When it comes to writing novels and short stories, I haven’t been involved in self-publishing at all. My only novel was traditionally published and all of the short stories have also been included in other publishers’ collections. I have been toying around with the idea of self-publishing a collection of my out-of-print short stories, though, but that’s in such an early stage, that I can still safely say I have no experience in self-publishing.
But on the other side, outside of writing fiction, I have done a lot more “self-publishing” than I would have thought. After all, what’s a blog but a self-published magazine? A podcast is a self-published radio show. I’m the publisher of Theme of Absence. And I’m self-publishing a card game.
So that’s…well, I don’t know what that is. If I had a little more success in any of these endeavors, maybe I’d try self-publishing my next novel too. Until then, I’ll stick with the painful process of querying and unsolicited submissions.
Anyhow, as far as the other stuff goes (the podcast, the blog, the card game) the appearance is just as important as the content, an in some cases maybe even morose. And whether you’re self-publish a book or another product, you have to keep that in mind and present the most professional-looking product you can produce.
Let’s talk about art
With the possible exception of podcasts, a potential reader or customer will see a physical piece of your product before they try it, read it, or play it. It’s not always possible or practical to commission an artist or designer for your project, but there are some great, affordable resources out there that you can license or use freely for commercial use.
Here are my three favorites:
Pixabay
Pixabay is usually my go to for blog images. It’s got thousands of public domain, royalty-free, no attribution required, editable images. Great for blogging and books covers.
Flickr: Creative Commons
The Creative Commons section on Flickr is a great site for finding just about any type of image you need. There is a search function, so make sure you’ve got the commercial use option selected so that you’re not violating anyone’s copyright. Most of the images do require attribution, so be aware of that as well.
Etsy
I’m a little new to the whole Etsy thing, but there you can find tons of people selling reasonably priced digital images and most have inexpensive add-ons for commercial use. You can also find artists willing to commission unique art for your project if you’ve got the money to spend.
Like I said, these are my three favorite. There are plenty more out there, so if you’ve got your own favorites, please feel free to share them in the comments section!
