DIY Book Cover

After a little bit of research I've decided that, if I ever finish this book, I'm going to self publish it. Now if you've read my blog before (or you know anything about self publishing) you know that this means I'll need someone to design the cover of my book.
A good cover design can run you a couple hundred bucks (at least!). So, in the spirit of saving money (and because I'll use any excuse to take a writing break) I thought I'd look into making my own book cover.
First, I spray painted an old bracelet to look like the "reaper bands" I describe in my book.  Next I hired a lovely teenager from down the street to come over to model for me.
I even had my daughter hold up a fan in a few shots so we could get that wind blown look (This didn't really work. The fan we used couldn't blow the petals off a dandelion!).
Because I asked my model to wear a black cloak and slink around my yard looking "mean", I paid her twenty bucks. Because my daughter talked her ears off the entire time she was here, I forced her to take the money even when she refused.
Anyway, after about half an hour I thought we had plenty to work with so I loaded the pictures into Lightroom. I took a little bit of time and played around with a few sliders (exposure, contrast, whites, blacks, a few brushes) and VIOLA.
Now it wasn't a complete success. I tried to get the eyes to look orange (the protagonist in my book has orange eyes), but my Lightroom skills weren't quite up to snuff.
I still need to add the title, my name, the back cover, and the spine. Plus, a few of the pictures need a background change, and then there's the formatting. The formatting alone might cause me severe chest pains, but it's worth a try!
Worst case scenario is that I won't be able to get it done and I'll still have to hire a professional.
But for 20 bucks, an old bracelet, and a few hours tinkering around on the computer, I'm happy with the results.
Let me know what you think! And if you have an inkling that I'm getting in over my head, let me know that too!!

Will My Book Get Published?

I can't tell you how many times in the last five years I have written these exact words into Google's search line.
Will my book get published? As if Google knew anything about the books I'd been working on.
But still, every now and again, I type in those words just to see if I get the answer I am looking for. What I want to hear is, "Yes. After all your hard work your book WILL get published."
Well here it is. If you're asking the same question, "Will my book get published?" The answer is yes.
Really! Yes.
How can I be so sure? Two words: Self Publishing.
I know, you're shaking your head at the computer screen as if self publishing were something shameful. Something far beneath you. You're looking for a "real" publisher.
Well, let me tell you something. I know writers with contracts with so called "real" publishers and they are self publishing their next books.
Why? There are different reasons for different writers. Sometimes the genre doesn't quite fit the publisher that picked up the book.  Or the writer feels the publisher has set the price of the book too high. Or maybe the writer just doesn't want to share their profits with a publisher.
Add to that the fact that most writers, no matter who publishes them, do a lot of their own marketing. The writers feel like they're in control of the marketing anyway so why not get the full profit?
I'm not saying which one is the better way to go. I'm still going to go through the painful querying process after I finish my next book, but isn't it liberating to know that one way or another you can get your book published?
And if you do end up self publishing, what's the worst that could happen? You pay for an editor, pay for the book cover, and maybe spend some money on marketing and then your book doesn't sell?
So you're out a couple bucks in the name of securing your future. Hell, I still owe money on my completely useless Bachelor of Science in Animal Science. I'm at home looking after two kids, not two farm animals. Why'd I spend all that money? Because my Dad said I had to spend money to make money.
And what's the best case scenario? Your book catches on, Oprah's calling, but you can't get to the phone because you are wading through piles and piles of cash. (Daydreaming is fun.)
Here's what I think will happen.
Armed with the knowledge that you will get your book published you'll really start working on it. The thought of friends and family reading this book with scare the crap out of you and you'll crank out a book that is the absolute best you can do. You'll publish it and maybe get a little bit of money, but you will have learned a ton.
You'll use that knowledge to write your next book. A better book! And so on and so forth.
You might not get that best seller, but you'll be closer than you were back in the days when you couldn't bring yourself to waste time writing without the certain knowledge that you'd get published.
So here it is. I'm giving it to you. If you write it. It will get published.
Whew, what a relief! Now you can go back to Google and start typing things like, "How can I lose ten pounds in three days?" Or maybe that's just me?