Author: Eamonn Murphy - Writer

Eamonn Murphy has published over seventy stories in small press magazines and collected them into small, cheap volumes for posterity. They are available at all good eBook retailers and libraries. In his spare time, he writes reviews for sfcrowsnest. Retired now after years of hard labour (building sites and call centres), he lives near Bristol, England, with a nice lady, a nasty Jack Russell, an untrainable loony Labrador and some ducks. He has a BA (Hons) from the Open University but very little common sense. Find out more at eamonnmurphywriter.com.

Fun with Widgets

I’ve been experimenting with my widgets today (see sidebar) and made some progress. The wordpress built in widgets have some pretty good functions.

I’ve managed to add images of my books to the right side and a few other items to make it look more snazzy. In another few decades I’ll get the hang of wordpress.

Book Covers

I’ve updated my book covers. The word from the wise (Mark Coker of Smashwords) is that a book cover can make a lot of difference to sales. He gave a couple of examples in his marketing guide and I was convinced. The main reason for this is that readers skim through book catalogues on screens nowadays and the eye will flit past any that don’t have a bit of Ooomph.

Consarn ChristmasFive Little Horrors

 

Previously I made my own using FreeImages.com and Canva.com. They were okay but I checked artist Laura Givens website and found some good pictures. I e-mailed her a query and the prices were very reasonable so I bought a couple. Laura does many covers for Alban Lake Publishing so I was aware of her work. Here are the new covers.

 

The pictures I chose are generic, not purpose made, but the JCB spaceship seemed especially appropriate for Consarn Christmas which is about an Irish starship. The one I used for Five Little Horrors is a standard evil skeleton pic but striking. I should mention that I’m half-Irish and my dad was a builder – as was I – before the PC crowd leap on me for ‘totally unacceptable’ stereotyping.

 

 

 

Book covers

I’ve updated my book covers. The word from the wise (Mark Coker of Smashwords) is that a book cover can make a lot of difference to sales. He gave a couple of examples in his marketing guide and I was convinced. The main reason for this is that readers skim through book catalogues on screens nowadays and the eye will flit past any that don’t have a bit of Ooomph.

Previously I made my own using FreeImages.com and Canva.com. They were okay but I checked artist Laura Givens website and found some good pictures. I e-mailed her a query and the prices were very reasonable so I bought a couple. Laura does many covers for Alban Lake Publishing so I was aware of her work. Here are the new covers.

The pictures I chose are generic, not purpose made, but the JCB spaceship seemed especially appropriate for Consarn Christmas which is about an Irish starship. The one I used for Five Little Horrors is a standard evil skeleton pic but striking. I should mention that I’m half-Irish and my dad was a builder – as was I – before the PC crowd leap on me for ‘totally unacceptable’ stereotyping.