The Basics of Making Your Own Cover

by benmweilertNo Comments
The biggest lie that has ever been told about books is that you cannot judge them by their cover. This is the first and sometimes only interaction people will have with your book, so you need to be sure that it looks professional. I have seen a lot of self-published covers over the years that leave much to be desired—my own books included. Online cover creators are an easy way to slap something on the book you’ve written, but the design limitations of these tools actually do more harm than spending the money to hire someone to make your cover. All this being said, there are some easy ways you can make your own cover as long as you avoid a few common mistakes. Fonts Matter. At a minimum, there should be two boxes of text on your cover: your name and the title of the book. You’d be surprised to see some covers that don’t match the font for these two...
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Two Creative Certainties: Death [PART 1/2]

by benmweilertNo Comments
Before the recent birth of my second child, my wife and I were preparing for this new life coming into the world by ensuring that our kids would be financially secure upon both of our deaths. While we’re only in our late-30s, it’s difficult to consider both of us dying unexpectedly in the near future. And yet, we have had close friends who were about our age pass away suddenly this last year, so we know it can happen. When setting up a will or trust for your next of kin, there are a lot of assets that are easily included in these documents. Houses, investments, retirement accounts, and bank accounts. However, there is one thing a creative person needs to consider when planning for their death: what happens to the rights to their creative works? If you traditionally publish, some of these details may be already covered in your contract. If you self-publish, now might be the time to think about...
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Commissioning Art for Your Book

Commissioning Art for Your Book

by benmweilertNo Comments
Most people judge a book by its cover. It's the first thing they'll see, and it should give them a sense of what to expect inside. If you can't clearly communicate the title and genre with your cover, it's likely your readers will be disappointed with what they have purchased. Astute readers can easily recognize when a book uses a cover creator with stock footage, which is an easy indicator to weed out authors who don't invest some money into their book. While I certainly started with these cover creator covers, I've made an effort as time goes on to try and commission art for the covers of my books. A few months ago, I wrote about some of the costs associated with self-publishing a book. One of these costs is hiring an artist to create art for your cover. While this sounds simple, there is a process that you'll need to follow. Sometimes it's so exciting to see the art...
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