Edits and Covers
Terry Odell
I’ve been focused on getting my new book, Deadly Ambitions, ready to meet the public. Given scheduling conflicts between my editor and my own travel, plus not wanting to compete with the barrage of holiday books, I’ve decided to put of the release until early next year.
Does that mean I can relax until then?
(Sputter, Snort, Guffaw.)
The first complete draft came in at about 85,000 words, which was longer than I wanted, so when I did my first read-through, I looked for excess. I talked a little about my process in my last post. Plot threads, scenes, and just plain wordiness. SmartEdit makes it easy to find these culprits, although it’s a tedious process. I’ve managed to cut about 4,000 words. One “thing” I’m doing this time around is opening the manuscript to a random page and looking at random paragraphs and sentences. Taken out of context, I’m finding places where my penchant for rambling shows through, so I’ve done some microsurgery using that technique.
But Wait. There’s More.
As an indie author, I wear many hats. My least favorite is the marketing chapeau, but it’s a necessary evil. I’m no marketing guru, but I know enough to know people want visuals. That meant a cover.
What did I want on the cover? I had plot threads running through the book that I considered. . One revolved around a construction project. A half-finished remodel wasn’t likely to entice readers. Or it would make them think it was a DIY book.
Another thread began with a traffic accident. A little more compelling, but I was having trouble finding images, not to mention Deadly Puzzles already had a similarly-themed cover.
I regrouped (after a few nudges from one of my critique partners).
Since my Mapleton Mystery series is set in Colorado (although I’ve never pinpointed where), I decided on a Colorado image for the background, something many of the other books included. But what? The book is set in December, so snow-capped mountains? Been there, done that.
Wait. We’d been up to a couple of old mining towns recently, and I’d decided to go along with the Hubster when he pulled onto a side road, saying “he just wanted to check something out.” Of course, that meant a hike along one of the old mine trails. I finished the hike with a bunch of pictures of old mining equipment.
What a coincidence. There’s a plot thread relating to an abandoned mine in the book. I browsed through some stock images on the site my cover designer, Kim Killion of the Killion Group, prefers and found one or two that might be acceptable. However, after going through my own images, I found one I thought had promise for the background.
Turned out, that’s the one she preferred. Yay me!
But the book is a mystery, and it’s not actually set in a mine, or even a mining town. How to let potential readers know it’s a mystery? I followed that plot thread (don’t want too many spoilers here), and sent Kim some more ideas.
This is what she came up with. I hope you like it.
What’s your favorite and/or least favorite “non-writing” part of getting a book published? Do you like having creative control, or would you rather turn everything over to others?
New! Find me at Substack with Writings and Wanderings
When breaking family ties is the only option.
Madison Westfield has information that could short-circuit her politician father’s campaign for governor. But he’s family. Although he was a father more in word than deed, she changes her identity and leaves the country rather than blow the whistle.
Blackthorne, Inc. taps Security and Investigations staffer, Logan Bolt, to track down Madison Westfield. When he finds her in the Faroe Islands, her story doesn’t match the one her father told Blackthorne. The investigation assignment quickly switches to personal protection for Madison.
Soon, they’re involved with a drug ring and a kidnapping attempt. Will working together put them in more danger? Can a budding relationship survive the dangers they encounter?
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Terry Odell is an award-winning author of Mystery and Romantic Suspense, although she prefers to think of them all as “Mysteries with Relationships.”
Wow! Cool seeing a regular photo someone has taken then having it tweaked to create a great cover photo. I wouldn’t even have thought of that idea to tweak the image but what a difference it makes.
I hate all the non-writing aspects of writing. LOL. Marketing? Yuck. Being a control freak, I wish I had the graphic design skills for things like book covers but that’s just not my area. But as your example shows, it’s why you get help from others.
Thanks, BK. I’ve used pictures I’ve taken (me, not AI generated) for a couple other books, too. But I’ve only done the whole thing myself (Canva is great) once. I know when my skills are merely a starting point.
Clever use of one of your images for the cover, Terry. (although as an art director, I’d suggest increasing the Brightness Contrast on the main title; it gets a little monotone up there.)
As to your question, I love it all: writing, designing, marketing, what have you. It’s the whole creative process that I like controlling, top to bottom. “Self-publishing” implies publishing, and shaping the whole pub ballgame is the satisfying part. For me.
Thanks for your input, Harald. I admire your closet full of hats. A peripheral perk of using my photos on covers is I can write off some of the trip expenses. That’s my background shot on Danger Abroad, taken in the Faroe Islands. 🙂
As I was reading through, none of your ideas really screamed “BUY ME” to me. Until the final image. That is something I would pick up.
Thanks, Alan — and it’s the final product that matters.
Being Elaine Viet’s web guru for many years, has given me a peek at the marketing side of writing. It might be as hard as writing the book.
Working on her webpage, I add the graphics. I am a good boy and only use images I can get rights to. For FIRE and ICE I found the perfect house fire image. Copyrighted by the fire department who put out the fire. A nicely worded email, and an acknowadgement and the burning house went on the page. Amazing what you can do if you ask.
I’ve found most people will answer ‘yes’ to my questions and requests. Good manners are always appreciated.
Beautiful cover, Terry. Wish I had your photographic skills.
Best part of indie publishing: Releasing the book when you want to. Any doubts I had about choosing to indie-pub went away in 2020. Traditional pubbing shut down and several friends had their books stuck in the pipeline. Their book releases were delayed and they had to cancel publicity and tour plans.
The pandemic didn’t stop me. I released four books that year.
Worst: Marketing, of course. But all authors gotta do it, even the big names. Sigh.
Agreed. Setting my own release schedule is a major perk.
I don’t like the marketing side, but I’m not going to fall for the offers to do it for me that show up in my inbox every day.
I love the book cover you came up with, Terry. The two disparate images separated by the police tape is perfect. It’s even more special since it’s the photo you took.
My least favorite part of indie publishing is marketing, but that’s something the author has to do even if traditionally published.
I do love working with my cover designer. She has great ideas and is willing to work through all my suggestions. (She personally took the photo of the chapel that’s on the cover of my novel Time After Tyme. )
Looking forward to your book’s release.
Thanks, Kay. Yes, there was no way the perspectives would have worked to try to make one cohesive image, and my designer gets the credit for the separation. She’s done almost all of my covers, and always does a great job with not only the images, but keeping them ‘branded’ to my series.
Arresting cover, Terry! It really does show the prospective reader there’s a mystery inside waiting for them.
My favorite part of indie publishing is being able to say “yes” to publishing my work and uploading it to the various retailer platforms and distributors. I also really enjoy working with cover designers.
Getting in the marketing mindset can be a challenge–I lean on my newsletter and advertising the first book once there’s a series–three books or more. Tracking sales numbers is important, but also can become an obsession, and lead to dashed expectations in some cases. I remind myself that publishing as an indie doesn’t have to be a sprint, it can be a marathon.
Definitely a marathon, Dale. And I need to think about that pace since this book won’t release (my choice) until next year. I’m working on some images (maybe that’ll be another post) to help generate buzz.
Love that cover, Terry! Strikes just the right balance between “do I think I’ll like this?” and “buy me, buy me!” 😜
For me, it’s marketing every day and twice on Sundays… 😵💫
Have a good one!
Thanks, Deb. I’ve found I need to keep up with everything as the tasks surface.