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Brian J. W. Lee is a writer. When he's not writing, he's plotting to plunge the world in a deep chasm of terror, darkness and screams. Sorry, did I get carried away?

Tuesday 25 July 2017

DIY Book Covers

Recently, I've been dabbling with creating my own book covers. The transition from relying on dedicated graphic artists specialising in book covers to doing them up myself is a little tough. Just like how it is with writing and managing my own books, the uneasy feeling of uncertainty descended upon me at every step of the way. This is what I came up with so far. These are just concepts though - there are watermarks in there because I haven't purchased the images yet:
Argh... Far from finished.

Neither is this anywhere near done, despite this guy here being version 2 of the concept.

As you can see, I'm still working on it. There's a lot of things wrong with the covers - and if I can tell, then something major is wrong with the covers. But that's also a good thing, because if my sensibilities exceed the merits of my design, it means I can improve on my work.

I've been seeking out feedback from my fellow authors, and they told me as much about how to improve the designs. A unified author font, for example. But personally, I think the book title for My Model Son looks home-made. With cookies and cream, that's a good thing. But here, not so much. Something about My Model Son's centre piece feels really odd as well. I'll have to explore my options, and I have one month to do it and polish it off.

Oh, and I believe I've just given away a hint of what's to come after my anthology short story (Tentatively named My Model Son). 😏

If I can pull my book covers off, it's going to save me a fortune! At the cheapest price, one book cover could cost me US$50, so if I can produce book covers adequately for my current and next batch of books, it's going to save me something around the region of US$250. Now, if I want to guarantee the quality of my book covers, I would have to shell out US$100 - US$200 for the average horror cover, which would set me back by US$500 - US$1,000! For a little perspective, the ceiling of that is above my entire expenditure of my current books!

Anyway, I've delayed the ending of this blog post for too long. Moral of the story? It's awesome to put the I and INDIE in indie authors and indie books. See ya'll!

Tuesday 11 July 2017

Tutoring: The Ideal Life of a Writer?

Hi guys, as you know, I was out of my telco job on the 19th of June. Normally, that is where average Singaporeans start to panic. With no safety net, not even so much as a goody bag to weather the storm of unemployment, having zero income in an expensive city is about as dangerous as being stuck in the middle of the ocean.

Not for me. It seems that something's going my way for once. It's nearly the one-month anniversary of my exit from the corporate world. I've since turned my secondary income into my primary income, and I used to teach tuition for pocket money, working in an office or not. Within this month alone, my tuition income has shot up from $210/month to something around the region of $1,300/month, and it's still climbing. In other words, I've managed to secure my basic survival needs, even with my university debt factored in.

That's with 6 students, a 10.5 hours per week obligation (which doesn't feel like work at all as I'm happy to pave the way for the next generation) spread over 5 days. It wouldn't be much of an increase of workload if I double that to 12 students and a 21 hours work week, hopefully spread over a maximum of 6 days. That would mean out-earning my previous job even with CPF (social security) thrown in

Now, how is this related to writing? Well, this frees up a ton of time and energy on my end to work on my book. Yesterday, I was able to edit 6,000 words in 2 hours, and get a bunch of promotional admin work relating to my second book out of the way. That's more than 3 times the output I was able to muster while I was slaving away in a telco office. I was consistently editing 4,000 words a day, and only occasionally the usual 2,000 words a day.

I have no doubt that I'll be able to consistently write 2,000 words a day once I get my short story done for the anthology.

Wednesday 5 July 2017

Through the Abyssal Gates Release Imminent

Time flies, and so did my book tunnel through time.

Hey peops,

Just to let you guys know, Through the Abyssal Gates' release is imminent! In 9 days, it will receive a soft launch, which is when the book will be available! In the meantime, it will be $0.99 (or equivalent in your Amazon region). There's no telling how long it will remain $0.99 after launch, so grab it while it's hot!

I know, I know. I said that it could release early in my previous post, but then again, there's never such a thing as too much polishing when it comes to editing.

Here's the link (US): STEP THROUGH A GATE

Enjoy!