Elizabeth Hawksley e-books: Looking Good to Go

On 10th May, I put up a post about my lockdown project of getting my Elizabeth Hawksley historical novels into e-books. Now, ten weeks later, the first book, Highland Summer is almost ready and it’s been a steep, not to say precipitous, learning curve. However, thanks to computer wizard John Hocking, and his wife Janet Gover, another computer wizard, both brilliant at explaining things, we are at last getting there.

Elizabeth looking apprehensive but trying not to show it. Photo by Sally Greenhill

Janet has been showing me how to write an e-book blurb – a very different animal from a book blurb. I’ve been learning about ‘Shout lines’ – This is the bait to tempt the reader to find out more. For Highland Summer, for example, the shout line is: Love can be unpredictable… And family secrets can be dangerous. It’s a sort of overall feel for what the book’s about.

We have been working on the blurbs for the first three books: Highland Summer, The Belvedere Tower and Frost Fair. And my attempts have been going to and fro, and Janet has been telling me, kindly but firmly, why what I’ve put won’t do. Often, it’s something simple, like, ‘avoid the repetition of ‘secret’ ‘ and she’s spot on. I am improving and we are getting there.

Summertime Number 9A by Jackson Pollock. Courtesy of Tate Modern.

Then there are problems of choosing a cover. This is John’s territory and he has been very patient with me. John likes art – which helps; but he’s a Jackson Pollock man, whilst I prefer J. M. W. Turner – Hm. Careful negotiations are called for.

The Fighting Temeraire by J. M. W. Turner Courtesy of Tate Britain 

Fortunately, John had the clever idea of sending me photocopies of current Amazon bestseller covers – with fifteen images per A4 page, including the ones he has been working on. It’s allowed me to see what’s popular at the moment, which I found really helpful.

A lot of our negotiations, though, have been about typefaces. There are some typefaces which just don’t work with e-books – they look wrong – maybe they turn out too spiky, or perhaps they look more flattened than I thought they’d be. I discovered that the look of a specific typeface can change in an e-book context and I trust John’s experience here.

Cover for Highland Summer

Generally speaking, I want a traditional but stylish typeface (my novels are historical, after all) and it must look good with all my novels, not just the three we’re concentrating on at the moment. So it’s got to be an adaptable typeface.

When we started looking at book covers, Janet told me that they didn’t need to be too specific – all the Highland Summer cover had to get across was ‘historical’ and ‘Scottish’. However, accurate historical research has always been important to me and, if I know of a picture that is spot on – then I want to use it, if possible.

1840s print of Inverness

The cover for Highland Summer features a contemporary print of mid-19th century Inverness in the Scottish Highlands – the setting for much of the book. I was given the print by my cousin Roland, when I was a bridesmaid at his Scottish wedding, and it’s perfect.

The Belvedere Tower

The cover for The Belvedere Tower threw up a slightly different problem. It was inspired by the belvedere tower at Sissinghurst, which dates back to 1560. Its tower has a flat roof with battlements at the top to give a splendid view of any hunt the aristocratic owners had arranged for the entertainment of guests. The word belvédère comes from the French and means ‘Beautiful view.’ There are many belvedere towers surviving but most of them are too large for what I want.

Frost Fair

The cover for Frost Fair shows a Luke Clennell print of the very last Frost Fair on the River Thames in February 1814. A lot happens at that Fair in the book including an very unpleasant death on an unstable ice floe (I enjoyed writing that). John and I had a lot of discussion about the background colour and I’m particularly pleased with the Jack Frost effect of the icy turquoise for Frost Fair.

At the moment, I’m doing the final proof reading for Highland Summer, which is now on Kindle on my desktop – and that’s a story in itself. I’m now feeling far more confident about finding my way around the Kindle version of Highland Summer. I’m used to my books having 2-300 pages – it’s a bit of a shock to find that, on Kindle, I’m dealing with over four thousand locations.

Elizabeth Hawksley looking more relaxed – nearly there! Photo by Sally Greenhill 

There’s been a lot of work back stage as well, to do with platforms, ISBN numbers and so on. But I still have a mental picture of York Railway Station with Thomas the Tank Engine chuffing into the platform – in my case, Amazon, Kobo and Smashwords. My books will be coming out under Mundeville Books. I grew up just outside the small village of Coatham Mundeville in Co. Durham. Anyone from the North–East will probably recognise the name and it’s my salute to where I come from.

We aim to launch Highland Summer on Monday, 3rd of August. Watch this space!

Twitter: @Hawksley_E

Elizabeth Hawksley

 

 

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12 thoughts on “Elizabeth Hawksley e-books: Looking Good to Go”

  1. Congratulations, Elizabeth! It’s a marathon rather than a sprint, as I know. Next up, promotion. But I don’t want to send you back to the apprehensive picture!
    I love your covers. I like the traditional look and feel and the images are perfect. Fonts too. Really good collaboration work. Good luck with the launch!

    1. Thanks, Elizabeth. Re: promotion, the first thing I absolutely have to do is master Facebook! I just wish I were more clued up IT-wise but, alas, I don’t have that sort of brain.

      I’m delighted that you like the covers – we agonized over them and tried out dozens of trial covers.

  2. Congratulations on achieving your lockdown goal. I’m still floundering with mine.

    A lovely group of titles – a couple of my favourites there -and a fascinating description of the cover process. Between the three of you, I think you’ve found something very striking and a memorable style.

    Best of luck with the launch!

    1. Thank you, Sophie. I was fascinated by the amount of back stage work which needed to be done before anything could happen. For example, I hadn’t taken on board that book cover fashions change so fast. One of the cover ideas we tried looked, apparently, like a How to Book from the 1980s! So that had to go. And there was so much to do. At least I’m now less afraid of things Computer than I was three months ago! That’s got to be good.

  3. Congratulations, and many of them!
    And I enjoyed reading about the journey to get to where you nearly are.

    1. Thank you, Jess. It felt, at the beginning, as if I’d been flung into a strange country where I didn’t even know the language! What the hell was a platform? And I was thrown by my books on a Kindle appearing to have thousands of pages instead of a few hundred. I’m gradually getting used to it now but, at first, it was all worryingly peculiar.

  4. Many congratulations, Elizabeth. I think you are very brave! I have flirted with the idea of publishing my back-list and always chicken out. Like you, I find computers strange and terrifying beasts and as for the idea of promoting the books…dear me, I think I need a reviving cup of tea at the very thought.

    1. I know just what you mean, Gail! I certainly couldn’t have done it without help. Fortunately, the RNA is full of kind and helpful people; if you are a member, you could always put out a feeler or two. But, as you say, sometimes even that can overwhelm one with anxiety and a longing for a cup of tea, chocolate and a darkened room!

  5. Congratulations, Elizabeth! And well done on getting the books out there. I know from my own experiences of self-publishing what a nightmare it can be. I hope the books sell well after all your efforts.

    1. Thank you, Anne. for your good wishes. The books are being published at two month intervals – and I still have a lot to learn about promoting them. I need to find a way of getting what I have to learn into bite-sized chunks – if I feel too overwhelmed, I run the risk of being unable to do anything!

  6. Your books richly deserve the wider circulation that IT offers and it is great to think that they will be appearing again in a new format. Here’s wishing you every success and an ever-widening circle of readers.

    1. Thank you for your comment, Hugo, which I much enjoyed. You choose whatever nom de plume pleases you – but perhaps not a name created by Anthony Powell whose works are still in copyright!

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