Publishing – Page 7 – Deborah Makarios

March 20, 2020March 20, 2020

“Well, I’m Back,” She Said

Disclaimer: have not been to Mordor (one does not just walk in) nor destroyed any occult jewellery as far as I can recall.
It’s been eleven weeks, more or less, since I vanished on my blog sabbatical, and I have, in that time, discovered a number of things.

Discovery the First: Months of radio silence do not appear to have had a negative effect on my blog stats. If anything, quite the opposite.
Moreover, the old blog – which was mothballed in October 2017 – has done even better. At this rate it won’t be long before I can make a comfortable living being paid not to write, electrifying the world with the richness of my mysterious silences.

Discovery the Second: Farthingales are overdue for a revival. Introverts have been secretly certain of this for a long time; now everyone else is catching on.

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December 13, 2019

Minding My Own BISAC

BISAC codes, as I discovered while preparing to publish Restoration Day, are basically subdivisions of genre. And sub-subdivisions, and so forth. Not content with classifying a book as Fiction, they will go further and classify it as, say, Mystery & Detective. And then break it down further: Hard-Boiled? Or is it Cozy? And if Cozy, then Cats & Dogs, Crafts, Culinary, or General?

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September 11, 2019

Cover Images: Your Opinion Please (Again)

Two and a half years ago (can you believe it?) I asked you all, my dear readers, to weigh in on the question of what cover image to use for Restoration Day, with ten images paraded before your eyes. (Spoiler: the winner was Contestant #2.)

Now, with The Wound of Words making its way through the convoluted pipeway to publication, I find myself in need of your opinions again. As before, the selected image needs to look good in every size from thumbnail to 14x21cm – and preferably also in black and white; it needs to not disappear into the (white) background on a webpage, and of course, it needs to draw the reader in without giving a false impression of the book’s contents.

Also as before, there are ten images. But this time, either because I am getting old and boring or because I am getting more mature and have a better idea of what I like (consider what you know of me and pick accordingly) they are variations on six themes, instead of the seven last time.

On the plus side, my GIMPing skills have advanced to the point where each cover image is approximately the shape/proportion of the actual cover, so what you see is more or less what you will get, except of course that the final version will have a professionally-designed title and name on it and will therefore look Much Better.

Here then, for your discriminating judgement and critique, are our ten contestants.Continue & Comment