I don't know a thing about book cover design!

When it comes to writing books, it seems that the first thing a new author thinks about is the cover of the book (I was exactly the same)... it doesn't really help that Wattpad places so much emphasis on the point that books which have covers are more likely to be read. What I'd like you to think about right now is this:- What is a book cover with no book?

That's right, a book cover without a book is just a pretty picture. By design, Wattpad will fix a blurred out image of your profile picture to the cover of your book until you specify an image to use as your cover in it's place. For the most part, this doesn't bother me... although there have been times when it's annoyed the crap out of me. Now, I have figured out a work around that I use for just this situation. What I do is take a photograph of my own and run it through the Wattpad Covers app or GIMP where I resize it to 256 pixels wide by 400 pixels tall (which is the size used by Wattpad.

From there, I add in the title of my book, followed by my author name and I save that to my computer before uploading it to Wattpad to remove the generic image that Wattpad uses.

If I'm brutally honest, the design of my cover at this point in the book is about as interesting to me as what you had for breakfast this morning. The reason for this is that, beyond this kernel of an idea, I have no idea how this book is going to turn out - or even if the book is going to turn out. One thing that you'll note about the image below is that only 2 of the books that you can see actually have covers at this point in time - and only 1 of those books has what I'd consider to be a proper cover. This is because I'm focussing more on the writing stage of these books as opposed to how pretty the cover looks - I can always create a cover at a later stage.

Sometimes, it is possible to be approached by members who make covers for you, you can request someone to make a cover for you within the Wattpad community or you could even make a cover yourself using the Wattpad Covers app, if it bothers you that much. I just feel that, at this point in the day, your energy is much better spent on getting the basics of your story in place.

It has been suggested that books without covers are less likely to be read by Wattpad members, however, I've not been able to find any evidence from my own experiences to either prove or disprove this "fact". I've found it to be an upward struggle no matter how I cut the cheese. Unless you happen to land lucky and fall right into the lap of a publisher or a promoter (which is a slim chance), it's going to be an uphill struggle to get those first reads regardless of what your cover looks like.

What is Wattpad?

I put together this button for my blog today (Note that this isn't a working button - the working button can be found to the right of my blog). Before I coded it up for use, I asked for constructive criticism on it since I plan on creating a bunch of them and using them for several jobs around the blog.

Anyway, one question that I get a lot is:- What is Wattpad? Since I plan on taking this blog in a slightly different direction, I think it's time that I answer this question right here on my blog.

Wattpad is a rather cool place where authors and readers gather to do what they do best - and that is write and read books. It comes as both a website and an app, so you can read while you are on the move as well as when you are in front of your computer. The app even allows you to write updates on the go, too... though you'll need an internet connection in order to publish your updates.

Many of my friends write and publish their work online for a living. Wattpad isn't like that though, because you don't get paid for the work you publish... but it can be a great resource for getting new books out there for a number of reasons. You don't have to wait to get feedback on your books in the same way as you would if you were to publish your book in the traditional way, you can get people talking about your book even before you decide to publish it as a traditional or Ebook, or even use it as a place to post teasers of books that you have already released traditionally.

As far as Wattpad goes, there are a lot of aspiring authors out there who write some truly remarkable work - and there are a few well known authors out there too (I'm not going to sit there naming them - you'll have to look for yourselves). My point is that it doesn't matter if you are a world renowned author or if you are lucky to get a poem published in the local newspaper - if you have a story to tell, then Wattpad is the place to tell it.

On a personal level, I've been writing off and on over there for 10 months now - and I love it. I know that I've had my ups and downs in my writing career over the past couple of years, but they have been related more to things outside of Wattpad rather than issues with Wattpad itself. My main issues have to be my own self confidence - but I intend to conquer that one way or the other.

What I like about Wattpad is that you don't have to write to read others' stories any more than you have to read to write your own stories - you get to be as involved or uninvolved as you want. I also like that you have the freedom to update as much or as little as you like. I currently have 6 books that I'm working on published (and many more in progress that you can't yet see). I have the freedom to write and publish a complete book, or I can take the more popular route of uploading a chapter at a time until I complete the book.

I also have the ability to edit the story in most any way that I choose without any issues - and no editor to tell me what I can or cannot have in my book, since I am my own boss.

If you'd like to join Wattpad, you can do so here:- https://www.wattpad.com - please tell them that BeckFletcher referred you in the box provided on the form.

Witchy, Witchy - by Penelope King

Witchy, Witchy is a young adults book suitable for young adults aged 13 and over. Though there is a scene of a near-rape, so I’d like to add a caution and parental guidance to the book, too.

Having some abilities similar to the lead character, I was drawn to read this book to see if there was any truthful elements to this book or if it was solely written from a fantasy level as many are.

It didn't take me long to get sucked into the story though. The characters are likeable, which added to my enjoyment. Although much of the book is written from a fictional angle, I’m pleased to say that there are some good factual elements regarding Calista’s abilities in there, too… although the fact that she was immediately able to locate Savannah left me with more than a few questions unanswered – especially when many of us don’t come into our powers properly until we reach our teenage years and she’d gone from a howling wreck on the floor to walking straight up to Savannah. That wouldn’t have happened in the real world.

I was 23 when I was hit by an experience similar to that described… and there was no way would I have been able to do that. Speaking on a personal level, I’m still affected by it on a daily basis. So there are things I’d like to see changed, but in general, the book is a great read that I really enjoyed – especially some of the witch side of things.

Surviving The Fog - By Stan Morris

Surviving The Fog is another book that I'd place Parental Guidance on for the younger Young Adults because there are references to sex, rape, murder and hanging as well as sporadic violence scattered throughout the book.

The story follows a group of children who are attending an abstinence awareness camp up in the mountain when they find that all connections to the outside world are cut off. The camp adults set out to find out why they've had no mail for the children and fail to return. When it becomes clear to the children at the camp that the adult's haven't returned, they band together and begin preparations for their long term survival in the camp.

As far as books go, I guess it wasn't that bad a read since it grabbed and kept my attention from cover to cover - but there were some things that I think could and should have been dealt with differently.

I liked some of the ideas that the children came up with... although, for a camp housing children of the age range that they had, I feel that more basic survival ideas should have kicked in and been implemented. Thirteen year old children should know that they can grow certain foods and vegetables from the ground without needing a neighbor from up the street to tell them that this could be possible.

The point where the army became involved could have been made better if there'd been more umming and harring before the decision was made to leave the kids down at the camp - in reality, the army wouldn't be wanting to enter into this decision as lightly as they seemed to do because they'd have had concerns about the welfare of the children in the camp.

I also feel that the ending was a little rushed and I'd have liked to have seen what would have happened as the fog gradually receded.

I found the characters to be likable enough though with enough variation to tell that they each had their own personality and skill set that they bought to the table in order to ensure that the camp survived.

The Child Thief - By Melissa Snark

This book is suitable for young adults aged 13 and over. The Child Thief is a short story, although it does make up part of a series of short stories. Someone or something is going around town and killing parents so that they can have the children. Is there any way that they can be stopped?

For Alpha werewolf Victoria Storm, the survival of her pack is her main priority but when she hears about a missing boy is it possible that she could save him and still lead her pack to safety or are they all doomed? One thing I always find with short stories is that they tend to be good books – although their length always seems to leave you feeling somewhat disappointed, and this was no exception. The plot flows nice and smoothly and I wasn’t able to find any typing errors within the story itself – although the reverences to “Victoria” and “Victory” does make the read a little more confusing at times.

I liked the way that the author has taken a supernatural creature and given it a spiritual twist – for me, this actually makes the story a little more believable in a way that I’m able to better relate to the character. I didn’t like the height of the bad guy quite so much though. Sure, I get that if you add a spiritual twist to it, you can see exactly what the author’s point was by making the baddie so big, but since many spiritual children don’t begin their spiritual journeys until much later in life this point and it’s meaning are going to be lost on them.

Summer Of My Secret Angel

Summer of my Secret Angel is a Young Adult Paranormal Romance book. For the most part, it is suitable for young adults – although I have to put a “Parental Guidance” warning on it because there are some scenes that parents might feel are unsuitable for younger young adults.

Summer of my Secret Angel in itself was an interesting book – not only for what I found between it’s pages but also because of what I learned while I was researching this page. Before I get into the review, you might be interested to know that Summer of my Secret Angel has also previously been published as Loving Your Lies and Her Game, His Rules.

The book is set in modern day London to start with, then progresses to France. It follows the story of a child in a children’s home who just happens to be a petty thief after associating herself with the wrong people. After being caught stealing once too often, she is sent to court and the judge sentences her to go and spend a few months living with her mother and her family in France. A mother that she has no intention of getting to know. Is it possible to turn things around or have all the bridges been burned?

One thing I didn't like was that the story is a little slow to build up to the main part of the plot – and in that build-up, the author inadvertently gives away where she is heading with the book. That spoiled my enjoyment of the book a little.

With that said, the book is worth taking the time to read for the Angel scenes that come later on in the book, which, for me, redeemed the act of giving away the plot so early on in the book.

Triton - by Dan Rix

 

Triton is another “grey area” book. It’s marketed as a Young Adult book, but it’s not something I’d feel comfortable recommending to young adults because of some of the language used and some of the scenario’s that the characters get into.

The book follows the story of a group of teenagers on a cruise through the abduction of the adults and they have to grow up fast when they find themselves in sole control of a huge cruise liner.

I found the book to be okay. The plot flowed smoothly enough and I liked the reference to Costa Concordia… though I can’t help but feel that it’s still a little too close to the tragedy for such references. I didn’t much care for the graphic details of the abuse suffered by one of the characters – especially since there’s hardly a mention of the mental abuse suffered by anyone who has been through this type of abuse.

One thing I’m always saying is “Research your conditions”. If your character has a scar s/he doesn’t want others to see, there’s no way would they be wearing a bikini for all the tea in China. In general, while the story is good, I can’t help but feel that very little (if any) time has been spent on research prior to the book’s release – which is a shame because a little research would make a good book better.

I liked the survival instinct of the characters though, when up against things, they seemed to develop old heads on young shoulders – although they were a little foolish at times which made their ages seem a little more believable.