What to Read When You aren't Gaming!

I've started a face book page to promote books and games and books about games and books that gamers like and.... Oh well, I bet you get the idea.  The page is at https://www.facebook.com/WhatToReadWhenYouArentGaming

There is also a Google+ Community at
https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/101461012040906387072

I'm a gamer, and like a lot of gamers I find inspiration for the games I play from the books and movies that I watch. 

I'm also an author, and the games I play influence the books that I write, just like it does for a lot of writers.

Wouldn't it be cool if we could get gamers and writers together!

At What to Read When You Aren't Gaming we'll be promoting books and games.  We'll welcome reviews and suggestion.  And, we'll tell some stories whether is a short that an author shares with us or a funny tale told around the gaming table.

Stop in, pull up a seat and join the group.

CreateSpace Book Covers

Recently I published my ebook on CreateSpace. When you list a book on create space you can have them create a cover for you, or you can submit your own. Since I had already created an ebook cover for Shaper of Stone, I wanted to use the same image on the print book.

The big difference between an ebook cover and a print cover is that the ebook cover is just the front of the book while the print cover is one big image that wraps around from the back of the book to the front of the book. It is the back, spine and front of the book all in one image.

To make the print cover you need to know the size of your book. The trim size will tell you how big the front and back covers should be, but to figure out the size of the spine you need to know how many pages are in the book and how thick each page is.

CreateSpace provides the numbers so you can do the math. Do the math? Hah! My degree is in math and I didn’t want to do the math. Fortunately you don’t have to. You can use the Artwork & Templates tool at https://www.createspace.com/Help/Book/Artwork .do to do the work for you. The page even has a great set of instructions right next to the form.

When it is done you’ll have a zip file that contains a pdf and a png for your cover. Open the png file in any art program and simply cut and past your image into the areas set aside for each piece. 

Since I already had artwork from my ebook that I was going to use, the entire process took less than an hour.

If you are going to use art from your ebook be sure to verify that you have the print rights to it. I’ve noticed that many cover artists have one price for ebook and a different price for ebook and print.

Good Luck!