Independent Authors Are Inspiring
I have been working with a handful of authors over the last several months, and today, as I was working on a book for an author, I got really inspired. I spoke to this author a year or so ago and she had an idea for a book and I told her about my experiences and shared some advice (we also spoke about InDesign since she was considering using it to format her book). I think I heard from her briefly a few months later when she had another question, but mostly hadn't heard from her until a few weeks ago when she reached out again. She was close to finishing her book, but wanted to hire me to help fine tune things and make sure she was ready to go to print. I was so happy for her that she had attempted to format on her own and [...]
Should I Use My Personal Facebook Profile for My Book or Business?
This is a question I see a LOT - "Should I Use My Personal Facebook Profile for My Book or Business?" And I always advise NOT to use your personal page/profile. I have the reasons listed below, but overall, the reasoning is that your personal Facebook page is meant to be about you - and is for your friends, family, etc. And while some people have public profiles or share everything with everyone, it's not intended for business. And one of the biggest differences is that with your personal profile someone has to be friends with you to "follow" you, then you kind of "force" them to share their profile with you. As a business page, they can follow you, and you still don't have access to their private profile. I, myself, do not friend request people I don’t know – meaning if I want to follow you as [...]
What’s it Like to Hire and Work with a Graphic Designer?
If you're in need of design services and are considering hiring a graphic designer for the first time, it can be a bit daunting. I certainly have felt this way when I've considered hiring for a service provider (like a hairstylist or pet sitter). Personally, I get all these questions rolling through my head like "how much do they charge?", "are they reliable?", "will I like their work?", just to name a few. Hiring a designer is very similar to hiring for any other professional service provider. And while I can't speak to every graphic designer out there, nor say that this is exactly how it should be, I can give you my process and thoughts on how it should go. A Consultation Should Always Be Acceptable More often than not, you're going to be hiring this person to do at least a couple hundred dollars worth of work. [...]
Should I Use Print On Demand (POD) or Bulk Offset Printing for My Book?
Here's another post inspired by a recent question in a Facebook group (and one I've answered a few times now). Every author looking to self-publish will eventually come to the question of where/how to print their books. The two main routes are offset printing (in bulk) and POD (print on demand). Before I go into this, it's important to understand the types of printing - offset vs. digital: Offset Printing Only available in bulk because of the extensive, individual setup of the press per run (or per book) Usually requires a minimum of 500 and usually the more you order, the less per book it costs Offset printing provides more vibrant, bright and true colors Offset printing provides an overall higher quality and sharper images Press checks are possible (they set up the printer, you look at the first copy that's run and confirm colors are looking correct) Digital [...]
Find a Designer BEFORE You Do Your Illustrations
I was just answering some questions on one of the author Facebook groups I'm a part of and it inspired me to write this post. I've seen on multiple occasions authors talking about editing and illustrating and then formatting (or design/layout). Firstly, I have a blog post about the The Importance of Hiring a Designer for Your Book and if you haven't read it and haven't thought about hiring a designer, it is a must read! This post though is more about the order of things. Should you do illustrations or formatting first? As a professional graphic designer, I strongly suggest speaking with a designer first. Typically, illustrators are just that - illustrators. They bring your characters to life and help you tell your story visually. While there are exceptions, most are not trained (or interested) to format the book (text, layout, margins, bleeds, etc.) So, unless you happen [...]
The Importance of Hiring a Designer for Your Book
If you're an author, or an aspiring author, odds are you have at very least heard the term "book formatting". Book formatting is essentially the layout, design and overall visual look of your book. And it is probably the most frequent thing I see lacking in the world of independent authors. In author groups, it seems everyone knows they need a good cover (although some don't realize DIY is not always best) and if you have a picture book, you need an illustrator. I'd say a lot also realize the importance of an editor. However, the piece I see people mention the least is a designer. So why is that? It seems to me that these are the most likely reasons people don't think about hiring a designer: For children's picture book authors, they think their illustrator will do this (and some may, but they may not be trained [...]
Why “Spots of Joy”?
If you've ever been curious as to why I named my company "Spots of Joy", or if you are just wanting to know details around the name, the read on! A couple of years ago when I decided to go the route of self-publishing for my children's book, Meet Faith - The Story of a Deaf Dalmatian, I had to decide if I'd publish under my name, or as a company. Now, I'm not going to go into the details of this decision, but I decided to go with using a company name (mostly to keep the book separate from personal finances). So when I thought about names, I thought about the reason for writing my book. As you could probably guess, that reason is Faith (my deaf Dalmatian if you're just now tuning in). The first thing that came to mind when I thought about her was how [...]
How I Illustrated Meet Faith
It took a little bit to decide what to write for my first blog post. I'm not used to doing this sort of thing, so it didn't come easily. And while this is my "first" post, it's actually not, because I have another one in my drafts. That one is very long though and about a topic that some might not view positively, so you'll have to wait patiently for that one. I thought sharing how I decided to illustrate my children's book Meet Faith would be a nice start. I think it will speak to the readers of my book, who are curious about my illustration process. And hopefully it will help everyone else understand my main message of being yourself. Self-publishing is a long road, with a lot of steps and a lot of work that lead to one final product that may or may not be [...]