Tag Archives: Writing

Pictures inside your book

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In my first book there were few pictures. This was something I received slack on. The ones it came from were my friends. The ones who don’t have books out yet and haven’t gone through the process of putting a book together.

I wish there had been more but there was a reason why there wasn’t. Price. The more pictures you place in a book the more expensive the book is to of set the cost of the pictures. I didn’t want to have my very first book be so high that few people would purchase it. And to be honest who could blame them? Definitely not me.

When my second book came out, Squirrel Mafia, I wanted pictures for each chapter, a challenge for my team to get it in there just right without making the pictures look crappy hence the book crappy. Now the price will go up for two reasons. The first as I mentioned by having pictures in the book. But if those pictures are color, than watch out for  the price goes incredibly up as is the case with my color version of Squirrel Mafia. But I did that one for a purpose, it was for me. I wanted one in color to give to my mom, my mother in law and to have one for myself . I did not expect anyone else to purchase it since it is high. Well, I was wrong. People are buying which is nice but suppressing.

Price of your book does depend on a few factors and pictures are one of them. Whether you add pictures or not, color photos or not or rather you just have text. It is up to yo, but one must keep in mind with the price, the audience your book is geared at and if they will be willing to pay those prices.

Big publishing houses versus small publishing houses

 

2013-03-22 10.20.35In one of my writing groups the coordinator said you should start at the top to submit. I agree. But it is a tough business, writing. Let alone getting it picked up by anyone especially the big five humongous publishing houses.Thankfully there are small presses and medium presses to help out when a manuscript is rejected or not even looked at. But does it take away from your book if you are picked up by a lesser house? That is a debate for people who write. It all depends on your view-point of whether you are okay with a smaller press or if you are willing to get rejected excessively by a big house.

To me traditionally publish is traditionally published regardless of the size of the company. I always when I submit start at the top and work my way down and hope before I reach the bottom someone is willing to take a chance on my submission. Smaller presses to medium presses give you more freedom than the larger one.

I have two full books that are out in print and two more will be coming out this year. I have had the luxury in having a final say in the cover, the edits and overall the structure of the book. I like that. A lot. Writing is a hard occupation, getting your book out there even harder. So why make it even worse by limiting your options for your book? Doesn’t it deserve a chance to shine?

Is it okay to hate a character in a book?

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Is it okay to hate characters in a book you are reading.? Of course it is. You are not going to like every person the author places in the book. Granted the character I am talking about I did enjoy until halfway through the book. After that he kinda of was dead to me. I think it is okay as well at least for me.

I recently read a book that I need to do a review on. I was going along, loving the book. In fact read it in two days. It would have been one day if life didn’t get in the way. I told my hubby about it throughout, “You want to read this book when I am done? It’s about…” I went on and on and on and it piqued his interest.

Finally finishing the book I went to the fridge to get something to drink. I muttered to myself, “I hate that character. How is that even plausible? So much for that five-star. ” Hubby heard me. “I thought you liked it?” And I did. But as the book went on the character just did things where I wanted to talk to the author and go, “Really?”

It has been a few days since I finished the book and I am thinking clearer. The plot worked well for me. The pace was fantastic, I read it in two days. The ending seemed not believable but I could work with it in the grand scheme of this novel. But will I give it a 5 star rating or should I deter what I feel and rate it to a 4? I am not sure. I would still recommend the book to people, though I would mention to them what I thought.

Being a book reviewer is always interesting.

Update: I did talk to the author about this character and we had a nice talk about it.