Fun with Jane

*This is a reposting of a post that I wrote for Indie Jane in 2011 and that was lost in the crash last year. I hope you enjoy it!*

There are lots of really great research books out there, books that will tell you everything you want to know about the Regency era (and cost you an arm and a leg). While these are great for research, personally, I prefer to learn by doing and by having fun! Here are a few of my favorite “Jane” related fun books, or as I call them Fun with Jane books. . . and you can learn somethin’ too!

The Jane Austen Cookbook by Maggie Black

I love this! My mom got it for me for Christmas a few years ago and it is actually has a place of honor with my other cookbooks. It’s so much fun. But then again, I am the kind of nerd that has “recreated” the food served at the First Thanksgiving (somewhere, right now, Rebecca aka RivkaBelle is getting ready to call me a homeschool nerd . . . I can actually feel her thinking it as she reads this). Some of the recipes in this book are truly mind bending, but the author manages to set them in time period and context so that they are easier for modern minds to grasp.

Jane Austen’s Sewing Box by Jennifer Forest

This books is gorgeous, and amazing, and gorgeous. Did I mention gorgeous? I drooled over it for the longest time, but it wasn’t available in the US for under $100. My friend in Australia actually sent it to me for Christmas last year because she is awesome and she loves me. Of course, now you can buy it from Amazon sellers for 17 bucks plus shipping. But I digress. I am a sewist and so was salivating to try some of these projects. They range in difficulty level, but even if you are brand spankin’ new to sewing (as in you bought the book and have never sewn anything before) you will find some great projects to learn with. These are the kind of items that Jane and her sister, or Lizzy and her sisters would have had with them during the day to work on while they were sitting around not tweeting, playing angry birds, or facebooking their days away. It also has an amazing page of cravat tying styles. Love. Did I say it was gorgeous? Oh, I did? Well, good cause it is!

In the Garden with Jane Austen by Kim Wilson

This is the one book in this post that I don’t have . . . yet. It is most definitely on my wish list. From the publisher: This book strolls through the sorts of gardens that Jane Austen would have known and visited: the gardens of the great estates, cottage gardens, gardens in town, and public gardens and parks. With lush photos, social history, excerpts from the novels, information on her life, and period drawings, In the Garden with Jane Austen brings Jane Austen’s world and Georgian and Regency gardens to life. The book also includes gardens featured in film adaptations of Austen’s novels and provides instructions on creating one’s own Jane Austen garden.

Creating my own Jane Austen garden? Yes please! It might help if I had a yard . . . but this is a minor detail my friends. Minor. Detail. I think understanding the gardens of the time period are essential to understanding how people lived, and if you are writing an Austenesque novel it helps to be able to visualize the setting! According to Amazon this book is currently out of stock, but will be coming back into stock, so I suggest you snag it when it does. Before I do!

Which is your favorite out of the books that I’ve highlighted? Do you have any of them, or are any of them on your wish list? Do you have any other suggestions for Fun with Jane books?

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Jessica Grey in Austen, Friday Fun 2 Comments

How to Look for Stock Photos

As self-publishers we all have heard how important covers are. And as readers we know it’s true. Covers are extremely important – they can help create a brand not just for a series but for an author. As much as we’d like to say “don’t judge a book by its cover,” we do.

I know that many self-published authors look at covers as a burden, something we “have” to do. I look at covers as an opportunity. I think it is beyond cool that we get to have control over this part of our work and image. I always, always feel so sad for an author when one of their books gets re-released with a truly bad cover.

I posted before about some good stock image / stock photo sites and today I want to talk about planning for your image search as well as the image search itself.

Here are my Top Eight Rules for Image Searching.

1. Know What You’re Looking For

Finding a needle in a haystack is hard. It’s even harder when you don’t know that you’re looking for a needle. It may be possible that you find something so amazing and wonderful and it wasn’t what you were looking for at all. This, however, is different from randomly looking for images with no idea of what you’re objective is. I’m not saying that you have to have a complete picture in your mind of your finished cover, but you have to know what you’re aiming for and what options you’re open to. Not only will this help you narrow down what sites you search on, it will also inform your search terms.

You can even use image searching as a part of the “what am I shooting for?” process. For example, with Attempting Elizabeth I thought of a few different ideas for the cover. One idea was to have a close up on a “split face” – One half Kelsey’s face and one half Elizabeth Bennet’s face… this is a fun idea but the lack of photos with regency appropriate hair and a model that fit the description who also happens to be looking straight ahead nixed that idea for me. Another idea was to have Kelsey looking into a mirror and Lizzy looking back at her. Similar problems with this idea. Another idea was to have Kesley holding a copy of Pride and Prejudice and “thinking” about jumping into it. Of the three the most potential for conveying what I wanted and finding an image that worked was that one.

2. Know What’s Going on in Your Genre

This is almost a subsection of point one. I cannot stress enough how important it is that you look – really look – at covers of books that are similar to yours and know what you like/don’t like about them. Personally, I’ve seen enough covers that I recognize stock photos on certain sites. Why is this important? There’s a great image out there that would have been a pretty perfect image for the cover of Atone: A Fairytale. However, this image is on no less than three books in the YA fantasy/paranormal genre so I kept looking.

Knowing what the trends are in your genre can help you avoid using the same image as someone else – or ensure that you use the image in a different enough way that your books won’t get confused. It can also lead you into avenues you wouldn’t have explored before. If there’s a trend in your genre that you really don’t like it can help focus your search in other directions.

3. Invest the Time or Invest the Money

This probably should be number one because to me it is the most important. Like I said before, you’re not just a writer you are a publisher. Your cover is the first impression people will get about your book. The number one investment you can make in your cover is time. Investing the time, or paying someone else (like a designer) to invest their time pays off. Even if you’re paying a designer you should still be spending some of your own time in looking at images and helping give direction to your designer. (And let me tell you the worst thing you can do to a designer is say “I have no idea what I want but I want it to look nice.” At the very least send them a few books covers you like and a few you hate so they know where in the world to start.)

If you do not have time to invest in researching and planning your cover – make it. You are the publisher. If you were being traditionally published and your publisher told you they didn’t have the time to put into researching cover images for your book you would (rightly) be angry.

So how much time do you need? It depends. It could take you two hours it could take you twenty. But if you only allot a few hours for it you will find yourself frustrated. Looking for cover images can actually be fun if you can limit the stress. Especially if you’re looking for something that might be hard to find, please don’t set yourself up for failure by not setting aside the time. Try breaking it up into chunks: Spend 30 minutes a week during your writing process looking for images…which brings me to my next point.

4. Plan Ahead

If you leave your cover until the very last minute or limit yourself to two hours of searching just a few weeks before publication you are going to be frustrated. You may end up settling for something you aren’t happy with. It is never too early to start thinking about your cover. You’re writing the story, you know what’s going on it – what the themes and feel are. If you’re planning to write a series, book one is not too early to be planning a way to make those covers consistent. Plan the time it takes to look for cover images INTO your publishing schedule.

The number of girls with their eyes closed I looked at for Awake can’t even be properly measured. Or for Attempting Elizabeth – I knew what I wanted, but most images of women holding books are just plain odd looking. Luckily, there wasn’t a lot of panic because I started searching early. Search early. Search often.

6. Don’t Limit Yourself to Common Search Terms

Really this should be – don’t limit yourself. It’s not just the search terms. Don’t limit yourself to only one site, don’t limit yourself to only what’s popular in your genre, etc. Getting stuck in a search terms rut can reduce the number of images you find. Sometimes you need to spend some time messing around on a site like Wikimedia Commons or Dreamstime to get a feel for the way their search feature works. For example searching “Regency era portrait” on Wikimedia Commons is going to get you about three results, two of which aren’t portraits. However, searching “1800s portrait” is going to get you pages and pages of results.

If you see a picture you like on a stock photo site like Dreamstime take a look at the tags the photographer has used to describe it when it was uploaded. Use those tags as your search terms! For example – the image of the cover of my short story collection Views from the Tower is not tagged as “Rapunzel” or “long hair” or “long blonde hair,” – all of which you’d think were basic search terms it should come up under. However, I saw another picture by a completely different photographer that I liked and I noticed one of the many tags they used was “fairytale lady.” I swear to heaven above “fairytale lady” is not a search term that would have crossed my mind but without it I wouldn’t have found that perfect image. But I was on a mission – hunting down the best way to search…which brings me to point 7:

7. Be Investigative

Searching for the perfect image is a bit like finding a fugitive, you have to have patience, dedication, and the desire to keep trying until you find your suspect. Here are some practical ways you can be investigative. As I mentioned above with search terms – if you see a picture you like, look at what search terms that photographer has used. If you see an image that just blows your mind but has nothing to do with your book – find out what else that photographer or artist has done. If you see a photograph of a woman that looks exactly like your heroine but she’s got weird makeup on, or is looking off to the side and you need an image that’s someone looking ahead, or she’s making a funny face, etc… see if there are other pictures of the model. Many search sites have “see other images with this model” as an option. They also often have a “see similar images” option. Here’s where building that time into your schedule comes into play. Do not be afraid to spend a few minutes following a bunny trail.

8. Believe in the Power of Cropping

Be open to the possibilities. Especially if you write historical it is not always easy to find a quality image of someone in an exact replica dress. Often times portraiture from the era is available but there might be issues with getting a quality digital image big enough for print. If you are working with a designer ask them about what type of images they want and how much alteration they’re willing to do to an image. If you’re doing this yourself it is still possible to crop and/or to focus on certain aspects of an image without necessarily getting a B.A. in design.

I know it sounds like I’m telling you to put a whole lot of time into your cover. You might argue that you just don’t have a full day, or a full week to put into it. I really do believe that putting in the time can result in a quality cover and that the time doesn’t have to be necessarily in big chunks but worked in throughout the publishing schedule. I also think that most of the time is an upfront investment. There’s a reason I am able to narrow my search terms quickly now when looking for images and that’s because I’ve “learned” how to search on the various sites that I use. Take some time now – even if you don’t have an upcoming release – to play around on these sites!

How do you work the time needed for creating a cover into your publishing schedule? Are there any tips or tricks you’d like to share with us?

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Jessica Grey in Indie Publishing 11 Comments

A Prettyish Kind of a Little Wilderness

Indie Jane recently asked A Most Civil Proposal author C.P. Odom about his favorite part of Pride and Prejudice.

What is my favorite part of Pride and Prejudice? Wow, that’s kind of like asking what is my favorite movie, or what is my favorite seafood at Fisherman’s Wharf. Half a dozen contenders come immediately to mind, and others would likely pop up in short order. Then, as usually happens, I would likely wake up in the middle of the night remembering at least one scene that I forgot. However, after some consideration, I narrowed it down to this one: The confrontation between Lady Catherine and Elizabeth at Longbourn, where her ladyship tries to bully Elizabeth into giving up Darcy.

Why that scene? One reason is the near-universal enthusiasm for the average person when confronted by a domineering person possessed of the advantages of position, prestige, and fortune. Who could help but cheer for the underdog when facing such a bully, sure of success and never contemplating the possibility that their desires could be thwarted? Then there was the confidence and wit that Elizabeth displayed. Did she hesitate or consider her options? Of course not! Lady Catherine made her first attack, and our heroine parried it immediately, deflecting it by pretending not to know why Lady Catherine had made her journey. Thrust and parry, parry and thrust, back and forth the contest continued until Lady Catherine finally runs Elizabeth out of maneuvering room and Elizabeth admits she is not engaged to Darcy. Then, sensing victory, Lady Catherine pounces, demanding a promise that Elizabeth never agree to an engagement, and she snatches the victory away from her adversary by stating she will make no promise of the kind. Classic David and Goliath stuff! I just wish at least ONE of the several movie adaptations had simply played that scene just exactly as written and hadn’t either shortened it or modified it for “artistic” reasons. Grrrrrr! There ought to be a bounty on Hollywood screenwriters.

“A Most Civil Proposal” was my first effort at writing a P&P What-if story for the fan-fiction group, and I could not pass up including a version of this scene in my first effort. Possibly it was not strictly necessary, but when I thought upon it further, it began to seem more and more appropriate. Now, all this did not occur due to some kind of master plan. This was my first time, since most of my writing since college has been in the area of technical writing as part of my job in engineering. Various parts of the story got written, then they would get linked to a plot outline, which sometimes caused parts to be re-written or even eliminated. It wasn’t pretty, but I was learning how to tell a story.

The main criteria in deciding to include a version of the confrontation scene was the plausibility of that confrontation, as I just mentioned, and I finally concluded that it met that test. In “Pride and Prejudice”, Lady Catherine travels all the way from Kent to Hertfordshire when all she had was the report of a rumor from her tame clergyman, Mr. Collins. In my book, she had something more concrete, an actual announcement of the engagement in The Times. If she was willing to travel a greater distance based on a rumor of an engagement (which was untrue at the time, of course), then it seemed reasonable that she would travel to Darcy’s house in London based on an actual announcement.

Of course, while the confrontation did contain similar elements as in the book, there had to be differences. First was the location. It could not be at Longbourn, since Elizabeth was not at Longbourn due to her father withholding his blessing on the marriage. Darcy’s house in town thus became the default location, since Lady Catherine would travel to meet him and bully him into breaking the engagement, and the occasion of the dinner party became the default time, since I clearly wanted Elizabeth present.

The next difference was Lady Catherine’s demeanor. In P&P, she acts superior, dismissive, and snobbish to Mrs. Bennet and Kitty, but she wasn’t blatantly rude. She at least spoke to Mrs. Bennet, though she showed scant civility in doing so. In my book, she’s rude, angry, and outright contemptuous of everyone at the dinner table from the beginning, including a Peer of the Realm and her own brother (of course, I envisioned that she had been getting her own way for so long that she didn’t see her behavior as inappropriate but rather as justified outrage). I considered that her fervency was elevated to that at the end of the actual confrontation in P&P, when Lady Catherine takes no leave of Elizabeth and sends no compliments to her mother.

Another difference was mandated by the situation, and that was all the witnesses. Since she interrupts Darcy’s dinner party, she faced first her nephew instead of Elizabeth. Then Elizabeth inserts herself into the fray, and finally her brother and her other nephew arrive on the scene. Both Elizabeth and Darcy have parts in resisting Lady Catherine, and then, instead of having to retire in frustration at not having gotten her way, she is instead utterly routed, as her brother tells her off and then packs her off to Rosings in total defeat. Possibly this might stretch the bounds of credibility (perhaps the nobility might tend to side with their own, after all), but, hey, it was my first story and I couldn’t help myself. I enjoyed writing it, and I hope the readers get some enjoyment out of reading it.

*****

Born in 1947, Colin’s man credentials are firmly in place. He played football and served in the US Marines. After graduation, he spent thirty-five years as a software engineer and about seven years before that as an electronics tech. he did a lot of technical writing on the job, and, like most jobs, when you do a task half-way decently, you get assigned more of them. Plus, for many years, he’d had an itch to actually write some kind of fiction but had always imagined doing so in the science fiction field.

His interest in Jane Austen began after his first wife passed away from cancer. She discovered the JA novels when she was recuperating from surgery, and she really recommended them to Colin. He didn’t actually take her up on that suggestion until several years after her passing. It was an accidental viewing of the last half of the 1995 Pride & Prejudice miniseries that started it all. He wanted to find out what he had missed and what had motivated all the furor that went on in the video, and the simplest way he knew was to dig out Margaret’s copy of P&P. He quite enjoyed it, and gradually picked up various videos of other Jane Austen movies and watched them and read several of the books. Pride & Prejudice remains his favorite, but he is also partial to Sense & Sensibility, Persuasion, and Emma. You can find Colin online on his website.

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Indie Jane in Austen, Guest Post 4 Comments

An Austen Summer

We’re almost a third of the way into May, and hopefully your weather is finally warming up. In the blog world, summer often brings fun blog events to keep us busy. Here are a few Austen events coming up that you should keep an eye out for.

Jane Austen Giveaway HOP, hosted by wb32: This is part of the TEA at Pemberley event being hosted on the same blog. Austen bloggers (including several Indie Jane authors) will host giveaways on their own blogs, giving people an option to meet new Janeites and win fun stuff.

Jane in June, hosted by The Book Rat: A two week long celebration of Jane, Austenesque literature, and Jane Austen crafters, Misty’s event is always fun.

Austen tour blog posts, hosted by Nancy Kelley: I’m going on the Austen tour in England this summer with Laurel Ann Natress and Syrie James. I have every intention of writing blog posts that will make you all green with envy, and hopefully give some new insights into our Jane.

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Nancy Kelley in Austen, Community 6 Comments

Review & Giveaway: A Most Civil Proposal

A proposal is that crucial episode in a couple’s relationship where one person makes their argument for why they want to spend the rest of their life with the other. The answer is usually based on how good of an argument the person makes in their proposal. But what if you have notoriously bad luck properly communicating with the person you want to marry? That gets you Mr. Darcy’s infamously terrible first proposal. But what if Mr. Darcy had thought out his proposal, would it have changed the outcome?

That is the premise of C. P. Odom’s book, A Most Civil Proposal. In this book, Mr. Darcy decides to write out his proposal beforehand and revise it until he has a proposal that effectively communicates his feelings. But, despite putting so much thought and effort into his proposal, he did not have a plan for a negative outcome. Because, why would anyone turn down such a love-filled proposal from Mr. Darcy?

In the process of the altered proposal, we get a better understanding of Mr. Darcy’s feelings towards Elizabeth and then the heartbreak when she still turns him down. He could not have foreseen that Lizzy would have reasons for turning him down besides his manner of proposing. The poor thing put all his love and hope for a beautiful new life together into his proposal and had his dreams crushed.

Lady Catherine de Bourgh plays a critical role in ensuring the marriage of these two individuals and in this alternate version, she does not lose that role which she must have cherished playing. Lady Catherine’s servants end up, in their own way, destroying her dreams for a union between Darcy and his cousin Anne. Not a heartbreak for Anne, who admits to being physically unsuitable for the role as mistress of Pemberley. And this is something I liked about this book, the supreme irony between Lady Catherine’s wishes, her actions, and the results she gets in the end.
My issue with the book was the difference in the relationship between Elizabeth and her father in this version. Due to the altered circumstances surrounding Mr. Darcy and Lizzy’s engagement, Mr. Bennet does not get to see that they will be marrying for love. But the effect of his opinions on the marriage changes how he treats his once favorite daughter and soon to be son-in-law. I do not agree with this interpretation of how Mr. Bennet would have reacted because I do not believe that Mr. Bennet could have allowed a letter from Mr. Collins to estrange his relationship with his daughter to that extent. I feel that it goes against his character.

However, I found A Most Civil Proposal to be a fun read for those who love to read alternate versions of Pride & Prejudice. I personally love reading alternate versions because the possibilities are limitless.

I am excited to see what C. P. Odom’s second book, Consequences, will bring.

Four out of five stars.

*****

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Patty Marq in Giveaway, Review 14 Comments

Friday Fun: Literature Traveling

This pin has been going around Pinterest recently and honestly, this is kind of a genius promotion tool by CheapFlights. It speaks to the imagination and the reader’s desire to travel to the locations in their favorite books.

Of course, as Austen fans I am sure that we’ve all wanted to go on an “Austen Tour” of England. Our very own Nancy Kelley is attending one this fall, in fact.

What other book locations would you like to visit?

Posted on May 3, 2013 by Jessica Grey in Friday Fun 1 Comment

Fun & Games in Jane Austen’s Day

As I was writing my most recent release, All the Appearance of Goodness, I found myself researching games and pastimes of Jane Austen’s day. There were several scenes in which the characters got to enjoy some fun and games and in the process, so I got to learn just how they did that. While only one of these games actually ended up in the book, I am sure the others will eventually appear in another story someday. They all sounded like so much fun I thought it would be the perfect thing to share with you today.

These games would be played in the drawing room after dinner, possibly after a dinner party. Without television or other electronic diversions, games like these played an important role in relieving boredom, especially on long evenings when the weather was bad and people were cooped up together for long periods of time.

It is easy to see some of these games getting a little rowdy, so it was a challenge to figure out which of these games my shy Mr. Darcy might have actually be willing to play. Which one do you think it was? Leave your guess in the comments.

Blind Man’s Buff, Paul Jarrard & Sons

THE RIBBON
Each person is provided with a piece of ribbon. One player stands in the center of the room and holds one end of each ribbon. The others circle around that player and each takes a lose end of ribbon. The player in the center then calls ‘pull’ or ‘let go.’ If he says let go, all the players must pull on their ribbons. If he says pull they must let go their ends. The center player continues to quickly call instructions until one player makes a mistake. Players who make errors must pay forfeits.

MOVE-ALL
The party place chairs as far from each other as possible as the room allows, arranging them in a rough circle with one chair less than the number of players. One player stands in the center. When he calls ‘Move all’, every person must rise and change his seat. Players must scramble for seats and the one left without must pay a forfeit.

HOW D’YE DO? HOW D’YE DO?
The players stand up in a circle. The first person begins jumping up and down in the stiffest manner possible, holding their head up high in front of another player crying, “How d’ye do, How d’ye do, How d’ye do, How d’ye do?”

The other jumps in the same manner, cries, “Tell me who, Tell me who, Tell me who, Tell me who,” The first person then names another of the party, stops jumping, and resumes his place in the circle. ‘Tell me Who’ then jumps up to the person indicated, crying, “How d’ye do?” and the game continues making sure to include every player in the activity.

AVIARY
All of the players select a bird to be in the aviary and whispers their choice to the birdman.

The birdman then instructs, “Ladies and gentlemen, my aviary is complete, and I will thank you now to inform me to which of these you give the preference, or which are objects of your dislike.” The birdman then asks each player three questions. “To which of my birds you will give your heart? To which you will confide your secret? From which will you pluck a feather?”

The player will answer for example: I give my heart to the goldfinch; my secret to the parrot; and pluck a feather from the crow. The birdman notes down these answers. Should the player select a bird not on the list, he must pay a forfeit and select another until the answers are complete.

Once all the players have responded the birdman reveals the identity of each bird. Then each player kneels to the bird to whom he has given his heart; discloses something in confidence to the bird chosen for the secret; and the person from whom a feather was plucked pays a forfeit.

So, what do you think? Which would Mr. Darcy play? Which would be Elizabeth’s favorite? Could you see Lydia playing one? What about Jane? Let me know what you think!

References
Revel, Rachel. ‘Winter Evening Pastimes or The Merry Maker’s Companion’. (1825)

*****

Though Maria Grace has been writing fiction since she was ten years old, those early efforts happily reside in a file drawer and are unlikely to see the light of day again, for which many are grateful.

She has one husband, two graduate degrees and two black belts, three sons, four undergraduate majors, five nieces, six cats, seven Regency-era fiction projects and notes for eight more writing projects in progress. To round out the list, she cooks for nine in order to accommodate the growing boys and usually makes ten meals at a time so she only cooks twice a month. You can find Maria online on her website, Twitter, and Facebook.

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Indie Jane in Austen, Guest Post 9 Comments

Do Judge This Book By Its Cover

When I started writing My Dear Sophy just over a year ago, I wanted to write a good book. I focused on creating a good plot, developing lovable characters, and plowing my way through all the moments where I felt like a fraud. All important things to have a handle on.

But when I finished writing, I realized that getting the book ready for PUBLICATION was a whole different story. Here I had a story I was proud of, but how to sell it?

Luckily, Jess and Nancy had both been there before me and so I relied on them for a lot of advice. And primary among all the helpful things they told me was one thing:

YOUR BOOK MUST HAVE A GREAT COVER.

No pressure, right? Jess and I had many conversations about the designer she works with who makes fantastic covers like this:

But being extremely short of cash, I could not really afford a professional. So I fretted and wrung my hands for awhile before it occurred to me that I have many talented friends!

So I put out a Facebook call for someone who might want to design my cover for the sheer glory of doing it and bragging rights if the book had any little success (which, thanks you all of you lovely readers, it has). And lo! and behold, someone did. A friend referred me to her friend who does impeccable and beautiful paper cut-out work. Right away Emmanuel Jose had a vision for my book cover that I will always love and be grateful for. I mean… really… this is just beautiful art! And I will be forever proud to say that my story is behind this cover! And, best of all, he was willing to work for those bragging rights I mentioned!

This is all hand-cut paper that was then scanned into the computer.

But my latest book The Wrong Woman needed a different feel. And still being poor, I had to think of a way to once again mine the resources I had before me. I thought, of course, of calling on my previous artist, but wasn’t sure that paper cut out would really work for this book.

So, again, with helpful suggestions from friends, I began to browse stock photos for inspiration. Jess has written about the wonderful world of stock photos, so have a look at that for some of the best sites out there!

With the “no money” thing weighing heavily on me, I turned first to Wikimedia Commons, a free database of thousands of searchable images that are all in what is called the “public domain.” This means that, with very few restrictions, you can use these images as you will.

After many, many hours of searching and thinking and pondering what I wanted my cover to look like, I came across this painting called “Morning Toilette” by Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg. To say I was excited is not the half of it!

Here was an image that conveyed what I wanted! A woman who is beautiful but not the standard 21st century skinny beauty. A sensual image that reflects the sensuality of the book. An image of a woman and a mirror, which hints at the theme of double selves that I play with in the book. All good!

So I slapped my name and the title on it. Et voila!

But as I spent a few days with this, I thought there was something wrong about it. It was too revealing of the woman. The title and my name were the wrong way around and just looked kind of bad in those colors and fonts. And on and on. I picked it apart and decided I needed to change it.

But the free PAINT program on my computer doesn’t have too many image editing capabilities and I am, once again, too poor to order Photoshop. So WHAT TO DO?

I turned to the good old internet. And, as it always does, it came up with an answer: lists and lists of FREE and open source (basically the same as public domain works) photoediting software that reviewers claimed worked just as well as Photoshop! SCORE x a million.

I went with Paint.NET and immediately found a tool I will use over and over again.

Extremely easy interface to navigate. I highly recommend this program!

It has an extremely easy interface to use, great help files, and an infinite amount of UNDO, which turned out to be very important as I experimented with my cover.

So, basically, I plopped my image file into the program and began to play.

First, I tried — and failed miserably — cutting the woman out so I could paste her on various backgrounds.

Then I played with color schemes. There was a “sepia” version before this, but I thought the black and white fit more with the themes of the book. And also kept the aesthetic from my first (though unrelated) book, My Dear Sophy.

Next it was playing with fading the picture and making the lines softer. This is using a filter called “oil painting” in Paint.NET.

After some thought, I decided that showing the booty was a little more sexy than I was willing to give the reader, considering there is no sex in the book. So I cropped the image.

Then I added a vast area of black space above the image where I would put the title. I liked the balance of this more than the original image. It somehow felt clean and drew focus to the correct parts of the cover.

Et voila! The finished product after much messing around to find the perfect font and the perfect placement.

So there you have it! Two covers, both produced entirely for free.

Moral of these two stories: being short of cash should not stop you as an independently-published author from having nice book covers and finding something that exactly suits your vision for your story. There are ways to realize your visions that don’t require much (or any) cash and can turn out just as beautifully as something professionally done! (If I do say so myself.) If you are willing to devote some time to the process, you can do it all yourself!

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Kimberly Truesdale in Uncategorized 5 Comments

Friday Fun: Bestie to Bestie has the Best of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries

We all miss The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. Those DVDs cannot come soon enough! But in lieu of new episodes I’ve discovered one of the best resources for all things Lizzie Bennet – the Tumblr Bestie to Bestie.

Bestie to Bestie is run by best friends Ang and Kim and features all the best Lizzie Bennet gifs, YouTube mashups, and news, as well as enough adorable/obsessive fangirliness to make it feel like you’ve found people that understand you.

Make sure to check them out!

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Jessica Grey in Friday Fun 2 Comments

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