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Author Roadshow Coventry Library
“Date For Your Diary”.
I’ll be taking part in the Author Roadshow at Coventry Central Library on Saturday 8th March from between 11am and 1 pm.
Come along and say “Hi”.
Meet other book-lovers, chat to authors and buy signed copies!Local Authors Include:
- Malcolm Rose
- Angie Moon
- Adam Wood
- Ruth Cherrington
- Chris Arnot
- Helen Chinn
- Alex Stone
- Ann Evans
- Zen Cho
Can’t wait to see you all!
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When Two Tribes Go To War
This was my first short story written for our monthly homework. The theme was Christmas.
A war reporter, that’s how the observer sees himself, gazing upon the seething hordes beneath him. A scenario played out a million times in a million different ways for a million years. Details change, sides change and weapons change. But the goals remain the same; to show one’s superiority, to claim the biggest prize and to cement one’s legacy.
The soldiers can be classified into different groups, each with its own identity and method of combat.
First the Alphas. Big, loud, and brash, they strut the battlefield oozing confidence. Darwin would classify them as the ‘fittest’ of the population. But evolution is far more nuanced. Biggest doesn’t always equal best, and many are too showy for their own good.
Enter the Dancer. Nimble and fleet-footed, he makes up for his lack of mass with guile. Battlefield manoeuvrability is his forte. Sweeping beneath the very nose of an Alpha, he steals the target with unmatchable grace and poise.
Next the Talker. Specialising in battle-field communications, he wins hearts and minds. A few well-chosen words and the physical superiority of the Alphas is dismissed as oafishness; the grace of the Dancer re-interpreted as embarrassing flashiness.
Finally, the Wingman. He’s the sturdy sergeant. Fighting along-side, supporting and defending his leader, he may get lucky, receiving crumbs from his master’s table, But more often he serves until victory is assured, before slinking away to drown his sorrows alone.
Yes, the observer decided as he watched the drama unfold. It’s all here, playing out as it always does, his thesis proven yet again.
But a good reporter seeks both sides of the story. With that in mind he selects the next record and settles back to see if the girls behave differently on the dance floor.
‘Last Christmas, I gave you my heart…’
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TuesdayTips199
Block Buster
Ideas To Thwart Writer’s Block
It’s been a while, but today’s #TuesdayTip is another Block Buster – a short exercise to either bust your writer’s block, or just a fun writing challenge to practise your skills.
If you’re anything like me, simply being handed a blank piece of paper and told “write a story” is a non-starter. I need some sort of prompt.
Since stories are, in essence, what happens when a character is placed in an situation, then if you have a character and a situation then you are most of the way there.
One easy way to do this is to generate a random number and use it to pick from a list. You can use dice or an online random number generator
(https://g.co/kgs/6NMQ8zx – this is a really simple, no bells, random number generator).
You can easily generate your own lists of characters and scenarios, but if you want a quick start, try the following.
Characters – pick a random number from 1 to 6.
1 – Old Man
2 – Small Child
3 – Alien visiting Earth
4- A Teacher
5 – A Busy Parent
6 – A Young Professional
Scenarios – pick a random number from 1 to 6.
1 – Trying to get the lid off a jar of pickles
2 – Trying on different hats
3 – Doing the grocery shop
4 – Trying to cross the road
5 – Negotiating with a toddler
6 – Choosing from the menu in a restaurant
Now you have your character and scenario, those are your prompts. Be creative!
You can substitute the characters and scenarios for ones that you think will work better, or if you decide to use a number generator, you can even write a longer list to choose from.
You will notice that the scenarios are rather banal – that’s deliberate. I find that forcing yourself to write an entertaining piece about a common, everyday occurrence requires one to be more creative than if you already have an exciting, thrilling setup. Obviously, you may decide that you would rather have something a bit more interesting, so go for it!
Remember the rules:- Set yourself a time limit.
- Write without stopping, editing or overthinking.
- Write whatever comes to mind and don’t worry if it doesn’t make sense.
- It doesn’t matter if it has nothing to do with the scene that you are stuck on.
If you are a writer with a tip to share, or fancy writing a fictional interview between you and one of your characters, please feel free to email me.
Have fun,
Paul
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TuesdayTips198
TV review:
Cold Case Detectives.
Welcome to this week’s #TuesdayTip. This time it is a TV Review of ITVX’s Cold Case Detectives.
Recent decades have seen a proliferation in new investigative tools, especially those related to DNA analysis. Prior to the discovery of what is commonly known as DNA fingerprinting in 1984, many serious crimes were unsolved due to a lack of forensic evidence. That is now changing. In the UK, unsolved crimes such as murder, and other serious offences, are never closed. Instead the original evidence and samples are preserved and placed in storage, in the hope that one day new leads might surface that identify new suspects or even strengthen the case against existing suspects.
This has led to the formation of specialist ‘Cold Case Units’ that periodically review outstanding cases to see if there is anything that can be done to resurrect the investigation. With the advent of new technologies, even as memories fade and witnesses die, there remains a glimmer of hope that justice can finally be done. Even cases from the late 80s and 90s can be reopened as techniques that were in their infancy back then have evolved and matured to become usable on samples that were too small or degraded to analyse fully at the time.
ITVX’s Cold Case Detectives follows a team at South Wales Police who aim to do just that. A mixture of specialist serving officers and retired former detectives (some of whom have a personal connection to the original investigation) revisit cases that are decades old. This three-part series follows two cases in particular. The 60-year-old murder of a 6-year-old girl, Carol Ann Stephens, and a 40-year-old rape case. The documentary follows the team as they pore over the existing evidence and even identify new witnesses. The programme demonstrates how even with the passage of decades, these crimes still affect those involved. It is gratifying to see the passion of these detectives to bring the perpetrators to justice, or if that isn’t possible, to at least supply some answers to grieving relatives and traumatised victims. And there is a grim satisfaction to be had in seeing the face of somebody who has slept easy in recent years finally getting the knock on the door that they had assumed they had escaped.
I highly recommend this series for those interested in the application of state-of-the-art forensic techniques and modern detection methods on crimes committed long before those technologies were conceived.
The programmes are available to watch on ITVX. (https://www.itv.com/watch/cold-case-detectives/7a0172/7a0172a0001).
Do you have any recommendations for documentaries that are worth watching? As always, feel free to comment here or on social media.
Until next time,
Paul
If you are a writer with a tip to share, or fancy writing a fictional interview between you and one of your characters, please feel free to email me.
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TuesdayTips197
Say That Again.
Say That Again.
“Say that again. Say that again.”
No, I’m not offering you out for a fight behind the pub because of a perceived slight. Rather, today’s #TuesdayTip is a musing about the power of repetition.
As beginning writers, we are advised to avoid repetition. We should try not to use the same word or phrase more than once in close proximity. When editing, I’ve even spotted the use of short sentence such as way of describing a character, or a turn of phrase, more than once in different parts of a manuscript and changed at least one of those instances. At school, we are encouraged to use synonyms for adjectives or verbs, rather than using the same one repeatedly, so that our prose is more engaging and interesting to read.
My beta readers are especially good at spotting repetition, and I am grateful for their eagle-eyed attention.
But it occurs to me that repetition, when used correctly, can also be a very powerful stylistic tool. It can often add cadence and rhythm. Good orators use repetition as a way of emphasising a point.
It seems that to use a word or phrase twice looks weak, but three times or more is a conscious choice.
Take the following examples:She looked him in the eye. She could tell he wasn’t telling the truth.
“Why don’t you be honest?” she asked.
The silence stretched, as she waited for him to tell the truth.Here we see the word truth, or even a variation on the phrase ‘telling the truth’ used twice, very close together. I really found this hard to write, because I have been conditioned to view that type of repetition as sloppy and careless. My instinct is to change that last sentence to something like ‘she waited for him to come clean’.
Now look at this short paragraph.
“You are scared of admitting the truth. Because you are afraid that to admit the truth will be a sign of weakness. But you’re wrong, telling the truth is a sign of strength. The truth shows that you are moving on. The truth will set you free.”The word truth is used FIVE times. Yet, instead of feeling flat and repetitious, it adds emphasis and rhythm to the speech. As you read it, you subconsciously imagine the speaker’s voice rising in volume.
Other than the rather trite phrase ‘twice is careless, three times is a choice‘, there are no hard and fast rules. It’s difficult to codify when it feels wrong and when it feels right. All I can suggest is that where possible, try to use synonyms if a word or phrase crops up twice within a few paragraphs, or perhaps in the same circumstances (describing characters the same way more than once in different parts of a book), without tying yourself in knots and using unrealistically complicated vocabulary. However, if you decide to use a word or phrase three times or more as a stylistic choice, read the paragraph out loud (or get your computer to read it to you). The human ear is very good at picking up when something sounds ‘wrong’.
What are your thoughts on the repetition as a tool? As always, feel free to share your thoughts here or on social media.
Until next time,
Paul
If you are a writer with a tip to share, or fancy writing a fictional interview between you and one of your characters, please feel free to email me.
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TuesdayTips196
Relatable, Not Likeable.
Welcome to this week’s #TuesdayTip.
I recently heard someone use a phrase that really stuck in my mind. Compelling characters should be relatable but they don’t need to be likeable. The sentiment has also been expressed in some of the early reviews for The Aftermath.
As writers, one of our key aims is to make audiences connect with our characters. To do that, we have to understand their choices. We don’t have to agree with those choices. We don’t have to like their choices. But we do need to understand where they are coming from. We have to recognise that they have goals and objectives (laudable or heinous) and their actions needs to stem from those desires. Furthermore, a small part of us has to be able to say ‘if I was in their position, maybe I would consider doing the same’. It might not be a serious contemplation, but for a brief moment we could see how that course of action might solve a problem.
Take the case of a person caring for an elderly relative. They have money worries and are constantly exhausted. Even the most virtuous person might think – however briefly – ‘you know, it would solve a lot of problems if they just passed away and left me my inheritance‘. Most right-thinking people would be repulsed by the thought and perhaps even feel guilty and ashamed for thinking it. But when we hear about someone in that position who did do the unthinkable and ended the life of someone, we can relate to that action. We don’t agree with it. We don’t condone it. But we understand it.
One of the best things on TV in recent years is HBO’s Succession. The tale (allegedly loosely based on the Murdoch media empire), charts the scheming and plotting of the four children of media tycoon Logan Roy – played magnificently by British actor Brian Cox – as they tussle to be his successor. There are many, many reasons to recommend this programme (warning: it is replete with foul language and sexual themes), from the eye-watering dialogue, the intricate scheming and plotting and the laugh-out-loud dark humour. But what stands out for me is the characterisation. Not one of the siblings, Logan, or the many other secondary characters are likeable. Even those who start off nice are consumed by avarice as the series progresses.
Yet they are relatable. Everything they do – no matter how unpleasant or wicked – has motive and is understandable. We watched each episode with mounting horror at just how far these characters would go, and how low they would stoop. Yet even as we did so, we could see why they were doing what they did. We might not agree with them – you’d have to have some pretty sociopathic tendencies to consider many of their actions acceptable – but we could relate.
The behaviour of most of the characters in The Aftermath pale beside the Roy clan, yet they all do morally questionable things, even those who aren’t evil. Yet I hope that readers can still see that they do it for valid reasons.
And that’s what makes them relatable.
Where do you stand on relatable not likeable? Do you love a pantomime villain, or do they have to have at least some redeeming features?
Feel free to comment here or on social media.
Until next time,
Paul
If you are a writer with a tip to share, or fancy writing a fictional interview between you and one of your characters, please feel free to email me.
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TuesdayTips195
New Genre, New Name?
Welcome to this week’s #TuesdayTip. A few weeks ago, (tuesdaytips190.html) I announced my newest book, The Aftermath, which I am self-publishing – a first for me. I promised to take you with me on this new and exciting journey. Last week we looked at the allure of the suburban domestic thriller. This week, I want to ponder the pros and cons of writing under a different pseudonym.
I’m not a publishing expert – far from it – but I have learned a lot over the past few months. If you have any suggestions or thoughts though, please feel free to comment here or on social media.
Much of what I have learned came from the brilliant resources available through the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi). Joining them was well worth the relatively modest subscription fee (which is tax deductible in the UK) (https://www.allianceindependentauthors.org/). Many of the indie authors I’ve spoken to over the years swear by them.
Should I change my name?
This was a question that I recently found myself pondering. My new book, The Aftermath, is something of a change of direction – a standalone domestic thriller, rather than a series of police procedurals. My previous DCI Warren Jones books were written under my real name, Paul Gitsham. Back in 2014, as I was considering publishing, I had to decide if I wanted to use this or a pen name.
As a school teacher, especially one with a slightly unusual name, I have to consider my public image. Pupils (and parents!) are pretty shameless these days about googling teachers, looking for gossip and therefore, just as in years gone by the local science teacher rolling drunkenly down the high street or openly conducting an affair may have attracted angry correspondence to the school’s governing body, these days one’s social media profile or other public activities can still garner negative attention.
And so I had to decide if the content of my books might attract similar opprobrium from ‘concerned’ parents.
In the end, I decided to peruse the shelves of the school library. I saw immediately that they carried copies of several adult Andy McNab thrillers. Those who have read the adult-aimed stories from the former-SAS operative will know that those books are told in the first person, with liberal use of colourful, often foul language, extreme violence and even occasional sexual content. Knowing that my Warren Jones novels are very tame by comparison, I decided that it would be hypocritical to castigate me, whilst stocking those books and other classics. Mercifully, we live in a country that doesn’t wilfully ignore freedom of speech and ban books because a few vocal parents want to cause trouble (yes Florida, I’m looking at you).
Now I am faced with a slightly different dilemma. Whilst The Aftermath is very much a crime novel, after 13 Warren Jones police procedurals (plus some free short stories – Link), readers have come to expect a certain type of book. The concern, voiced by a colleague at a recent talk, is that if you don’t make it clear that your new book is different to the old ones, then you run the risk of disappointing existing readers. So, should I change my name?
I am rather attached to my name. Gitsham appears fairly early in the alphabet, so readers looking for a new author are less likely to get bored and stop hunting alphabetical shelves. Furthermore, it’s pretty unusual. At the time of writing, nobody with my surname is writing crime fiction. (It still stings slightly when I search certain bookshop websites and the search engine helpfully asks ‘Do you mean Grisham?’!) But maybe I could change my first name or use initials?
Paul C. Gitsham was a strong contender – good enough for Iain / Iain M. Banks – he uses his initial to distinguish between his speculative fiction and literary fiction. PC Gitsham was a non-starter – I’m not a police officer and it would be disrespectful to those many former coppers writing really good crime fiction.
But is it worth it?
Reasons in favour of a name change.- As mentioned above, a minor change such as initials can single a change in genre.
- A completely new name can allow you to write something entirely different without being burdened by reader expectations. (A surprising number of middle-aged, male authors write erotic fiction aimed at the female market alongside their thrillers or other genre fiction – a more female/ambiguous name tends to help sales…)
- A completely new name can let you relaunch your author brand. I know a few writers who have decided to do this.
- Hiding one’s gender by ambiguous initials/gender-neutral names. JK Rowling (first name Joanne, no initial) has done this twice. Once for Harry Potter and later writing the Cormoran Strike private eye novels as Robert Galbraith. Some male authors use initials, since the majority of readers are female. Some female authors do the same because it is believed that some men won’t pick up a book by a woman.
Reasons against a name change.
- You can lose existing readers who don’t realise that you have written something different (this can be mitigated somewhat by a minor initials change).
- I’m told that some big retailers (*cough* Amazon *cough*) don’t always link the two author names together properly. I already have issues where some readers of my Warren Jones novels don’t realise that there are also four shorter novellas, after Amazon stopped cross-promoting them, so why risk it?
- You may dilute your author brand. The hope is that readers who enjoy Warren Jones will be willing to try something new from me. Hopefully, at least some readers will pick up a copy based on my name, not just my character’s name.
Ultimately, I have spoken to friends and decided against a name change. At most, I am switching sub-genres, not genres. Furthermore, many big-name authors happily publish multiple series alongside standalones all under the same name. The cover for The Aftermath is very different to the Warren Jones novels, and it is tag-lined ‘From the Creator of DCI Warren Jones‘. The fact that it is mentioned regularly on all marketing that it is a standalone, should hopefully stop anyone claiming it was miss-sold as a Warren Jones.
What are your thoughts? Are multiple pen names a useful thing, or is it better to stick with one name? As always, feel free to comment here or on social media.
Until next time,
Paul
If you are a writer with a tip to share, or fancy writing a fictional interview between you and one of your characters, please feel free to email me.
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TuesdayTips194
Suburban attractions.
Behind That Pretty Front Door.
Welcome to this week’s #TuesdayTip. Four weeks ago, (#Tip190) I announced my newest book, The Aftermath, which I am self-publishing – a first for me. I promised to take you with me on this new and exciting journey. Last week we looked at page-setting. This week, I want to talk about another type of setting, and why I chose to set my standalone novel in a wealthy, suburban/exclusive setting.I’m not a publishing expert – far from it – but I have learned a lot over the past few months. If you have any suggestions or thoughts though, please feel free to comment here or on social media.Much of what I have learned came from the brilliant resources available through the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi). Joining them was well worth the relatively modest subscription fee (which is tax deductible in the UK) (https://www.allianceindependentauthors.org/). Many of the indie authors I’ve spoken to over the years swear by them.
I love reading about nice people in nice houses with nice cars having horrible things happen to them.
There, I’ve said it. Feel free to judge me.
I don’t think it’s schadenfreude – I like to think I’m a pretty nice bloke myself – but I happen to find something especially creepy and disconcerting when people who live outwardly comfortable and ‘safe’ lives find themselves in dangerous and disturbing situations.
Judging by the popularity of the numerous domestic, psychological thrillers published each year – or turned into TV series – I’m not alone.I’ve thought about it in some detail over the years, both as a reader of such books, and lately as I’ve started dipping my own toes in the genre. I suppose in many ways, it isn’t a new phenomenon.
Think back to the Golden Age of crime fiction and the popularity of the so-called ‘cosy’. There was no shortage of gruesome fare available at the time – the Penny Dreadfuls and their tales of brutal murders thrilled and shocked the burgeoning middle class of the time, and sold in huge numbers. But then look at Agatha Christie’s output – Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot – these books, rather than being set on the mean streets of London where Jack the Ripper once strode, are often in genteel settings.
The juxtaposition of the sleepy village, with the tastefully written but scary murders contained within, are one of the keys to the continuing success of the Miss Marple stories. When you live somewhere as pretty and peaceful as St. Mary Mead, you don’t expect one of your neighbours to be brutally killed.
The modern day domestic thrillers, I would argue, continue this tradition.As all the statistics tell us, wealth can – to a limited degree – protect one from many of the dangers of society. Whilst the practise of leaving doors unlocked has largely ended, those with the means to do so often aspire to live in an area where you don’t assume that your neighbour is likely to hop the garden fence and make off with your TV if they see you’re out for the day. It becomes easy as a resident of a leafy suburb – where everyone knows each other’s name, happily takes in parcels and drags the bins out if you are on holiday – to see crime, and especially violent crime, as something that happens to other people. You only have to see the shocked faces of neighbours on the news when a (usually) domestic incident spirals into murder. “It’s such a quiet area – nothing like that ever happens here.” Stabbings and murders happen on housing estates or violent city streets, not small villages or wealthy suburbs.
Appearances can be deceptive is an over-used cliché. But clichés exist because they are based on truth. The same base, human desires, exist in all of us. They are just better hidden (or more wilfully-ignored) in the suburbs. Raised voices are better masked in a street of detached houses than a crowded block of flats. Better security (due to increased wealth) can act as a deterrent to burglary. Wealth undoubtedly negates some of the drivers of crime (your neighbour might be an alcoholic or have a prescription drug problem, but their partner earns six-figures a year, so there is no need to burgle or shoplift). But infidelity is as upsetting for the rich as the poor, although it’s easier to cool off in the spare bedroom of a six-bed semi than the single room of a one-bed flat. And if your business is on the verge of bankruptcy and the mortgage is months in arrears, doubtless you will lie awake as much as the single parent whose benefits are being steadily eroded by the rising cost of living.
When the front door closes, it doesn’t matter whether the door is to a communal flat or an expensive mansion, we can never really know what is going on behind it. And as crime writers, so much of what we write about has its genesis there.
The difference, is that it is somehow more shocking when a wealthy businessman murders his wife in a cosy four-bed bungalow, with a lovely garden, than when a person stabs their partner in a cramped bedsit on the third floor.And so when I came to write The Aftermath, I wanted to channel that feeling. Seamus and his wife Carole appear to be living that suburban dream. They are wealthy, living on an exclusive country lane outside of a pretty little town. His brother Dominic, a self-made millionaire, lives nearby, insulated even further by his luxurious home. They seem to have it all. But then Carole kills herself in the most horrible manner imaginable and we start to probe beneath the surface.
In writing The Aftermath, I was writing the sort of book I really enjoy reading. I still love gritty, urban police procedurals, but sometimes I just want a glimpse of what’s going on behind the door of the nice house, with the nice people with the nice car…
So, what are your thoughts the appeal of the suburban-set domestic thriller? As always, feel free to comment here or on social media.
Until next time,
Paul
If you are a writer with a tip to share, or fancy writing a fictional interview between you and one of your characters, please feel free to email me.
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TuesdayTips193
Setting The Page
Welcome to this week’s #TuesdayTip. Three weeks ago, (TuesdayTips190) I announced my newest book, The Aftermath, which I am self-publishing – a first for me. I promised to take you with me on this new and exciting journey. Last week we looked at covers. This week, we are discussing page setting – converting your manuscript to the correct layout for print and eBooks.
I’m not an expert – far from it – but I have learned a lot over the past few months. If you have any suggestions or thoughts though, please feel free to comment here or on social media.
Much of what I have learned came from the brilliant resources available through the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi). Joining them was well worth the relatively modest subscription fee (which is tax deductible in the UK) (https://www.allianceindependentauthors.org/). Many of the indie authors I’ve spoken to over the years swear by them.
First of all, what is page setting?
Pick up a paperback, hardback or eBook and look at the way the text is set out. It’s a little more complicated than you might think.
Back in the early days of printing, laying out a book or newspaper, even a leaflet or flyer, was a time-consuming and highly skilled process. Individual letters and punctuation symbols made of raised metal would be placed in rows on a template, then fed into a printing press which would transfer ink onto rolls of paper. The process, known as moveable type, was invented by the German goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg in the mid-fifteenth century. The technique was refined over several centuries, but remained essentially the same until the latter part of the twentieth century when computers made setting the page and aligning everything quicker and more automated.
Fun fact: the terms Upper Case and Lower Case refer to the fact that page setters would keep the individual metal characters in cases – capital letters in the upper part of the case, the other letters in the lower case.
Nevertheless, a modern book, whether it be traditional print or electronic, still requires the text (and images) to be aligned on the page. The process is somewhat different for print and electronic, so I will split the two and describe the basics below. There are automated tools these days. Some are free, with little input from the user (many book printers supply their own), or you can use specialist software that will give you more control. I have opted to use Atticus (link). If you use a Mac, Vellum is very respected.
eBook conversion.
The simplest way to convert your manuscript for use on an eReader is to simply upload your Word document or similar file to the retail site that you are going to sell your books through. Automated software will (hopefully) convert the file, recognising chapter headings and page breaks, and convert it into a .epub file, the dominant file format for eReaders.
Using specialist software like Atticus or Vellum will give you more control, but will still produce an ePub file that you can upload or send to Beta Readers.
Unlike traditional print books, the text-size is set by the eReader device’s user, so number of pages is a largely meaningless statistic. However, you can still have scene breaks and chapter breaks, and decorative flourishes such as drop caps (when the first letter of a paragraph is much larger than the rest of the text).
Print Book Conversion.
This is a little more involved. For the independent publisher, you will need to make some choices. Again, major printers will supply software that can take your manuscript and convert accordingly. This time, the file produced is a PDF, sized precisely to the requirements needed by the printer. The reason they use PDFs, is because they act a bit like image files. Once they are produced, there is no danger of text moving about on the page – MS Word is notorious for this. Word documents can look slightly different on different computers. PDFs are identical on all devices, so the file you send to the printer is identical to the one on your computer.
However, you will need to make some decisions to ensure that the book prints correctly.
First, trim size. This is the actual size of the book. There are a wide-range of trim sizes, reflecting the diversity of different book sizes. Look at your book case. You will notice that many books are slightly taller or wider than others – thickness is determined by the number of pages and the paper, which we will look at later. The best thing I found was to take a book you like the size of and measure it precisely. My DCI Warren Jones novels, printed by HarperCollins, are 198mmx127mm. I chose this trim size from the options in the software. Annoyingly, some US distributers use the subtly different 5″x8″. It’s only fractions of an inch, but it requires its own PDF.
Next there is the layout of the text on the page. You will see that there is a margin around the text area – this is to ensure there is a safe buffer in case of errors in the printing process. If you open the book flat, you will see that the inside margins (ie the margins closest to the spine – the right-hand margin on the left page and vice versa) are wider. This is so you can easily read the book without having to lay it completely flat to stop the shadow from the opposite page obscuring the text.
You can then choose if and where you want page numbers, or if you want the book title/author name at the top of the page.
This will then determine the number of pages that your book will be (and how much paper is used). Along with the type of paper used, it will also determine the width of the spine, which is needed during cover design.
Most of these settings are pre-determined, but I tweaked them slightly to reduce the page margins. This actually reduced the page count, which is better for the environment and reduces the printing cost (paper is expensive!).
Fonts
One last thing to consider is the choice of font. eReaders have their own, inbuilt fonts that the user can adjust for reading comfort, so it isn’t much of a consideration. But it is worth considering for print books. If you are just uploading a manuscript file and allowing the printer to do all the conversions, you can just follow their options.
If you are generating your own PDF however, you need to make a choice. First of all, many of the commonly used fonts in MS Word are not actually free to use for commercial products. Strictly speaking, you need a licence if you are going to be selling your books.
I looked inside the covers of several books on my book shelf, and found that Garamond with a text size of 11pt was commonly cited on the copyright page.
Garamond was developed in the sixteenth century and has serifs (the curly bits on the bottom of letters). It has italics, bold and some non-Roman characters. The problem is that the version installed on most computers is actually copyright (not by Garamond, obviously, but by the artists and graphic designers who spent time converting old paper manuscripts into a digital format).
However, in 2011, a team went back to the original source and made EB Garamond, releasing it under the open font licence. You can download and install this on your computer for free, and use it for print books (Link).
If all this seems scarily complicated, don’t worry. You can have as much or as little input into the process as you wish. The retailers for your books (electronic or print) typically have simple-to-use interfaces. Just upload your manuscript and click the options. I decided that as a geek, I wanted a bit more control of the process.
So, what are your thoughts on page setting? Any advice you would like to share, or questions you’d like answered? As always, feel free to comment here or on social media.
Until next time,
Paul
If you are a writer with a tip to share, or fancy writing a fictional interview between you and one of your characters, please feel free to email me.
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TuesdayTips192
(They) Always Judge A Book By Its Cover
Welcome to this week’s #TuesdayTip. Two week ago (TuesdayTips190), I announced my newest book, The Aftermath, which I am self-publishing – a first for me. I promised to take you with me on this new and exciting journey. Last week we looked at why even self-published authors need professional feedback and editing. This week it’s covers.
I’m not an expert – far from it – but I have learned a lot over the past few months. If you have any suggestions or thoughts though, please feel free to comment here or on social media.First of all, much of what I have learned came from the brilliant resources available through the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi). Joining them was well worth the relatively modest subscription fee (which is tax deductible in the UK) (https://www.allianceindependentauthors.org/). Many of the indie authors I’ve spoken to over the years swear by them.Never judge a book by its cover, is advice heard so often, you’d almost think people followed it.
Spoiler: they don’t.
Like it or not, covers sell books. Traditional publishers know this and spend large sums studying industry trends, conducting focus groups, and preparing detailed briefs for the professional graphic designers who will realise their dreams. Sometimes they even consult the author, although whether they pay attention to the author’s thoughts varies somewhat! There is a reason Amazon and every other online retailer shows covers on its search results, and having a book ‘cover out’ in a bookshop is a ‘service’ that many publishers will pay for.Since I’m going it alone, I had to find myself a cover designer.
“Why didn’t you just design it yourself and save a few quid?“, I hear you ask.
Because, unless you happen to be a trained graphic designer specialising in book covers, it will look crap. There is a mysterious alchemy that professionals possess. A combination of skill gained through years of practise, an understanding of what works in that genre and reader expectations, an innate artistic flair, and access to state-of-the-art design software (and the expertise to use it properly). Even if you have a great idea, and assemble all the elements necessary for your cover, unless it’s a plain background with little more than text then it probably won’t look quite right (even then, graphic designers are likely to be more familiar with the many fonts out there than you are).And herein lies the problem. Like it or not, there remains an inherent snobbery towards self-publishing. Many readers still equate traditional publishing with quality and remain suspicious of self-publishing. Despite the many advances in recent years, the field is still pretty young and it has yet to fully shake off the stigma from the early days when people would imply ‘if you aren’t good enough to get a proper publishing contract, you could always self-publish your little stories for family and friends.’
So, rightly or wrongly, a chunk of your potential readers won’t even give your book a second glance if they think it is self-published. Or at the very least, they will take some persuading. What you want is for them to pause and click on the cover, or take the book off the shelf, to read the jacket blurb. Because, if the book sounds like a good read, then some of those doubters might just decide to take a chance on a title that isn’t backed by a big publisher they recognise.
Therefore, you want your cover to standout because of its design, not because something about it looks not quite professional.What should I be looking for?
Unless you happen to be on first name terms with someone who is a designer, you need to choose one. Which is tricky. There are a few options.- If you want to save money, some designers actually have pre-designed covers that they customise to your needs. The obvious disadvantage is that your book may look very similar to others on the market. However, that doesn’t always matter. For some books, a fairly generic background with a prominent and eye-catching title is fine.
- You can take a punt and hire someone on a gig site like Fiverr – needless to say, you will want to see their portfolio. You may get lucky and find a skilled new designer taking on commissions to build their portfolio. Or a respected freelance designer who works for the big publishing houses and takes on side-gigs to earn some extra cash. Or, you might get a chancer with a bootleg copy of Photoshop and access to ChatGPT.
- Go with someone you know does a good job. I don’t mean know personally. Recommendations from people you trust are nice, but not everyone has access to that network. Fortunately, there is an easy way to find those with a proven track record. For many books, the cover artist is actually credited on the inside pages or the back cover. Since most cover artists are freelancers, you can often google them, find their webpage, and see if they are accepting private commissions.
- Finally don’t forget your due diligence. As with anything internet-based, it’s a wild west out there. You need to ensure that you aren’t going to get ripped off. ALLi (https://www.allianceindependentauthors.org/) has a trusted professionals directory, and equally importantly, forums discussing who to avoid. A legit cover designer should have an online portfolio showcasing some of their work. Check out the books they claim to have designed, they should be easily accessible on Amazon.
What do I need, cover-wise?
Something I learned very quickly is that there are a plethora of things that you need to consider.
First the design. What do you want?
For The Aftermath I knew very early on that the cover should feature the dramatic inciting incident – quite literally a garden shed ablaze. But my designer immediately asked what sort of shed? Night or day? He also asked me to send him links to covers that I like and explain why.
Because The Aftermath is a domestic thriller, it needs to look different from my previous Warren Jones covers. This is both to stop reader confusion (“1 star, Warren Jones never appears.”) and to attract the eye of fans of that genre who may not be familiar with my previous work. I found several examples from my ‘peers’ in this genre, not because they have a garden shed, but because they have the ‘feel’ of that genre. I also chose a couple based purely on the colour palette.
Your designer should send you a list of questions, otherwise how will they know what you want?
Next, what formats of cover do you want?
It stands to reason that the cover for a physical book is a bit different to an eBook. For a start, eBooks only have a front cover. Physical books have a rear and a spine. Should you be lucky enough to be stocked by a major retailer, chances are you will be sideways on the shelf, with your cover hidden. So don’t ignore your spine.
eBook covers tend to be a standard size and your designer will just send you a Jpeg or possibly a PDF. However, Audiobooks have slightly different dimensions (they tend to be more square).
Print books are where the complications lie, and your designer is going to need some additional information from you. First of all the “trim size”. There are several different, commonly used sizes of books – look at your bookcase, you’ll see the differences. So, early on in the process, decide what trim size you are going to have your book printed. I measured one of my Warren Jones novels with a ruler, then went to Amazon and IngramSpark (the printing company that most authors and publishers use) and identified the trim size (198mm x 127mm in case you’re wondering).
Next there is the spine width. This is determined by the number of pages and the type of paper used. So again, early on in the process I decided which paper I wanted (Groundwood, which is the stuff commonly used in mass-market paperbacks). The page count comes after you have typeset the manuscript. It is not the page count from your Word document. Typesetting is the process by which your words are laid out on the page. Don’t forget to allow for the front matter (title page and copyright etc) and the backmatter (Acknowledgments, previous books in the series etc). I’ll look at page-setting in a later TuesdayTip.
Hardcovers are different again.
It goes without saying that cover designers will charge you more if you want paperback and eBook, rather than just eBook. Many offer different “packages” to choose from.
How many revisions do you get?
This is something worth considering. Many designers put a limit on the number of free revisions an author can request. Which is fair enough. I can imagine how frustrating it must be if your client repeatedly emails you to ‘just tweak the font my name is written in’.
My designers bespokebookcovers.com were a little more expensive than the cheapest on the market (although still very reasonable according to friends) but the package included as many revisions as I want. I won’t be taking the mickey, but I have had two small tweaks (the shed window originally looked as though there was a light – we changed it to flames, and Patrick’s extremely clever idea of a discarded shoe had to sadly be ditched because it doesn’t feature in the book). I will be asking for one more revision before it is sent off for printing: a cover quote (we’ve already designed holding text that looks really good, so it is just a case of inserting the wording), a tiny tweak to the jacket blurb (the result of a vigorous debate at my writers’ group about the placement of a comma) and the all-important barcode with the ISBN.
Do you own the correct licences?
Ugh – the legal stuff. One of the things that attracted me to bespokebookcovers was the fact that they promised to pay the licencing fees for any stock images or fonts used. Sorry to break it to you, but it is unlikely that your designer will be out and about with a camera hunting for that perfect shot to illustrate your cover. They will probably have licensed the photos from a stock photo site. Similarly the fonts that are used for the title and your name etc, might not be free to use. These fees are included within the standard package price I paid for, so no nasty surprises!So, what are your thoughts on cover design? Any advice you would like to share, or questions you’d like answered? As always, feel free to comment here or on social media.
Until next time,
Paul
If you are a writer with a tip to share, or fancy writing a fictional interview between you and one of your characters, please feel free to email me.
