I decided not to wait until 12/22 to work on the cover for the new book. I had reasons for doing it before now, as I knew even if I was able to get the book out by December 15, my target date, no one could have it ordered, processed, and shipped before January 1, 2024. It's not a Christmas book, but it would be great if folks wanted to buy it for their loved ones for Christmas. They can always take a screenshot of the book on Amazon and say "Hey, I got this for you!!" I would be happy.
So, I signed back on with Canva and created the book cover. I'll post it at the bottom so you can see it. I had in mind the photos I wanted, but when I went back on Canva I really couldn't find them. I couldn't find the front photo or the back photo. I looked, and I tried using different keywords. As it turns out, I found two other photos that I like just as much, if not even better, because the front cover photo has a little frame for the word "Ranch" in the title. I like it. It's cute.
Making the covers is a lot of fun, but if for whatever reason they are not downloaded correctly, or they don't upload correctly with Ingram Spark, I find myself redoing the dang things over and over again. This time, I was smart! I wrote down the titles of the photos and I wrote down the names of the fonts, sizes, colors, etc. It will save me a lot of time if I do have to redo it. I hope I don't have to. I hope I've learned how to embed fonts and such to the point that I can actually download something without needing more permission. It's really annoying!!
I'm taking a gamble on the size of the cover actually. I haven't formatted the book yet. It may or may not be 360 pages. The cover may end up being too big, but I can always add a few pages in text if I really need to. I will at least be close. I think I'll be really close. I have about 82000 words now, and it's about the same as Edinburgh. That book was a mess. I think I redid the cover six times. I hope that is not the case this time. Edinburgh has 339 pages; the cover was made for 362, and it's not too big. I may add a page to the front and back, just to give it a couple more pages to bind.
I use the Kindle book cover template online. It's free, you just go to the site and put in the dimensions of your book, and it fills out the template for you. You download it, save it, and superimpose it over the Canva base when you open your Canva Pro account, which is about $15.00 a month, but I do the $7.49 a month for the three months, and then let it lapse after the sub is over. I can make the book covers with a fairly good estimate of what they will be, and save them for the next lot of books. I don't nee the sub to go on year round.
All of my books are between 82000-86000 words, so 339-375 pages if I use a 5x8 book template and since I won't be making any more 6x9 books, I don't need to worry about that size. I'll make Ebooks as well, but they will have completely different covers. It's not as elaborate; as the Kindles only show black and white anyway, and there is no reason for the other bells and whistles you add to the front and back cover. You can add a little "About the Author" and tell your readers where they can buy your books; it's really nice. I like the E-book format. They are cheaper to buy, and they save space in someone's house.
I do like having the printed books in my hands when I show people what I write, but when I read the books, it's either on my computer or on my Kindle. I do take the time to go through each book when they are first published, so I can make corrections. With Murder Book, I need to send up my edits, but I have to wait until 12/22 for that one. I'll need to buy the Adobe subscription and pay for the revision since it took more than 60 days to make the change. My bad.
It will happen. This is, of course, is my last book for the year 2023. I've written 5 novels and reproduced 3 other books. I think it was a fairly good year for me. Creativity was recognized and that's a good thing. I'll likely end up with 4 more books next year, but I can't be sure. I have to work too. I hate that, but it is what it is. If enough people buy the books I can take off and just write!! Woot! What a plan!!
Enjoy!! Let me know what you think: jude.stringfellow@gmail.com
Photo Credit: Me.
No comments:
Post a Comment