Tag: The Inside Scoop—Q&amp;As with Self-Published Authors

In A Few Quick Questions With..., Self-Published Authors Appreciation Week

On July 26, 2023

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I was aware of H.C. Newell only because I’d skim something on Twitter and have to stop—”I never said anything like that…oh, Newell. Never mind.” I’m very glad that JCM Berne got us together—if only so the two of us could clear up our name confusion. But more than that, I enjoyed these answers and advice. I took something away from it, hope you do, too.

Before we get into things, why don't you give the reader a brief introduction to you and your work.
Heyooo my name is H.C. Newell (Not to be confused with the illustrious H.C. Newton who is running this shindig) I’ve been writing my entire life and published my first book, Curse of the Fallen, in 2021. I’m sure you’ve heard of it, but if not, here is a quick little blurb and even a link to chapter one that you can read for free 😀

Nerana is a sorceress born in a world where magic is forbidden. Outcast, exiled, and hunted since birth, she seeks to free herself of a curse that ties her to the Order of Saro who relentlessly hunt her down.

Her hope now lies in a legend from the time of the elves that speaks of the Trials of Blood, a test that promises salvation. Darkness gathers, and the hunters close in on their prey, but with little left to lose Nerana embarks on her perilous journey and soon learns that the path to redemption may prove more fatal than the Order itself.

But for Nerana, this is more than a quest for survival… it’s a promise of revenge.

You digging it? Grimdark Magazine called it “a grimdark twist on classic Tolkienesque fantasy”

My Linktree has all my links, including a PDF of chapter one for you to download and read 😀

How do you promote your book–what things have worked best for you? What kind of lessons have you learned for things not to do (at least for you)? Do you do any in-person marketing, or are you all on-line (I assume predominately online)
Networking has worked the best for me. I love people and interacting and just integrating myself into the community. (I’ve never used paid ads and never will.) The book speaks for itself, so I just share my blurb and cover and let readers decide if they want to give it a shot. Everyone has their style, and I know my book isn’t for everybody, so all I can do is show it to you and let you decide if it’s a good fit. 😀

Supporting other authors, making connections, and genuinely caring about their success can make a huge difference. Don’t just be in this for yourself – we’re all in this together. That’s my philosophy, anyway. Everyone is trying to succeed, and some may view others as competition, but there are billions of people in the world and millions of books to read – there is no need to try to put yourself above someone else. Be kind, be caring, and enjoy the journey.

My advice for newer authors, or those struggling to see sales: make yourself known. No one will see your book if you don’t show it to us. Be part of the community, work together with others and find friendship in fellow authors or readers. I promise we’re a good bunch.

Sound advice! A rising tide does seem to lift all boats. Indie and self-published authors seem to be great at lifting each other up—and yeah, it does make me more inclined to check someone out when I see them interacting with others. I don’t know if it’s possible (this feels like one of those job interview questions I hate), but can you give a specific example?
Uh… haha it’s hard to really be more specific here. Just being involved in the community and caring about other’s successes as much as your own is a good start. My philosophy is that we’re all in this together. This isn’t a competition, it’s a journey.

Join the discords, join twitter, integrate yourself within the community, make friends, and also be sure that your cover and blurb are attracting readers. Reach out to bloggers for review copies, send out arc copies, join sale events. The list goes on 🙂

Another big thing I forgot to mention: don’t ever ever compare yourself to others. It’s something we all struggle with, and it can really make or break your spirit. There is a big luck (and monetary) factor that comes with success, and just because someone else is having more success than you right now don’t mean you won’t or don’t deserve to be recognized. Just focus on yourself, what you’ve achieved, and keep moving forward. Don’t give up or lose yourself to the ‘why’s’

ToriTalks has an amazing video that I think is very motiving for authors who are struggling with things like this. Dear Writer Video

Self-publishing tends to have less external deadlines keeping one accountable. How do you maintain your work process or work ethic?
I never ever ever rush or force anything. I’d rather wait two years for an amazing book/movie/game to release than to have it now for the sake of deadlines and it be subpar. So, I don’t really have a schedule. I can’t. My brain doesn’t work that way. Creativity ebbs and flows, so I roll with the punches. Some days I can write entire chapters, other days I can’t write a single word. I have a deadline in mind that I strive to meet, but I never set an actual date until my book is in my editor’s hands and I know it’ll be completed in time.

If you were to start the process over with the experience you have now, what would you do differently?
I would research more, not hire an editor for things like developmental editing and used beta’s instead. I would’ve had more beta readers and I would’ve read more books so I could’ve understood what readers enjoy. I’d have also joined twitter from the start, instead of being so afraid of it and waiting 2 years!

Why not an editor for the developmental stage—just the kind of feedback they provided vs. your betas? How many beta readers did you use, and how many would you have? For you, what does a good beta reader bring to the table? (this is partially selfish, I’ve done it twice and haven’t been satisfied with what I produced)
I had a developmental editor, and the price (for me) wasn’t worth it. Everything they tell you can be told by a beta reader for free. This isn’t advice for someone else to follow, just what I would’ve done differently for myself. Some people prefer dev edits because the trust the opinion of a professional on those things. Book one I had 1 beta reader, book 2 I had 3. I think 3-5 is a good number that isn’t overwhelming.

For me, I don’t care to have betas correct my grammar or try to edit the novel. It’s fine when they do, but I get the most help when they can give their honest feedback on more structural things like pacing, plot progression, how captivating the scenes are, etc. Just general reactions are my favorite types of beta feedback.

How do you decide a book is finally finished and ready? (or how do you avoid “perfection as the enemy of good”?)
For me, a book is never perfect. I’ve read my book a dozen times since I published, and every single time, I find things that I want to change. It’s just a part of being an author. You are your biggest critic. Once the book is completely written (draft 1) you need to comb through it with a critical eye, find what works and what doesn’t, polish it up, and then send draft 2 to beta readers. Once you’ve read through their suggestions and made the necessary changes, then it’s time to send to the editor.

Your book is finished after it’s completely written, reread by you and then read by a handful of readers who can help you find mistakes you may have missed along the way.

I can rarely stomach re-reading a blog post of mine because I want to tweak so many things, and I devote far less time to one than a novel would take. I can’t imagine doing it to a novel. The last time that you revisited Curse of the Fallen, what kind of changes did you want to make—are we talking a word here or there, a few lines—chapters/events?
Well, the last time I actually sat down to re-edit Curse, I added 40,000 words and 4 chapters lol!!! I still find things that I want to change, such as slowing the pace, adding more filler, slowing down some of the relationship arcs, etc, but no book is perfect, and readers are always happy to point out flaws that you wish you could change. I have to learn to stop reading ANY book with a critical/editorial eye and to just enjoy the journey.:)

Thanks for your time and participation! Hope you enjoyed it! And do know that there are many of us out here who appreciate and applaud what you do (and our number is growing)!

I encourage you to go check out all of H.C. Newell‘s work!

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The Inside Scoop—A Q&A with Jonathan Fesmire About Self-Publishing

In A Few Quick Questions With..., Self-Published Authors Appreciation Week

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I’ve talked about Fesmire’s Steampunk Westerns a lot–I’ve even promoted his crowd-funding campaigns. So I was quite pleased to get him to talk about his self-publishing work, too. I hope you enjoy it.

Before we get into things, why don’t you give the reader a brief introduction to you and your work.
Sure! I’ve been writing for decades, and I’ve been a science fiction, fantasy, and horror fan all my life. I write steampunk westerns with robots and zombies, all in the same world I’ve been building for years. I call it the Creedverse, after the main character, 1870s lawman James “Bodacious” Creed.

The easiest way to find all my links is via my Linktree site at https://linktr.ee/jonathanfesmire. From there, you can visit my website, join my newsletter and get a free short story, check out my books on various sites, including Audible, visit the Creedverse site, and even check out my TikTok channel.

Are you using any kind of crowd-funding to help with that? What have those experiences been like?
Indeed I do! I’ve run crowdfunding campaigns for my trilogy, The Adventures of Bodacious Creed. It’s a fantastic way to get the word out about the new book, make some early sales, and get enough money to pay for editing and cover art, plus fulfilling the rewards.

For the first book in my series, Bodacious Creed: a Steampunk Zombie Western, I ran the Kickstarter when I had a basic outline for the novel. I knew I’d be able to write it. What this allowed me to do is give backers, depending on their backer level, input into the story. One integral character was based on the backer himself. By the time I was on the third book, Bodacious Creed and the San Francisco Syndicate, I’d written the first draft, then ran the campaign.

As I recall, you’ve used a couple of different crowd-funding sites in the past. What are the pluses/minuses for each? Any advice for someone thinking of trying this method?
I prefer Kickstarter, because Kickstarter has a larger audience than Indiegogo. With Kickstarter, if your project doesn’t raise it’s goal, it doesn’t go through. But on Indiegogo, you can have a goal, and get the funding even if the project makes less. So, here’s what I figured out with my last Kickstarter campaign, the one for my novel Bodacious Creed and the San Francisco Syndicate: Set the goal to the lowest amount that will help you.

Here’s what I mean by that. You may have a project that you need a certain amount of money to even be able to afford. Maybe you project that it will cost $2,000 just to develop a product. Then, you need to fulfil the backer orders, including shipping. Certain backer levels will cost a higher percentage of what backers pay for you to produce. For example, digital copies of books are essentially free to send out, while print copies cost more. So, if someone pledges $5.00 for a digital book, that’s $5 you can put toward costs like editing and cover art. If a person pledges $25 for a paperback (plus $5 for shipping), you may make $15 on that. That’s 100% toward development for the digital copies, and 60% from the print copy (not counting the shipping).

I recommend people check out Don Stainsberg’s The Kickstarter Handbook, which provides the info they’ll need to create a spreadsheet to figure out how low they can set their goal and still make enough to cover everything.

Anyway, what I realized when running my last Kickstarter was this. I was going to pay for editing and cover art, anyway. And that meant that any bit of money I raised from a Kickstarter would offset my costs, and I could set the goal to something low. I set it for $300. If that meant I ended up with $150 to put toward those services, that was better than nothing. What ended up happening, though, was the $300 was pledged in six hours! I added a sticker to the graphic that said, “Funded in 6 hours!” That looks really good to potential backers. And it ended up raising $1,681. I was hoping for $1,600, so that was great.

So, my advice would be to use Kickstarter, but put the goal at the lowest level that will cover your expenses. Or, if you plan to pay those, anyway, you can set it even lower.

How do you juggle marketing/PR/etc. with writing new work? (along with day jobs, family, hobbies, etc., etc.)
I’m lucky that I work from home! At my day job, I’m a content writer, so I’m basically writing for work, writing my fiction, worldbuilding, or editing a lot of the time. I’m a single dad and, of course, spend a lot of time with my son. But being able to do all my work from home really helps.

Self-publishing tends to have less external deadlines keeping one accountable. How do you maintain your work process or work ethic?
You have to get to a point where you internalize the urgency to write. Also, you need to remember that it’s a long-haul sort of profession. Writing a novel takes time. Get 500 to 1,000 words written a day, and you’re making good progress. If you can do more, great. But you need to understand it’s a process you need to take a day at a time.

“Internalize the urgency,” I like that phrase. It lines up with what some others in this series are telling me—it’s not so much a matter of work-ethic (although I’m sure it’s there, too), but about interest in the work. Did you have to cultivate that to go from “aspiring author” to “working author” or did you start with it?
’ve definitely had periods when I wasn’t writing much, and in the aughts, I focused on digital art for a while. I’m glad I got back to writing, which I feel is my true calling.

Writers are people who feel a need to write and do so to get their thoughts down. It’s how we best deal with our emotions and everything going on in our heads. So, writing is just what I do. And I write a lot every day. Most days, I write in my online journal, I work on whatever book I have in progress, and I also write for my day job as a content writer.

I think I had to accept that this is just what I do, and that it’s good for me. The fact that I’m not getting any younger helps, too! I’m 53, and by the time I leave this world, I want to have a lot of books out. I also hope to make enough off my books so that when I retire from my day job, I’ll be making a good living on top of my social security.

One thing that helped a lot is learning to outline my books before writing them. I have to admit, it took me a long time to learn that. I was a pantser for too long, and that meant my books came along painfully slowly. Now, rather than taking four years to write a book, it takes me a year to a year and a half. And I’m trying to streamline that even more. (A pantser is someone who writes books without a plan and figures it out as they go.) I now use a beat sheet to plan the major plot points of a novel and figure out how to get from one point to the next as I go.

Another useful way to get a lot of writing done is by using the pomodoro technique, also known as writing sprints. Set an alarm for 15 to 25 minutes, and during that time, all you do is write. When the timer goes off, you stop, and take a short break, then repeat. Do this a few times every day, and you’ll get a lot of writing done.

Thanks for your time and participation! Hope you enjoyed it! And do know that there are many of us out here who appreciate and applaud what you do (and our number is growing)!

If you like Steampunk, Westerns, Zombies–especially all three–or just books that are fun and well-told, be sure to check out all of Fesmire’s work!

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The Inside Scoop—A Q&A with Alex Robins About Self-Publishing

In A Few Quick Questions With..., Self-Published Authors Appreciation Week

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When JCM Berne’s post brought me an email from Alex Robins something gnawed at the back of my mind. It took me entirely too long to remember that I’d recently participated in a cover reveal for his book, Panacea. I was so glad to learn a bit more about his work and am eager to share it with you.

Before we get into things, why don’t you give the reader a brief introduction to you and your work.
Hi there and thank you for putting this whole thing together! I’m Alex Robins, an indie self-published author, originally from Norwich in the UK. I moved to France in 1995 at the age of thirteen, and I’ve been living here ever since! I now share my time between writing and running a tech firm close to Angers, an attractive city in the western part of the Loire Valley.

I’ve written two series. The first is called the War of the Twelve, a fast-paced, action-packed epic fantasy spanning four novels and a handful of short stories. The second is The Ruined Gods, an Ancient-Greek inspired fantasy trilogy. The first book Panacea, is out right now and entered into this year’s SPFBO contest, with the second book releasing in September and the final part sometime early next year.

Depending on your choices, your budget will vary wildly.

There is one indubitable, irrevocable fact that I’m sure no other indie author will dispute (if they do, we’ll have to settle our grievances in single combat): your book will not sell well or be well-received if it hasn’t been professionally edited and doesn’t have a professional-looking cover.

There are a few very (very!) minor exceptions but for the most part, that’s the deal-breaker.

If your book is the best thing since sliced bread but you mocked up the cover yourself in Microsoft paint, no one will ever know how good it is because no one will be drawn to the cover.

Conversely, if your book’s cover was designed by the greatest artist who ever lived but has five typos, six grammatical errors, and two repeated sentences on the first page, people will buy it … but they won’t finish it, and may even leave a bad review.

An editor will set you back several thousand dollars per book. Editors specialize in one or several different facets of revision too (from development to proofreading), so your manuscript may need more than one editor depending on what you are looking for.

You can find some great professional covers for as little as $300, but these will be using manipulated stock art so you have to be okay with the fact that your cover will not be unique (or at the very least, parts of the cover may be reused for something else).

Hiring an artist and layout designer for a truly unique cover is much more expensive, around $1500-$2000 at the very minimum.
Those are the two major areas I would personally recommend investing in. Optionally, you can also set aside funds for proof copies, an internet site, a mailing-list builder, and marketing.

I invested heavily in all of these and it took me roughly a year to break even on my debut novel, but that length of time is going down with subsequent releases.

Are there tools, mentors, websites you’ve found to help you through this process? Or did you stumble through blindly on your own?
One of the great things about self-publishing is the altruism of fellow authors. I would have never been able to publish my first book properly without their help.

Ryan Cahill started publishing more or less at the same time as me and has gone on to sell over 50,000 books. He wrote a great article on what worked for him that I still refer to occasionally: Things I Wish I Knew When I Started Self-Publishing

Kindlepreneur is a wonderful resource for anyone publishing digitally, and they host a smorgasbord of useful tools including Publisher Rocket and Atticus: https://kindlepreneur.com/

David Gaughran is a well-respected marketing guru who had a ton of good advice available for free on his site, and if you sign up for his newsletter you can get a whole lot more, including free books on publishing and marketing: https://davidgaughran.com/
There are many, many others, but this is a good start!

How do you juggle marketing/PR/etc. with writing new work? (along with day jobs, family, hobbies, etc., etc.)
It’s incredibly difficult. I don’t really get to choose when I write, as professional and family obligations come first. My more-or-less only writing time is late in the evening, once the kids are in bed and I have spent some time with my wife.

As I touched on in the previous question, I think very early on a self-pub author needs to decide whether they are writing for money, or for something else. For me, it was (and still is) all about the escapism that writing brings. Financial gain and recognition come second to that. So, I always prioritize writing first, then anything else when I have time.

Have you thought about trying to get a deal with major (or indie) publishers for upcoming works, or are you planning on sticking with self-publishing?
To be honest, when you see and hear how a lot of traditionally-published authors are being treated today it would have to be a massive check to pull me away from self-publishing.

Odds are, you’re doing this from love/passion, not to pay the bills. What keeps you going? I’m assuming there are more “who”s than “what”s, actually–who is it?
Writing is just so incredibly cathartic for me I don’t really need any external motivation. Whenever I’ve had a difficult day, I open up my laptop, dive into my latest draft, and all the worries of the world fade away

Thanks for your time and participation! Hope you enjoyed it! And do know that there are many of us out here who appreciate and applaud what you do (and our number is growing!)

Be sure to check out all of Alex Robins’ work! (if only for the covers…money well spent, there)

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The Inside Scoop—A Q&A with Matthew Hanover About Self-Publishing

In A Few Quick Questions With..., Self-Published Authors Appreciation Week

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At this point, it feels strange for me to write an introduction for Matthew Hanover, because I’ve been talking about his books–and doing Q&As with him–for years now. But I know that not everyone reading this today will have read all of that–so let me just say that he’s a great author, a nice and supportive guy, and someone you should get to know.

One way to do that is through his book Not Prepared, which releases today.

Neil Bennett, a highly sought-after wedding photographer, knows all about romance and happily ever afters—for everyone but himself. As a chronic hypochondriac pushing forty, Neil has convinced himself that marriage and children just aren’t in the cards for him.

But then fate throws Neil a curveball when his 12-year-old god-daughter Chloe shows up at his door after being abandoned by her mother. She has nowhere else to go and suddenly, Neil’s bachelor lifestyle is thrown into disarray as he grapples with endless sensitive and awkward situations that come with caring for a preteen girl in his small apartment.

As Neil questions whether he’s ready to flip his world upside down, there’s a glimmer of hope when he meets Jenna Kaplan, a young and ambitious interior designer. She has her own quirks and idiosyncrasies that might just make them perfect for each other—and the ideal parents for Chloe. Suddenly, Neil has to face the possibility that he, too, can have his happily ever after… if he doesn’t screw things up.

Before we get into things, why don’t you give the reader a brief introduction to you and your work.
Hey there, I’m just Matthew Hanover, your average guy trying to make a living in the world of marketing. But when the day is done and the weekends arrive, I find solace in writing novels. Inspired by the talents of Nick Hornby and Jonathan Tropper, I specialize in contemporary fiction and romantic comedies. It all started with a single story that I couldn’t get out of my head, but as time went on, I realized there were more stories within me waiting to be told.

I typically can be found on Twitter @matthewhanover, Instagram @matthanoverfiction, and you can always reach out to me via my website, matthewhanover.com.

What are some of the biggest misconceptions you find that readers have about self-published books?
I think the most common misconception is that self-published books aren’t as good as traditionally published books. But, the fact is that the publishing industry is so competitive it’s hard for many authors to land an agent or get a deal. Frankly, getting a book deal is no guarantee of success and plenty of independent authors do well and make more money than their traditionally-published counterparts.

Do you do your own cover design, or have you found people to help with that? It seems almost as difficult as writing the novel itself–talk about the process a bit.
I recently hired an illustrator to redo all of my covers and do the cover for my next book. While I didn’t feel there was anything particularly wrong with my previous covers, I felt a refresh was necessary to help catch the eyes of different readers.
For what it’s worth, I didn’t find anything particularly lacking with the previous covers, but the new versions are great!

How do you juggle marketing/PR/etc. with writing new work? (along with day jobs, family, hobbies, etc., etc.)
I honestly don’t get to spend as much time marketing my books as I need to, and certain platforms are difficult for me to make a splash in.

How do you promote your book–what things have worked best for you? What kind of lessons have you learned for things not to do (at least for you)? Do you do any in-person marketing, or are you all online (I assume predominately online)
My marketing and promotion are 100% online. Though sometimes I toss a paperback in a Little Free Library.

What made you decide that self-publishing was the direction you wanted to go? How often do you question that choice? How do you get through the self-doubt?
Honestly, I never considered trying to go the traditional route. I never wanted the pressure of worrying about querying agents and publishers. I just wanted to write and get my stories out in the world.

Have you thought about trying to get a deal with major (or indie) publishers for upcoming works, or are you planning on sticking with self-publishing?
I never considered seeking representation or attempting to get a traditional book publishing contract. Over the years, I’ve seen several indie authors try and struggle with the process. Even those who managed to get a book deal are not guaranteed success by going with a publisher. Sure, there’s some cachet that goes with it, but I’m not convinced it’s worth it.

Odds are, you’re doing this from love/passion, not to pay the bills. What keeps you going? I’m assuming there are more “who”s than “what”s, actually–who is it?
Honestly, if I had just one story in me I wanted to tell, I’d have written it, published it, and been okay with just that. I just found that there were more stories I wanted to tell, and so in the end, as long there’s something I want to write, I’ll write it.

Self-publishing tends to have less external deadlines keeping one accountable. How do you maintain your work process or work ethic?
I have a tendency to trust my creative drive. If I’m not inspired to write, I won’t force it. When the inspiration and desire hits, I’ll do the work. Not having a deadline to meet allows me to create at my own pace, free of pressure. If I believe in a story enough, there’s no question that it will get out there eventually, so I don’t worry about it.

What is your favorite and least favorite thing about being self-published?
My favorite thing is having total control over the content and design direction. My least favorite thing is incurring the costs of editing, cover design, etc.

What was your process for learning how to take care of all the facets that go into self-publishing? (editing, book cover and design, ISBN, finding places to sell/distribute, etc.)?
Amazon made the process quite easy, and I picked up on the process quickly.

How do you decide a book is finally finished and ready? (or how do you avoid “perfection as the enemy of good”?)
For me, the real problem is getting too anxious and putting something out there before its ready. My third novel was not properly copyedited when I released it. I was too excited to get it out there and there were some typos that readers caught. I’m not making that mistake again with my next novel, which is coming out in July.

Thanks for your time and participation! Hope you enjoyed it! And do know that there are many of us out here who appreciate and applaud what you do (and our number is growing)!

I say this every time a Hanover book is released–be sure to check out all of his work!

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The Inside Scoop—A Q&A with e rathke About Self-Publishing

In A Few Quick Questions With..., Literary Locals, Self-Published Authors Appreciation Week

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e rathke is one of those authors that came my way thanks to JCM Berne–I’d never encountered them or their work before, but there’s plenty of good looking material out there to dive into.

In particular, I’d like to point you to Iron Wolf, which is released today. The description of it is:

The giantess Lady Agova leads Virgil and Vera home to Avalon. All they have to do is get through the gate. But that gate throws them into an interdimensional labyrinth full of nightmares.

Set in a desolate postapocalyptic world where science and magic blend and reality itself twists and bends, where some attempt to grow a new world while others delve through the detritus of a shattered civilization, Iron Wolf continues the monster hunting journey began in Howl.

Before we get into things, why don’t you give the reader a brief introduction to you and your work.
I write weekly essays about games and books at my substack. All my essays are free and available to anyone. I’ve begun serializing a steampunked mix of Harry Potter and Gundam over there as well. On top of that, I’m now releasing weekly short stories. Paying subscribers get the ebook versions of my novels included in their subscription and they receive those a month before publication.

Along with all that, I also publish novels. The Howling Earth is a lofi cyberpunk mashing together of Vampire Hunter D and Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun, though I’ve also received a fair amount of Dark Souls comparisons as well. The first novel came out December 2022 with the second novel out this week, and a third coming in November. 2024 will have four more.

With Kyle Muntz, I cowrite The Shattered Stars series. Imagine Star Trek: The Next Generation where the crew is straight out of Firefly and you get The Shattered Stars. Though it’s an ongoing serial, each “episode” is meant to stand alone and be enjoyed even for those who just want to dip in and out of the series. The first episode came out in March, with the second out in June. The third and fourth are coming September and December, and we have the entire second season completed and ready to publish quarterly through 2024.

But, yeah, lots going on! I’m also narrating a children’s serial about a pirate named Carrot. This began as a daily bedtime story for my son, but I began recording it as well so that he can return to the story whenever he wants. Because I had the audio already done, I began a podcast to release new episodes weekly.

(I love the idea behind the podcast, will be adding it to my rotation)

Do you do your own cover design, or have you found people to help with that? It seems almost as difficult as writing the novel itself–talk about the process a bit.
Most of my covers are done by Christopher Olson. I wish he had a website because he’s a great artist. Very talented and capable of just about any style I want.

I’ve toyed with the idea of doing covers myself, since I go through a lot of them each year, but that really just isn’t my skillset. Christopher is a friend and we work well together. I usually tell him what I want for the cover and try to lead him towards a style that I’m looking for. Then he does his magic and I’m always surprised by what he shows me.

Ultimately, the book cover is your face to potential audiences, so it’s worth it to take the time and find the people who will give you what you want and how you want it. Covers can be expensive, too, which is probably the biggest barrier for some. For that reason, they’ll decide to do their own covers. Which is great! But it’s really not what I’m good at.

It’s great to have a friend like that! The graphics on my site are the same way—if they look homemade, that’s me (frequently, it’s me defacing the work of a talented cartoonist/illustrator). If they look decent, that’s the work of a friend of mine who does graphic design.
Ha, I wish I even had the talent to make bad art. It would save me a lot of time! It would also allow me to do my own illustrations for my books, which I’d love to have.

What made you decide that self-publishing was the direction you wanted to go? How often do you question that choice? How do you get through the self-doubt?
During the 2010s, I was pretty involved in small independent publishing. I worked with a handful of publishers in various ways, and I had three novels come out on independent presses.

Many have a good experience this way, but I mostly did not. I think the truth of small independent publishing is that many people just want their name in print and are less concerned with getting readers. This is especially true for the kind of publishing I was involved with, where many of the authors were MFA professors, aspiring MFA professors, MFA students, or aspiring MFA students.

The publication was more important for their CV than it was for anything else.

I don’t have an academic background. I wasn’t in an MFA or getting into one, and so I had very different goals with my own publishing. My bad experiences with these publishers—all of which no longer exist—led me to abandon publishing for about eight years.

I turned to self-publishing because of the freedom it allowed me. And so I don’t question the choice. I much prefer it to what I previously experienced through a more traditional route. To me, self-publishing is just fun. It also gives me control over my career and the flexibility to do what I want, how I want.

I publish a lot of books each year. If I were on a traditional press, they’d want me to have at most one or two books per year. In 2023, I’m publishing eight books. In 2024, I’ll be releasing 12.

There are downsides to this rapid pace, but I’m writing for fun and for those people who are ready and willing to ride along with me. When someone discovers one of my books, I want them to google me and find a dozen other books waiting for them.

As a reader, I always found that experience thrilling.

Having a backlist to dive into as a reader is always great, I agree. And more than one self-published author I’ve talked to has mentioned getting things out regularly. Eight books in a year is pretty impressive! How do you find the time for this? Sure, you multitask by podcasting your bedtime stories—but even that’s an investment of time after your son’s asleep.
Recording audio takes me quite a lot of time! I’m sure many people can do this in a fraction of the time it takes me but I would say it takes me about an hour to get ten minutes of audio. And even that audio could probably be improved tenfold by just a bit more technical know-how.(I was kidding about that, I hope that came through. I’ve listened to two episodes so far and those hours spent are evident!)

As for finding the time – I write a lot and I write relatively quickly. I’ve written a bit about my process in the past, but there is no trick to it beyond volume of hours sitting in front of your computer.

The one advantage I have over other people is that I have 20 or more novels and novellas sitting unpublished on my computer, so I could publish ten books a year for two years without even writing something new. That being said, only one novel coming out this year is taken from that store of novel(la)s. Though cowriting four per year also helps alleviate some of the load.

Also, length is an important driver. For better or worse, I’m primarily publishing novellas in the 20,000 word to 35,000 word range. I want people to be able to pick these up and read them in about the time it takes to watch a movie (sometimes a long movie). This may prove to be a mistake because people may want those big beefy novels. I have those written, too, but I guess I’m saving them.

Most countries have a thriving novella market, except the US. But I think we could have that and I think people want short books along with the big doorstoppers. With everyone else writing the huge books, I feel there’s a real space left open for people who want to pick up a book they can burn through in an evening.

Have you thought about trying to get a deal with major (or indie) publishers for upcoming works, or are you planning on sticking with self-publishing?
I do submit novels to major publishers. I’d be more than happy to get on a traditional press, though I think my goals are different than other hopeful writers.

The barrier to any writers—traditional or indie or self-published—is discoverability. You can be the best writer in the world, but if no one hears your name, they’ll probably never find your books. And so much of marketing for any book is a simple process of getting your name out there enough times for people to finally take notice.

For me, the benefit of a major press is that they make the first step easier. If I had a book come out on Tor or Harper or wherever else, thousands of people who had never heard of me would now hear or see my name for the first time.

That’s what I want. I mean, I’d be happy to have a successful book on a major publisher, but even if my book technically failed, by traditional publishing terms (fewer than 5,000 books sold), that would still be a success for me and where I’m at right now.
And so the benefit to me about major publishing is that it would broaden my potential fanbase immensely overnight.

Even so, it’s important to understand what major publishers are offering. Major publishers once gave every author a marketing budget and they’d have professionals handle this stuff. Now, they rely on individual authors to do their own marketing, line up their own book tours and interviews, and so on.

Which is the exact same thing self-published authors are already doing.

Because of this, the benefits that they offer are becoming fewer and fewer every year.

What is your favorite and least favorite thing about being self published?
My favorite thing is the flexibility and control.

My least favorite part is everything else!

I love writing. I would write all day, every day if I could. It’s what I want to do and it’s what I like doing. My ideal situation would be finishing a novel and handing it off to someone else to handle all the marketing, publicity, and so on.

Unfortunately, there’s just me. And so I’m not only the author. I’m also the business manager, the marketing department, the publicist, the accountant, the editor, and on and on.

It’s quite a lot!

In an ideal world, I wouldn’t have to do anything to get my name out there. I wouldn’t be on social media or pitching myself to podcasts or trying to track down reviewers and interviewers, and all the other thousand little things that get books into reader’s hands.

But instead I’m in this world, wearing a dozen hats and swapping between them dozens of times per week.

But that’s the game. And it is a game. Writing is fun and it’s work, but it’s the fun kind of work that makes it feel like play. The marketing is the work I’d rather not do, but it’s arguably just as important—if not more so—than the writing itself.

You’ve mentioned the word “flexibility” a few times—is that flexibility in schedule, genre, format, etc.? Or is it more than that?
All of the above, honestly. I love a lot of different kinds of books and though it goes against any career or marketing advice anyone will give you, I intend to keep writing across genres. Too, most would probably encourage me not to publish 6+ books a year because it can dilute or overwhelm your audience. Much as I’d like people to pick up a new book from me every month, the simple truth is that most people only read a handful of books each year. Expecting them to read a new book by me each month is a big ask! But there are other people out there who will be excited by this as well.

And so flexibility may be a double-edged sword for me, in that it gives me the freedom to make too many mistakes at the same time. And much of what I’m doing now may be foolish. Short books published at a rapid pace may be the exact opposite of what I should be doing, but I’ll learn. If need be, I’ll publish fewer books, but longer books.

But it’s this flexibility and this wild west nature of my publishing adventure that keeps it fun and exciting. I just hope people are willing to come along for the ride.

Thanks for your time and participation! Hope you enjoyed it! And do know that there are many of us out here who appreciate and applaud what you do (and our number is growing)!

Readers, e rathke has a good number of novellas, essays, and other things out there. Be sure to check out them out here or the other links above!

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The Inside Scoop—A Q&A with Ian Shane About Self-Publishing

In A Few Quick Questions With..., Self-Published Authors Appreciation Week

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Ian Shane has become one of my favorite authors over the last couple of years—I’ve given copies of his books away and recommended them to people in real life and online. I’m very glad that he agreed to take part in this series. I hope you enjoy this—and click on the links below, there are some solid recommendations here.

Before we get into things, why don’t you give the reader a brief introduction to you and your work?
Hi, I’m Ian Shane! I’m the author of three novels (Radio Radio, Postgraduate, and In Ten Years). I’m finishing up an “almost memoir” (Sundry Notes of Music) which should be ready for publication in November. If you want to put a label on my work, my genre is “Lad Lit,” in the great tradition of Nick Hornby.

My website is currently down, but you can find my books at viewauthor.at/ishane, and I’m on Twitter @ThatIanShane.

What are some of the biggest misconceptions you find that readers have about self-published books?
That they are less than published books. I will take the works of Matthew Hanover (@MatthewHanover), N.J. Cartner (@njcartner), Wesley Parker (@weswritesforfun), and Adam Shaw (and so many others) over many other “traditionally published” authors. Indie authors’ voices are important and, many times, infinitely more interesting.

I’m not making money off of this. Writing is my passion project, and I’m more interested in building an audience than making money.

Are there tools, mentors, websites you’ve found to help you through this process? Or did you stumble through blindly on your own?
A little bit of both. My first novel was done blindly. However, after I finished my first draft, I joined a writer’s group in St. Paul. It was nice to have a group of beta readers I got to check in with every two weeks. When I started writing Postgraduate, I found some writers on Twitter who had different approaches to promotion and distribution, which I was able to adopt.

How do you juggle marketing/PR/etc. with writing new work? (along with day jobs, family, hobbies, etc., etc.)
It’s the biggest obstacle. I am a writer, not a publicist, and indie authors are forced to be both. It also doesn’t help that my schedule for the day job isn’t exactly consistent, so I don’t have a set time to market the book. The job is the highest priority because I like the finer things in life, such as food and shelter. Writing is next. Especially when I’m in the final stages of a book, I have very little time for spreading the word. I really need to get better at it.

How do you promote your book—what things have worked best for you? What kind of lessons have you learned for things not to do (at least for you)? Do you do any in-person marketing, or are you all online?
I’ve tried a couple of promotional campaigns that didn’t really seem to do anything for sales. I also tried Amazon Ads and have had mixed results on it. Believe it or not, the thing that seems to work the best is Twitter. There is a correlation between when I spend a bit of time on Twitter and sales spikes. I’m not constantly tweeting links to my book, although I take advantage of #WritersLift tweets from time to time.

On a whim, I tagged Jake Ruhd, an on-air personality on The Current in Minneapolis, in a tweet. He hosts a classic alternative show on Sundays, and my second book was about the same kind of music. I wrote that I was waiting for him to discover the book organically, and I just decided to be shameless in getting his attention this way. He retweeted my post, and it got a lot of traction. To this day, that was my best-selling month. (I love this story)

That has started to become a little trickier now that Twitter is so divisive and there is a fracture of social media feeds, I’m trying to find time to devote to other platforms, but it’s exhausting starting all over again to build an audience.

What made you decide that self-publishing was the direction you wanted to go? How often do you question that choice? How do you get through the self-doubt?
When I first started writing Radio Radio, there was no such thing as CreateSpace, and I didn’t know any print-on-demand options. I felt that my book catered to a limited audience, and I didn’t believe a traditional publisher would be interested in inside jokes between me and a few people I worked with. There was an indie publishing house in Bloomington, Indiana (where I was living at the time), and I thought it would be my best option. Having a publishing house like that locally was an advantage of living in a college town. However, the “basic option” was a bit out of my price range, so I started to scrimp as much spare change out of my embarrassingly low paycheck while I wrote the first draft.

I moved to Minnesota and lost my connection to AuthorHouse, so I was trying to find a home for my book. I found SmashWords and CreateSpace and never looked back. I’ve never thought about “what could have been” if I tried to sell the book to a traditional publisher, and if I had the chance to do it all over again, I would do the exact same thing when it comes to publishing.

Have you thought about trying to get a deal with major (or indie) publishers for upcoming works, or are you planning on sticking with self-publishing?
I plan on sticking with self-publishing.

Self-publishing tends to have fewer external deadlines keeping one accountable. How do you maintain your work process or work ethic?
While writing Postgraduate and In Ten Years, I started posting word totals on my day-to-day writing on Facebook. It was a very public way to keep myself accountable, and the fear of failing in front of my friends was a huge incentive to keep my but in the chair and typing. I’m certain that it annoyed most of my friends; however, some kept me accountable and mentioned it any time I was slacking.

What is your favorite and least favorite thing about being self-published?
The great thing about self-publishing is that anybody can publish a book. What isn’t great about self-publishing is that anybody can publish a book.

I love that I don’t have a deadline that anybody else has set and that I don’t have to change my writing to draw in as many people as possible. I love that I get to tell my story on my terms. Writing is art, not a commodity. Picasso and Jackson Pollock never had to submit themselves to a focus group.

The downside is that in 2021, there were 2.3 million new independently published books. And while I love that others have taken advantage of the same system I have, it just makes it harder to market my book. As a writer, I really have to stand out, and that’s not always easy.
2.3 million? I’m feeling better about my TBR List’s size.

How do you decide a book is finally finished and ready? (or how do you avoid “perfection as the enemy of good”?)
I may be the wrong person to ask this. I have rewritten Radio Radio post-publications many, many times. I used to make fun of George Lucas for continuing to “update” the Star Wars trilogy, but I get it now. But, that was my first book and I wanted to get it out as soon as I could.

However, I have honed my process. I have found an amazing editor and the right people to review the writing. But in the end, it’s a feeling I have. I have an inner peace that lets me know that I have expressed what I wanted.

Be sure to check out all of Ian Shane’s work—you’ll laugh, you’ll smile, your heart will get warmed all the way down to the cockles!

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The Inside Scoop—A Q&A with Jeremy Billups About Self-Publishing

In A Few Quick Questions With..., Literary Locals, Self-Published Authors Appreciation Week

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I met Jeremy Billups a few years ago at a local Comic Con and was instantly drawn to his art—it helped that he’s a super-nice guy, too. Since then, I’ve talked about all of his books and he’s been very generous with his time and participated in several things around here. Those of you who’ve seen the cartoon pilcrow I use here and on Social Media know a little of his work, too. Let’s hear a little about self-publishing for the Picture Book/Children’s Market.

Before we get into things, why don’t you give the reader a brief introduction to you and your work.
Thanks so much H.C. for the opportunity to chat! My name is Jeremy Billups and I make attempts at writing and illustrating children’s books. I’ve self-published three so far. Bearded, Bearded Too, and Sea This and Sea That. I’m very close to wrapping up the manuscript for the third Bearded book. I’m also chipping away at a Christmas book and a book about being a dad.

I’ve also been working on some comics, Squirrel E. Jones and Tales of the Incredible. Both comics are very different from each other and the children’s books, but good creative outlets for me.

If so inclined, you can find all my books, comics, and other fun things at caffeinatedbeverages.com.

I’m very thankful to have enough design experience from my day job that I’m able to handle the design and artwork for my projects. In fact, that was a big reason why I chose to go with self-publishing. Having the skills and knowledge with the design side of things gives me a lot more control over my projects and saves me a lot of money.

The biggest cost for me is printing. It took a while, but I was finally able to find a U.S.-based printer that does print-on-demand at a cost that works for me. I’m now able to put out new books without nearly as much financial risk. Saying this though, it makes me realize that I need to take advantage and put out more books!

I do work with one editor. With each project we go back and forth with each manuscript until I think it’s ready. I’m fortunate here as well because my word count is so low that she only charges me a very reasonable flat rate.

Though, nothing to live on yet, I am making money at this. It’s just enough to keep me motivated to continue growing my catalog and audience. I would love for this to be all that I do one day.

Your comment about word count will tie-in very well with what a Fantasy author says about that (and how he’s considered other genres because of it)
Yeah, I’m very thankful that word count is something I don’t have to take into consideration while telling my stories.

How do you promote your book—what things have worked best for you? What kind of lessons have you learned for things not to do (at least for you)? Do you do any in-person marketing, or are you all on-line (I assume predominately online)
So I started out on Amazon and only produced a digital version of my book, Bearded. Seemed like a good way to see if anyone would be interested. I was all in on Kindle Direct Publishing. At the time, it was exactly what I was looking for. I did all the things they recommended, took advantage of their promotional offers and saw some traction. The big download numbers always came when I offered the book for free. So I decided to lean into that and make the digital version of Bearded permanently free. And, then I offered a second book, Bearded Too as a paid follow up to the free book. With the change of Bearded to “perma-free” I saw significant downloads and good ratings for the free book, but those downloads never really translated to people buying the second book.

I have a few theories as to why I didn’t see the sales I was hoping for, but it doesn’t matter anymore. I decided to change things up and focus on in-person. There are a few local events that I participate in every year and it’s been so much better. I’ve made some great connections, sold some books, and get to see repeat customers face-to-face each year.

I didn’t give up on the internet entirely. I’ve recently updated my website with a shop so that I can keep selling online and I’m currently exploring Etsy as a option to sell online as well.

I don’t know that I’d have thought about Etsy for self-published books—but it make sense—what got you thinking in this direction? Have you considered other non-Amazon options?
I decided to give Etsy a try after noticing that a lot of the artists/creators that I follow on social media were using it to sell their creations. After exploring the site and buying some super cool things, I thought it would be worth trying out. At the very least, I think it’s a good way to expand the reach of my products beyond what I’m currently doing with my website.

As for other non-Amazon options, I haven’t really considered anything other than Etsy. But, I am a little curious about selling directly through Instagram and/or Twitter. If Etsy doesn’t work very well, that may be what I try next.

What made you decide that self-publishing was the direction you wanted to go? How often do you question that choice? How do you get through the self-doubt?
It really came down to my lack of patience, and a bit of naivety. I didn’t want to sit around waiting for approval to tell my stories. I just wanted to tell them. Self-publishing gave me that capability immediately and so I dove right in. I definitely questioned the decision early on. But now, after all that I’ve learned and experienced, I know it was the right decision, and I’m excited and proud to continue telling my stories this way.

The self-doubt comes in on whether or not to go all in or not. Today I have a day job that pays the bills and supports my family. When to take a leap of faith and devote my career to more books, I’m just not sure about yet.

Have you thought about trying to get a deal with major (or indie) publishers for upcoming works, or are you planning on sticking with self-publishing?
I have thought about this. Especially since it may be the quickest path to getting to do this full-time. If it was a partnership that worked well for both parties then I’d definitely be open to it. There is a bit of self-doubt here too. Am I good enough? Can I meet their deadlines? Can I continue to produce as much as I think I can?

At the very least, I’m open to entertaining the idea if someone were to reach out.

Thanks for your time and participation! Hope you enjoyed it! And do know that there are many of us out here who appreciate and applaud what you do (and our number is growing)!
Thank you for the opportunity to meet with you and all the great questions! I enjoyed the discussion and look forward to the next one. I also appreciate all that you do and the love and attention you give self-publishers like me. It really means a lot!

Your kids/grandkids/nieces/nephews/etc. are going to love Billups’ work! Be sure to check out all of it!

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The Inside Scoop—A Q&A with Shannon Knight About Self-Publishing

In A Few Quick Questions With..., Self-Published Authors Appreciation Week

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We’re starting this series with Shannon Knight—she’s one of those authors who came to me from JCM Berne. I’ve yet to read any of her books, but she’s popping up on the blog all over. She’s contributed a Guest Post (as she mentions below) about the cover design for her novel, Grave Cold, and we’re working on something else now, too—stay tuned for that. But today we’re talking about the self-publishing, when she sent me her replies she explained why she replied to so few questions: “I wrote long answers to the questions. I guess I want to turn everything into a story.” I loved the her stories and thought they made a great launching point for this week.

Before we get into things, why don’t you give the reader a brief introduction to you and your work.
My name is Shannon Knight. I live in the Pacific Northwest. I’ve published three novels this year, all science fiction and fantasy. The first is Wish Givers, a fantasy set on a tropical island with tattoo magic where the hero must save her people and destroy her enemy by granting his every wish. Next is Insiders, a great, big space opera. With the help of a sentient plant, the crew of a small spaceship must each overcome their personal demons and lend their unique strengths in order to save the universe. Finally, I published Grave Cold, a biopunk novel set in the near future. When the dead are being used as an energy source, a reaper and a necromancer work together to save the dead from the living. You can find full blurbs for each book at your favorite online bookstore.

Buy Wish Givers here: https://books2read.com/WishGivers
Buy Insiders here: https://books2read.com/Insiders
Buy Grave Cold here: https://books2read.com/GraveCold

What made you decide that self-publishing was the direction you wanted to go? How often do you question that choice? How do you get through the self-doubt?
I caught COVID-19 in the Spring of 2020. None of it went the way I’d expected. I’d run a mountain marathon the month before, I had a robust immune system, and I was medically young. Nonetheless, it seemed I was going to die. Weeks passed, months passed, and I did not improve. In fact, new symptoms kept appearing, so that the random, extreme malfunctioning of my body became my norm. I strove to breathe, to haul my bones to the toilet, and to endure constant pain. In an allusion to The Princess Bride, COVID was my Dread Pirate Roberts. “Good night, Shannon. Good work. I’ll most likely kill you in the morning.”
Shannon Knight 2
During the first two and a half years, I had passing access to my own thoughts. See, even self-reflection was no longer readily accessible. In my moments of clarity, I accepted death. I accepted the life I had lived up to this point. I also really wished I’d put those books out. I decided that if the mental capacity to pull it off returned to me, I would self-publish. It was roughly around the two and a half year mark that my life changed. One of the many medical tests yielded results and a treatment. Suddenly, I could sit up. Out of bed. For many hours! My mind opened. I could think again! I started studying Korean. I could do it! I could simply stand up! I wanted to run. I wanted to build my body back up.

My new limitations clarified themselves, but I began work on self-publication. I could study Korean, but for some reason, I couldn’t understand my own novel. That was bad. My daily reserve of expendable energy was quite small. I minimized my steps, ate instant food, and focused on self-pub. I reached out to editors, to cover artists. I created spreadsheets of prices and timelines. Some of the waits were extensive. I worked as long as I coherently could each day, with my body wilting and vision blurring as I hit my cut-off point. Unfortunately, my symptoms were increasing, my functionality decreasing. It wasn’t long before I could only sit up for two hours per day. I emailed my doctor. He said, “Oh, yes. It’s common for this medication to fail. We’ll take you off of it for a reset. We can also keep doubling the doses as it successively fails. Each time, there’s a fifty-fifty chance these methods will work.” Confused, I emailed the artist and editor I had been planning with and put the project on hold. Off the meds, I returned to that no-person space.

On round two of the meds, I threw away all notions of exercise or cooking. Everything was about my books. I hired the editor. I confirmed that the artists would not be available before my next expected round of med failure. I had long pursued art as a hobby, but never anything digital. I decided to do the best with what I could accomplish myself in a race against my failing body. But I was improving! I was much more capable than during round one. I completed the Insiders revisions with ease, perfectly understanding my story, and feeling frustrated at the number of errors my copy editor had not caught. I gave the manuscript multiple extra sweeps myself to make sure I was satisfied with it. I published both Wish Givers and Insiders in January 2023. The green Insiders cover was completed in a deep blur of confusion as my capacity waned, but the book inside was everything I wanted. Back off the meds, I told myself, it’s okay now—you’ve got two books out.

Then my doctor said some very frustrating things to me. That guy. He said I should plan to never get better. That I should expect complete failure of the meds that let me think and stand and occasionally go to the grocery store. At first, I was upset, but then I decided that none of it was true. I’ve got Long COVID. It’s a novel disease. There are no treatments, they don’t fully understand the mechanisms behind it, and, therefore, they don’t know what’s going to happen to me. I have so many doctors, and only one of them made this statement.

I hired the artist that I wanted to do the Wish Givers cover. I found and hired an artist for the Insiders cover. It would be a few months. Was that okay? Would I make it? Hell, yes. (I paid early, though, just in case.) Grave Cold needed serious revisions. Also, it has a death theme, and I had lots of new thoughts on the matter. I dove into all of it. And I’m holding steady. WAY steady. I published Grave Cold in May. The artwork for Insiders was completed in early June, and the art for Wish Givers will be finished at the end of June. (I’m writing this in June.) Then I’ll re-release those books properly.
A Photo of the Grave Cold cover
So why did I decide to self-publish? COVID-19 is why. Do I question that choice? No, I do not. Do I have self doubt? I doubt plenty of things in this world, but I do not question sending my stories out so that people can read them. Do you know what comforts a person who is lonely? What distracts a person from pain? What brings someone hope? What allows a person to consider the many emotions and relationships in this world when everything has fallen down around them? Stories do that. Stories are a light in the darkness. Let me turn on the light.

Do you do your own cover design, or have you found people to help with that? It seems almost as difficult as writing the novel itself—talk about the process a bit.

I designed my own. Cover design has been a unique challenge for each of my books. I spoke with you once before, in detail, about my cover creation process for Grave Cold. In some ways, the design for Grave Cold was the easiest of my three books because I chose the cover art from existing photographs. While I needed to consider many possibilities via different search terms and scrolling through endless photos, there were also built-in limitations regarding what was available. Then the details of the typography were chosen based on genre and on what the art didn’t already convey.

For Insiders and Wish Givers, I commissioned paintings. Therefore, I needed to decide everything. The price tag on commercial paintings also meant that I needed to make them count. I may not earn back the cost I spent on the covers, but in indie, if your cover isn’t good enough, readers are unlikely to even consider giving your story a chance. After the years I’d put into writing these books, the least I could do was invest in the best covers I could get.

Insiders created a distinct challenge. At first, I thought I had an easy solution because Insiders is a space opera, and NASA and ESA/Hubble have made all their space images free for public use. However, an image of space or spaceships in space would not drive home that Insiders is a character-driven, ensemble piece. Thematically, teamwork is crucial. I needed to show characters on the cover, but I couldn’t cram six characters and a plant on the cover and make it look good. (Or could I? I spent some time on that, too. I’ve seen movie posters do it well.) I considered which character or characters I could select from the group for the cover. One character has a special role in that she is a teen wearing the sentient plant suit, but a teen photo on the cover is code young adult, and Insiders is an adult novel. It took me longer than I care to admit before I realized that the plant suit covering her face and body, which would be straightforward in a painting, would eliminate the young adult classification and look wonderfully sci-fi. (Ironically, my cover artist, Isa Backhaus, chose to show her face anyway, but the result don’t look young adult in the painting. Of course, I also made this concern clear to my artist, so I’m sure it wasn’t accidental.) For Insiders, the final cover design also didn’t feature a scene directly from the book. Instead, the design was decided in order to portray enough elements to show the heart of the story. I believe the cover is beautiful, represents the story well, and will attract the right readers.

I spent months on designs for Wish Givers. It’s a fantasy novel, but my agent had found interest for it outside of standard fantasy circles, so initially, I was thinking of breaking the standard fantasy cover expectations by choosing an art style not normally used on fantasy novels. I’m afraid I spent too much time on that before realizing that my limitations as an indie writer meant that I shouldn’t be trying to break the mold. When I returned to the traditional fantasy style of covers, I realized I had a new problem. My Polynesian characters already wouldn’t look like traditional fantasy characters. The magic within the book involves elaborately drawn tattoos that make wishes happen. Showing a tattoo in progress or a completed tattoo would not convey a sense of magic or fantasy. I needed magic on the cover so that Wish Givers would be immediately identifiable as fantasy. I realized the wish that would best show this, but I was still worried about creating a design that was genuinely captivating. Plus the generative AI debacle was creating its own massive mess, reproducing the most common denominators of everything. I wanted something very human made. I decided one of the least common denominators was a truly dramatic perspective. And, eureka, I had it! I created a design for Wish Givers from an extreme angle above my character so that she was strikingly foreshortened. The angle alone causes the human eye to pause and reflect. It also offered the bonus of hiding many of the protagonist’s tattoos, which are story spoilers, and allowing for an eye-catching placement of the wish-come-to-life. After all my design work, I was amused and delighted to find that my cover artist, Eli Peiró, offered three designs to choose from, even if an author arrives with a design in hand. I could have saved myself some trouble and let her do that heavy lifting! I chose the design I had initially suggested. As I write this, the new cover for Wish Givers is being painted, the drafts are absolutely lovely, and the new cover will be available in early August. You should check it out!

Thank you, thank you, thank you for all your time and effort—and openness—for this. Thanks for your participation! Hope you enjoyed it! And do know that there are many of us out here who appreciate and applaud what you do (and our number is growing)!

Readers, be sure to check out all of Shannon Knight’s work!

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