Read Around the Rainbow - After The End

It's that time of the month when a group of like-minded authors discuss the chosen topic of the month. #readaroundtherainbow

This month the topic is After the End. End of what? End of Days, maybe? Zombies, meteors, divine smite. Well, no. Maybe I should reword the first sentence. This month the topic is After 'The End'. 

That's right. What happens after I type The End on a story?

Can we go back to the Zombies? Please? I'll happily write an entire dissertation on dystopian and supernatural romance, despite not having written either.

What do I do after typing The End? With a couple of years of writers block under my belt, I'd probably heave a sigh of relief and do a happy dance. But after that, it's off for content edits and proofing, while I kick back my heels and have a nice cup of tea. My go to is a Rainforest Rooibos, gently steeped, in a glass mug so I can admire the pale orange hue of the tea. I know, I'm procrastinating again. 

Do you see a pattern? For me the post-writing portion of being an author is 90% procrastination and 10% panicked flailing. 

Let's assume the edits are all done. I don't mind edits, so no faffing about there, but what else do I need to do?

Cover - Now I might already have this.  Sometimes the cover inspires the story. But if I don't have one then this is the perfect time for procrastination. Trawling for cover models or backgrounds. Fall down a rabbit hole of images and ideas. If I'm designing my own cover then I get obsessed with colours and fonts, even placement of text. 

Here's four versions of the cover for Calamine & Christmas Cake. And the final cover. 

 

Synopsis - Ha, I don't have to do these anymore. The advantage of self-publishing. Synopsis writing is the worst. 

Blurb - Summarise a 70k story in a couple of paragraphs. Make it interesting. Make it punchy. But encapsulate the essence of the tale, and the voices of the characters. My blurbs are always too long. I have to send them away to get them trimmed, and make them snappy. 

Tagline - You thought a two paragraph summary was hard, how about 15 or so words. 

Formatting - No chance for procrastination here. Set steps. Follow them to the letter. Hope for no intruptions. Upload. 

Promo graphics - These are fun to do when I can decide what quotes to use. And I can lose several hours playing about in Canva. But they're the only part of marketing I do enjoy. I don't want to even talk about the rest of it. 

So, in summary, play about on Canva or Procreate, throw some words at my besties and ask them to whip them into a workable blurb and tagline, play on Canva again. Simple. I don't know what I was complaining about. 

Check out the posts from the rest if the group, where hopefully they'll have something more constructive to say 😆.

Ally Lester - #RAtR: After THE END

Nell Iris - Read Around the Rainbow: After "The End"

Ofelia Grand - Read Around the Rainbow | After The End

Fiona Glass - Read Around the Rainbow - After The End

Ellie Thomas - "Read Around the Rainbow: After ""The End"""

Addison Albright - "READ AROUND THE RAINBOW ~ After ""The End"" #RAtR"

K. L. Noone - "read around the rainbow: after ""the end"""