Writers in the Storm

by Melinda VanLone

We've talked a lot here on WITS about your book cover, and how important it is to your overall marketing strategy. Generally speaking, the cover we're talking about is your e-book cover. For most indies, it's the first and sometimes the only cover ever created. But once you write a story there are other formats that can and should be produced from that content, and all of them need cover artwork. All of them should use that original e-book cover as the starting point and branch out from there.

eBook

The original, the main star of your product platform, and the go-to jumping off point for all other marketing efforts associated with that book. Whether you design your own or hire a professional, you should end up with a (usually) 6x9 inch (1800 x 2700 pixels) JPG file.

Considerations I keep in mind:

• I build my original file at 300 dpi, because this hi resolution file has the most flexibility for repurposing to other formats. 
• I build the file in Photoshop, so that I can maintain layers, because again it will give you the most flexibility going forward.

From there, branch out into the other formats:

Soft Print Cover

This artwork is used for the print on demand version of the book, whether you're going with KDP or Ingram Spark, or your publisher is having the book printed at their own press. The print wrap uses the eBook cover as the basis for the front, and expands on the theme to wrap around the book spine and back. The back graphic should be more of a background than a stand out piece of art, so that type can be easily read against it. The back usually includes a blurb, and a barcode for sales purposes, and sometimes may also include information like author bios or websites or sales price. The spine usually includes the title and author name (if there's room). 

Both KDP and Ingram Spark provide templates you can use to ensure that your print wrap is the correct size, because that size will depend on what trim size you select and how many pages the interior of the book contains. It's vital that your final file matches what the system believes the size should be, or it will be rejected. 

Audiobook Cover

Audiobook covers are for the most part only a digital file, and almost always square rather than vertical, which means the original eBook cover must be adjusted to fit.

Considerations:

• Rather than simply shrinking the eBook file, this cover should be designed specifically for the square format.
• I use all the elements from the eBook cover, but work with them to make sure it doesn't look stretched or squished in the new dimensions.
• There's no template to download for this format, simply create a new file that is 2400 x 2400 pixels or larger, at 300 dpi, and then bring your eBook artwork into that new file.

Hardcover

Hardcover books are not something that most Indie authors tackle, simply because they cost a lot more to produce which means you have to charge more, and are less likely to get good sales. That said, at some point, it's nice to have the option (they make great gifts for your parents, for example), and Ingram Spark does allow for this type of format. Through them you can create a hardbound book either with a book jacket or without. The book jacket wraps around the hardbound book, with inner flaps that can support even more information and graphics. If you choose to go without, the cover image can be printed directly onto the hardcover or the cover can be wrapped in fabric...the possibilities are as unlimited as your pocketbook. 

Ingram Spark provides templates for these files, or if you're working with a local vendor they will probably be happy to help make sure the file you deliver to them will work for your book specs. There is currently no option to produce a hardbound book through KDP.

Other Editions

Genre expectations differ country by country, so it can sometimes be a good idea to craft a cover suited to the country the book will be sold in. You'll often see that the same book in the UK has a completely different look from the one in the US. If you choose to have your book translated into another language, its cover will be at least a little different by default because the title will have to be changed, at the minimum. If you are changing the title, you might as well change the graphics to match the expectations of that country while you're at it. That way you'll maximize your chances of making a sale. 

Merchandise

Part of building a platform often involves promotional materials such as bookmarks, postcards, key chains, pens, posters, banners (for conferences)...the list is endless. All of those materials might feature your cover art in some way, whether it's just borrowing the background or whether the entire book cover is pictured. All of those materials will use that original eBook file as the foundation graphic. 

Every Version Created Costs Time and Money

As you can see, that one piece of artwork, the eBook cover, does a lot more heavy lifting than simply being an icon for one type of book, which is why getting a professional cover is so important. If you're working with a designer, expect them to charge an additional fee for every format you request. Each one takes time and effort to make sure you get the exact right file to ensure your uploading process is successful, and that the product you produce looks as beautiful as it should. Often a designer will negotiate a package price up front for multiple formats created from the original digital file, so be sure to ask about all the formats you anticipate needing.

Do take advantage of all the many ways you can utilize your cover art and content, because the more formats you can offer potential customers, the more sales potential you create for yourself. 

What questions do you have for Melinda? Do you do different covers for each of your book formats? Share your thoughts with us down in the comments!

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 Kris Maze

Instagram (IG) turned 10 years old in 2020 and it shows no signs of slowing down. The more photogenic daughter of the social media mogul, Facebook, IG has sparked international interest and energized sales for many businesses worldwide. The market is attractive to writers who want to sell more books, but the deterrent of manual publishing has kept writers from embracing this social media fully. Until now.

Auto publishing to Instagram is a desirable way to maximize an author’s time and effectiveness. IG has included updates and trusted partners to their app, making scheduling posts easier than ever. Writers can now plan book campaigns and author events months in advance. They can take the time needed to produce quality posts and engaging content that will grow their audience and increase book sales.

But it isn’t as easy as downloading an app update.

In researching steps to embark on my own IG journey (spoiler alert! My account is woeful and neglected.) I found the tricks and hacks available that enable the writer to save time and stress less. Technology changes moment by moment, but I’ll share the basics with you on making your IG adventure as photo-ready as possible.

3 Steps To My IG Plan

How does a writer access this world of easy social media publishing? Let’s look at 3 steps to work through and find the path that matches your writing needs:

1. Consider the type of IG account you want to have
2. Decide on a scheduling app
3. Make a scheduling plan

Instagram Account Types

Before 2019, IG had only two account options: business or personal. Now users have a third option, the sexy Creator Account. They aim this account at influencers, public officials, entertainers, and personalities who have over 10,000 followers. Although the amount of followers is key to obtaining this option, the business account has many features, including auto publishing, that enable writers to grow their brand.

IG Personal Account

This is your standard account, available to anyone. I do not recommend using a personal/standard account for your author brand. It's better to have a designated account to focus on your author goals and sell your work. This account lacks features to auto publish and won’t be useful.

IG Creator Account

If you have a steady following on IG and haven’t changed to this account, consider the additional features this account provides. You can create a targeted marketing strategy and discover exactly how your audience interacts with your content. Compared to the Business Profile, the Creator Account has more specific and frequent insights on user behavior, providing daily reports on dips and spikes of followers and the content that prompted the change.

This account has the caveat that one needs 10k followers to join this somewhat elite club. If you are there - kudos, my writer friend! If not, it’s good to set goals. Maybe this is a motivating factor for your marketing.

This account provides more granular analytics, but also helps with creating content. The Creator Profile has access to the Creator Studio, which can manage, schedule, and post to Facebook Page and IG. Creator users can access their work from a desktop, or use a new mobile app, where they can search and edit their content from multiple pages in one place. The Creator Studio lets authors gain insights unique from other accounts because they include daily updates on followers and what actions they take with specific posts.

Instagram designed the Creator account for an individual user who wants to zero in on their followers and the content they engage with. There is a drawback though as Later, one scheduling partner with Instagram, states on their website: “Instagram creator profiles aren’t connected to the Instagram API, which means they can’t use features such as Auto Publish or Later’s analytics tools.”

Let’s move on to the best solution for most writers: the Business account.

IG Business Account

The Business Profile is the recommended IG account if you want to use an Instagram Partner to auto-publish on IG.

The features:

• Weekly analytics about followers and posts.
• Promotion and ‘boosts’ to posts as ads
• Ability to add links to IG Stories
• Check-out feature for purchases
• Quick Replies for inbox
• Schedule and auto-publish with an IG Partner

Steps to creating an IG Business Account

These steps include linking your IG account to a Facebook Page. I recommend that your Facebook Page is also business-related to increase the functionality of the auto-posts. The two work together to allow auto-publishing and they need to be linked. If this doesn’t occur, you will be prompted to publish your updates to Instagram with Push Notifications, even if you have an IG partner scheduling app.

Note: The graphic below explains the difference between Auto Publish and Push Notifications.

Even if an IG Business Account isn’t right for you, there are still conveniences you can utilize with a scheduling app.

Scheduling app features with non-Business accounts:

Most of these offer IG Push Notifications. These allow you to form your posts and with a few polishing steps (tagging, adding links and hashtag collections) you can still have the post nearly ready when posting manually. The following graphic illustrates a comparison between the Auto Publishing and Push Notifications.

Choosing a Scheduling App

There are many apps to choose from, but IG has a handful of selected services that have their blessing. I included three of the most popular "official partners" in this article.

Following is a brief description of the benefits of each, a link to their setup instructions, and a graphic comparing the features, prices, and content allotment. See how Hootsuite, Later, and Buffer stand up as major scheduling apps to your Author needs.

Be aware there are many companies that can auto-schedule your work. Be wary of ones not approved by Instagram as they are known to take action against those who don’t follow their guidelines and freeze or ban their accounts.

IMPORTANT NOTE

Auto Publishing may be the norm for most authors and entrepreneurs, but at Instagram it’s discouraged! Instagram supports a culture of spontaneous posts and users have had their accounts banned after using 3rd party apps to work around the IG rules to not auto-publish.

These three Social Media Management Apps are Instagram Partners and have full functionality to Auto Publish Posts in Instagram.

Hootsuite

Hootsuite was the first recognized IG Partner. Although most of these scheduling partners have a more expensive option for businesses with multiple users or accounts, Hootsuite’s pricing begins at $29 a month. They have a 30 trial period, but no free usage after that. They offer a handy dashboard and detailed mobile app, allowing you to work remotely and on the go.

If you write for a nonprofit, Hootsuite has discounted pricing for nonprofits available upon request.

Other perks of Hootsuite include training and options for professional growth. "Rich in features and marketing knowledge, they have classes to support your learning about how to best use their marketing tools along with certification if you complete certain course work." If you want professional style marketing, this site gives you all the scheduling you could want and the training to master it. Official certification is available if that is your cup of tea!

If you don’t mind the price, Hootsuite may be for you.

Features:

• Their dashboard allows you to make informed decisions about what is working and where to put your next marketing efforts.
• This app allows you to connect with multiple social media profiles, including Instagram, so you can track all your posts, comments, analytics, and scheduled media all in one handy spot.
• Hootsuite's dashboard allows up to organize 10 multiple streams and unlimited posts.
• Note: If you are in the 30-day free trial, there is a limit of 30 posts scheduled at a time.

Later

This Instagram partner boasts of a free forever option and has tiers of paid options to suit the needs of start-up companies and many author budgets. Paid options are called Starter, Growth and Advanced. As you pay more, the ability to schedule more content increases.

• The Starter level costs $7.50 per month and the author can schedule 60 posts per profile in their set.
• The Growth level is $16.50 per month, allowing up to 60 posts per profile.
• The Advance level is the most expensive at $33 per month, but allows the author unlimited posts for their profile set.

Each price point allows the author to group a ‘social set’ of profiles like a Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest, for one author brand. The free version allows the writer to post up to 30 items per social profile in the set, allowing more scheduling once previous content has posted.

Later allows auto-publishing to Instagram as long as the author’s account is a Business account on Instagram and it is linked to a Facebook Page.

App features include support, and an online community, to help you get the most from their product. Their dashboard keeps track of the posts and analytics to support your brand growth. They focus on reliable service for the smaller business, and perhaps this is what your author marketing needs.

Buffer

Buffer, a popular scheduling service and Instagram partner, also supports auto publishing to Instagram.

Getting started:

• Buffer has a 14 day free trial followed by a $15 per month Pro level.
• There are more professional options for larger businesses and multiple users.
• The Pro level offers the author up to 8 social profiles or ‘channels’ along with 100 scheduled posts at a time.
• Product support and training
• Buffer also has a dashboard that allows the writer to see all their posts in one place.

Like the other apps mentioned here, Buffer will auto-publish to IG if there is a business account. The push notification is like the other programs, and allows authors who don’t have business accounts to plan their IG posts in advance.

The push notification option for IG does not allow cropping or filters from their site. Any photo tagging has to be completed when finalizing the post and manually publishing it. Like the other scheduling sites, authors can schedule as many posts as they like, and it adds them to the queue like any other posts.

Final Thoughts

Auto scheduling can happen safely and without the worry of having your account banned from IG, and you should be sure to research as the technology develops. Consider 3rd party schedulers that are IG partners and always follow the guidelines set out by Instagram.

See the specific instructions for the Service of your choice, but in general, these are steps each program takes:

1. Convert to IG and FB business account and connect them for the best functionality.
2. Schedule your content and become familiar with how each program rolls out your content, handles incoming comments, and shares analytics with you.
3. Discover what peak times work for your targeted audience and change your plan accordingly.

Now it's your turn. What social media tips or tricks do you recommend? Have you had success with one of these three? Tell us about other successful programs down in the comments!

About Kris

Kris Maze is an author, freelance writer, and teacher. She enjoys writing twisty, speculative fiction with character driven plots. After years of reading classic literature, mysteries, and thrillers, she started to write her own books. Her first dystopian sci-fi romance, IMPACT, was published in 2020.

She also writes for various publications including a regular post at the award winning Writers in the Storm Blog. Influenced by short stories from Bradbury, Poe, O’Henry, and Jackson, Kris enjoys delivering a story with heart that keeps you guessing until the end.

When she isn’t spending time with her favorite people and pets, Kris Maze is taking pictures, hiking, or pondering the wisdom of Bob Ross. You can follow her author journey at her website at kmazeauthor.com.

By Janice Hardy,
@Janice_Hardy

It happens to the best of us.

We’re writing along, happy as can be, and then WHAM! Our story stalls. We write a scene, scrap it, write it again, move pieces around, cut and paste the same paragraph in nine different spots, but nothing works.

We’re not blocked, just…stuck.

Most of the time, getting stuck is due to a plot or story issue. We just don’t know what happens next, so we get frustrated, and that frustration builds until we walk away from the keyboard and consider taking up botany (or the random hobby of your choice).

But once we figure out what we’re missing, the words start flowing and we can get back to writing.

It's figuring out that “what’s missing” part that gets us.

10 Ways to Get Your Story Moving Again

1. Take another look at your protagonist’s goals and motivations.

The wrong goal or motivation can keep a story from moving forward. Maybe the plot says the protagonist needs to do X, but your subconscious knows there's no way she’d do that and it doesn’t let you write in the wrong direction.

Look at your protagonist's motivations. What does she really want? What's at stake if she fails? Odds are high she’s lost sight of what she’s trying to accomplish and that's making it hard to go forward.

2. Re-examine your conflict and stakes.

Since stories are about overcoming a problem and avoiding the repercussions of failing, not having a strong problem with high stakes gives your characters nothing to overcome.

Maybe the conflict is more idea than a solid challenge to resolve, and you need to focus more on the specifics of how the protagonist solves that conflict. Maybe the stakes aren’t high enough so it doesn’t matter if the protagonist succeeds or not.

Think about the steps and tasks that must be completed to fix the plot problems, and what happens if that conflict isn’t resolved. 

3. Look at the backstory.

I know, sounds crazy, but sometimes you can't move forward because you haven't laid the right foundation for the story. You might need to add more information to provide the drive needed to move your protagonist to the next step. Or maybe you need to revise some history so it fits what the protagonist is doing now.

4. Reevaluate where your story is going.

Sometimes plots change as we write them and what we thought was going to happen turns out to be the wrong thing for the novel. Has your plot changed? Did it veer off to a more interesting direction?

Take a few minutes and look at the big picture. Maybe you’ve found a better way to tell your story, or you’ve followed a tangent too far off track.

5. Check where you’ve been.

Your subconscious might be spotting a problem with a repeated scene you haven’t noticed you’re repeating. Are you duplicating an event or plot point? For example, this is the third chase scene in row, of the second time your protagonist has had a heart-to-heart about the same issue. Or maybe you’re contradicting something from earlier in the story.

Trust your instincts. Sometimes they try to keep you from making a terrible mistake.

6. Look around.

Sometimes the right scene is in the wrong place—as in setting. The scene itself is fine, but the setting is stealing the conflict, or not adding enough tension, or not taking advantage of what’s going on.

Would the scene work better if you changed where it took place?

7. Move around.

If a scene feels like it ought to work, but doesn’t, that could indicate it’s in the wrong place in the novel. It might need more build up, or maybe it needs to happen before (or after) the character has learned information or experienced a critical moment in the book.

What happens if you move that scene to another spot in the novel? What if it happened earlier or later?

8. Talk to the antagonist.

If the antagonist isn’t causing trouble, the protagonist has nothing to overcome or fight against. A weak antagonist makes for a weak plot, and your muse might be picking up on that.

Have you been spending so much time on your protagonist that your antagonist's goals and motives are now weak or unbelievable? Maybe you need to shore up the villain's plan to get back on track.

9. Work through it outside the novel.

It’s easy to get caught up in the text itself, so try sitting down with a blank page and writing out what you feel is supposed to happen. Describe it as if you were telling a friend—no pressure, just casual conversation.

Sometimes writing it down before you "write" it down helps jar the sticky points loose. At the very least, it gives you the freedom to brainstorm and see how you can fix it.

10. Just write past it.

When all else fails, grit your teeth and write, even if you know it's more than likely going to suck. Sometimes the only way to get past a stuck scene is to brute force you way through. Take heart in the fact that it probably won't be as bad as you expect it to be, and you'll be able to revise it later.

If writing it doesn’t work, leave a note of what happens (as best you can), and skip to the next scene. Maybe you just need to see where the story goes before you know the right thing to happen in that particularly sticky scene.

Most “getting stuck” issues come back to a weak goal, conflict, or stakes, so look there first when you run into a wall with your scenes.

Often, getting stuck is our subconscious telling us we’re missing something vital for that scene, and it’s trying to keep us from writing the wrong words. Step away from the keyboard and think about what that might be. Odds are once you free up your brain to consider the options without all that pressure to write, the solution will appear. 

What do you do when you get stuck in your story? Share your tips with us down in the comments section!

About Janice

Janice Hardy is the award-winning author of the teen fantasy trilogy The Healing Wars, including The Shifter, Blue Fire, and Darkfall from Balzer+Bray/Harper Collins. She also writes the Grace Harper urban fantasy series for adults under the name, J.T. Hardy. When she's not writing fiction, she runs the popular writing site Fiction University, and has written multiple books on writing, including Understanding Show, Don't Tell (And Really Getting It), Plotting Your Novel: Ideas and Structure, and the Revising Your Novel: First Draft to Finished Draft series. Sign up for her newsletter and receive 25 Ways to Strengthen Your Writing Right Now free.

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