Author Feature

Illustration Transformation; from Original to Digital

The following are the words of Tammy (Seebecker) Brown, Archway Publishing author. Tammy’s book Herman the Mouse is dedicated to her first grandchild, Charlie. She is expecting a second grandson in March and a sequel is already in the works; “I’m Glad It’s Just Me!” – “Herman Gets a Baby Brother.” For more about Tammy and her book check out her website and her Facebook page. Download the Archway Publishing free publishing guide for more information on our supported self-publishing services. 

Illustration with Archway

My first piece of advice to someone looking into self-publish is to research! Google, read, ask questions, and take notes. I referred to my notes throughout the search of different publishers. I didn’t choose Archway because they were the least expensive and I didn’t choose Archway because they were the most expensive. Rather, I chose Archway because they were the publisher that fit my needs. More importantly, they impressed me the most. Archway Publishing were the most accommodating with what I wanted as an artist and writer. They adjusted the Illustration Package I chose using my own drawings and accommodated accordingly since my writing had already been edited. Through my concierge, I was involved with word placement, the Art Department, cover design, and printing of my book.

cmyk-illustrationOriginal to Digital

What I loved most about creating Herman the Mouse wasn’t just writing the story, but drawing the illustrations. As an artist, I gained an entirely new perspective on what was involved using your own illustrations for a book. When an original artwork is scanned, some of the color and detail is lost. The fewer times you scan the closer to the originals the art will stay. When your original is scanned onto a computer it becomes broken up into what our eye sees as RGB or Red, Green, and Blue. The image needs to be transferred or printed onto paper with inks that are CMYK or Ceyan, Magenta, Yellow and Key Black. A publisher needs the image in CMYK to print your images. It is impossible to get a 100% color match to RGB. Set yourself up to prepare for the change and adjust as best you can.

The Process and ProductIMG_8777

After more than a year’s worth of work, it is hard to part with your original artwork. But with computers and digital scanning, I was able to keep my precious originals in my portfolio, scan them RGB or SRGB, and Archway had the capability to turn them into CMYK for me.

When I am creating my book illustrations, my favorite part is the detail on every page and the bold colors. I want the reader to look at the book two, three, maybe four times and see things they did not see the first time through. I am working on another book for Herman, but I would love to illustrate for other authors as well.

 

Archway Publishing is always looking for content for its blog. If you’re an Archway Publishing author and would like to share an idea for a guest blog post, please tweet the Archway Publishing Twitter account @ArchwayPub or send us a message at the Archway Publishing Facebook page.

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self-publishing tips

Essential Elements of a Great Story

Some stories are timeless and transcend genre boundaries. These stories reach across barriers of time and age. All of the greatest stories have certain things in common, and in the post The Five Essential Elements of a Great Story, Archway Publishing looks at some of these key craft components.

Five Essential Elements

  • Protagonist – There’s a reason the Harry Potter series bears his name.
  • Antagonist – Do you remember the name of the man who threw the harpoon, or the name Moby-Dick?
  • An Inciting Action – World War Z was a phenomenon, largely because reader new right from the first page that something incredible had happened.
  • Conflict – Would Sherlock Holmes have worked as well without the foil of Moriarty?
  • Resolution – Readers invest in the stories they read; you have to reward them for that investment.

Learn more about each of these five elements in The Five Essential Elements of a Great Story!>>>

Archway Publishing is always looking for content for its blog. If you’re an Archway Publishing author and would like to share an idea for a guest blog post, please tweet the Archway Publishing Twitter account @ArchwayPub or send us a message at the Archway Publishing Facebook page.

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Editing

4 Creative Editing Techniques

Regan Platt is an offline marketing intern at Author Solutions, the world leader in supported self-publishing. She is currently a senior at Indiana University where she studies English. Regan is in Indiana University’s Liberal Arts Management Program, an honors level interdisciplinary program that incorporates Kelley School of Business courses with a liberal arts education. 

1. Color Coordination7a7f3aa7e1daa2c78e3342a28fac4acd

How to: When you’re working on a puzzle it helps to know what the big picture looks like. This is how you can think about color coordination. This editing technique begins with printing out a copy of your manuscript. Sometimes it is best to only print one main section if your piece is lengthy. The next step is to categorize the printed section into different categories.

For example, if your piece is about three friends (Lucy, John, and Chris) the categories may look like this: Chris and Lucy scene, Lucy alone, John and Lucy scene, Chris and John scene. Lastly, you will assign a color to each category and highlight that section with its specified color.
Continue reading →

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self-publishing tips

The Different Types of Editing

Editing Advice from Archway

“Terms in editing can be confusing,” claims the post The Different Types of Editing, from Archway Publishing. “When hiring an editor, always speak to him or her about exactly what the editing includes.”

This advice is excellent because sometimes even experienced writers are confused about the differences between copy-editing and developmental editing. Other types of editing like line editing and mechanical editing sound—and can be sold—as if they are the same thing. Continue reading →

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Writing

Thirteen Mistakes Readers Always Catch – Part One

Finding Mistakes

If you’re reading this, then chances are you’re a writer. And if you’re a writer, then chances are you’ve read a book and set it down in disappointment because you found some mistakes that offend your sense of professionalism.

mistake

We all have.

Worse than finding an annoying blunder while reading is when an error is pointed out in your own work. A person finds a mistake in your work that you somehow missed. This is a mortifying moment. It’s especially annoying because the mistake is usually obvious after it’s been found. We know you hate this sensation and moment as much as we do! Continue reading →

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Author Feature

Who Are We Writing For? by Larissa Juliano

The following are the words of Larissa Juliano, author of Gracie Lou. Larissa is an elementary and library teacher in upstate New York. Besides teaching, her passion in life is writing books in hopes of inspiring children to use their imagination, especially through literature. She currently has two more books in production with her trusted Archway team. You can follow Larissa on Twitter @larissasjuliano. Download the Archway Publishing free publishing guide for more information on our supported self-publishing services.  Continue reading →

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Publishing Expert Tips

Six Tips to Successful Publishing

You know your writing process is your own process. You know that while all of your writing friends have a process, your process is probably yours, alone. And that’s fine. But have you looked at the similarities between your process and theirs?

publishing

Archway Publishing has found six common tasks that almost every writer has to combine in order to bring a book to market and make some sales. Continue reading →

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Publishing

Inspiration Behind My Book and Self-Publishing with Archway Publishing

The following are the words of Lawrence Bodner, author of IBS is BS. Download the Archway Publishing free publishing guide for more information on our supported self-publishing services. 

What key drivers inspired me to write my book?

The first driver must be your burning desire to get your story or message out to the general public. Writing is an art that is usually innate and therefore difficult to cultivate. Writing is usually stimulated by one’s desire to get their story out in order to entertain, educate, influence and or effect social change in the reading public. Continue reading →

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self-publishing tips

From Mock Copy to Self-Published

The following are the words of Donna Fantacone, author of Officer Tony Says, “Be Careful.”  Check out her website here for more info about the author and her book. Download the Archway Publishing free publishing guide for more information on our supported self-publishing services. 

There is nothing more satisfying than holding the completed and published book in your hands.  However, the road to publishing is not an easy one.  It started out that I had a promise or a great interest of a publishing company, one that was in constant contact with me, expressing interest in my idea.  They told me it was a go; I then had to produce the “mock copy” of the book.  The “Mock Up” is an entire work, with a number of complete illustrations in the exact format of the book. Continue reading →

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