Last November I spoke on panels at the Digital Author Indie/Self-Publishing Writers Conference on the topics of "How to Design a Self-Published Book to Look Professional" and "Techniques for Editing Your Work."
I am an experienced, detail-oriented book editor, as well as publicist and website designer.
I provide editing services at all levels of pre-publication.
- Manuscripts in early to final drafts
- Book Covers (Design and Text)
- Amazon Pages (Book Description, Etc.)
- One Sheets
- Book Summaries
- Author Bios
- Book Club Discussion Guides
- Query E-Mails
BOOK COVER TIPS
YOUR BOOK WILL BE JUDGED BY ITS COVER!
BEFORE
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In color, the "Before" image looked like a big brown toe. In fact, it was a picture of a rock in the New Mexico area where she lives and writes and rock climbs. I asked the author to show me some more colorful shots from her photo archive, and after we agreed on another image, she came up with a more fitting image that reflects the environment that she was depicting in her story. She decided to make it more visually abstract, evoking the beautiful mystery inherent in this imagery.
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TIP #2
HOW TO WRITE AN EXCITING AUTHOR BIO:
You don't have to be a bad writer to come up with an uninteresting bio. It's common for writers to fear sounding like they are bragging in a bio. So they end up editing out some amazing things they have done. Even things that are relevant to their books and could interest readers.
I can't find the "Before" on this Bio Example, but suffice it to say that the author is a longtime, dear friend, which meant that I knew most of her amazing accomplishments. She turned in a very humble bio -- a few lines -- that I had to point out needed revising. It was cleverly written, but left out a LOT.
After verifying facts with her, I came up with the following revisions.
AUTHOR BIO EXAMPLE (Edited)
Judith Fein lives to leave. An award-winning travel journalist, she is either on the road or on her computer. She has contributed to more than 100 international publications, including the Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Dallas Morning News, National Geographic Traveler, the Jerusalem Post, Hemisphere, Islands, New Mexico Magazine, Travel Age West, Organic Spa, and Spirituality and Health.
Judith is the author of the acclaimed book, LIFE IS A TRIP: The Transformative Magic of Travel.
She has been a keynote presenter for many conferences, including the Adventure Travel Trade Association, and Tedx San Miguel de Allende. Widely lauded as a speaker and storyteller, she is a frequent guest on broadcast media, was a contributor to The Savvy Traveler for six years, and has been heard on the BBC, All Things Considered, and Marketplace.
With her photojournalist husband Paul Ross, Judith teaches public speaking and creativity as applied to writing, PR and Marketing. She is the co-founder and executive editor of the award-garnering experiential travel blog www.YourLifeisaTrip.com, which has more than 125 contributors.
Judith also blogs about travel for The Huffington Post and Psychology Today. Occasionally, she and Paul take openhearted people on very unusual trips. In her LBTW (Life Before Travel Writing), she ran a theater company in Europe, lived in Africa, and then worked as a Hollywood screenwriter, playwright, and theater director in the U.S.A.
Like a modern-day Marco Polo or Ibn Batuta, Fein has traveled from Mog Mog to Vanuatu, trained as assistant to a Mexican healer, purchased a camel in Tunisia, danced with spirits in Brazil and a Mayan elder in Quintana Roo, dragged her husband to consult with a Zulu sangoma in South Africa, swum with beluga whales, had a private audience with the High Priest of the Ancient Israelite Samaritans, appeased the mischievous jinns in Morocco, and eaten porcupine, albeit not with relish, in Vietnam.
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HOT TIP: When you are writing your bio, imagine you are at a party where someone has asked you what you've done in your life, and if you don't come up with something very exciting and/or interesting, they are going to move on to someone else because you are BORING.TIP #3
AMAZON BOOK PAGE EDITS
Not unlike Author Bios, writers often fail to pitch their book with professional, marketing savvy.
If you are stumped for what that should look like, take a look at the Amazon pages of books published by major publishers and try to see the difference between your Book Summary and theirs.
A good pitch (aka "Summary") ought to stimulate a reader's desire to read it. You'll need more than "This is the greatest book ever written on this topic..." (Imagine reading that on someone else's Amazon page and how you would react).
Amazon Summary Example
BEFORE (AUTHOR’S)
Poetry about hope, determination and overcoming life's challenges set to lyrical verse. The author journeys back from a dark place and reconnects with her faith to begin living the dream that God has for her. She wishes to inspire others to find their dreams where ever they've been lost and discover their talents and live their dreams.
AFTER (MY EDITS)
Inspirational Verse for Those Who Hunger and Thirst is soul food for the soul. Poet Artemis Craig takes us on her firewalk from spiritual bankruptcy to redemption via heartfelt poetry and prose. Through the power of Faith, Poetry, and Love, she finds the strength to cope with Hollywood "failure"; devastating family losses; homelessness; single parenthood; attempted suicide and breakdowns. Her poems honor and reflect "the strong women of God" who wanted her to be saved, and serve as a testament to her "Never Surrender" determination. By God's grace, she eventually regains her appetite for the wisdom she received from her late grandmother and mother who taught her about life and introduced her to Christianity while serving up savory dishes of fried corn, okra, green tomatoes, and collard greens smothered in Deep South Chow Chow Relish, along with bone-chewing fried chicken.
The angels are in the details!
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