Been playing with Canva and created another cover for my short story. I saw that the new cover for The Witch Room got people interested and maybe this new update will help From the Mountain.
Updated book cover
Tag: from the mountain
Short Story Freebies!
These three stories are free to read on Smashwords. Click on the image to go to my catalogue. Also, feel free to leave a review.
From the Mountain Results
From the Mountain is no longer free. In the month that it was, I sold nine copies, less than the 14 for The Witch Room. I think maybe that was because of its cover. The Witch Room had a better cover than From the Mountain.
Two weeks left of Free Short Story
From the Mountain has been free since the end of September. There are still two weeks left before the promotion ends. So far I’ve been selling a copy every few days 🙂
Buds: A collection of stories
I just put together all my stories from 2016 to 2019 into a 5 x 8 paperback. It is 371 pages long and the stories that are in this book are;
- My Cousin Megan,
- From the Mountain,
- The Backup Girl,
- The Witch’s Room,
- The Things We Do,
- Save One.
Feet or Fins and The Dragon’s Mate are not in the collection. I called it Buds, as in plant buds, because while they are not the first stories I wrote (I have a bunch of short stories from uni), they are the emergence of my writing style. I think in a few years’ time I’ll put out another collection as I think my novelettes and novellas are not long enough for their own paperbacks.
How I make my DIY book covers
As a character trait, I’m more than frugal, I’m a bit cheap. This bleeds over into my writing. I try to do as much as possible myself. Writing, editing, book covers.
So I’m going to write about my techniques for creating my book covers. While I have a creative flair for storytelling, it doesn’t necessarily cross over to design. I have practically zero graphic design training. Red flags when creating my own book cover right? Well, I employ the KISS method.
Keep It Simple, Stupid.
Image:
Most times, before I even finish the first draft of my story, I’m on iStock looking at potential images to use. Things that I look for is that it is a representation of a theme or idea. This means I am not limiting the interpretation of my book. I can have anywhere from 20 images to over 200. The more I have in a folder, the more likely I haven’t found something I like yet.
Text:
I keep things simple because like I said before I don’t have much experience in graphic design. The program I’ve always used has been Pixlr.com. It’s a simple photoshop website. I’m sure there are more advanced features of the site, but I only how to use the simple things. I think eventually I might have to employ someone, but not until it is absolutely necessary.
Here are the book covers I have created myself in Pixlr.com.
Stephanie Haggarty 