Do you ever feel frustrated and you’re not exactly sure why? It might be my upcoming hand surgery is just giving me anxiety. I feel like I’m spinning my wheels a bit and I want to take off and run. I’m working on the second part of my romantic horror duet and a half, Violet’s Tales. This book is called Vile. I wrote Origin of Violet and VioleNt in a single POV, hers. But with Vile, I feel like her new love interest needs his inner thoughts heard. I’m enjoying it, I think dual POV is my favorite way to write.
My romantic suspense series, Forces of Nature: Force of Corruption Book One and Force Majeure Book Two are both written in dual POV. I haven’t started on book three (Force of Attraction) yet, though I have a vague outline put together. I know who the couple is going to be and a little bit of what’s going to happen. Once I get it finished, I'll be in a good spot to start on the MC series I have planned. I want to do all of it right now.
I also have a short story I need to write. Maybe I'll do that before I jump into Force of Attraction. I bought a premade cover for that one. I haven’t done that before, but I'm really happy with it. When I saw it, I knew right away it was the cover for this story. It’s a new trope for me, in the horror genre. It’s a sort of urban steam punk horror story. But it’s in a time warp.
My editor is still working on VioleNt. She says she’ll probably be done before my surgery, but I’m not sure when I'll be up for working on my part. We'll see how it goes. I don’t have the full.cover.for Origin of Violet yet, my designer is still working on it. I think it came out just thick enough to have print on the spine. If you have fewer than 99 pages in a 6x9 trim size, the spine is too thin for any sort of print. If there’s no name on the spine, bookstores don’t want it on their shelves.
I believe Origin of Violet came out at a whopping 111 pages. Just barely squeaked by the limit to get the name on the spine. Book stores also require a number on the spine if the book is in a series. It’s important for bookstores so they can find the book, but also imagine if you’re a bookstore customer and there’s a bunch of books on a shelf with their spines showing. They all have intriguing names on their spines. All but one, which is just black. Are you going to waste your time pulling that book out and looking at the cover? Or are you going to skip to the book with a cool title on the spine? Exactly. Book stores want to sell books. If your book will just sit on their shelf unnoticed, they don’t want it.
That’s the part that’s so hard to remember, everything about a book needs to attract a buyer. Preferably a buyer who will read it, love it, review it, talk about it, and share it with their friends. The purpose of writing a book for the author is often complex and personal. The purpose of a book to everyone else is to buy or sell it. Of course, readers want to enjoy it. Readers want the escape into a magical world or fantasy or love or suspense that takes them on a journey.
To attract the readers who will love your book you need to show them what it’s about in the title and the cover. This is why one of the most common pieces of advice I read is to HIRE A PROFESSIONAL COVER DESIGNER. Now I won’t argue many writers have artistic talent and can and do design great covers. I’m not one of them. I have an idea of what I want but I never have the skills to make it happen. It’s important to know if you don’t have that skill. Some would argue even if you had artistic talent, you still don’t have the skills to make a professional cover. I guess you need to figure that out for yourself.
As for the title, most authors seem to have the title in their head when they start writing. For me I usually know the title before I ever know the story. Does that make it an attractive title? I don’t know, but I do know that I need to title it what’s inside my head or I will freak out. Seriously, it would bother me forever if I had to change my title for some reason. One thing I do when I have a title and haven’t started writing is Google it. I check Amazon for a book with the same name. If it’s a title for lots of books, I may alter it slightly, but usually even if there’s another book with the same name, I keep the title it needs to have for my sanity.
The next most common piece of advice is to HIRE A PROFESSIONAL EDITOR. I agree with this one too. I know it can be expensive, but I honestly think it’s worth the investment. Even if you have a master's degree in language or something else that applies, you can’t see all the issues in your book. It’s a proven scientific fact the brain sees what it expects to see. If you write it your brain knows what you meant to write. It won’t see the typos. Programs like Grammarly and ProWritingAid are fantastic, but they aren’t human, and they don’t catch everything either.
At the very least I would recommend a proofreader. If you have a friend or family member who can proofread for you, it’s a cost-effective alternative to hiring one. But you need someone who has a grasp of the language, someone who understands the rules of grammar and punctuation not just spelling.
I’m having a different experience with these books than I did with my first one and my first short story. I had an editor and hired a proofreader for the first books. This time I’m working with an amazing editor who covers copy editing, line editing, and proofreading. You may recall the definitions of these editors in my last blog. I’m enjoying working with my new editor, you should make sure you work well with anyone you hire. A reputable editor will edit a sample for you so you can determine if you like their style.
Working with a professional editor can be a painful experience. What if they hate your favorite part of the book and suggest you rewrite it? Are you going to be crushed? Or can you look at your work objectively and see what they are trying to tell you? It’s important for you to trust them and have thick enough skin to accept their suggestions. They want you to be successful. They want your book to be the best it can be. Chances are their name will be in the credits as the editor, if it’s not good, it reflects on them. They aren’t steering you wrong. If you have the right editor.
With my formatter I had to do some trial and error before we got Force Majeure to a palatable size. The standard paperback size is 5x8 inches. My books are usually 6x9 inches just because it’s my personal preference. Thankfully the larger size helps make Force Majeure more attractive. The way I wrote it, in double spaced 12pt font, it was over a thousand pages! It’s about 150k words. The average romance is 80-85k. When we first formatted it in the 6x9 size we put it in the standard 1.5 spacing style. It was still 556 pages. We decided to try 1.25 spacing, and that brought it down to 407 pages. Thank goodness!
So many things to keep in mind while you write. Remember my genres are romance and horror so most of my suggestions are in those genres. For fantasy, the word count can be much higher. Also, lots of fantasy authors include things like maps and family tree style character maps. Just make sure you follow the word counts for your genre, because they’re all different.
When you write, you can set your program to the size book you’re writing to have an idea of how it will look. I have an idea based on word count, so I just keep track of it that way. You should also write in Times New Roman font and 12 pt. font size. These are the guidelines most publishers require. Some authors are expanding outside these boundaries and if you have no interest in ever being published by a publisher, it’s probably okay. But remember your readers are comfortable with the standards.
For help with how to get your writing program set up with the book size and margins etc. I highly recommend Natalia Leigh; her YouTube videos are easy to follow for this information. If you don’t like her videos, there are others to choose from.
One last thing you'll need to choose is the color paper you prefer for your book if you’re self- publishing. Your first thought might be to go for white paper with black ink, so black and white on white. I researched this and after reading everything I found, I decided to go with cream paper. It’s less harsh on the reader's eye. You don’t really notice it’s cream and not white unless it’s next to white paper. I think it’s the best choice for me. Think about it before you upload your book. Because you can’t change it on KDP once you choose. You can’t change a lot of the specifics once you choose. So, look at it before you decide. Think about it. Make sure you choose what you really want.
Things to remember and research for the mechanics of your book:
1. Set your program for optimum writing. Size, margins, font, spacing.
2. Hire an editor.
3. Hire a cover designer.
4. Hire a formatter.
5. Think of an attractive and descriptive title.
6. Keep your word count in mind.
7. Decide on trim size and paper color.
8. Remember the need for marketability of your book.
9. Remember that book sellers care about all of these things.
10. Writing the story is just the beginning, if you want anyone to read it, they need to know it exists. If you want it out there, you need to make your work attractive to readers and the places they buy books.
As always, thanks for reading!
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