Indie Book Collective discussion

This folder is designed for those nagging questions that are getting lost on other discussion boards. No question is too trivial!

I need help! I have been searching for stock images to use as covers for forever now and am having quite a bit of trouble. Any site I find wants me to pay a ridiculous price for a one year use and or 2.99 for each use. If that's not the problem, my other problem is that the rights are not exclusive or the picture isn't big enough. I have never been to good with graphics, formats, or anything that involves technology period. If anyone could help, I would SO appreciate it! Thanks!

Try www.dreamstime.com
I used them for both my novels and found them to be very reasonable.
Hope this helps!
Marta

Thank you so much!

You need to search for "Royalty Free Images", from houses such as Veer. They can sell a great shot for under US$100 unlimited useage as a book cover. Also, find a friend who uses CorelDraw illustration program and browse their free unlimited use images. There's more information on Publetariat.com/Design/IndieCurmudgeon. Good luck.

Thank you so much Richard!

Racheal wrote: "I need help! I have been searching for stock images to use as covers for forever now and am having quite a bit of trouble. Any site I find wants me to pay a ridiculous price for a one year use and ..."

I would try istockphoto. It should cost more than a couple of hundred dollars for an extended license.

Problem is, Brian, I don't really have that kind of cash right now. I am a stay at home mom and this is my first novel. My husband just recently got out of the Navy and is pursuing school so we are very tight on money.

I don't think you need an extended license for books, based on what I have read. Some sites that I have seen have listed book covers as appropriate use for the regular license.

I used a public domain image for my first cover, and hired someone to do my second, but the rights said book covers were okay. I think that the one image I got cost around $13.00 for the file size we needed. Fotiola, I think was the site.

This from the site:

"All images on Fotolia are royalty free, and can be used in all of your design projects and documents, without time limits, or restrictions on the number of copies you print.


Image prices are shown in credits - Fotolia’s currency (credits cost as little as $0.75 each, in quantity). Use your credits to download images, vector illustrations and video footage. You can also download with subscription plans and benefit from amazing volume discounts (images cost as little as $0.16 each)."

Here is the link:
http://us.fotolia.com/Info/Images

Christie wrote: "This from the site:

"All images on Fotolia are royalty free, and can be used in all of your design projects and documents, without time limits, or restrictions on the number of copies you print...."

Awesome! Thanks!

Hi Racheal,

I just ran across this thread on another GR group.

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/8...

This person is offering their services for free.

Belinda wrote: "Hi Racheal,

I just ran across this thread on another GR group.

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/8...

This person is offering their services for free."

WOW! I will have to check it out! Thanks so much!

Look on deviantart.com It's a website where artists post and share their work and many of them include disclaimers that allow for their work to be downloaded and/or used for personal or commercial purposes. I've been corresponding with some artists about using their works for book covers and most of them are willing to let me use it for free as long as I give them credit. There are thousands and thousands of photos and digital works of art to look through so there's a good chance that you will find something you like and an artist who is willing to let you use it for free. Plus, most of them are incredibly talented, you'll definately find things that you wouldn't be able to find on a regular stock photo website.

I love deviantart, but the pics I found wouldn't allow for commercial use. I check there all the time, though. There are so many talented people on that site.

Deviant art and sites like that one, are a means for artists to make contact with potential customers. Find one whose work you like and feel is appropriate to your writing and contact them. The images on the site are probably not of fine enough resolution for a cover anyway, so you will need to negotiate. As I like to say, a published book is a product, and products are the result of collaboration. Go for it!

Thanks everyone!

http://steenaholmes.com/blog/

Check out this lady's blod and links.
She does covers for a very reasonable price.
I haven't used her work, but have seen a number of her covers.

Katie

You may also want to try out http://fiverr.com. There are a lot of talented people on there who offer services in illustration, photo editing, graphic art and so on. Everything is $5. I recently hired someone to draw and digitally color a photo for me. It costs me $10 ($5 for the drawing and $5 for the coloring). I was then able to use my very basic editing software and create a great-looking cover for one of my books. It sure beat the $250 I spent on the last cover art.

Did you own/create the image you built the cover upon before your colorized it?

For absolutely free, I use http://morguefile.com/. Be sure to read the license summary. I also like istockphoto.com. Not free, but reasonable, IMO. Good luck!

Were should I post a link about an editor I found who specializes in indie authors, and has really great prices?

His prices are: (I think I copied these correctly from his blog...)
$1.00 per 1000 words for a proofreading
$2.00 per 1000 words for full edits
$1.00 per 2000 words to beta reads
Plus he has discounts for return clients.

http://aidan-taylor-editing.blogspot....

Linsey wrote: "For absolutely free, I use http://morguefile.com/. Be sure to read the license summary. I also like istockphoto.com. Not free, but reasonable, IMO. Good luck!"

I use Veer, Comstock and a few others including Dreamstime, which are all resonable, so really reasonable... really works! Thanks for the new supplier!

Cheri wrote: "Were should I post a link about an editor I found who specializes in indie authors, and has really great prices?

His prices are: (I think I copied these correctly from his blog...)
$1.00 per 1..."

This is awesome. I think those rates are very reasonable and I think I will contact your friend.

Can you tell me what genres this editor works in, and what published books he/she has helped produce?

Hey Richard
I do editing for several indie authors. You can see my rates and references at: www.final-edits.com. Since I charge a flat rate (not by word), I'm pretty affordable. I usually turn full length books around in a week or less...depending on the level of edit required.

Let me know if I can help you!

Hi,

I'm looking for a writing group in the central Florida area. Does anyone know of one?

Michelle Donice

Hey, I need help again. My mother is interested in writing a series of short stories revolving around one woman's romantic quests. She needs an editor to first give her a little guidance, and then to edit the collection. Genre is, of course, romance. Thank you!

I'm proof reader hunting. I need Brit English proofing for a 158K (ish) word long paranormal romance.

I'm hoping to go to market by September, which means I'd like the book in my hands by 1 August.

Anyone interested?

Hi Keryl,

Would you like to send me a couple of pages? I could perhaps proofread for you but would like to try a sample first. My e-mail is kellym@indieebooks.co.uk - we can hash it out from there.

Best,

Kelly

I have a question for any writers who use print on demand. If I want to get advance review copies to send to bloggers before I actually publish - how do I do this? Because as soon as I approve my proof, the book is considered published. And even if I disable sales channels until I am ready, that publication info is being distributed and I don't know the ramifications of that. So any suggestions hugely appreciated.

Can anyone recommend a good, but reasonably priced formatter for Createspace books?

CreateSpace offers that service themselves. It's not too expensive, and they do a great job.

Thanks, Philip. I'll check it out.

Denise wrote: "Hi Tellulah,

I published with Createspace. In my opinion, if you want advance reviews done by bloggers, I would send it in e-book form so you're not adding more costs.

If that's not what you wan..."

Thanks. I'd love to just to ebook but some won't accept it.

Denise wrote: "Tellulah wrote: "Denise wrote: "Hi Tellulah,

I published with Createspace. In my opinion, if you want advance reviews done by bloggers, I would send it in e-book form so you're not adding more cos..."

I'll definitely try. It would be great to keep costs down.

It is assumed that if you are on Goodreads, you like to read! We need readers for B.R.A.G.Medallion.com. If yo have an ebook reader we pay for the books. Please go to the website and see what we do and I hope you will join our team. What could be more fun that finding some really good books and getting a book for free and there is no long term commitment, read as often or as little as you like If you are in a book club, all the better- let us know
www.bragmedallionm.com

I do Search engine optimization for independent writers.

What would it do for your sales if your book was on the front page of Google when the Genre was typed in the search?

I can help anyone at any budget and will have a DIY Ebook out for writers very soon.
Promotion and marketing is key in any business and what I find many forget is that books and kindle downloads are products.
This is not a sales pitch though I really just want to help.

Rob wrote: "I do Search engine optimization for independent writers.

What would it do for your sales if your book was on the front page of Google when the Genre was typed in the search?

I can help anyone at ..."

Sounds awesome! When will your e-book be available?

Although I'm not a fan of the whole e-book idea myself, I do realize it's a good thing, probably, for book sales. Anyway, I've published my book through CreateSpace, and am feeling that I should probably get in on the e-book thing, too.

My question: Does anyone have any good advice for formatting a book for KDP? I have a mac and I use pages (don't actually have Word on my computer) and when I try to convert from Pages to Word the formatting goes all wonky. I do have access to a PC with Word on it, but before I get started over there, I was wondering if anyone had any tips?

Formatting for an ebook is completely different from a paperback. For instance, if at the beginning of your chapters you have added returns so the chapter heading is lower on the page, you will have to remove those. You also have to remove page numbers as they are not necessary in an ebook. If you format it in Word so that you can convert the file in Mobi to a kindle format, you also have to remove any hard page breaks and use the "insert next page" break. Any extra space has to be removed. Can't think of anything else right off hand, but I wouldn't worry about the formatting changing, you'll have to change the format anyway. ;)

Thanks, Caron, that's very helpful. Maybe I can do all the formatting from pages then and export it to word after all. Will try that first!

Jenelle wrote: "Although I'm not a fan of the whole e-book idea myself, I do realize it's a good thing, probably, for book sales. Anyway, I've published my book through CreateSpace, and am feeling that I should pr..."

I just wrote a blog last night about the discussion of Print VS Digital- you might find it worth reading and I would love to hear your thoughts-
http://www.bragmedallion.com/blog/pri...
Geri

Good luck! If you get into trouble, let me know. Converting can be a headache.

If you use Word, one thing to keep in mind when formatting is NEVER EVER use the space bar to create paragraph indents. Automatic paragraph indents are best, otherwise use the tab if for some reason the auto-indent misses an indent.

Don't know about other formats/programs. All I know is that I upload my Word files to KDP directly and the results are fine.
Uke Jackson

Indiebrag wrote: "Jenelle wrote: "Although I'm not a fan of the whole e-book idea myself, I do realize it's a good thing, probably, for book sales. Anyway, I've published my book through CreateSpace, and am feeling ..."

Interesting post, Indiebrag. I had not thought about the unavailability of high speed internet in certain places (though I should, since I have two siblings living in areas where they don't get high speed (or any, actually) internet).

I do disagree with your statement "The statistics don't lie." I think, actually, that the numbers on e-book sales might be lying a little bit. Hear me out: do they count all the free downloads as "sales"? Particularly the free downloads of classics? Because I think all the free downloads are inflating the statistics of how many books are "selling" via e-reader. I have quite a few friends who have Kindles, and the only books they have on their Kindles are the ones they could get for free.

Do I see e-book publishing as a good marketing tool? Yes. Do I see e-books taking over for print books in as near the future as many seem to think they will? No.

Jenelle wrote: "Indiebrag wrote: "Jenelle wrote: "Although I'm not a fan of the whole e-book idea myself, I do realize it's a good thing, probably, for book sales. Anyway, I've published my book through CreateSpac..."
I absolutely agree that there are great numbers who search for free books but isn't this like going to a lending library? And although these books may not be generating money they are still adding to the numbers of people choosing ebooks over print. I guess the question would be - would these people buy print books if there were no "free" books, I don't believe so. There are a number of reasons people are turning to ebook readers but perhaps the biggest one is the cost of books. There are millions of digital books out there that aren't free and they are usually much less expensive than print books. As I stated in the blog, I feel that it is to a writers benefit to have a book in print, however if you are only going to do one form, let it be digital.
thanks for the discussion - it really helps all of us make important decisions
Geri

Hey folks, ebooks outpaced paperbacks a long time ago and recently out sold hard covers Ebooks Outpace Hardcovers. Those are sales revenue numbers, so free is not taken into account.

Which ebooks are actually read is another question. I buy ~60 books a year, mostly hardcover. I used to share them with my wife who would buy an additional ~60 paperbacks (speed reader). She switched to ebooks a long time ago. While I have the occasional 'lost' book that goes into the library, that only accounts for 1% of books I failed to read. (But they're like finding a $50 in your coat pocket, pleasant surprise.) So I surveyed my wife's e-library and discovered many books she'd abandoned after 10-20 pages. "Hey, it was $0.99; who cares?" she said.

I'd bet ebooks are 15-20% unread.

But I don't care. As long as they buy them :)

Peace, Seeley

"I'd bet ebooks are 15-20% unread.

But I don't care. As long as they buy them"

Seeley right now I'd be happy with people reading any of mt books, e or otherwise. If people read them, sales will follow. (Or so goes my thinking.)
Uke Jackson

Hey Jenelle,

If you want a nitty, gritty, crash course on how to format a functional ebook (once you've got a word document) head on over to http://www.smashwords.com and download their style guide.

The guide is designed for the way Smashwords takes a word doc and turns it into an ebook, but I've found that if you've got a document that converts cleanly on Smashwords, it'll look great just about anywhere else, too.