And just my luck, August’s theme is Cover Art, a topic of which I know nothing.
I have bartered for cover art, had my publisher design cover art, but have never created my own cover art, and honestly I don’t know where to begin.
I admit that cover’s are important, but they are not my specialty in any way.
Here is my thoughts on covers. I don’t care.
Personally, I am going to read a book because of the author, the series, because a friend recommended I read something, or because an author requested that I review their book on my blog. That’s it. Covers do not even register on my “I am going to or not going to buy/read this book.”
I have seen some book covers that I’m like, “what is that?” Others where I am like “Awesome cover, horrible book description.”
But, I am in the minority of readers. I know a lot of readers who buy books because the cover looks great, so covers are important, but I am not the one to tell you why, how, or even how much a quality professional cover costs (like I said, I barter for covers).
So, with that, have a great August, and I will do what I can to find some guests to talk about covers, and invite my co-host of this blog, Alicia Scarborough (a Photoshop Sorceress who designs phenomenal covers) to share her insights on the month’s theme.
July’s topics are Book Contests and Author Coventions, two topics I know very little about.
I know very little about book contests. The little research i have done has been a simple google search, which pulls up a lot of contests with pricey entry fees. The only exception, and only contest i have ever participated in was AllAuthor’s Cover of the Month contest, which Kindled Legends, A Burning Embers Anthology took 3rd place in last September.
Quite honestly, the only author convention I am interested in attending is Realm Makers, a convention for Speculative Fiction Authors who believe in Christ. Maybe one day I will be able to attend. A future convention I may be interested in attending, and hosting, is a potentional Burning Embers Author Convention, but right now that is a a few years down the road.
I don’t really have anything more of value to say about the June topics of Radio Silence and Promo Art. And I have zero experience with Author Retreats.
Sure, at some point in the future I am not opposed by the idea of hosting an author retreat. Nor am I opposed to the idea of attending a retreat.
In my early stages of research for author retreats, I came across this website.
It has a list of a handful of author retreats. If attending a retreat is something you are interested, check it out.
And if you would be interested in attending a future (if it happens, it will not happen any sooner than the summer of 2022) Author Retreat featured by Burning Embers, comment below that you are interested, and what type of activities and resources that would entice you to join our retreat as compared to any other.
By radio silence, Ally and I mean it is important to take a day or two a week to avoid social media. That doesn’t mean you can’t have something scheduled to post on your silence day, it just means that on your silence day, you stay away from social media platforms and play the video games on your phone instead.
Why do I think radio silence is important?
I don’t know. I’m really good at not being on my social media platforms for long stretches, but am really bad at staying off of Messenger for even one day. It seems every time I promise myself I will stay offline, someone wants to chat.
I do strive to have my radio silence days on Saturday and Sundays.
The benefits to me of having radio silence is that when I do come back to work I am more energetic, refreshed, and creative.
And in the name of testing radio silence, I am not going to post anything on Thursday, and let you know next week how that went for me.
Wow, that is something I really do not know how to do.
I am expert at finding friends who do. But for me, the only photo manipulation software I can use is PowerPoint, believe it or not.
I have followed Canva’s tutorial, and still have no idea how to use it. I can’t make heads or tails of Photoshop. I was trained as a kid in school how to use Microsoft Paintbrush, but that was long ago, and I was never good at it unless I had the instructions open and followed every step. As soon as I closed the book, I completely forgot everything.
So my hat’s off to anyone who can create promo art. I think you are incredibly talented.
Well, that begs the question as to where my promo art comes from. Easy. One of two sources. I either commission it or I barter services. That works for me. I like to BETA read, what I usually barter services for.
June, according to my schedule, is the month to discuss Promo Art, Radio Silence for Authors, and Author Retreats.
Well, considering I don’t know much of anything about any of the above, looks like I will be doing some research.
Let’s start the month off by chatting about Promo Art.
Promo Art is awesome. I use teasers and book trailers all the time. I use them on Pintrest, or I will use them on Pintrest whenever I get around to it. I use them on Twitter for fun, they are all over my Facebook Page.
As a blogger who interviews authors on my personal blog, jqmserv.wordpress.com, weekly, I see a big difference in interviews with promo art and the ones that are just text. Guess which ones I find more interesting?
Above are my two favorite promo images I use for The United, The Realm of the Light Book 1, thanks to Alicia Scarborough, a Photoshop Sorceress in her own right. The Light bless the day I met her. She understands these things a lot better than I, and is so generous with her time, and such a sweet person, that she willingly barters services with me. To be honest, I think I do less for her than she does for me, but that’s why it’s important to me to have good friends I can trust.
Promo Art, it can be the difference between a best seller and lost in the crowd. (no, that is not a quote from someone else, I just thought of it. Hmm, maybe I can create an image with it on it. *shaking head. Nah. We want someone who knows how to make good promo art do that, so maybe I will commission it to be done at some distant future time.)
Have a great night, and may June be a wonderful month!
