NaNoWriMo

Fun with CreateSpace

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One of the NaNoWriMo winner’s gifts is a free proof copy of my novel  as prepared by Amazon’s self-publishing arm, CreateSpace.  I won’t be “published” by doing this but I’ll have a memorial to my toils.

I’ve been working on it, editing the manuscript but also playing with cover ideas.  Here’s what I made last night (updated:  and what I made 12/26/09).  While I think it’s uber cool, it’s not yet good enough.  But for posterity, I thought I’d post it here.  The back blurb is just a place-keeper for now because I know it’s bad.   Click to enlarge.

Can Winning NaNo get any cooler?

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I had no idea that “winning” NaNoWriMo entitled me to a few cool things in addition to bragging rights and a bouncy baby novel.  Apparently, I also get a free proof copy of my novel from CreateSpace.com, Amazon’s self-publishing arm.  I’m tickled pink.  I have no idea yet how this might impact its marketability outside of self-publishing.  You can opt to keep the book “Private” which means it’s not for sale or readable by anyone but me but I’ll research this more before I do anything.  Nevertheless, I’m still excited about the concept of having something tangible to show for my efforts.

One of the options you have when “designing” your paperback novel is the cover art.  You can either use their stock pictures, which aren’t too bad, or you can design your own.  In my head I have already visualized the cover for All’s Fair.  It would be an opened fortune cookie with the novel’s title / tagline printed on the fortune.  The cookie and its contents are lying on a wedding invitation.  I know I can make this even with my rather limited skills in photo editing.  My first quest was to find the photos from the web.  The fortune cookie was easy.  I found one of those online customized sign generators and made this:

and this:

For the invitation, I found this:

and this:

Don’t ya just love the internet?  I sure do…