anthologies – Page 11

The importance of the work in this collection could easily be overlooked, but I’ll say why later in the post. For now, I will tell you that most of the contents have never been published outside of a poetry site.

My first efforts at creative writing (where it would be seen), were with poetry in 2007. It took a few individual pieces to get the hang of it and then I felt the need to take things a stage further—the serial poem, or as some call it, ‘story’ poem.

Again, my early efforts were relatively short, at perhaps a series of two, three, or four poems, but I always aimed to have a logical introduction and a satisfactory ending. The stories got longer and the plots more intricate and in a short time, I was recognised as the ‘serial’ poet on the website. The acclaim I received must have gone to my head because the serial poems got longer.

Why do I suggest that the work in this collection is important?

Honey, my New York detective was born and raised in a poem series. Yes, the main character in the novel A Taste of Honey. The story may not be the same, but the idea and the general background supplied the idea of a young woman capable of deadly vengeance.

Anybody who has read my Beyond the Law trilogy will be acquainted with Hawk, the codename for the main character. The Hawk was an individual poem, but it was so well received I had to go on—for twenty-six poems.

Many of my short stories started life as a simple poem, long before they evolved into detailed stories within an anthology. Pawnee Express, and Anne: Illegal Alien both come to mind.

As I do with all of my writing, I aim to entertain, but with my poetry, I work hard to demonstrate that anybody can write poetry and on any topic. Many of the poems in this collection were written to meet a poetry challenge, like tackling a certain subject, and this to me was a crucial lesson–you don’t know until you try.

What can you expect to find in this anthology?

Romans, Cowboys and Indian, Medieval England, Fantasy, Terrorism, Thriller, Military, Sci-Fi and more. For those who’ve never read my poetry, I’ve included a selection of work from my genre-based poetry anthologies.

I know, I know—I’m holding you back from downloading the book.

If you’re curious, I’ve added three samples to the Rhyme & Reason sub-menu on this blog.

Amazon Preview/Buy

BookLinker – Universal

Thank you for reading.

No, it’s not a title for an erotic novel, although it could be.

As any author will tell you, apart from a good story there are a couple of other important aspects when creating a book.

Good formatting to make the book look professional and easy to read, and of course, a decent price to attract sales are two areas to think about. A catchy, accurate title is in the running of important things to consider.

Where do you first find the title?

Oh yes, on the cover.

I’ve been writing since 2007 and self-publishing since 2013. Yes, I know to some people it seems longer, but there you go – those are the facts.

How have I dealt with covers so far?

I produced covers myself in the early days and though I thought they were okay at the time, I never considered them to be good. I had this misconception that as long as there was a cover to bear the title and the title did its job – that was enough.

Not so, and anybody with experience of buying books or trying to sell books will know.

Would I buy a book with an amateur cover?

Not usually, so I shouldn’t expect anybody to buy mine if they have an amateur cover. Yes, there are some people out there who are not professional cover designers and they’re doing a good job, but many of the indie eBook and paperback covers are badly finished.

I paid for a professional book cover designer to produce a cover for Beyond The Law (as it was prior to becoming first in a trilogy). I later had the cover updated at no cost. The point is, that I saw my book sell and inside three months the price of the designer was covered by those sales. My return was such that the sales paid for the same designer to deal with Ten Days in Panama, Amsterdam Calling, A Taste of Honey and the other two books in the Beyond The Law trilogy.

Do I make exceptions?

Yes, I continue to work hard at designing covers for my short story and poetry anthologies, because those types of books are recognised as being low in the sales market. For the past three months, my five-part series A Life of Choice has been selling well. To ensure the series was spotted by a target audience I created the covers with actual photographs from my military service mounted on a background of the regimental colours of the Royal Corps of Signals. I also design the covers for my erotica titles because although they sell, I consider them an extension of the joy of ~~sex~~ writing.

My efforts may not attain professional standards but I aim to maintain a brand feel by using continuity within any series. We all know that recognition plays a big part in marketing and it’s an area we should strive to understand.

What’s my next step?

Form the outset I’ve formatted my eBooks, although I have depended on beta readers to improve the end product. I recently bought a licence to use Vellum Press, which means I will now be able to format for a paperback.

As I write this, my cover designer is working on a paperback cover for Amsterdam Calling. I’m confident Aimee (the designer) will produce a good solution for me, and I’ve spent many hours working on a revamped version of the book’s formatting.

The results of our combined efforts will be here for all to see when I’ve got my first paperback in my hands. I’m nervous about taking such a step but I promised myself I would only go paperback if I saw sufficient sales of my eBooks. On top of the sales, I’ve had a lot of interest from people contacting me who for one reason or another cannot deal with eBooks.

I hope my words have sparked interest. Remember, if you do decide to pay somebody else to design your covers it will require effort from both parties, or as I suggest on another of my personal covers a little bit of Give & Take.