Brand New Author About to be Published

Shrykespeare

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Hello all,

My name is Patrick, and I am a couple of months away from self-publishing my first novel at the young age of 45. (Okay, not that young.)

I have been looking for a writing community to join, and this looks like a great one. I hope you can hold my hand as I take my first baby steps into this new world of authorship.

I would love to tell everyone about my book, or perhaps even post an excerpt for everyone to critique, but I'm not sure whether I do that here or in a different category thread.

I am so excited about this book. I want the whole world to read it!

The story is aimed at readers ten to sixteen years old. The two protagonists are thirteen, a boy named Joshua and a girl named Eve. It is a drama about bullying, but more than anything, it's a love story... love between sisters, between best friends, and between a boy and a girl. The story is currently in the editing phase, and I hope to have it published in early 2015.
 
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Helix

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Hi, Patrick!

Welcome to AW. You'll have to wait until you get 50 posts before you can share your work, but that's not so difficult. There's plenty to talk about here! Maybe have a look around the Share Your Work subforum and offer some critiques to get a feel for the place.
 

Shrykespeare

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I understand. I've already started.

Thanks, Helix... I was starting to feel alone...
 

Helix

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I'm sure people will be around to say hello soon.

And I saw -- after I'd posted, of course -- that you'd already found SYW. So, sorry 'bout that.
 

iammirgarcia

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Hi Patrick! I'm new too, but I'm nowhere as far along as you are in your writing/publishing journey. Congratulations!

Also, I like how you mentioned that it was a love story, not just between a boy and a girl but between sisters and friends too. There are many kinds of love. :Thumbs:
 
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Shrykespeare

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Yes there are, but the love between Joshua and Eve is what drives the story, even though they don't start out as friends.

I know there are rules here about uploading images that I don't want to violate... however, I will provide a link to the cover of the book. I'd love to get everyone's opinion on it.

http://www.imagebam.com/image/150430362308129
 

iammirgarcia

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About the cover, I'm definitely getting that young adult drama vibe out of it. The crying girl makes it seem like a tragic story (ala Fault in Our Stars), so I personally wouldn't pick it up, but I know a lot of people do go for that. My concern is that the title is a bit too small for a thumbnail.
 

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I applaud the cover. A coer should give a REAL sense of what a book is about. Fabio-types would make a cover merely sowing 2 ppl embracing. Yeah, it's a romantic story. We get it. But Fabio, we need SUBSTANCE! But this cover pains a good picture. I prefer tragedies, and this seems to have that element in some capacity. I'd like to look into your story when you have samples!
 

Shrykespeare

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About the cover, I'm definitely getting that young adult drama vibe out of it. The crying girl makes it seem like a tragic story (ala Fault in Our Stars), so I personally wouldn't pick it up, but I know a lot of people do go for that. My concern is that the title is a bit too small for a thumbnail.


Not sure what you mean by "too small"... you mean the print isn't big enough?

It is a love story, but I thought having two thirteen-year-olds locked in a passionate embrace would be inappropriate, and would turn off more people than the tragedy element. The story is about bullying, which can be a powerful and tragic thing in and of itself. I wanted to balance out the sadness of the scene with an equal amount of love (the way he's holding her), and I think my artist did a spectacular job with that.

Any kid will tell you that school life can involve a lot of hardships, particularly from peers. But there is so much love in this story, I think readers will be moved by it. I stopped short of making it sappy, which was another one of my goals.

And Randy, I do have samples. I just can't post them here just yet. However, when I can, I would love to get your input!


Iammirgarcia, I just read on another thread that you're from Manila! That's fantastic! (My wife is from Cebu City.)
 
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StoryofWoe

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Welcome! I'm a (relative) newbie, too :) Congratulations on writing your first book. Rest assured that you'll find TONS of relevant information here to aid you in your self-publishing journey.

Good luck!
 

regdog

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hello.gif




Take some time and read the Newbie Guide and the Stickies found
at the top of Forum pages. They are your best guide to learning about
Absolute Write.


Please read the FAQ about posting photos.


In fact we have lots of brilliant FAQs check them out.


Members who want to start a thread in Share Your Work to have work critiqued need
50 posts. Don’t make a mad dash to reach your 50 posts. That is frowned upon and can lead to your posts being deleted.
Take some time to greet fellow newbies, critique other members’ works, or join a discussion.


Announcements, Events and Self Promotion is for active members only. All obvious spam will be deleted on sight!
 

Shrykespeare

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Just heard from my publisher that my manuscript has passed the "legal" test. I am expecting my first professional review within the next two days, and a similar review from my publisher within 2 weeks.

So... one step closer. (And there was much rejoicing...)
 

Shrykespeare

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Well, the self-publishing company, for which I purchased a good package, still has to do their due diligence (making sure the story isn't plagiarized, that they have the right to use the cover illustration, etc.).

They will soon give me an evaluation on how to make the story as marketable as possible within my genre.

Don't know about other self-publishing companies, but there is a process. It's just easier to say "publisher" than "self-publishing company." Sorry for the confusion.
 
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Shrykespeare, I'm afraid I don't think that design is going to work well as a book cover.

Shrink it down to thumbnail-size and it's almost impossible to see what's happening there. The text is unreadable at that size, too. It needs quite a big rework, I think. If you visit our Art and Design room you'll find a lot of people more knowledgeable than I am about these things, who should be able to help you.
 

Shrykespeare

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Shrykespeare, I'm afraid I don't think that design is going to work well as a book cover.

Shrink it down to thumbnail-size and it's almost impossible to see what's happening there. The text is unreadable at that size, too. It needs quite a big rework, I think. If you visit our Art and Design room you'll find a lot of people more knowledgeable than I am about these things, who should be able to help you.

I'll post a thread in the A&D room, thanks for the suggestion.

Besides the size of the font (which is changeable), do you have anything constructive to add? It would also help to know if there is a standard "thumbail" size, or whether it varies from site to site.
 
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iammirgarcia

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Not sure what you mean by "too small"... you mean the print isn't big enough?

That, and the font itself is difficult to read. As a print book in a physical bookstore, the font would be good, but if you're planning to sell online, it would be very hard to make it out when the website shrinks it down to thumbnail form.

Unfortunately, there isn't any single standard for thumbnail size. What I do is browse through various book and ebook retailers like Amazon, Smashwords, etc. and try to see how readers see the books when they're doing random searches or checking out the "More Like This" carousel.

The only thing that's consistent across the board is that the covers are always very, very small. If you don't have an image processor, ask your cover artist to show you a mockup of how your book will appear on Amazon at least, so you'll be able to see it "in the wild" so to speak.

It is a love story, but I thought having two thirteen-year-olds locked in a passionate embrace would be inappropriate, and would turn off more people than the tragedy element. The story is about bullying, which can be a powerful and tragic thing in and of itself. I wanted to balance out the sadness of the scene with an equal amount of love (the way he's holding her), and I think my artist did a spectacular job with that.
That made me laugh! A passionate embrace would be highly inappropriate, true! :eek:

Iammirgarcia, I just read on another thread that you're from Manila! That's fantastic! (My wife is from Cebu City.)
Wow, definitely a small world. :)
 

Shrykespeare

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I have a Windows application that allows me to see what the cover would look like at a very reduced size, and you are right... Changing the font and increasing the size would definitely seem to be in order. I will take it up with my artist.

Thanks for the feedback, iammirgarcia!
 

Shrykespeare

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And now you guys can help some more. Now that I've reached fifty posts, I should be able to post an excerpt in the SYW section. I hope that all of my fellow newbies will read it, and most of you will comment on it.

Thick skin, thick skin, thick skin...

Here's a link to the excerpt. Have at me!

http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?p=9174264#post9174264
 
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