Paying it forward

A couple of years ago, I lost my mobile phone. It didn’t cause a panic, mostly because I wasn’t aware I had lost it until the person who found it let me know. I had been on my way to work and the phone had dropped from my bag as I made a mad dash across the street before the lights turned red.

A young woman heading in the opposite direction at the same time found the phone. A resourceful person, she immediately checked the phone's address book, found the number for my mother and gave her a ring. My mother told her where to reach me at work and the young woman did. It all happened so fast that she had called my work before I got there.

I was very grateful for her, especially once it dawned on me how difficult my life might have got if I’d had to try and locate the phone myself or if I'd lost if for good. She got a little present as a thank you, and I got a lesson in how not to store my phone and what to do if I ever find a phone myself.

Yesterday, I found someone’s mobile. There it was, lying on a strip of grass between the street and the pavement. I paused and picked it up and immediately wished I hadn’t. But once seen, it couldn’t be unseen. I looked around for anyone nearby who might act like they had just lost something, but I was alone.

There I stood, holding the stupid mobile, wondering what I should do. Should I just put in on the balustrade of a nearby building so that it could be seen from afar? I immediately discarded that idea. Should I take it to the lost and found? But it was Friday evening; it wouldn’t be open. So should I try and locate the owner myself?

I remembered then the handy way the young woman had located me when I lost my phone. But, alas, this option wasn't available for me. The phone was dead. So, despite the hour, I decided to head to the nearby police station after all. I had this notion that they would have a box there where people could leave the items they have found after office hours. 

Turned out, they didn’t. And there wasn’t a helpful police officer in sight either.

Again I stood there, holding the phone, wondering what I should do. I didn’t feel like keeping someone’s property over the weekend so that I could come back on Monday, during the office hours. In the end, I just put it in the station’s post box. They’ll either do something about the phone or they don’t, but at least it’s out of my hands.

It wasn’t until I returned home and told my husband about the incident that he pointed out that it might not have been such a smart move after all. “I bet it puts the whole place on high alert to find a phone in their post box.”

So, my chance to pay forward a good deed done to me didn’t exactly go well. But I’m not discouraged. Next time I find something, things might go differently. And if I’m lucky, the police won’t find out it was me who put the phone in the post box.

On writing

I’ve been a bit stuck with the book I’m currently writing, the next one in the Two-Natured London series, the Warrior’s Heart. Well, stuck is a wrong word. I’ve written it every day, just not very much. I know where it should go; I just don’t want it to get there yet. Coming up with a plausible plot turn has evaded me thus far.

Since I’m not writing feverishly, I’ve had time to reflect on my writing style. I’ve never been a prolific or fast writer and this has partly to do with how I write. I constantly go back in my text. Before I start with the next chapter, usually at the beginning of the day, I read through what I have written so far, make corrections and refresh my mind about what I should write next. Sometimes, like at the moment, when I don’t feel inspired, I read and edit longer stretches of the manuscript. It slows me down, but the benefit of this is that my book gets edited and proofread more thoroughly than it otherwise would. I believe, too, that it helps me develop the story better.

My slowness might also have to do with the fact that I don’t really know the story beforehand when I start writing. I have a vague idea of the plot and the characters, what they are like and how they should act, but nothing more specific than that. I know there are writers who plan the story carefully before they start to write, but I’ve never been able to do that. Not properly anyway. I’ve outlined the plot a couple of times, only to realise halfway through the book that I’ve ignored my notes completely and the story is different than I imagined it to be. It might be a better story too, who knows.

With every book, there comes a point where I have to continue even though I’m not particularly inspired to. I simply write on, forcing the story and the characters in some direction, any direction, just to get past the difficult spot. I can always go back and edit it later. Or next day.

On a completely different note, the winter has well and truly arrived. The snow that fell a couple of weeks ago is gone, but there is one definite sign. The sailing season has ended. My husband has taken the boat off the water and tucked it in for the winter. As a result, our living room has been filled with sails for some reason. I hope it’s only temporary – like my dry spell.

What’s in the cover?

Being an independent author isn’t only about writing. Sometimes it feels like it’s not even mostly about it. You have to take care of every aspect of getting the book published, formatting and converting it to an e-book, and then market it too. The latter alone seems like a full time job. Important part of the process is preparing a cover for your book. If you do it right, it might even market the book for you.

I like to do my own book covers. It’s a creative process that gives me pleasure as much as writing does. The problem is, of course, that I don’t necessarily have the skills for it. I like photos as an art and I’ve always paid great attention to book covers, but just because I have a strong idea of what a good book cover should be like, doesn’t mean I know how to make one.

My inability to use the proper software is one limitation. I’m using Gimp, because it’s free, but – gods – it’s difficult to get a hang of. I’ve spent hours just with the basics; I haven’t even considered learning anything complicated. Another limitation is the stock photo site I use. They have a very flexible system for people who buy only a couple of pictures a year, but perhaps a smaller selection as well. Then I have to find proper fonts – an art form in itself – and design the layout. So, trying to make a perfect cover with non-existing skills and less than ideal photos isn’t exactly a winning formula. Still, I think that the first cover I made turned out fine.

The second one, however, I’ve already redone once. I’m not entirely happy with the new version either, but at the moment, I’m out of ideas.

Part of the problem is that I’m not sure what kind of message I want the cover to convey. The first version of the book went for sexy, the second one for romantic; I think I would need one that is both. So, if I had to give advice to those planning to publish their first e-book, I would say, know your genre and its cover conventions. You may want to do something different to stand out in the crowd, but I think it’s important that the potential buyers know what genre the book is just by looking at the cover. If you have skills for cover design, you can manage an outstanding cover even if it’s stereotypical – most traditionally published books have easily recognisable covers. Here is one of my current favourites.

Remember that your buyers browse through hundreds of thumbnail-sized pictures of book covers when they shop. If they don’t think the book is in the genre they want to read, they won’t take a closer look.

Of course, if you don’t have the skills and you’re not willing to learn them either, you might want to let professionals do the cover; I may do that myself with my next book. If you hang out in writer forums, you’re bound to find them advertising themselves there. Yes, it can be expensive, although there are cheaper operators as well. But think of it this way: if you don’t believe in your book enough to invest in the cover, why would your readers believe in it enough to buy it? And yes, it is an investment. There is an element of risk involved like with all investments, but if it pans out, you get your money back many times over. And if you still aren’t convinced your book is worth the expense – or the trouble of learning how to do the cover properly yourself – then perhaps you should hone the book a bit more, until you know it’s worth every penny you spend on it. If, however, you are willing to learn, here are some tips from a professional cover designer.

The Art of Seeking Publicity

Every once in a while, on forums dedicated to independent authors like me, someone asks us to share our webpages and blogs. Surprisingly few of us do. Authors need publicity for their books and for that reason most of us have blogs and webpages, but when it comes to actually soliciting traffic to them, we hedge.

Maybe we are not confident with the content of our chosen publicity platforms and therefore fear submitting them to the peer scrutiny.  Or perhaps we would much rather that potential readers find to us by chance. Then we could play the graceful host and ask them to step in with a polite ‘so kind of you to drop by’. I think most of us find it distasteful to beg people to come and take a look at what we do, vulgar and needy. Successful writers have managed to get over this handicap; or perhaps they have better content on their blogs and webpages, so that people come to them voluntarily.

I didn’t share my blog address either the previous time someone asked for it on a public forum. But I’m trying to get over my aversion to putting myself out there. That in mind, I opened a twitter account. It may turn out to be yet another way to be alone in a crowd, but at least there is plenty of content for me to follow in turn.

You can follow me @crimsonhouseboo (they had a letter limit there). There is a link on the right too. Since my blogging platform isn’t a dynamic one, the tweets don’t update there, but just click the link.