I am doing #Drawtober and I have been greatly upset about not being able to directly share it here. I am using the Fae Corps Publishing prompts and I will try to post it on here daily in October via the Instagram link.
The purpose of this one is simple. Most likely everyone here knows I run Fae Corps Publishing and I have been doing this in the background for a while now. I plan on talking clearly about the tools I use for publishing, and the way that each one works. Demystifying what I do. Is that to say that I will be making my own self unnecessary? No, because my experience is valuable. I just feel like so much of the process is made out to be harder than it needs to be.
I have 2 things for today.
One is a minor announcement that I have decided to turn this into a book. I am going to be hopefully less scattered in my way of teaching in it … but I’m working on it. I don’t know how long it will take to get it done.
Okay, and second I want to discuss covers. You will to publish a book need several versions of the cover. I know that it will seem confusing and counterproductive. It is necessary however.
You will start with a png of your front and rear cover. If you are buying it from a artist you might only have the front and full in the png…but I’m talking to you as if you are doing everything like I do. I use the system at Barnes and nobles to get the spine. Barnes and nobles will let you upload a pdf of your front cover and one of your rear cover and then they will help you design the spine. You can download the full cover from there. If you download it immediately you usually will not have to remove the barcode.
Once you have the pdf I recommend you export the page to jpg to give you a full cover image. You will need that. The pdf is going to be the wrong size for at least one of the other places. having a full image will help you to get the cover sized for the sites as needed. (You will not want a barcode on the image. If you ended up with the barcode erase it.)
You will need a jpg of the front cover for Amazon. Everywhere else wants a png. Amazon is the most picky thing ever.
Remember that I said I used two pdf to do Barnes and nobles? I use the template found on Amazon. They provide three templates for each item. A front, a back, and a Full cover template. With the right pdf program you can fix the picture in place of the outlines. Do make sure that you remove the words first or the sites will not accept it.
Ingram has its own template, and it is very specific to each book . It includes the barcode for Ingram.
The cover of the paperback is not going to be the same size as the one for the hardback. And only Ingram offers options for other editions.
I will leave on the bottom of the post the upcoming calendar. I feel like that will help. As You can see this changes slightly each week. Things get adjusted because Authors are not ready or I get a book that I had promised space.
October –
11th – Fighting Ignorance by Patricia Harris
18th – My Gothic Angel by Laj & Khoury Hawkins
25th – Anthology – Nightmare Whiskers
November-
8th – Thoughtfish by Ruan Bradford Wright (2nd Edition)
15th- Would You Like Fries with That By Mariah Lynde
26th – The Crypt Keeper’s Notebook by ZyhrenSong
December –
1st – unknown by Raz T Slasher (middle grade) (*though I don’t normally have an unknown in my list of release dates… from a couple of authors I will take the chance for “kids week” and save the spot. If I don’t get the book from them I will just have an empty spot for the day. But I think that they are worth it.)
2nd – Where’s my Sugar by Patricia Harris
3rd – Pip 4: Pip that is not Yours! By Patricia Harris
4th – Anthology Fae Recipes
5th – Unknown by CM Snow
6th – Spoiled Naughty Ponies by Capri Summers
7th – MG: The Grim Face of Reality by Sean Armstrong
8th – Hood of Sedna by Mina Skye
13th – Anthology Honesty in Verse
2025
Everything from here down is still in the process of being acquired for Publication with 2 exceptions (Fae Speaks & Rebirth )
The purpose of this one is simple. Most likely everyone here knows I run Fae Corps Publishing and I have been doing this in the background for a while now. I plan on talking clearly about the tools I use for publishing, and the way that each one works. Demystifying what I do. Is that to say that I will be making my own self unnecessary? No, because my experience is valuable. I just feel like so much of the process is made out to be harder than it needs to be.
Formatting is hard, y:all.
You have to start with your page size and go from there. Fae corps publishing only uses 6×9 unless we’re doing a kids book. Children’s books are generally an 8×8 or an 8.5×11.
Then you have to deal with the font and the margins. I try to choose a fancy one for the title page and then something easy to read for the body. I personally don’t like Times New Roman. It looks wrong to me. I usually do Book Antiqua or Garamond. I keep the formatting roughly the same for all of the books. The Chapter title is usually centered, Bold, and Underlined. The margins are 1 in on all four sides. There’s a few authors that have done the formatting themselves…and I am not adverse to them. I only keep the page size the same. If they want to do the rest of the work I don’t argue.
The problem comes with the authors that don’t listen and send me their work in pdf format.
I can try to do a convert from pdf to word…but some of the words convert wrong. So I will end up with odd question mark symbols in my document that I now have to go figure out.
Adding pictures is another headache. You have to set it up properly and get it so that the text flows around it properly. That takes practice to get it right every time.
Format is only the first stage of any book.
I will leave on the bottom of the post the upcoming calendar. I feel like that will help. As You can see this changes slightly each week. Things get adjusted because Authors are not ready or I get a book that I had promised space.
September –
27th – Human Shaped Verse by Patricia Harris
October –
11th – Fighting Ignorance by Patricia Harris
18th – My Gothic Angel by Laj & Khoury Hawkins
25th – Anthology – Nightmare Whiskers
November-
8th – Thoughtfish by Ruan Bradford Wright (2nd Edition)
15th- Would You Like Fries with That By Mariah Lynde
26th – The Crypt Keeper’s Notebook by ZyhrenSong
December –
1st – unknown by Raz T Slasher (middle grade) (*though I don’t normally have an unknown in my list of release dates… from a couple of authors I will take the chance for “kids week” and save the spot. If I don’t get the book from them I will just have an empty spot for the day. But I think that they are worth it.)
2nd – Where’s my Sugar by Patricia Harris
3rd – Pip 4: Pip that is not Yours! By Patricia Harris
4th – Anthology Fae Recipes
5th – Unknown by CM Snow
6th – Spoiled Naughty Ponies by Capri Summers
7th – MG: The Grim Face of Reality by Sean Armstrong
8th – Hood of Sedna by Mina Skye
13th – Anthology Honesty in Verse
2025
Everything from here down is still in the process of being acquired for Publication with 2 exceptions (Fae Speaks & Rebirth )
I think I am misunderstood. Several times lately I have had to explain my desires for Fae Corps.
We don’t generally take erotica…but it is mostly because we do a lot of children’s books and marketing both of them for a small publishing firm is nearly impossible.
The whole reason for Fae corps is because I love books and it is so hard to get your foot in the door as an indie author. The only thing that I limit is the erotica and gore for the sake of gore. I really just try to publish good stories by good people.
I like the idea of seeing unique representation of marginalized or obscure groups. I love publishing poetry that makes people feel or think. I am a sucker for a good kids book, and I would love to publish litrpg stories and or guides. I have a weakness for horror and mystery, sci fi and romance…pretty much anything that is an enjoyable read.
I can’t say that I have some kind of specific thing Fae Corps Publishing is specifically known for. I don’t know if I would want it to be. I feel like there is a lot of Indie firms that are particular. I just want to see good books out im the world.
Pattimouse 