Writers in the Storm

By Melinda VanLone

Writing a series is a smart way to build both your brand and your career as an author. If you’ve done that (or are attempting to do that now), the next thing to do is capitalize on that effort. After all, there’s a ton of readers out there who read series almost exclusively.

Your readers have two main questions when they see a book cover they think is part of a series:

Do I like this series? Have I read this particular book?

Your cover needs to walk a tightrope with duplicating elements on one side and diversity on the other if it has any hope of attracting someone looking for a fun new series to read. 

So how do you do that? 

Consistency and Cohesiveness

Spend quality time on the design for the first book in the series and you’ll make designing the rest of the series a whole lot easier. The important thing is that the look across the entire series be familiar, so that readers see a bond holding all the books together. This is a case where repetition is the word of the day. Choose elements that will repeat from cover to cover and you’ll have instant brand recognition. Some of these elements include: 

1. Typography

One way to build a series brand is to focus on two typographical elements that will be on every book: the author’s name, and the title. 

Once you’ve found a place and font for the author’s name, keep it exactly the same on every book in the same series. This will give the reader something to hang their hat on. “Oh, this book is by that author I like!” Brand yourself first and always, rather than one book or even one series. If they remember your name, they can always find your books! If all they remember is a title, they could find some other author’s similar book instead. We don’t want that.

The same idea can be used with the title of the book as well. 

For example, Edwina’s covers feature her name at the bottom of the page, in the same font, arranged the same way. The title is always in the center of the book, with the same font treatments. See how that lends consistency and tells you right away that these books belong together? Even if other elements around the title change, the reader knows they all take place in the same story world.  

While this post deals specifically with design, keep in mind that you can build brand consistency with the words you use for the title as well as the placement itself, as Edwina did by repeating the word “prince.”

If you’re not a fan of keeping the title in one spot across several books, you might also use the same type treatment for the title, but shift the location depending on the background image.

2. Tone/Color

Another way to build cohesiveness in a series is to be consistent with the tone/mood of the artwork and graphic elements. You can even go so far as to use the exact same artwork on every cover, but vary the color of it to show it’s a different book.

3. Graphic Elements

Sometimes a graphic element can lend brand cohesiveness. Use the same cover model, for example, or the same treatment for the subtitle, or some other graphic element that makes sense for the genre. Catie’s covers feature smoke, and the same model, on every cover, though the background and pose changes.

All of these elements combine to form a parade of covers that clearly belong together, yet are different stories. Readers love knowing that the book they’re buying belongs to a set, and they love knowing that they have the whole set. Do them a favor by making it easy to tell that your series is, in fact, a series and they’ll reward you by clicking the “buy” button on every book.

What pushes you to buy a book? Do you prefer reading series vs. stand-alone books? Most important: do you have questions for Melinda? Please share them with us down in the comments!

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About Melinda

Melinda VanLone writes urban fantasy, freelances as a graphic designer, and dabbles in photography. She currently lives in Florida with her husband and furbabies.

When she's not playing with her imaginary friends, you can find Melinda playing World of Warcraft, wandering aimlessly through the streets taking photos, or hovered over coffee in Starbucks.

Her elementary fantasy series, House of Xannon, begins with Stronger Than Magic. For more information on covers, visit BookCoverCorner.com.

by Eldred Bird

I think we can all agree the last year and a half has had a profound effect on everyone. As writers, it’s safe to say we’ve all been changed in some way or another. I can tell you that in the last eighteen months my creativity, as well as my mental health, have taken quite a beating. My normal writing processes have been completely derailed, leaving me wandering through my drought-stricken imagination, searching for any trickle of inspiration.

So, now that things are opening up, how do we pull out of the funk and get the creativity flowing again? Here are a few ideas that seem to work for me.

Get Outside

I know it sounds simple and that’s because it is. I’ve been staring at the same walls for so long I know every cobweb in every corner of my office, so a change of scenery works wonders. I never thought of taking the dog for a walk and breathing some different air for a few minutes could make such a difference, but when I’ve been in isolation for so long, it’s a game changer. Listening to the sounds of outside life and trying to describe the tree, flower, or bug I just came across is a good mental exercise that gets the brain cells chugging along again.

Go for a Drive

When I say go for a drive, I’m not talking about running errands or getting the shopping done for the week. I just fill the gas tank and drive aimlessly. I might take that road I’ve always wondered about but never turned onto before, or slow down and really look at the places I pass every day but haven’t paid much attention to. If I see a house that catches my eye, I might make up a story about the family who lives there, or maybe someone who died and now haunts it.

I’m also lucky enough to have a vehicle that allows me to get off the road and explore the deserts and mountains near my home. Ghost towns, old mines, and long abandoned structures offer loads of inspiration.

Recover Lost Routines

When everything shut down, a lot of things got messed up. Familiar routines were disrupted and the places we escaped to had limited access or shut down completely. We lost our comfort zones. I had certain pubs I would write in because the character of the location (as well as the people) inspired me. Returning to those places has opened doors in my brain that were slammed closed during the lockdown.

I’ve also been able to return to the Musical Instrument Museum where I volunteer, and it’s done a lot to get me inspired again. Every piece in every display has a story, as do most of the patrons I have the opportunity to interact with.

Call an Old Friend

This one is a biggie. Reconnecting face to face with people again has helped my mental state. While I’ve enjoyed the time spent on video conferencing and chatting over social media, there’s nothing that recharges my soul like catching up in person. We’ve all got that one friend we lost touch with (maybe even before Covid) that always brightened our day when we sat down and caught up. It’s time to look them up, invite them out, and spend a few hours laughing, crying, and just reminiscing.

 Do Something Just for You

This one might sound a little selfish when you have family and friends who have suffered as well, but self-care is important. If you don’t take care of yourself, you won’t be doing them any good either. Rediscover that one thing that made you happy before all this pandemic stuff. It doesn’t matter if it’s something no one else in your circle enjoys doing—do it for yourself.

I help take care of my spouse, my in-laws, a few outlaws, and any other strays that might happen by. When it all gets to be too much, I escape and sneak out to the antique mall (thank God it’s open again). It’s my happy place that I don’t have to share with anyone else. I find things that remind me of my childhood and go on treasure hunts for whatever inspires me that day (usually old cast iron skillets).

Some Final Thoughts

There’s no doubt the world has changed and will never completely return to life as we knew it, so we have to adjust. In truth, the world never stops changing from the time we’re born until we draw our last breath, so we’re used to adjusting to whatever comes next. Things just happened a lot faster this time. My best advice is to slow down, take a deep breath, and give your brain a chance to catch up.

What impact has the last year and a half had on your creativity and productivity? What have you found helps you deal with the changes? Let us know in the comments!

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About Eldred

Eldred Bird writes contemporary fiction, short stories, and personal essays. He has spent a great deal of time exploring the deserts, forests, and deep canyons inside his home state of Arizona. His James McCarthy adventures, Killing Karma, Catching Karma, and Cold Karma, reflect this love of the Grand Canyon State even as his character solves mysteries amidst danger. Eldred explores the boundaries of short fiction in his stories, The Waking Room, Treble in Paradise: A Tale of Sax and Violins, and The Smell of Fear.

When he’s not writing, Eldred spends time cycling, hiking and juggling (yes, juggling…bowling balls and 21-inch knives). His passion for photography allows him to record his travels. He can be found on Twitter or Facebook, or at his website.

by Jenny Hansen

I just watched a video by one of my favorite motivational speakers, Simon Sinek, where he states: "There is a big difference between 'falling' and 'failing.'"

How powerful is that? So many authors suffer terrible anxiety over their fear of failure. "Failure" often sounds so very catastrophic. What if we changed our language and called it "falling" instead? Maybe falling down is normal. Maybe it is okay.

The video, which is only two and a half minutes, was an a-ha moment for me.

https://youtu.be/TTMiILxqBSc

A look at how to reframe failure

Failure’s got such a crappy reputation because it makes most people feel bad. No one likes to feel painful emotions. According to this wonderful article at VeryWell Mind, there are several practices that can help take the sting out of a perceived failure.

1. Embrace Your Emotions

Uncomfortable emotions like embarrassment, anxiety, anger, sadness, and shame are hard to manage. This article offers the thought that “allowing yourself to feel the emotions is motivating. It can help you work harder to find better solutions so that you’ll improve next time.”

2. Recognize Unhealthy Attempts to Reduce Pain

Minimizing pain doesn’t make it go away. Distractions and escapism just kick the pain down the road.

3. Learn and Practice Healthy Coping Skills

Call a friend, play with a pet, or practice positive self-care like exercise, meditation, or a quiet bubble bath. These are all healthy ways to deal with pain. Find what works for you.

4. Acknowledge Irrational Beliefs About Failure

Does anyone else have those irrational beliefs about failure? That crazy head tape is the worst part of growing up with a narcissist – they say it to you first, then you then say it to yourself.

Ugh.

It took me years to stop the internal monologue that says failure means you’re “bad” or unlikable or that you’ll never succeed. Being able to reframe failure was such a relief.

Examples of more realistic thoughts:

• I can try again tomorrow.
• It's okay to fail sometimes.
• I can handle this.
• I can learn from this.
• Failure is a sign that I’m challenging myself to do something difficult.

5. Accept Responsibility for ONLY Your Part

Many of those irrational failure monologues encourage us to take responsibility for a bunch of crap that’s not our fault. In simpler terms: you’re only responsible for cleaning up your own side of the street.

6. Revel in Your Good Company

Lots of people fall down. Thomas Edison and Walt Disney are two of the most famous. Jack London’s Call of the Wild was rejected more than 900 times. We are in a business with an enormous “failure rate.” Remember, you only need one person to say "yes" to set you on your path to success.

7. Create a Plan and Don’t Dwell

When you fall down, get up. Very few great plans are made from the fetal position.

You can always make a plan once you’ve forced yourself to get up, to stop dwelling on what didn’t go right. Great plans come from focusing on what you will do, and especially what you will do differently. Step one is always to pick yourself up after you fail. Check yourself for actual and metaphorical bruises. Apply "ice" to those wounds in the form of the suggestions in #3 above.

The Most Self-Destructive Behavior

A word on the most self-destructive behavior I've watched us creative types engage in: comparison. Worrying about someone else's strategy or success is crazy-making. (And a guaranteed way to help you down the path to perceived failure.)

I love Laura Drake's "Writer Pep Talk," which is perfect for this situation. It's short and it's simple:

"No one gets it all."

Say it slow with me now.

No. One. Gets. It. All.

She said that to me for years before my head cleared enough to hear her. I was a struggling young mother and it was a vast relief to let some of my perfectionist burdens slide off my aching shoulders.

It's a simple, logical fact that most of us are truly great at only a few things. And maybe not so great at other things. Some of us are great at writing dialogue and terrible at writing body language. (*raises hand*) Some people have great discipline, but no ideas. Others can write short but not long. Some writers struggle with storytelling or world-building or grammar. But no one gets it all.

So why do so many writers believe they have to be good at everything or they are failures?

My Young Epiphany

Laura's advice helped Baby Writer Me keep going. Accepting that "no one gets it all" allowed me to imagine creative ways I could acquire more than I had, especially as a new mother. Maybe I could share the load...let someone see the first draft...hire a housecleaner or a virtual assistant.

I began to think that maybe that most hideous of all "S-words" (should) could go suck an egg.

I realized I could fall down, without feeling like my world would fall down around me.

A Novel Idea (pun intended)

I'm sharing Sinek's advice so I'm not the only one following this road to a better mindset. His advice, "to grow our own strengths, rather than be intimidated by the strengths of others," is so powerful for writers. (Plus, I always share the good stuff with my peeps here at WITS.)

I'm proposing we take failure out of the equation, and simply called it "falling." That we embrace the belief that we can always get back up and try again, maybe with a friend or fellow writer who can give us the encouragement we need.

I'm proposing that it's okay to fall down.

What are your thoughts on "failing" vs "falling down?" Do you struggle with any of this? Please share your thoughts with us down in the comments!

About Jenny

By day, Jenny provides corporate communications and LinkedIn advice for professional services firms. By night she writes humor, memoir, women’s fiction, and short stories. After 20 years as a corporate trainer, she’s delighted to sit down while she works.

When she’s not at her personal blog, More Cowbell, Jenny can be found on Facebook at JennyHansenAuthor or at Writers In The Storm.

Top Photo by Kelli McClintock on Unsplash