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What book is everyone writing right now?

By the way, while it's still (I think) on the same page, how do you like the cover of my upcoming (non-fiction) book shown above?

Rolfe.
 
The three main characters are Jade, Jane (London Jane), and Jill. My idea was to put all three of them on the cover, Jade in center with the dagger of darkness and Jane (vampire) on the left with Jill (Winter Queen) on the right. Jade is a bit of a mix of supernatural creatures and her origin and background is one of the mysteries in the book. Jade, black hair, Jane is a redhead, Jill has white hair. I think cost was one of the factors in this not getting done with the models they had available as well as a design getting all of them on the cover without getting squished. I didn't really have much say on the finished product, needless to say it has to do with the eye colors and the three J'amigo's. A few of my author friends have given me some positive feedback, it is certainly different.
 
Rolfe said:
But that's enough about you.... :D

I think my text proofs are going to be playing ping-pong for a few weeks yet. However I have my finalised cover. You may all gasp in admiration.

[qimg]http://www.vetpath.co.uk/jref/FullCover.jpg[/qimg]

Rolfe.
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Love it Rolfe. When does it release, or is it out already?
 
RoseMontague said:
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I decided to go the traditional publishing route and submitted my manuscript directly to a few agents (not interested) as well as some publishers. After eight rejections I found a publisher that loved my book and offered me a contract. They handled the cost of editing and cover art, and have promised 5 digital editions and one print edition. They distribute through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, as well as their own website. I had zero cost and will get a percentage of the net profit. It's a truly amazing process, my original cover artist was in Brussels, my editor in Dublin, and my publisher in NY. A truly international effort. I had some input on what I wanted with the cover art but that turned out to be impractical in my case.
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Congratulations. Sounds a lot like my first go-round with a traditional publisher. The cover's not bad, suggests either paranormal or urban fantasy to me...the red eyes are a little off-putting, something about them doesn't look as realistic as the other two sets - they might have done better to make them a kind of orange-brown with lighter red overtones. As far as having three people on the cover - wow, that would have been costly. In my experience, the more 'figures' you have (whether human or animal) on your cover, the more expensive it is. The eyes stand in nicely for complete human beings & provide room for the cover text without chopping into important scenery.

I've seen the 'upside-down' author-tagline-title plenty, it's not that unusual. As you become rich & famous (:)) your name will get larger & larger & the title smaller and smaller...
 
RoseMontague said:
Thanks for the heads up Rolfe and I appreciate the cover art question on my book (releasing 11/16/13). Before getting into the questions regarding the design I would just like some general feedback. Does it arouse your curiosity enough that you would pick it up and find out what it is about? Comments welcome.
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I like it but as a first impression I'd prefer Jade on top and your name on the bottom. I saw Tik's comment, so just consider mine a personal impression, not a knowledgeable opinion.
 
I agree, but it's only a mild quibble. I like the cover, and in fact I like it more than I think I'd like a realistic one with three figures on it.

My own cover picture was quite expensive, story upthread I think, but I think it was worth it. (If for no other reason than to stop the publisher putting something quite inappropriate there, because this 27-year-old thought he knew better!)

Rolfe.
 
RoseMontague said:
Love it Rolfe. When does it release, or is it out already?
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Official release date 21st December, the day of the 25th anniversary of the disaster. I hope to have actual books available by the beginning of December though. I'm currently playing ping-pong-proof.

Rolfe.
 
Rolfe said:
Official release date 21st December, the day of the 25th anniversary of the disaster. I hope to have actual books available by the beginning of December though. I'm currently playing ping-pong-proof.

Rolfe.
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The editing is not much fun but I did learn a lot and I have a good appreciation for editors now. The first edit mainly covered grammar and punctuation. I was told to remove, my comma, from my, keyboard. LOL. The way e-books are set up, commas can be tricky in any case. Spelling errors both of the first two edits, I had a ton. I learned that when you are thinking or commenting to yourself, that should be in italics. So after both you and your editor go through it twice, you get what is called a galley and you go through a careful line by line reading and submit your errata. That's stuff you missed the first two times. Then you get your proof, that is actually in the book format, with dedication, bio, chapter separation, etc. I actually found a dozen more goofs. Too funny. All of this after my edit before I even submitted my manuscript. I have read my book so many times I almost have it memorized. I should have an ARC (Advanced Reviewer Copy) in pdf form this week.

I was fortunate to make some good contacts with other authors and editors and had given a few galleys to professional and part time reviewers so I could have a few ready to go when my book goes live. My first review is in the can so to speak and it is a Five Star (best you can get). Here's the deal for a first time author via a small publisher (to be continued)....
 
I have done a lot of research and gotten a ton of advice on marketing. I should not expect huge sales as a first time author with a small publisher. I should try and establish a solid base of fans. The key is your second and third books. What you do is discount your first one to sell your second and third at full price. This works very well in a series like mine. People are more willing to invest in a 99 cent book from someone they have not read before. It is a progressive thing as well that builds on itself. I have already made a good start on Book Two. For an author like me, social media is very important. Some of the outlets that have been suggested are Facebook, Goodreads, Twitter, Google+, an author page on Facebook, an author website or blog, launch parties (primarily Facebook), and blog tours. Book signings are not nearly as important as they used to be and can be costly. Unlike many new authors I decided not to do all of these things starting out. I wanted to do just a few of these things as well as I could, at least initially. Competition among new authors, indies, and small time publisher authors like me is fierce. Everybody is screaming for people to please buy their book.

My research convinced me that Facebook and Goodreads are going to be my main focus with twitter as a promotional tool feeding those two outlets. I have a good Facebook presence and I am having a launch party on 16 November (virtual party). I am learning my way around Goodreads and will be setting up an author page there as well as my already existing individual profile when my book goes live. Just beginning the Twitter thing, following, getting followers, tweeting. This marketing aspect of things has already taken up a lot of my time and will probably require more time in this than I spent on the book itself.
 
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I don't know if this is the right thread, but is anyone participating in NaNoWriMo this year? I'm participating for the first time as SleepyOwlFilms. I'm fleshing out my movie setting into a novel, and I'm already at 8k words. If anyone's participating, I'd love to be novel buddies!
 
RoseMontague said:
The editing is not much fun but I did learn a lot and I have a good appreciation for editors now. The first edit mainly covered grammar and punctuation. I was told to remove, my comma, from my, keyboard. LOL. The way e-books are set up, commas can be tricky in any case. Spelling errors both of the first two edits, I had a ton. I learned that when you are thinking or commenting to yourself, that should be in italics. So after both you and your editor go through it twice, you get what is called a galley and you go through a careful line by line reading and submit your errata. That's stuff you missed the first two times. Then you get your proof, that is actually in the book format, with dedication, bio, chapter separation, etc. I actually found a dozen more goofs. Too funny. All of this after my edit before I even submitted my manuscript. I have read my book so many times I almost have it memorized. I should have an ARC (Advanced Reviewer Copy) in pdf form this week.
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I'm self-publishing due to time constraints (has to be out by 21st December but I didn't start writing it till 30th March). I was persuaded to pay for a copy-edit but the editor didn't suggest many changes and I'm not sure it was value for money. Of course, non-fiction is a very different animal from fiction. And it's not my first book.

I've not had galleys (not ever, actually, every publisher I've worked with has gone straight to page proofs), and in fact placing the illustrations on the page has turned out to be the most contentious issue. This was more or less as I expected though, and there's nothing insuperable.

I'm a bit obsessive-compulsive with my writing and in fact there were very very few actual typos. One beta-reader spotted a "Mata" instead of "Malta", and I spotted one "extraordinary" when it should have been "extraordinarily", both seen before the typesetting began. Then when going over the first set of proofs I spotted an "aiside" for "airside".

Overall the proofs aren't bad, but every page number will have to be changed as he had started page 1 at chapter 1 instead of the Introduction (which is part of the book).

Mainly there were a number of little glitches, most annoyingly a gap in every word where I had used a soft hyphen in the original typescript. I had asked the publisher is he wanted a copy of the file with these characters stripped out, twice, but he didn't reply to my emails. It's just an irritation, work that shouldn't have needed to be done. Also every time there is a superscript, e.g. in a date, the superscript font size is way too small. And there are a lot of these. But these are the majority of the glitches and they should be gone by the second go-over.

Hopefully I can sign off the proofs within two or three weeks, and then they can be sent to the printer. It's astonishing how long all this takes, and this is the fast track! How long is it since you had your book accepted for publication?

Rolfe.
 
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July 27th is the date my book was accepted for publication, so it will be just under 4 months to release date.
 
That's very good! I've been getting a lot of stuff about a six-month cycle and review copies needing to be in the hands of the potential reviewers three months before the official publication date or they won't read it.

I think you benefit from going with a small publisher.

Rolfe.
 
Rolfe said:
That's very good! I've been getting a lot of stuff about a six-month cycle and review copies needing to be in the hands of the potential reviewers three months before the official publication date or they won't read it.

I think you benefit from going with a small publisher.

Rolfe.
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Yes, I have heard this as well. It is sometimes difficult to find reviewers on short notice, everybody wants reviews.
 
How many copies do you expect to sell? Have you any idea? I just don't know how these things generally pan out.

Rolfe.
 
4 months was about it for mine, too. As for how many you'll sell - there are too many variables to even guess.
 
Rolfe said:
How many copies do you expect to sell? Have you any idea? I just don't know how these things generally pan out.

Rolfe.
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No idea at this point, my goal for release day is 200. Doesn't sound like a lot, I know. I am pushing hard just to get that. Maybe I will be surprised. As I said, I have been told by many that if you are a new author and it is your first book, don't get your hopes up.

It is just a fun little novel, only 60K words, an afternoon or beach read. Lots of action, humor, and a little romance. Three big surprises which really make it special, in my opinion. Shockers, actually. The cool thing with my first editor is not the numerous errors, it was some of the comments she put in there like "I was not expecting that one, fantastic". My beta readers have really enjoyed it as well and some of those are not even fans of the genre. Nothing makes you feel better than somebody enjoying your work. My first reviewer asked "How can I possibly review this without giving away any spoilers?".
 
Tiktaalik said:
4 months was about it for mine, too. As for how many you'll sell - there are too many variables to even guess.
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I am curious. Is yours fiction or non-fiction? I would guess more non-fiction authors here at JREF, yet when I see some of the book threads it seems science fiction is a very popular category.
 
RoseMontague said:
.... I was told to remove, my comma, from my, keyboard. LOL. ... I learned that when you are thinking or commenting to yourself, that should be in italics. ....
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That's hilarious. I've heard, "don't hate the comma", but I think I've struck a happy medium.

As for italics for inner dialogue, that's an incredible debate topic, you'd be amazed. Personally, I use them. It sets my character's direct thoughts apart from her narration.
 
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