Kim Elliott
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IWSG Post - Change

2/5/2025

8 Comments

 
Picture
​The awesome co-hosts for the February 5 posting of the IWSG are Joylene Nowell Butler,Louise Barbour, and Tyrean Martinson!

February 5 question - Is there a story or book you've written you want to/wish you could go back and change?

As I’ve said before, I want to re-edit my first book. I made rookie mistakes, and I know I can do better with the skills I’ve learned in recent years. I still plan to tackle it, but I need to use my old computer with MS Word for consistency. I’m afraid if I use my Mac I’ll accidentally have different formatting. It’s important to me that all fonts, spacing, margins, etc match perfectly with the other books in the trilogy. Using my old dinosaur computer is a pain, so I’ve been procrastinating. I’m in a bit of a transitional phase now. My to do list is: edit book one, try out some paid advertising on my completed trilogy, and then move on to phase two… 

Phase Two
I’m writing something in a new genre that I plan to publish under a new pen name. I don’t think my current readers would be interested in my work in progress, and I wouldn’t want to alienate any of them.  I’m going to go wide this time, not stick to Amazon. I intend to make my own simple covers and publish as ebooks only, no print versions. On that note, does anyone have a recommendation for a graphic design program? I like Canva because it’s free, but there are so many complicated rules about licensing. I don’t want to shell out money for Adobe Illustrator, but I’m looking for something like that where I can make covers from scratch. 

Has anyone ever tried starting over with a new pen name? I’m intimidated by the amount of work it will take, but I don’t want to write YA forever.

8 Comments
Natalie Aguirre link
2/5/2025 05:01:28 am

I want to revise my first manuscript too. No, I haven't used a pen name. It might be a lot of work to build another social media platform. I know many authors who are traditionally published who write in different genres and for different age groups. You might consider publishing it in your real name.

Reply
Anna
2/5/2025 09:27:16 am

Pretty ambitious. I hope it all works out the way you want.

<a href="http://emaginette.wordpress.com"> Anna from elements of emaginette</a>

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Louise (Fundy Blue)
2/5/2025 12:34:31 pm

I've always published under my own name, but I can understand your point of view, Kim. Changing an old computer for a new one is always frustrating. Wishing you good luck and progress.

Reply
Tyrean link
2/5/2025 01:56:39 pm

I tried Adobe and struggled with it, so I went back to Canva and started paying for it. That helps with the licensing issue. Way to go with your writing!

Reply
Alex J. Cavanaugh link
2/5/2025 04:01:29 pm

You can do a lot with Adobe Photoshop. Much better than Illustrator.

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Loni Townsend link
2/6/2025 06:02:38 am

For cover making, it really boils down to what you're comfortable with. I made my covers using Paint.NET, which is a free art program, but I did all the graphics myself. I've since imported them into Clip Studio Paint (another art program, but paid), and edited them by hand.

Most of the licensing is in the fonts and images, so if you choose a font from a place like FontSquirrel and then find royalty free images, then you can use whatever art program you like to put things together and the licensing will be covered.

Good luck with your pen name venture! Sounds fun. I haven't gone that route, but I also haven't finished my series (or the spin-off novella series), so I haven't had need to switch genres.

Reply
Esther O'Neill link
2/6/2025 08:26:50 am

My husband has published academic work in his real name. For a new subject, he's using a Greek name - ancient Greek.
Keep meaning to try Mary Westmacott,

Reply
Janet Alcorn link
2/16/2025 07:14:36 am

I share Natalie's concern about the work to build a new social media platform. Could you use a pen name similar enough to your current one that you didn't have to start over completely?

Reply



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