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  1. Tuesday Tips #7: Kindle-ization & The Cover Story

    July 5, 2011 by Amy Shojai

    [caption id="attachment_1688" align="alignright" width="181" caption="Revised Ebook & POD cover"

    Original cover

    Welcome to my series with tips based on my DIY Kindle-ization Journey. For those who just found this blog, you can take a look back at the Installment #1 Helpful Links,  followed by #2 Why Do It? and #3 The Challenges.   Tuesday Tips #4 covered the various platform options and what’s required for each.  #5 Formatting For Kindle was followed by last week’s #6 Picture This! a how-to primer on including photos, tables and illustrations in your Ebook. If you’re like me and write nonfiction, chances are you have photos, illustrations or boxed/tabled information included in your format.

    Today it’s all about book covers. EVERYBODY needs not just a good–but an outrageously GOOD cover, especially for an Ebook. Remember, you won’t have a physical presence on the Barnes & Noble’s book shelf for that impulse buy. The book cover is the virtual face of you, the author and what you have to offer.

    I’m by no means an expert on designing covers, but can give you the quick how-I-did-it with additional references for you to find more help. I’ve posted the “original” cover with the Ebook “after” versions of my five book-babies as examples.

    [caption id="attachment_1690" align="alignright" width="176" caption="Revised Ebook & POD cover"

    Original cover

    You can cut out all the angst and just hire a designer to do it for you. Talented folks–both amateurs and pros–offer services. I received a tweet yesterday from someone who designs pre-made and custom ebook covers starting at about $30. There are lots of options out there. When your story moves readers to tears, make sure the cover won’t leave ‘em laughing–do it right.

    You can find a boatload of DIY book cover designers along with some very fine artists/craftsfolk at the Kindleboards site, for example. Ask for examples of finished books before you hire someone. You can find inexpensive services that start at about $50 and the pricier versions can run several hundred dollars. Jenni Talty has an excellent post on book covers at Bob Mayer’s blog.

    SIMPLE WITH “POP”

    Ebook covers by design must POP even in thumbnail size. Take a look at the amazon.com list of books and all those tiny covers–which ones appeal to you? Color and contrast, type font size/style and even the cover image must come together to explain your book in an eyeblink. Potential readers won’t be eager to click-enlarge to check out every single cover so it must appeal to them first in the smallest format.

    [caption id="attachment_1707" align="alignright" width="170" caption="Revised Ebook & POD cover"

    Original cover

    Hey, we all want our NAME at the top of the book cover and if you DIY (without those pesky NY editors’ veto) you can schmear your name all over the thing in 2-million-pt font! But should you?

    What about the title? Sure, it’s a romance but can that 40-something customer with reading glasses decipher the curlicues in that cursive font–or should I say, “curse-worthy” font? Also be aware that some fonts/styles become almost too popular. You don’t want your book cover looking like every other vampire/sparkly-werewolf/thriller on the virtual shelf.

    Image does more for the sale than most anything. Fiction can be tough. They tell us to distill the story into soundbites, but try that without words using an image!

    Here’s the deal. If you already have a readership who buy based on your name, make sure that’s emblazoned in bigg-ass letters across the top of the book. Otherwise, get the evocative TITLE out there–along with an image that either shows part of the story or makes readers want to know what the hell it means. The cover’s end-all, be-all is to get ‘em to click on a sample and/or buy the book.

    [caption id="attachment_1697" align="alignright" width="181" caption="Revised Ebook and POD Cover"

    Original cover

    Of course, they CAN get a refund if they don’t like the book so content remains king. But the cover gets ‘em to date your prose; the prose must make readers fall in love, become engaged, and live happily ever after with the AUTHOR (and not just one book).

     

    RE-PUB’ING BACKLIST BOOKS

    If you loved your original cover, you may be able to get permission to reproduce it on the Ebook. If you can’t get permission (the original publisher usually owns copyright) or you hate the cover anyway, it’s a do-over. I simply used my original covers as a template, but redesigned and used my own images.

    By using the same title and author name/style from the first edition, an author can leverage previous good reviews and name recognition. Amazon.com will “connect” the books so that all print and Ebook formats share one page–and reviews.

    Think about a theme. Many Ebook authors plan to write several books in series. For my nonfiction books, the same basic cover format works across the five titles, and I’ve made cat books red, dog books blue, combo green–to leverage the brand. You can do the same with fiction series so that it’s not just an interesting title or your name, but the style of the cover that “brands” and helps you sell books.

    You can find lots of “free” and low-cost stock images on the Internet. Again, do homework and try to find something that not only resonates with your book content but also hasn’t been used many times before. Do you really want the same well-oiled, bare-chested cowboy kissing the girl that’s on a dozen other books? Or that same green-eyed-fire-breathing-hamster? Wait. Never mind. That one I’m saving for my own book!

    [caption id="attachment_1698" align="alignleft" width="140" caption="Original cover"

    Revised Ebook & POD cover

    Be sure you acquire the correct resolution and format before creating your cover. Kindle requires jpeg (minimum) 600 x 800 pixels. To get into the Apple iStore, the book cover must be at least 600 px high.

    I used Photoshop to create my covers. After choosing the cover image(s) I removed the background, and then layered onto the file. So the background color is one layer, the cat/dog another, the color bands a third, the title a fourth, cover blurb the fifth and author name a final layer. I’m not terribly happy with the ComPETability cover and may rework that but the others turned out reasonably well. And hey–the covers were free!

    June sales increased once again. So the covers appear to be doing their job. Part of sales increase resulted from June being Adopt A Cat Month–which brings me to the next topic in the series. I cover pricing and marketing Ebooks in next week’s Tuesday Tips!

    I love hearing from you, so please share comments and questions–and to stay up to date on all the latest just subscribe the blog, “like” me on Facebook, listen to the weekly radio show, and sign up for Pet Peeves newsletter with pet book give-aways!

    Category Writing Advice & More | Tags: ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, | 7 Comments

  2. TUESDAY TIPS KINDLE-IZATION #2: BRASS RING OR LEAD BALLOON?

    May 17, 2011 by Amy Shojai

    1-B-Seren&books 1-21-08

    Last April 2011 I embarked on my Kindle-ization Journey, and shared my angst, teeth-gnashing and happy wags along the way. The following info I first presented at the Cat Writers Association, Inc. annual writers conference, and the updated EBOOKS DIY at the May 2011 OWFI Conference–but we ran out of time. Here’s the recap, along with the rest of the story. The #1 installment provided links from the handouts, but never fear, I’ll include those as we go. Today’s installment discusses WHY DO IT.

    WHY DO IT?

    I love print books, aka DTB (dead-tree books), the physical hold-it-in-your-hand-smell-good-touchy-feely book! Don’t you? And after 23 books pub’d, nothing beats the thrill of opening that box of spankin’ new hot-off-the-press book, and turning those crisp pages. Reading a DTB offers a tactile experience you can’t get with Ebooks, and with nonfiction–my niche–folks like scribbling notes and suchlike in the physical tome.

    But publishing is a business–pronounced “bidness.” In publishing, sell-through is the name of the game—that’s the percentage of books shipped to stores that ACTUALLY sell—and don’t get returned. But DTBs cost money to store, space to shelve, $ to ship and with the shrinking number of brick-and-mortar bookstores out there, competition for shelf space and shelf longevity turns cutthroat. It used to be a 50 percent sell-through was considered okay.  Now, publishers and retailers want an 80 percent sell-through. That’s hard for even the best-selling established authors to manage!

    veterinarian surgeon
    Publishing needs surgery.

    My colleague Bob Mayer, a best-selling thriller author and now Ebook pro, says the “legacy” publishers and bookstores figured out how to solve that problem.  They order less copies of titles per store from authors who aren’t the mega-bestsellers.  Where does that leave Niche & Midlist authors? Doomed.

    EBOOK ADVANTAGES

    • New Life for Backlist/Out of Print Books

    I used to think my books would stay in print for years and fund my retirement–YOU FOOL! Instead, they went out of print and my author copies sat collecting dust under the bed

    But with Ebooks, authors who got out-of-print book rights reverted can leverage that intellectual property, and reap the rewards. You’ve already done all the hard work! Currently I have updated and re-released 5 of my nonfiction titles as Ebooks. Beats the hell out of remaindered copies gathering dust under the bed–AND it keeps the author’s name alive on the virtual bookshelves.

    There are now “legacy authors” turning down big deals to go indy with their new titles, too. These name authors include Bob Mayer, JA Konrath, Brett Battles and more. Barry Eisler recently turned down $500k from St Martins, saying he’ll make more DIY over the long term.

    • Added Opportunity for Midlist & Niche Books

    Ebooks are an alternative path for ‘new’ writers. Ebooks are NOT a shortcut–according to them-what-know, approximately the same 1/2 percent “make it big” in Ebooks as in taking the traditional route. As a result, there is LOTS of crap being published as Ebooks just because…well, just because.

    If you have modest success, you make gas money. If you shoot the moon, agents/editors come to you. The poster child for Ebook success, Amanda Hocking, sold 900,000 copies of her nine books in a year—launched April 2010, offered $2 million deal & signed with St Martin’s Press.

    Midlist & Niche Ebooks sell HUGE once you’re known as THE author for XYZ. Frankly, fiction books sell much better than nonfiction (it’s that physical book thingy folks really prefer with nonfiction). But two of my nonfiction Kindle titles are best sellers in their niche. As with traditional/legacy publishing, AUTHOR BRANDING is key…you’ll want to check out Kristen Lamb’s Blog for help with that.

    • Author control re: cover, editing, pricing, distribution
    Adam Stritar's cat Holstein
    The updated “cutting edge” E-book never goes out of print, and will always be up to date!

    After 20+ years with legacy publishing, author control becomes a VBD (very big deal) in my world. Find a typo? With Ebooks you can fix that. Heroine described as a redheaded were-cat, but book cover shows a black wolf? DO-OVER! Traditional publishing sells books to bookstores–authors write books for readers. Authors worth their salt KNOW the audience/reader, and if a book doesn’t sell, can adjust price, cover, and more. It’s not like jumping off a cliff…do-overs are legal.

    • Immediate Publishing vs 12 to 18 month delays

    Hallelujia and pass the spaghetti sauce! With timely topics–NONFICTION, DUH!–that can make or break the book. Sort of a buzz-killer for my “Pet Care in the New Century” book publication to be postponed until waaaaay past the year 2000. Now that it’s an Ebook, whenever something “cutting edge” breaks out in the media, I can update the book and ride that wave IMMEDIATELY! Fiction authors who time their story to a particular event or time of the year also can play with timing.

    • DIY is FREE!

    For the most popular Ebook formats, authors can easily format themselves–for free. (I’ll get into other costs in later installments…)

    [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="336" caption="What IS that $$$$$$$$$ucking sound you here?" 10-13 Magic + vacuum

    The old dawgs don't wanna give up control of their toys . . .

    • 35-70% Royalty

    The legacy model for Ebook royalties offers 25% royalty. That’s NOT 25% of the sale price–when publishers go Ebook, THEY get the 35-70% royalty, and then offer the author 25% of that 35- 70%. When you’re fortunate enough to have an agent, you share with him/her, too. Barry Eisler crunched the numbers and for him, the actual E-royalty would be 14.9% compared to 70% if he self-pub’d.

    NO-BRAINER!

    As of late Fall 2010, Kindle books outsold hardcovers on Amazon, and Jan 2011, Amazon reported more Kindle books sold than paperbacks. Publishing isn’t changing—it’s already there, and accelerating. You either get on the train, stand aside or get run over.

    Fortune magazine article quoted a Barnes and Noble representative admitting that in next two years there’ll be more electronic than print books. My publisher says it will be by the end of this year at least for fiction. Our sales have been 95% ebook sales for fiction, but 50/50 nonfiction split between Epubs and print.

    Folks will argue that the majority of self-pub’ed books don’t sell many copies. Hell’s bells, neither do the majority of legacy published books!

    If your book sucks, you’ll never get a legacy deal, but you’ll sell at least a few copies by self-pubbing. If your book is awesome, you’ll be giving up 70% royalties for 14.9% royalties. Either way, you make more going indie.

    Next Tuesday Tips KINDLE-IZATION #3 will cover some of the pros and cons, challenges of Ebooks, and various paths available. Stay tuned!

    I love hearing from you, so please share comments and questions–and to stay up to date on all the latest just subscribe the blog, “like” me on Facebook, listen to the weekly radio show, and sign up for Pet Peeves newsletter with pet book give-aways!

    Category Writing Advice & More | Tags: ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, | 23 Comments