Sharing Reading Suggestions for the Holidays 2022

 

The holidays are a great time to gift friends, family and  yourself with books to read. And there certainly are a lot of them being published! You can find books to suit every age and taste whether fiction or nonfiction. Let’s share recommendations, whether it be your own work or that of others.

I’ll start things going. I just finished THE SILENCE OF THE LIBRARY by Miranda James—who is actually Dean James. This cozy mystery is part of a series. I also read Mary Balogh’s Regency Christmas novels, CHRISTMAS BRIDE and CHRISTMAS BEAUX—together in one book. I can recommend each of these. I both read and write historical romance as well as mysteries. So these are personal preferences. 

I have short stories in the recent crime anthologies JACKED and GONE. I received my own copies and look forward to reading the stories in each book. Both anthologies are impressive.

Okay, now it’s your turn. Please share the books and publications you think will make for good holiday reading.

Also, feel free to talk about work you’ve recently had published if you’re an author. Readers, please mention books you have on your wish list and/or recently read and enjoyed.

 

 

Tips on Writing for Holidays

Holidays represent a great opportunity for writing and being published. This includes nonfiction pieces, short stories or even a novel.

Most nonfiction publications favor holiday submissions, Christmas being the most popular. However, tip number one, make certain to follow the guidelines. Usually, magazines and anthologies will give you submission deadlines. Don’t submit either before or after them. It’s an automatic rejection.

Second, if there are no guidelines provided, plan to submit at least six months in advance of the holiday--with some publications, even earlier. If you happen to write horror fiction, for instance, October is a great month for publication. However, stories need to be submitted months earlier. Novels are different, of course. But even if you’re self-publishing, you need to figure out how much time is required. You don’t want your Christmas story published on July 4^th.

Third, make certain that the reference to the holiday appears both in the submission/query letter as well as the subject line if you’re e-mailing. Editors need the info upfront. 

Here is a short story market that specifically wants holiday writing:

King’s River Life which, although not a paying market, publishes numerous holiday mystery stories and gives exposure in the form of publicity:

http://kingsriverlife.com/submissions/ 

For listings of paying markets, check out Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity (publishedtodeath.blogspot.com) on a monthly basis. 

Are there any holidays you particularly like to read or write about?

Have you any tips or thoughts of your own you would like to share with fellow readers and writers?

Creating the Right Book Cover

Every publisher and every author want a book cover that will draw reviewers and readers. “A cover only has seconds to make an impact,” says Becky Rodriguez-Smith, Design Services Manager at BookBaby. “Our purpose is to create visuals that will grab a potential reader’s attention so that they click on the book to read more about it. To that end, the bolder the better.” 

It stands to reason that writers want to create an appealing cover that draws the eye. Cover art can make or break a book especially if the author isn’t well-known. What kind of front cover will grab the reader’s attention? What kind of cover art should a book display?  A lot depends on the genre of the book itself. The cover should be appropriate to the type of book. A basic question to ask: is the book going to be sold on the shelf of a bookstore or is it going to be available only online? Is the novel going to be a hardcover, trade, paperback, e-book or audio—possibly all of these?

With hardcover fiction books, as with all others, the cover needs to fit the genre, be attractive, while the title should be easy to read and intriguing. Cover art needs to play fair with readers so that they don’t feel cheated when they select a book. For instance, when my novel TEA LEAVES AND TAROT CARDS was first published by Five Star/Cengage in hardcover and hardcover large print, it was important to display a Regency figure that implied romance. A professional artist was employed. Here was the result:

Paperbacks need simplicity in covers. The artwork should also support the title and the genre. E-book covers shouldn’t be too fussy or busy either. The old saying “less is more” works best for a book cover that’s displayed online. A short title with a large, easily readable font and bright contrasting colors shows up well on the computer screen. Publishers want to avoid covers that are complicated and hard to read. Plain, simple graphics are preferable.

Altogether, three different covers have been created for the paperback and ebook updated version of TEA LEAVES AND TAROT CARDS. Which do you think is best? Why?

 

In summary:

What are the qualities of good cover art?

We can read the title and author and all subheadings with ease.

The image doesn't interfere with the written information.

 

The book cover is memorable: simple yet vivid and pleasing to the eye.

The theme is expressed by the image and in keeping with the genre of the book.

The bottom line for good book covers is that they make you want to read what's inside.

What are your feelings regarding cover art? What draws or attracts you to a novel? What do you dislike or prefer not to see?

 

Note: Luminosity has now published four of my romance novels:

https://luminositypublishing.com/en/brand/jacqueline-seewald/

Hope you will take a look.