantasy series, we might have to hire a designer who can create art from scratch, which we know will be more money, but a cover really has to match the feel of the book.

And is price a factor? Not if you get the right cover. The thing to remember is that the book will be owned by you for your lifetime plus seventy years. Even a $500 cover will pay for itself over that time period.

To see more Carpenter book cover revisions, click here. You can check out all of Tom's books on Amazon or visit his website for other bookstores.

Amazon Links to Works Featured Here:
Gamers
The Digital Sea
The Godhead Machine