THE GAMES HAVE BEGUN

When you find the right people, things move.

Due to the extra challenges I seem to be facing lately, and because I’m getting very antsy about launching Pride’s Children: NETHERWORLD, whose text has been finished for longer than I expected, I have explored various publishing assistance options – to uniformly fail in finding people who would do it MY WAY.

I have a book out, PURGATORY, for which I had plenty of time, learned graphics (Pixelmator), acquired a cover mentor (thanks, J.M. Ney-Grimm), learned how to format from Scrivener through Word to the final pdf files to upload, etc., etc., in 2015.

It seems quite reasonable to ask someone whom I’m paying to produce the same thing – so they look like a set. Right?

Well, even though the concept seems simple, and I don’t blame them, many ‘professional’ publishing services (all the ones I’ve approached ~ ten of them so far) must make their money by using their preferred software quickly and efficiently, because I had no takers once I explained I’d already made my own design decisions, and wished to keep them.

I don’t have the bandwidth to work with someone learning, or to spend a lot of time going back and forth explaining things, unfortunately, so that avenue didn’t pan out either.

The solution is probably at hand

as I had the inspiration and the sense to ask a friend who has published plenty of his and his wife’s books whether that was something he could see doing – and, if so, what his rates might be.

And got a ‘Yes – let’s try’ back.

I’m still in shock, because I sent him a few emails, and all the images I had accumulated, and a few questions – and the next thing I see (which you won’t, yet – that would be a proper cover reveal) was a cover (he modestly said it was his fourth attempt) that I could have used exactly as it was if I had needed it that fast.

Either they get you, or they don’t

seems to be my fate, and I admit, not to being difficult (every author is picky about their baby), but to being niche (indies don’t often write mainstream – mainstream authors usually want traditional publishers).

He understood everything I said – just as I was starting to think it was me (no, of course not, Alicia).

‘Niche’ means no precedents, no cover tropes to announce the content, and a wide variety of possibilities.

‘Mainstream’ means – for a traditional publisher – giving the cover designer a lot of freedom and latitude and little input from the author. There are some amazing (and probably quite expensive) covers out there that win design prizes. Okay, almost NO input from the author.

And we indies are stubborn.

When do we see it?

Very soon – he is working blazing fast, from what he sent me in a day.

I have a few more things to send him to do a bit of tweaking because we can.

Plus a thing or two about the fonts I should also have sent (but that brain fog has been heavy and dark) from the beginning, and which I will dig out and send today – quibbles.

So what on Earth did he start from?

I put it up there for you as the header image, probably against all reason.

But I thought you’d enjoy the improvement when it comes – though I’m not ready to reveal even that first example he sent yet.

Just see that I actually know what I want, but couldn’t make my brain do the work.

But I’ll get it anyway.

And that makes me happy.

From what he’s already said about formatting, that will be making me happy, too, as soon as I send him the raw materials.

As I’ve always believed – you just need the right person.

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The Happy Camper.

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