As part of my New Year resolutions I’ve decided to do a cover giveaway in support of indie authors: specifically, all of the quirky and wonderful writers who make up the great NaNoWrimo community. I truly believe in supporting self-published authors and it is one of the reasons why I’ve kept my rates where they are. I’m also one of those people with dreams of finally publishing a book which is very dear to my heart, and I know from personal experience how difficult that can be to do successfully without a network of beta readers, editors and book blogger friends.
What I would like to do is offer the things that I personally can do, such as a professional book cover and layout services (ebook formatting, Createspace interior print layout and POD cover template) in hope that I can gather together a few like-minded people also involved in NaNoWriMo who in support of the community would offer other services such as:
- Beta reading
- Proofreading
- Editing
- Facebook, Twitter and (some) site graphics to tie in with the cover. (I’ll probably do this as part of the cover work.)
- A post after publication on your book review blog. This could be an actual review, a cover reveal, an interview, a spotlight featuring information about the book, etc.
- PR services and advice.
- A book trailer.
- Anything else that would help a first-time author that I haven’t thought of or covered here.
What do you think? I’d love to make this a yearly contest. I see it as being open to:
- NaNoWriMo “winners” of the most recent National Novel Writing Month.
- First time authors (first time to actually publish a novel).
- Any fiction genre up to a certain word length. (Sorry, no one wants to work on a 600-page doorstop.)
- Prospective authors would have to submit a synopsis and, say, the first three chapters. Best candidate chosen will be based on submitted material.
Can you contribute some time and professional services to this project? Comment here or email me and we can work out what we can offer. As for WriMos interested in entering, once we have the details worked out, I’ll post on the NaNoWriMo forums. I’ll also be bothering some of you personally in email…be warned. :)
Postscript: Book Cover Art
For those not familiar with me or my work, these are samples of the cover art that I have done recently. I also keep a Pintrest board of my book covers.
Links to authors (since WordPress is for some reason refusing to show images if I link them to anything):
Suzy Turner
Kayla Al-Shamma-Jones
B. Kristin McMichael
Cecilia Robert
Tanya Anne Crosby
Rabia Gale
Candace Knoebel
Mike Duran
Kellie Sheridan
Wow, you are SO generous, Ravven. This is a fantastic idea! I wish I had some skills to offer, but writing is pretty much all I know. I’m a pretty decent beta-reader, though a genre-specific one. I know fantasy, science fiction, and YA versions of those, but not romance, mystery, literary, or contemporary. I’d be willing to offer my beta-reading services for your project, if you end up picking a book in one of those genres. :)
Rabia, that is an incredibly kind and generous offer and I will snap that hand off at the wrist! :) I’ve been completely floored by the quality of your writing (and I go around telling people wherever I can to read your books) so that would be wonderful. Thank you so much!
As long as I still get to keep my right hand, I think I’ll be okay. ;)
Email me with details, if you need me. This is a fantastic idea!
Ravven
I’d be happy to offer some time to help as a beta-reader, proof reader or (amateur) editing. I can also turn my hand to creating a video trailer if it’s needed.
Andrew, that is lovely – as are you!!! (I’m reading your novel right now by the way and I LOVE it.) I would very, very much like to take you up on that. Thank you and Rabia for being so generous.
I’d be happy to offer up some marketing advice, and maybe organize a blog tour. Kind of genre dependent though as there a lot of genres I’d be scratching my head at but I can do my best! My genre comfort zone is pretty much the same as Rabia’s.
Ravven. It was the cover that made the book. :D
Kellie, that is wonderful and very much appreciated! I’ve written you separately. And Andrew, you flatterer you. :D
I’ve written the NaNoWriMo peeps to ask if it is ok to post this somewhere in the forums, and also to ask their thoughts, ideas, etc.
Pingback: Just for WriMos: First Time Author Giveaway | Ravven's Glass
Hi Ravven it is just that I am an aspiring writer and need some book covers. But I do not have money at hand. Can you please tell me some cover designers who can give me a book cover for free, just for once. And I can also support your project by giving a hand at proof reading and editing.
Thanks
Hi Alyson – thank you for offering, that is very kind of you. Perhaps next year? Unfortunately I don’t know anyone offhand, but what I would suggest is looking at a community such as deviantART and just asking people. On DA there are several book cover communities that have people who want to get into the business, such as http://bookcoverdesign.deviantart.com/ and http://amazingcoverdesigns.deviantart.com/gallery/ – that’s where I would start. Good luck!
What a wonderful idea! Ok, so I think I’m a little late and missed this one. Hopefully next year. :D
Cecilia, I’d love that! Thank you. Unfortunately we haven’t had the amount of responses that I’d hoped, and the NaNo people were less than helpful about letting me publicise it, so we have a handful of entries right now that I will send out to everyone involved soon. Hmmph.
Ow… :( Just give me a shout if you need anything, though. :)