Make marketing graphics on a shoestring

I was fortunate to land a job early in my career that required me to learn graphic design. Between the professional seminars, how-to books, a very kind colleague who taught me all his best tricks, and a grad school class, I got to a level of basic competence. The more newsletters and magazine spreads and brochures I designed, the more my skills improved.

All that to say, even words people can learn some of the basics of design. You don't need an art degree to attempt to create marketing graphics (though seminars and how-to books are a good idea, so you understand composition, balance and the like).

These days, you don't even need the pricey software I learned on (Quark, Photoshop, Illustrator). There are a number of freeware solutions that will enable you to create very attractive designs. They aren't as powerful as the pricey design products, but they also aren't nearly as complicated to learn (I'm looking at you, Photoshop).

Photo editing

GIMP is a great, basic photo editor, available free, that allows you to not only resize images, but also tweak the colors and use layer masks--one of Photoshop's most powerful tools. Check out GIMP's tutorials page for instructions on using some of these more advanced options. Because it is open-source software, there are lots of cool plug-ins you can get from third parties to make the software even more powerful. Check out the 20 best free GIMP plug ins to start.

Layout

Canva is my new favorite toy. This powerful web-based design platform has lots of free design elements, premade designs, and great, easy-to-use tools to make quick marketing graphics.

Once you login--you can do so easily by linking with a Facebook or Google account--pick the type of element you want--a blog graphic, social media post (Twitter-friendly designs are under this heading), card, poster, etc. This will create a live working area in the correct size for your needs.

From there, you can select one of their premade designs, or you can assemble something freestyle. The amazing thing is that EVERYTHING is editable. It's kind of crazy. You can upload your own photos, pull them into the live area and resize them, flip them, turn them on a jaunty angle. The backgrounds come with textures and colors, but these are editable too. You can change the colors, even the opacity.

You can layer in shapes and text. And wow do they offer a lot of very cool pre-make text elements that are, once again, editable (made larger and smaller, different color, different typeface). Pick the shape that will work well with your message, then simply change the pre-made text to your words, and edit any other attribute as needed. Let me give you a couple examples, from my fairly quick and easy noodling efforts:

This is a standard Twitter-post size. I used one of Canva's free photos, expanding it until it was the right width--the program automatically cropped it to fit in the live area. I dropped in "heading" text element on the left, then changed the typeface to "Emily's Candy" (is that not a great font name?) and played with the color mixer until I had a nice crimson that reflected the raspberries. The black text is the standard "subheading" type, 

This design uses an uploaded image I got from the free image site, morguefile.com. The text graphic is a pre-made that I edited by adding my own text and changing the color of the border to echo the apple. The #1linewed (one line Wednesday, a weekly Twitter party for writers) theme this week was "school," so I had fun doing themed thank you graphics.

This is perhaps the most complex design I've attempted so far. I got the 3D book covers using the free 3D cover designer available from Adazing (warning--you will get a lot of e-mail ads from them in exchange for the free design). Each of these I uploaded. Because they have some white around them to accommodate the drop shadow, I stuck with a white background. The text elements are, top to bottom, subheading, body text, and heading. Only the heading text did I significantly edit, changing to a brush-syle typeface and tweaking the color. I now know how to fine-tune my color choices more, so I will likely do some revisions to this ad for my book series.

It's easy to do permutations of a design by making a copy on an additional page, change an element or two and see which you like better. When you're ready to post the image elsewhere, use the share button, or download. If you have permutations and want to download only one, click "options" in the download menu, and pick just the page you want. 

Anyway, That's a little taste of some of the fun things you can do to jazz up your blog posts, Twitter posts, or Facebook posts. Follow me on Twitter @LaurelGarver to see what new experiments I dream up.

Have I convinced you to try out some of these tools? Do you enjoy design or find it intimidating?

Read More

Anatomy of a book: parts and their purposes

How well do you know the parts of a book and their names and functions? Below I've gathered a list of the most common elements in a printed book.

Photo credit: pschubert from morguefile.com

Front Matter

All the pages prior to the main body. Numbering is done in lowercase Roman numerals.

End papers/leaves
Blank pages, sometimes with images, at the beginning and end of a book. They usually exist to fill out a printer's signature (huge paper sheets from which book pages are cut) and give a polished look. Paperbacks are less likely than hardbacks to contain them.

Endorsements
Praise from other authors, important book reviewers, or experts on your topic often appear first. Keep in mind that readers will be likely to skip or skim, so put the most important first, and have plenty of white space on the page. Dense text on an endorsements page will be a turn off.

Half title page
In traditionally published books, it's common to have a page with the title and nothing else.

"Also by" page
A list of the author's other works typically appears on the back of the Half title.

Title page
The book title and the names of the author(s) and the publisher go on the front of this page

The back of the title page should include the copyright notice, the ISBN, the publisher’s address, the year the book was published, any disclaimers, information about the cover art and/or designer.

Cataloging in Publication information also goes here--the categories for library search engines-- for traditionally published books. Self-published books are not eligible for this service (see Library of Congress FAQs for more info). Don't try this at home, either. You can pay to have CIP data generated, but it's pricey and won't guarantee your book will make it into a library.

Dedication
Spot where the author gives special recognition to someone or something. The word "dedicated" or "dedication" need not appear. Simply "In memory of my mother" or "For Sam, who makes it all worthwhile" is often plenty.

Acknowledgements
Specific thanks to all the people who helped the author, and can sometimes cleverly incorporate the story's themes or images. Acknowledgements can also appear in the back matter, if preferred.

Table of contents
This list of the elements included in the book is more common in nonfiction than fiction. It should include pertinent front matter--such as a foreword or preface, the chapters, and all back matter.

Foreword (note spelling!)
A special introduction written by someone other than the author, that gives supportive information regarding the book. Forewords can be included in nonfiction, fiction, and poetry books.

Preface
Written by the book’s author, this contains important information related to the book topic, such as explaining the author's expertise, or research methodology. Prefaces are largely used in nonfiction.

Body

Introduction
In nonfiction, the author gives the reader more details about the book, typically a rationale for "why I wrote this book" or an informal letter to readers, highlighting the benefits of reading the book.

Prologue
In fiction, a chapter occurring outside the main narrative time frame or location, typically before the main story action picks up. Sometimes the prologue will be a fictionalized outside source, such as an imaginary newspaper clipping, TV broadcast or online article. Using part of a scene from the climax as a prologue has been done (Twilight) but will likely come off as gimmicky. Keep in mind that some readers will skip prologues, so use with caution.

Chapters
The text of the book is typically broken into parts called chapters. These might be named with a simple number (Ten, 17), the word "chapter" and a numeral or spelled out number (Chapter 23, Chapter Six), a descriptive heading ("In which the heroine uncovers a ruse"), a date (especially for diary-style fiction), a location (Chicago, Dave's house), the point-of-view character's name, or a combination of these (Chapter 6, March 21, Chicago; 15 Vanessa).

Epigraphs
Quotations from other sources that summarize the theme of a chapter can be inserted at the beginning of a chapter, or the book as a whole (usually right before the body). Beware of taking more than about 400 words from any single source--that's the UK threshold for "fair dealing," a copyright concept more strict than US law. If you use Bible verses, use several different translations (say, NIV, ESV, NASB) to ensure you don't stray out of fair use or fair dealing territory, and be sure to attribute correctly (in an appendix, and in your copyright information).

Frank Herbert's Dune used epigraphs from a fictional source written by one of his characters who is a small child in the book. In doing this, he avoids copyright issues and also signals that this person will become significant.

Scenes/sections
Chapters are composed of subsections called "scenes" in fiction and "sections" in nonfiction.

How separations between scenes are demarcated can depend on medium. In paper books, extra space is typically added. In e-books, scene breaks are often marked with centered asterisks, dashes, or even line art. Indie authors should determine what their "house style" will be and use it consistently.

Nonfiction sections usually have descriptive headings.

Epilogue
A final chapter, typically dramatized scenes, that takes place sometime after the main narrative. This might be a day or decades later. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, for example, J.K. Rowling provides a glimpse of how our favorite characters are faring 19 years after the Battle of Hogwarts.

Back Matter

All elements that appearing after the body of the book. Be sure to include them when numbering pages and constructing your table of contents.

Afterword (note spelling!)
Unlike an epilogue, an afterword is not in a character's voice, but is instead follow up information for the audience from the author. This might include an explanation of how the author got the idea for the story or a testimonial from another source.

Appendix (Appendices if more than one)
Appendices include supplementary information, such as "further reading" with recommended books, or a list of resources such as organizations and websites related to the book's topic. Maps of your fantasy world and lists of characters and their relationships (for large casts) would also appear here. Appendices might also include additional content related to the book, such as discussion questions or recipes for foods featured in the story.

Glossary
Vocabulary words and their definitions. If you coin a lot of terms in your worldbuilding, readers will appreciate a glossary. Don't forget to include pronunciations.

Bibliography
Lists the references used in writing the book. It's rare to include this in fiction. More often, fiction writers mention important research sources in their acknowledgements.

Index
An alphabetical list of significant terms found within the text and the pages where they appear. Nonfiction books usually include this element.

Author biography ("About the author")
A sentence, paragraph or even a page with information about the author. Increasingly, authors include information about how to connect on social media. Some also include a personal plea for reviews.

Sneak Peak
A sample chapter of the next book in the series, or of your next release can build audience.


Did I miss anything? Which elements do you wish authors and publishers used more often? Less often?

Read More

Interior art basics for Indies

After picking up a book that includes pretty pen drawings, like Nina LaCour's Hold Still  (see image below) or Kristen Hubbard's Wanderlove, the thought may occur to you indie authors: I could do that.

photo by amberinblunderland.blogspot.com

You could. But there are a few things you ought to know about the technical side, especially for producing a print version of your book.

I've worked directly with printers on everything from full-color magazines to posters and brochures (as a managing editor and a graphic designer). One important lesson I learned is that every set of equipment has its own vagaries in terms of how it lays ink on the page and how it handles paper. It's almost impossible to have quality control over images when you can't work directly with vendors. But you can get better results if you make design decisions that take certain issues into account.

Below are a few key concepts you need to know about one-color printing (black ink on pale paper) so you (or any designer you hire) can create designs that consistently reproduce well in a print-on-demand environment.

dot gain

Every printed image is made up of a series of ink droplets. Some machinery has the tendency to be overwet in feeding ink, so the dots can spread (or the dot pattern can enlarge going from computer to press). That's called "dot gain" by the industry pros. Other machinery can be a little stingy with ink, resulting in "dot loss," or a less intense, somewhat washed out look.

Dot gain illustrated (image: underwaterphotography.com)

When dealing with solid blacks, dot gain is often not noticeable to an untrained eye. And dot loss is something most printers vigilantly check for.

But when it comes to what are called grayscale images--like black and white photographs, pencil drawings, or pen-and-ink illustration that has shading created with pointillism or fine cross-hatching--dot gain or loss can seriously mar the final printed product.

Bold line art will hold up better across a variety of machines than grayscale images. Thick lines and less detail should yield the very best results.

If you're working with clip art, you want an EPS file or what's called a "vector graphic," rather than a TIFF (tagged image file format), because it won't pixelate if you enlarge it.

Any hand drawing should be done on the smoothest, whitest paper you can buy. When scanning the image, follow these helpful tips.

bleed tolerance

A "bleed" in printing is an image that extends off the edge of the page. CreateSpace allows you to have interior images that bleed and gives very specific instructions for doing that, which I quote below:

Does your book contain images?

If you want your images to bleed to the edges of your book, ensure that they extend at least .125" beyond the final trim size from the top, bottom and outer edges and submit your PDF .25" higher and .125" wider than your selected trim size to accommodate the full bleed area.

Keep in mind all live elements must be at least .25" away from the trim lines, so if your file is formatted to be full bleed all live elements should be .375" away from the edge of the page.   

© CreateSpace, 2014

But here's the rub: not every copy of your book will necessarily print on the same press; print on demand means it typically prints closest to where it will ship. Some presses have a marginally different "tolerance" (an "allowed quantitative difference" aka wiggle room, slip, what have you; see an example here). CreateSpace tries to account for this by having relatively large bleed areas and trim tolerances (.25 compared to .125 of most printers). That way you'll never end up with an image that floats with white space around it when it's supposed to hang off the edge of the page. But you could end up having an image trimmed more severely than you anticipated.

Bleed tolerance example  (image by 48HourPrint.com)

All that to say, be mindful that any image that bleeds could cut off just a bit differently than it looks like it will in your page layout software. Make sure detailed bits, like lettering, are well inside the safety area.

What do you think of adding illustrations to books? Too scary or worth the effort?

Read More

Refreshing

photo by jdurham, morguefile.com

My long-time readers might be a little disoriented, since the scenery has changed quite a bit around here. Laurel's Leaves now has a different color scheme, simplified post layout with click-through, and of course a cool slideshow. There are new tabs up top, separating my books from shorter magazine pieces, and offering other goodies like samples for blog readers. I expect to be adding other tabs in the next few months. The followers widget and search tools by date or tag have moved to the bottom, giving a cleaner look.

In addition to radically changing the blog design, I've also redesigned the cover for my debut novel. All this design tinkering is part of developing my author brand.

Brand is more than packaging. It's finding ways to marry content with form and presentation in a way that's winsome and emotionally meaningful.

Many of us, as we begin to move from single title to a body of work, have to stop and reassess our core strengths and messages. What do I want readers to think and feel about what I provide in terms of a reading experience? How do I build an overall aesthetic that communicates that?

Interestingly, one doesn't need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to these sorts of design decisions. Rather, learn from other authors whose look would be equally fitting for your work. After scouring the virtual shelves, I found a very different aesthetic had grabbed me by the throat, one based on some genre cousins in YA literary fiction.

I'll be back Friday for relaunch festivities. Meanwhile, have a look around!

What do you think of the new look? Have you developed a brand? How did you do so?

Read More

Cover reveal - NEVER GONE

So here it is, my lovely cover.

This is very much a group effort. The concept is mine. I wanted a clean, minimalist look with custom art that reflected my protagonist's two great loves--pencil drawing and her dad--yet hinted at the grief-oriented content.

Thankfully I have a very talented husband who was able to create this wonderful sketch of my protagonist's father, Graham the photographer. From there, the sketch went to an actual photographer, my friend's cousin, Whitney Levin. She had a laugh about how strange it was to photograph a photographer. Very meta. The shoot was done in August with a green leaf. Deep green.

That's when the real magic happened. I turned over the photograph (purchased all rights, something I'd recommend for the most flexibility) to my designer friend Ruth. She worked in book design before becoming a homeschooling mom, a thorough pro. She was able to autumn-ize the leaf and give me wonderful typography that manages to keep minimalist from being boring.

So what's NEVER GONE about? Grief, ghosts, and God.

Here's my official product description:

Days after her father’s death, fifteen-year-old Dani Deane begins seeing him all around New York — wading through discarded sketches in her room, roaming the halls at church, socializing at his post-funeral reception. Is grief making her crazy? Or could her dad really be lingering between this world and the next, trying to contact her?

Dani desperately longs for his help. Without him keeping the peace, Dani’s relationship with her mother is deteriorating fast. Soon Mum ships her off to rural England with Dad’s relatives for a visit that Dani fears will become a permanent stay. But she won’t let her arty, urban life slip away without a fight, especially when daily phone calls with her lab partner Theo become her lifeline.

To find her way home, Dani must somehow reconnect with Mum. But as she seeks advice from relatives and insights from old letters, she uncovers family secrets that shake her to the core. Convinced that Dad’s ghost alone can help her, she sets out on a dangerous journey to contact him one last time.

For ages 14+, YA edgy inspirational

= = =

You can add it to your to-read shelf on Goodreads today. The ebook will be available in a matter of days, the paperback by my official release date, September 27.

Stay tuned for more news about blog tours and other festivities.

What do you think? 

Read More