Category: Publishing

Hope, Hearts, and Happily Ever Afters

Hope, Hearts, and Happily Ever Afters

Posted July 3, 2023 by Elise in Publishing / 2 Comments

I had an interesting discussion earlier about what constitutes a romance story. Does it have to have a happy ending? And for me, the answer is unequivocally yes. Whether it’s a happily-ever-after or a happy-for-now, the couple needs to be together and enjoying life. Can they have ups and downs and tragedy along the way? […]

The Life cover

The Life cover

Posted April 16, 2017 by Elise in Publishing / 11 Comments

I’ve been working with Abigail Sins since 2015 – I do some of my covers myself, but she’s done the rest, including all the hand-drawn art for the Blackwood Security series. I’ve always liked my covers to tell the stories rather than just being stock art or the ubiquitous half-naked dude, so she draws little […]

Book covers

Book covers

Posted August 21, 2016 by Elise in Publishing / 0 Comments

Like it or not, readers do judge a book by its cover. You can tell the best story in the world, but unless people pick up the book in the first place, nobody will ever know. For most writers who choose the self-publishing route, the cover represents the biggest investment apart from editing, so it’s […]

The Black Trilogy – Book Trailer

Posted August 21, 2016 by Elise in Publishing / 3 Comments

A side effect of publishing books means I’ve also had to learn a bit about graphic design. Although I have help with many of my covers from the wonderful Abigail Sins, that still leaves me to work on the marketing materials myself, and I’ve developed a love/hate relationship with Photoshop over the past couple of […]

Things I didn’t know before I published a book…

Things I didn’t know before I published a book…

Posted January 4, 2016 by Elise in Publishing / 0 Comments

I’m having one of those “why?” days… Here are a few things I didn’t know before I started publishing my books. – The book in your hands represents months of work. Months. No self-respecting author simply writes the book then hits publish. They write. They rewrite. An editor rips their carefully constructed words apart. They […]

Publishing: Everybody starts somewhere

Posted September 11, 2015 by Elise in Publishing / 2 Comments

Start a blog… That’s what every “How to sell your book” guide tells new writers. You know the ones? They promise fame and success if you follow their instructions, and make it all sound so easy. Just do X, Y and Z, and instant riches will follow. Well, they don’t. Turns out the whole book […]