See my newsletter? Meh? Not too shabby…I mean, for someone completely (sort of) starting out. You can say it: you liked that badass logo, that specifically selected color palette, and that link that led to a FREEBIE (because I know how to do that now). All me, baby. Oh, yeah. Amateur at its finest.
I’d like to say I winged it, but that is quite laughably far from the truth. Mailerlite (the newsletter service I’m using) offers these amazing tutorials that help technology-challenged people like me learn with idiot-proof videos. Huzzah! There IS hope for the dim-witted! I haven’t gotten through all of the tutorials yet, but it’s on my to-do list. Actually, there are about a thousand million-things on my to-do list right now, and I feel like as long as I check off one little thing each day, I’m not doing terrible. And that’s my goal at this point: don’t be terrible. I’ve been (mostly) terrible with all this for the past few years, so the goal is to change that. By doing a little everyday, I’m doing more than I did, elevating my “terrible” status to a “hustling” status, and I got to say: it feels good.
Other writing news:
I’m currently working with my cover designer, the fabulous Joleene Naylor, to bring A Royal Pairing in Perish to life visually. I can sort of see it, although some of it’s a bit blurry too, so I’ll have to figure it out here soon. I wonder if most traditionally published authors like having the burden of cover design taken off them, or if they feel they’re losing a huge creative opportunity. I’d feel like it’d be losing an opportunity, but man, a little creative direction would be nice! Of course, that’s what I’ve got Joleene for, but at the end of the day, it’s my choice. My book. My career. My business. It’s kinda important…should probably get it right…
I wish there was more to report, but that would mean more happened in my life and really, that’s not the case. Car is fine (praise the lord!), hubby’s still obsessed with Batman, and the doggos are still the best doggos in the world. Can’t complain.
What about you? What have you been up to this week? Do you have a thousand-million things on your to-do list like me? How do you handle it/get everything done and not lose your mind?
Share your secrets with me…I am royalty.
~Lady Caitlin
An author we got to meet when I was in high school was very unhappy with most of her covers. I remember her complaining about how one of them had a girl with the wrong hair color and said, “It’s like they didn’t even read it!” Fast forward and I now see both sides. From the artist/marketing perspective a cover isn’t part of the story, it’s just packaging that they recommend changing every three years to keep up with trends. It’s not meant to encapsulate the story, but rather to catch the reader’s eye and kind of show them the book’s vibe. (like genre and tone and what not) but I also see the author’s (and some reader’s) side where the book cover is a part of the story itself. So there you go, LOL! I have some authors who are super happy not to be involved except to say “That looks good!” and then on the other end I have some that basically make the whole cover and send it to me and say “like this, but actually put together right”, so it just varies person to person.
BTW, I LOVED the excerpt. Did I tell you that???
Aww thank you! I hope you like the rest haha!
Yeah, I can see how some authors want to be more hands on with it, but it’s like, I’ve got a vague idea what I want. I’m more interested in the writing, so as long as the final cover matches somewhat to what I’m thinking, that’s perfectly fine with me 🙂