Gift me a Paperback – not an eBook.

Is the paper book old fashioned or does it feel warm and comfortable?

MISSING – A mystery of family bonds, love, lies, deception, and jealousy.

I enjoyed the process of writing my first novel and have developed a thicker skin after editing and working with my kind and strict copy/proof reader.

What I didn’t expect was the following e-mails and Facebook comments from two readers, both were delighted and entertained. They said:

Hi James,
I’ve finished your book. You have a gift for story telling; I only half guessed the ending. So, a surprising and sad ending, just like a lot of things in life; sins of the fathers, springs to mind.
Best Wishes
Theresa.
 
Hi Jim, I have read your book and I really enjoyed it. You were right it did bring a tear to my eye. Hope you are well, and I will look forward to the next book 😃
Chris.

So far, after one month, the paperback book is more popular than the eBook.

Is the paper book old fashioned or does it feel warm and comfortable?

The reason I was given from a nice lady, who bought a copy after my talk in a book shop, was:

She likes the feel of a book rather than straining her eyes with an iPad. Besides, you can cuddle up to the book, and it looks good on the shelf long afterwards. Some books you want to keep, others you give away.
 
These are the kind remarks from people that make writing so worthwhile.

Book Covers – Really!

Book Covers – Really.

A great cover for a book is at the forefront of any publishers’ sales plan.  The professional design is produced with the aim to hit the market in the correct genre with author’s name, sometimes, highlighted more than the title.
Readers know what they want, and what authors they enjoy reading most, in which case it is the celebrity author’s name that is given prominence on the cover. Just a brief preamble leading to a question below.

Independent authors are advised to get professional work done in both editing and cover design that they can afford. Great advice – but stubborn old me just didn’t listen in this case.

I have had my short story collection, ‘The Listener” gone over by the edit process and ‘oh boy’, what a process. I am told it is very much better than the 2014 version.

I stuck with the cover with a small change – on the front cover font and back cover blurb.

I have done all this as an exercise in procrastination, if there was a medal or a university course for procrastination I would probably have gone for the PhD. I should be writing my novel instead, keep laughing.

The original camera shot.

Photo by James McEwan

I took the source photograph while on holiday in Dresden, Germany. I found it fascinating that someone or some people went to a lot of effort to paint the picture. I never found out who or why. I had not started to write back then and the idea of a book cover came to me many years later.

This is one part of the advice I did follow, make your cover unique. (I missed the effective part).
An advantage over using stock photographs is that I own the picture.

My first cover.

The latest cover – matte -done in MS Word. 1.6Mb version – Printed copy is 11.5Mb

Here are my questions:
Is the MS word cover good enough?
I am considering using GIMP and or Adobe professional for future covers.
Of the two covers above, which is better; to give prominence to the title or author’s name?