Cards on the Table Cover Contest

[jgraeme2007]

As most of you know I'm currently in the process of taking back many of my titles as the rights come up for renewal with various publishers. It's nothing personal, it's just that the publishing industry has changed so much in the past 18 months that it makes sense to retain control of my work. It's a financial decision, plain and simple. I don't

Comments

[jgraeme2007]

Oh! That is *quite* nice!

[moth2fic]

Gorgeous cover - and wonderful to know there's another volume on the way!!

[montanaharper]

You might want to add that any images/art used need to be either in the public domain or from somewhere you can easily purchase the rights for commercial use. It'd really suck to get a gorgeous cover that you couldn't use because you couldn't get the image rights.

[jgraeme2007]

Yes. Good reminder. I have a Shutterstock membership so I'm suggesting that if artists don't have access to stock photos or public domain work, they sample from Shutterstock as I can purchase those at no additional cost.

[andy_slayde]

Yay! I have a day from hell traveling and come home to this! Might try and do something :o)
Hope you had a wonderful holiday!

[jgraeme2007]

You should! You were a finalist last time as I recall.

[andy_slayde]

Cards on the Table didn't have a cover before - just the PIC cover correct?
I had so much fun last time and learned a lot. I will try and see if I can come up with an entry :o)

[jgraeme2007]

That would be great!

[bodleian]

Just a quick question about your short stories which have been part of a compilation - will we be able to buy them separately?
I own most of your stories but I haven't got 'Cards on the table' so I need to buy it.
Thanks.

[jgraeme2007]

Electronically the stories will all be available individually, but the novellas aren't really practical to release as individual print works, so those will be compiled into collections.

[bodleian]

Thanks. I prefer to use my e-reader these days so this will suit me perfectly.

[jgraeme2007]

I hear that more and more and more from readers!

[moth2fic]

Fascinated by your decision to switch to self-publishing. I've been reading a lot of blogs/articles/books about it recently and it definitely seems to be the way to go financially. So all the best - hope it works out! Of course, it should, because you already have a fanbase.

I'm almost convinced to try it myself and will be glad to hear more about your experiences as they unfold.

I don't seem to have Cards on the Table. Is it in an anthology or available separately or what? In any case - let us know once it's available in self-published format. That's something I want to encourage/contribute to whether or not I decide to try it myself.

[jgraeme2007]

Yes, it's interesting to see how it's playing out. I'll probably do a series of articles on the topic for other authors considering taking this route. Not that I'm the first one in m/m to give it a shot, but I'm coming at it from a slightly different angle.

One thing I've noticed is that there's about a 6 week slump from when I pull a title from one publisher and release it myself. I'm not sure why that is, but there's definitely a lull in sales during that period.

Cards on the Table was originally published as a two author anthology with Sarah Black under the title of Partners in Crime. It was the very first of our collaborations.

[moth2fic]

So I have bought and read it! I thought the plot sounded familiar!! But of course it was 'filed' on my computer and Kindle as Partners in Crime, not Cards on the Table!

Looking forward to a series on the self publishing topic. It's always good to have accounts of real experiences, 'warts and all' from other writers.

[jgraeme2007]

It's always good to have accounts of real experiences, 'warts and all' from other writers.

There have been some surprises along the way but I can say that I don't regret the decision. Granted, it's still early in the game.