Category Archives: Self Publishing

Keeping Control in Self Publishing

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In the self-publishing process you want total control from start to finish. You want to make the decisions, not Mr. Big Publishing House, Inc. You want to own all rights and have complete control of your book. By maintaining control over the editing and proofreading process, you have the ultimate say with what actually stays in and what is omitted. You are again “in control” of what the audience reads as the final printed version. With big publishing houses or publishing companies, they often will want to edit and omit parts of the book you actually want to leave in. These publishing firms sometime delete too much of the important parts out of your introduction or parts of chapters that you think or know will be important to your book.

You want to remain in control over your work. You want to keep control of the entire writing, printing, & selling process. Bottom line is you have 100% control when you self publish.

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How to Create an attractive Book Cover

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(A picture says a thousand words.) We have all heard this before. Research and hard work make a great book cover. A book cover is one element that usually catches the most attention of the readers and an attractive book cover makes the 1st impression. Without reading the entire book, you are able to get the concept of the story, by looking at the book cover design.

Inspiration- Get inspired! Look at other book covers in book stores or online. Ponder the main character of the story. Ponder how you want your cover to look. Find a Graphic Designer to help design the cover. Together create or talk about the cover. Develop 10 or more cover design ideas. In the end choose two (2) that you think are stunning, and will get readers reading. Finally choose the one you think is the winner. You must get their attention. You may browse book covers with or without a similar theme. Point being to find and agree on a book cover design that is pleasing and attractive. It should represent the story.

Challenge- Designing a book cover can be very challenging. Trying to summarize the content of a book on one page is not an easy task! Looking at other book covers is OK. You are not stealing ideas. You are brainstorming to create yours. You can overcome the challenge of creating a beautiful book cover. In the end you will be pleased. And remember sometimes the most simple design will suffice.

Title- Keep titles short and sweet. A title that is easy to remember is very important. Less is more when titling. Usually using a few words works best, because people are usually scanning and will get bored or lost in a long title. The DaVinci Code is a good example of a short title. Everyone’s heard of DaVinci. Be descriptive to convey the content. It isn’t necessary to state ‘The DaVinci Code that Solved the Most Infamous Murder in Paris.’ This is too long. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. This title is short and to the point. Create a title that definitely fits your book and describes in a few words your story or message. KISS – Keep it Simple Stupid, is an old design principle to stick by because it works. Find what works for you and your book.

More on writing Book Titles next.

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