If anyone here has any experience with it, short stories or novels, I would like to hear them.
[This message has been edited by MartinV (edited February 11, 2011).]
Here's a less than helpful venn diagram and discussion about it: http://www.schlockmercenary.com/blog/epub-selfpub-venn
http://www.smashwords.com/about/how_to_publish_on_smashwords
There's another fellow who was doing print-on-demand with a 50% royalty to the author, but damned if I can recall the sitename. He was trying to do it right, tho, not being a ripoff or pay-to-play vanity press.
The problem from the reader's POV is sorting through all the e-pubbed kark.. doesn't matter how dreadful it is, there'll be SOMEONE who gives it a hot review. And the problem from the author's POV is... how do you get noticed among the piles and piles of e-pubbed kark??
Seems to me the best way to get noticed and elevated above the dunghill is the "free samples" approach, using every means available -- including usenet, filesharing networks, etc. -- while making sure every sample directs readers to your point of purchase for the whole work.
And while many authors have noted that even unauthorized "free samples" increase sales, and while your royalty cut is much higher on purely e-sales, all e-sales combined are still only about 2% of the market.
Yeah, I know, not very helpful.
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Here’s a related question. Does anyone know if you self e-publish, can you still traditionally publish later?
My grok is that once the "First Rights" (any publication) have been used up, most trad-publishers won't touch it. That includes posting your book on your own open-to-everyone website.
However, I think that's liable to change, as more authors get frustrated with the long slow process of traditional publishing and go to e-pub as a quicker route to the world. Eventually I think trad-pubs are going to start reviewing the better self-pubbed manuscripts and offering them broader-publication (as dead-tree or wide-marketed e-book), because otherwise those higher-potential money-makers are going to escape them entirely.
http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/?p=2354
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And while many authors have noted that even unauthorized "free samples" increase sales, and while your royalty cut is much higher on purely e-sales, all e-sales combined are still only about 2% of the market.
I don't think this number is correct, and the anticipated growth of the ebook market is stunningly high. Double digits, many years, crazy.
Martin, you're going to have to research this and decide if it's for you. My suggestions for where to go for research -
Read author JA (aka Joe) Konrath's blog
Read author Dean Wesley Smith's blog - in particular the "New World of Publishing" articles.
Read indie sensation author Amanda Hocking's blog - in particular a post called "An Epic Tale of How It All Happened." She just posted today with a link to a lot of her suggested resources. She has sold more books in JANUARY than most New York Times bestsellers can hope to sell in a year. Read what she suggests, you'll get a better handle on things. True, not everyone's going to hit the market sweet spot she did, but she's been very generous with sharing her resources and experiences.
The thing I keep hearing that has me scratching my head is people stuck in an older mentality around ebooks. While you (or her, or that guy over there) might not have an ebook reader, they are quickly coming down in price to the point where the people who already have the disposable income to spend buying books (versus those who might be limited to library loans and occasional book purchases) are flocking to ebook readers like moths to a flame because the readers make their lives *simple.* Young people are flocking to ebook readers (even if only on their cell phones) because they do everything on a screen of some sort, it's a very natural interaction for them. My dad has an iPad and uses it to read his door-stop style books (I don't know what he's reading on it now but Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead is one of his favorites and clocks in at what - 1k pages? When he loads it on his iPad, the iPad doesn't weigh any more than it used to...and he still has his solitaire game he likes to play, too.)
It's changing *EVERYTHING*
This is a good time to be a writer. I know you live outside the U.S. and I've heard some pretty impressive things from indie authors about their overseas sales, too. I think the market is exploding. Great time to epublish your own titles if you have the time to put into making a great cover, formatting the document properly (smashwords will guide you step-by-infinitely-small-step) and uploading it to the various sites (amazon, barnes and noble, smashwords.)
Good luck!
http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/?p=3249#comments This one is about time.
I agree with Kay Ti about this is an exciting time but I will add that for me it's also an unsure time. I have to decide which way to go and as I have said a few times, find someone to edit my stuff. And I would also have to look into how to do covers, because evidently in e-publishing they are more important than in traditional publishing.
To answer someone's question about your ebook going to traditional paper publishing. All I can say is that it has happened a few times already and a couple of pro writers expect that it probably will happen more and more. No one knows for sure yet but it looks like it they could be right.
I think the novel I'm currently writing is a good candidate for epublishing. While I have a few agents already written down for querying, I have to consider epublishing as an option.
I, personally, think the best thing is to do both. Query novels and publish them.
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I've already started reading Smashwords FAQ and info. A cover seems reasonable but where to make one? I'm not an artist, not with a pencil anyway.
Yeah, the cover's one of the sticking points for me, too. I'm almost at a point where I'm ready to try this out in a small way, with one or more short stories. But the cover . . .
I think market research is crucial, i.e: If an ebook is published on the net, and no one is around, does it make a sound? (skimpy analogy. Haha!)
And for the cover I have a couple of art-savvy friends who love or pity me enough to do it for me.
[This message has been edited by Foste (edited February 12, 2011).]
http://kriswrites.com/2011/02/03/the-business-rusch-beginning-writers-changing-ti mes-part-16/
[This message has been edited by posulliv (edited February 12, 2011).]
Kris Rusch makes good points about how the economy of scale is completely against the new or midlist writer. When publishers can't make money on anything but best-sellers, nothing but best-sellers (or what they believe can be pushed to that position) will be published. This means that journeyman authors can no longer make a living writing. Holly Lisle has a good article about that here:
http://tinyurl.com/3844auy
(Unfortunately Holly's midlist revival project was killed by an unscrupulous person's actions.)
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Yeah, the cover's one of the sticking points for me, too. I'm almost at a point where I'm ready to try this out in a small way, with one or more short stories. But the cover . . .
I have a friend who is doing covers, offering a special in February for the first ten authors who contact her. Her site is called The Cover Counts.
Additionally, doing a cover yourself isn't too hard. You can create one in powerpoint or a similar tool (there are many freeware or almost free simple drawing programs on the web, too.) Find an image that you either pay for the rights to use, or is free to use in an adapted way (because you'll be changing it for your purposes.) Size it properly (roughly 5 inches across by 7 inches tall, but google book covers to figure out the proper dimensions in pixels and dpi and all that fun stuff. That you usually set in image properties on the slide or in the drawing program.) Then put your title any your name in large, easy to read font. Remember the ebook searches return tiny postage-stamp sized covers (and from an ebook reader, many return only black/white/grayscale images - so check yours in b/w to be sure it's still legible.) You can combine a few images together to make something work for your book/story concept, or farm it out to someone who you pay to do the adapting. Most of the self-published covers I've seen lately are more along the lines of photos or stock images recast as book covers, versus huge expanses of original art. But of course there is a range.
Either way, good luck. It's a different pool, but a fun one to dip your toes into!
I'm not expecting people to answer these questions for me but they are making my nights much shroter.
Even if you self publish one novel that does not exclude traditional publishing of another one later.
Just make sure you are well informed of the industry and that your work is top notch! 
http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2011/02/numbers-game.html
Good luck, martin!
I want an actual physical book I can touch, at least with my first book, so e-publishing would be out but there is POD-print on demand-and the impression I get is that I can do both. That would take care of that desire.
As I have been learning there are pros and cons to each way-traditional and e-publishing-but right now it sounds like the easier and better way is the new way except with the number of sells and the fact that you have to do everything yourself. But the number of sells for e-books are in the way up. But on the other hand choosing the right cover can be a problem. And not only right one but one I like. Some of the covers I've seen for e-books and e-stories I wouldn't want to use. I saw an ad in my Writer's Digest Newsletter for a group that does covers but they charge a couple hundred dollars. Of course on yet another hand would the POD publisher take care of that? All things I need to check into when the time comes.
But I would e-publish short stories in a blink if I can find the time to clean up the nitpicks. That might be the only way for me to get another story published.
And I add that there is still more prestige and the joy of seeing your books in a bookstore with going the traditional way.
[This message has been edited by LDWriter2 (edited February 20, 2011).]
Of course there is also the problems Borders is having now too.
Oh yes Stackpole isn't the only pro who uses that statement that money flows to the writer not from the writer.
Almost should be placed on a poster or T-shirt or mug.
[This message has been edited by LDWriter2 (edited February 20, 2011).]
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Import posts from your site or blog, or copy/paste from a manuscript. Edit content and drag it into chapters, then congratulations ... you're an eBook author! Pay as little as $19.99 to get an ePub file to distribute on your own, or $89.99 to have us send it to major online stores along with an ISBN we assign for you (a $125 value).
See also http://bookbrewer.com/content/frequently-asked-questions
Their royalty cuts seem out of line compared to other ebook routes. And paying $200 extra to get a DRM-free file??!
I'd say it looks like someone figured out how to get free money out of people enamoured of their Deathless Prose. My guess is these will be zero-sales works (or will never exceed the $25 payment threshold), so all the profit is in the upfront fees.
Edited by Kathleen to remove the broken URL--see link in next post, please.
[This message has been edited by Kathleen Dalton Woodbury (edited February 21, 2011).]
(I hate UBB's awkward URL thing too!!!!!!!!)
Additionally, it's VERY easy to insert a link like this one for tiny url into a Hatrack post.
Works the same as any other set of tags in a post here. You have to use the straight brackets to enclose an instruction. For a web address the instruction is "URL=" (all caps.) Afterwards, you have to close out the instruction (basically tell the computer to stop displaying whatever special thing you've told it to display) which you do also in the straight brackets, instead of "URL=" now it's "/URL" (forward slash URL)
The specific format of the URL will look like this:
Left straight bracket
URL=
pasted URL address
right straight bracket
the words you want to be underlined and to act as the link
left straight bracket
forward slash
URL
right straight bracket
Make sense? If not, I apologize.
If I've put any money into the story ahead of time, that's my own cost (e.g., paying someone else to do a title for me), but the sites themselves do not charge for their use. POD is different (print-on-demand, that's putting your books out in print. Because there's a physical object, you do have to pay to create the proof and other administrative things. My understanding is this cost is well under $100US for a title (I've heard around $50, about 40 for the professional rate on Createspace, plus $10 or so for your proof.)
Pardon me for changing the subject but Hey, just thought of a title for a story maybe I'll send it to Dean Wesley Smith since he likes to write stories from titles, I very rarely do it that way. Or if anyone else wants to try it that way. Probably be a fun story.
... I have a bookmark on my toolbar, which sends the current page to TinyURL and automatically produces the desired short link. The bookmark is:
javascript:void(location.href='http://tinyurl.com/create.php?url='+location.href)
Obviously to work it requires javascript.
Most forum software is kinda stupid about displaying long lines, so you get either broken links or sidescrolling from hell.
[This message has been edited by Reziac (edited February 21, 2011).]
I tried it and it worked for me. Interesting if long post about surviving the publishing storm .
[This message has been edited by LDWriter2 (edited February 21, 2011).]
[This message has been edited by LDWriter2 (edited February 21, 2011).]
[This message has been edited by LDWriter2 (edited February 21, 2011).]
Okay it did...thanks.
[This message has been edited by LDWriter2 (edited February 21, 2011).]
Hmm, I may have just figured that out
Thought this blog post from Dean Wesley Smith might be appropriate for here.
Maybe it should have it's own thread but it deals with e-publishing as a business
There's a lot to think about, and Dean Wesley Smith's blog is, in my opinion, a great place to start. He just posted the first post of a new series about becoming a publisher. Go and read it now.
Remember, if you publish short fiction, once you epublish it, you're done with it unless an editor were to make a request.
But with novels, there's no reason not to epub them and then send them out to editors.
My one piece of advice I'd give -- and this is what I'd give to myself if I could go back a few months and start over again -- is to take a month and think long and hard about what your goals. I got excited, jumped in, and now have spent a few weeks cleaning up some of the mess I made. Luckily, it was only two months of mess, and not a year's worth, but still. I'd strongly recommend you read all of Dean Wesley's Smith's posts on Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing and the New World of Publishing -- and read all the comments, too -- and get a game plan in order.
I pretty much see my 2011 Indie Year (as I like to call it) as one big experiment. I want to see what happens. My goal is to get 52 new titles up (novels, short stories, collections) by December 31, 2011. That should give me a pretty good idea of the possibilities. Of course, I take the view that all my titles are going to fail and selling only a minimum per month, so they more titles I have the more money I'll make. It's the only sane view to take in this business.
Right now, my plan is to return to traditional submissions in 2012. That WILL be the case for short fiction, but I'm not so sure about novels. The fact is that publishers are become very unwilling to give new writers reversion rights, and writers are getting screwed big time with ebook royalties; this means that while I might sell three novels for $20,000 today, I might end up loosing hundreds of thousands over the course of the next thirty years, and I guarantee you I'll need that long-term income far more than I need the extra 20 grand today. So I want to see how things shake out there before I go the NY route.
Hope this helps.
Right now my goal is to only put up two sets of my older stories and maybe a couple of individual stories but it's tempting to put up all three novels I am working on. I probably will end up doing one for sure, because it might be only 60,000 or so words. One is going to be around 90,000 and I may try that one the traditional way. The third one is up in the air right now.
But besides the sets of stories I haven't decided yet. But in either case I will need, as I have mentioned a few times, outside help with the covers and copy editing. Both will cost money. How much is the issue. Dean discusses that and a couple of other needs. Really thought provoking post he has there.
Boy before this discussion I never heard of her or that other guy with the Klingon sounding name. All the more reason to get an e-reader.
[This message has been edited by LDWriter2 (edited March 10, 2011).]
More about the benefits of e publishing. And a warning
http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/?p=3707#comments
Interesting and informative but I think part way through the started pretty much repeating themselves even though using different words.
Can you expand on this? Doesn't epublishing a novel make it less attractive to a trad publisher?
Along those same lines, I'm interested to know if there is a good way to epub with a simultaneous print pub, for people who like physical books, even something as simple as epub + a POD option, if it doesn't turn out too badly. Or is there an epub service that includes print and actually has a brick & mortar distribution channel?
My understanding is that a self-published novel won't pose any problem to an editor who wants to buy it. There are several indie writers who have switched over, Amanda Hocking being the big name. Either editors will like it and want to buy it, or they won't. Now agents, from what I hear, are very much opposed to self-published novels. But, then, why any unpublished writer would even want an agent is beyond me.
Yes, you can self-pub and do POD. Look into CreateSpace; many indie writers use it.
In terms of getting your books into brick and mortar stores, that's a whole different ball game, and one I can't comment on. I suggest you jump over to Dean Wesley Smith's blog for an answer to that question.
I wonder how reflective that is of MG readers. I bet it's not too far off. Perhaps my thought of maybe e-publishing my MG books is a bit short-sighted.
How many of them have a reader? Many probably have a phone, but how many books would you really want to read on that screen? Access to the computer may be limited for good reasons. How many eight to twelve year olds have a dedicated e-reader? (That number will grow.)
And the real issue with MG is the gate keepers. Eight to twelve year olds don't have credit cards (at least, I hope they don't), so Mom or Dad has to buy the e-book for them. So, how do you reach the people who can pay and convince them your book is the right one for little Johnny or Jenny?
That's just my limited view of the world right now. I have no data to back up those opinions.
[This message has been edited by Meredith (edited April 09, 2011).]
I dug further and found a bunch of articles talking about how the Nook Color is super popular, 3M in sales already and it's only been out since November. It's the second most popular tablet-like seller (second to the iPad.) Very very interesting. Most say it's not a very powerful tablet, but a very powerful eReader, but it also is an interesting device for kids, as a hybrid/more locked-down device than an iPad. Plus the digital ink Nook and Kindles are still out there at sub-$150 prices. iPods were in that range when they first came out (anyone remember those days?)
At any rate - I think the proliferation of ereading devices in families (with geek families like mine considering upgrades and hand-me-downs of old tech to the kids) and the lower price points and more powerful features available means more kids will have access to more ereaders (or ereading software on their phones.) I was noticing just yesterday how really ANNOYING the pricing is on many ebooks in the MG/YA market. Super expensive, which is ridiculous given that many of them are much shorter than adult fiction priced comparatively.
So...this is an opportunity for us writers of YA/MG fiction, as we can put our ebooks out with very competitive prices (I'm going to start at 4.99 for my novels) and play the pricing game as a way to be appealing to readers. If you think about it as a slow build of the market as ereaders trickle down, you'd have first mover advantage by putting your ebooks out soon, so they are already THERE when the holiday season rush comes at the end of the year. You can have the opportunity of a good 6 months to build interest, garner positive reviews, etc. Pretty good timing and strategy, in my opinion...
And a couple of weeks ago I realized that I have three general fiction stories and a western I could sell via Electronic means. I'm out of paying markets for the western or very close to it-doesn't seem to be as many as there once was- and I haven't really tried sending out the other three that often.
I might do the three General ones as a set since they are kinda in the same subgenera.
I don't know how westerns are doing online have to see if I can figure out how to check on that.
Is there a general list of e-stories and/or e-novels that combines the lists from all the various e-publishers? Or even most of the e-publishers?
Here's an old blog about it, that may give you some leads:
LIBRACIDE: KILLING OFF THE WESTERN (2005)
http://tinyurl.com/6xzhvus
Western Writers of America
http://www.westernwriters.org/
http://www.westernwriters.org/news.htm
scroll down to
‘Roundup!,’ Latest Collection of Western Fiction, Nonfiction and Poetry from the Western Writers of America, Now Available
Funny thing, earlier today i was feeling an urge to dig up and read a western, gods know where THAT came from. Time to visit OpenLibrary.org and see what old gems are available...
The other thing is that I really like to write the old fashioned sword and sorcery fantasy. I'll even go a bit purple with it and there's not any interest out there except in tiny markets unless you've got something very dark or very blue.
I also write poetry and with e-books, you can put stuff out there for people to search on and might actually sell a few slim (metaphorically speaking) volumes of verse.
With epublishing, I think both the writer and the reader are liberated from the harsh marketing realities in big time publishing. And your work is no longer automatically judged as vanity. However, I am still considering starting a publishing enterprise and having a vanity imprint similar to Smashwords Premium and whatever they call the dross that isn't.
quote:
Now that you mention it, I can't recall ever seeing a western published online, and damned few deadtree in some while.
Thanks, a couple of years ago I found a free site where it sounded like anyone could post a western story but I didn't want to go totally free.
But this site wasn't that much help, unless I missed something. It sounded like you had to be a member to be considered for their markets. I wouldn't mind writing more westerns but at the moment I only have the one. Well, one pure western. I also have one tale that might be a Twilight Zone type of story and another that is SF with alternate universes two cow pokes find.
LD: There have been a few SF tales set in the western era, and at least a couple TV series -- The Wild Wild West was actually SF, ya know and what was the one that was so odd, didn't last long but was pretty good... from about 1980ish?? Anyway, it hasn't been done a lot and might strike an editor as fresh, so I'd say go for it.
Or so it says. I can't claim to rightly remember, myself.
So I'm balking at "anthology" in the first place. And I only remember two points of view, the unnamed narrator and, in one short section--that would not have stood alone as a short story--the bad guy.
Sorry about "hijacking" the topic.
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LD: There have been a few SF tales set in the western era, and at least a couple TV series -- The Wild Wild West was actually SF, ya know and what was the one that was so odd, didn't last long but was pretty good... from about 1980ish?? Anyway, it hasn't been done a lot and might strike an editor as fresh, so I'd say go for it.
True, but aren't they usually just in SF or that type of magazines not western? I have sent mine out a few times.
I'm not sure off hand which was the one in the 80s but there was one soon after Star Trek Next Generation went off the air. The actor who played Q stared in that series.
And now there is the new movie "Cowboys Vs Aliens" or is it "Cowboys and Aliens"?
*****
I'll take Corky's definitions for "anthology," "collection," and "fix-up novel"---but you might also add "series collection," stories in a series, collected without attempting to unify them into a single plot.
(The Beatles used "Anthology" for the title of their documentary---I have a couple of educated guesses why but no hard information.)
I don't know how flexible any Western publications are about fantastic elements (to my understanding, there's a fairly fixed set of allowed/required elements, kinda like romance has). I'm thinking you might have better luck with a SF/F rag that's inclined to stretch its borders. Westerns are unknown territory to most of today's SF/F readers.
Rats, can't think of the writer's name even though I used to quote him so it should come to me soon.
Also some of those books were by Zane Gray which I thought was interesting,
quote:
Also some of those books were by Zane Gray which I thought was interesting,
I cant help but remember Zane Gray books, books from a different time. I always get a kick out of the language back then. "I saw you on the porch, dont deny it you was letting him make love to you." I am paraphrasing of course, and "make love" doenst mean what it does now, more like whispering sweet nothings in her ear.
I always laugh at that point. But I have several, I went through a period where I wanted to get every one of his, and collected quite a few, you can smell the age in the old books, I love it.
This one is by someone with lots of experience, Konrath, on selling e-books.
I'll snap some photos for you. I have a feeling the whole house will smell like those old books... Wouldn't that be neat?
Axe
I still think it's a good solid story and may not be in as bad a shape as I thought even though obviously the writing is not in good shape.
The town is so small there isn't one.
The museum (his old house I believe) is located next to two rivers. It's a beautiful place, really.
Google map it and look at the surrounding area. There's a whole lot of nothing around. I've been by it before, just never went in.
Axe
quote:
@Tiergan
The Zane Gray museum is only 30 minutes from where I live. I've been meaning to go for a while now, so I think I'll plan a day-trip some Saturday coming up.
I'll snap some photos for you. I have a feeling the whole house will smell like those old books... Wouldn't that be neat?Axe
I think I will keep the smell to the basement, my wife already complains enough about my ancient habits. I think I will put that museum down to visit next time I am down that way though.
Not sure if all of these go here but here are five free e-books on writing.
Half way done with the umpteenth revision of my story. I thought that since i was putting in so much work I might send it out again but besides the grammar, punctuation and not so good sentences, there are other things an editor may not like: change of POV, and the style of the ending, so I will go ahead and send it through smashwords. But there's a fantasy I thought seriously about doing next and if I did go over it again I may send it to Beneath Ceaseless Skies, unless it's too long, first. BCS is about the only fantasy market I haven't sent it to.
But I will decide on which fantasy to do next.
Well, I got my story ready togo. Or as ready as I can get it. Thought I could go smashwords.com and up load the story. But I forgot one little detail... the cover shot. The whole process is more complicated than I thought. I won't be able to get to it and to have it really ready 'till tomorrow late or even Monday
But I may know someone who can draw me a space station or a Gemini figure.
[This message has been edited by LDWriter2 (edited June 15, 2011).]
I'm still waiting to get a good cover image. Can't figure out when I will be able to take a pic of a space station. I talked to someone at work about drawing one but even though he said he would, he hasn't yet... I even said I would pay him. So I may give up on him.
Not sure if I can do it but I want a space station and a Gemini head on the cover. I probably would have to combine two pics which I've never done.
[This message has been edited by LDWriter2 (edited June 25, 2011).]
For my upcoming young adult series, I have a specific cover design in mind, which, at this time, is beyond my artistic abilities. Ergo, I'm currently auditioning artists for the job. I'm thinking this might take as long as it takes me to finish the series. 
S!
S!
I would like to get Dean Wesley Smith's program. He comes up with some great story covers. I've made comments on a couple of them on other threads. or was that here? and on my blog.
Anyway, I forget if that program is for sell. He has mentioned it a time or two.
I use my friend Renee's business The Cover Counts for covers. She's pretty affordable, great at brainstorming ideas, and is able to do those detailed things like mashing up two images together way faster/better/with a much more professional polish than I can manage.
Covers matter for ebooks, but remember that most ebook browsers would be looking at them on a black and white screen, often at postage-stamp sizes, so keep the cover art pretty simple, and keep the title and author name LARGE.
Good luck!
I saved it to my favorites but she's on vacation 'till July 6.
But that is something to do this weekend.
But I would need stock pics that I can buy or use for nothing. Dean's are great.
But as to the size and all that... that could be why so many of the covers are bright. Almost too bright when you enlarge them.
Enjoy!
Here's a link to a list of classes concerning e-publishing. You may have to scroll down a bit.
Is it really all as complicated as it seems?
[This message has been edited by pdblake (edited June 29, 2011).]
[This message has been edited by pdblake (edited June 29, 2011).]
But businesses like Amazon and smashwords might have already figured it out, you could send them an e-mail.
I'm probably missing something obvious, I do that at times.
Some of the prices seemed reasonable but they were two prices on what checked the second seemed to be something with tiny balls.
Looked over three other sites, or was it four? anyway two had pics of space stations I could use even though for a small pic it was $35. Seems like I wouldn't a large file for a cover image.
[This message has been edited by LDWriter2 (edited June 29, 2011).]
Does your friend have only one price for the covers? I couldn't find any price listings or any statement that says it's one charge.
The price quoted on the home page is great for novels but kinda expensive for stories.
I will keep her in mind whenever I have my first E-book ready to go. Some of those covers look niiice. And brainstorming would be good too.
A quality cover is really awesome. Yes, you can do your own and do high-quality covers, totally fine. But she's fantastic, too, and there are others like her out there doing great work. I support her because she's a working mom like me and I know how much time she puts into it (her hourly rate is very low!) but like I said, there are others. (Most charge more, though...)
But for a Novel I think that's good price compared to over 200 I've heard of. Kinda wish my novel was ready now but it won't for at least three months possibly over six the way things are going.
Of course I still have to decide which novel to do that way. It's possible I will decide on two or three but we shall see.