In the light of day I realize that my novella isn't going to magically transform into a different entity. I need to make my peace with that. The story is good for what it is ~ a little vignette about a woman finding her place (like all my stories). The fact that it came in about 5.000 words shorter than my others remains a mystery. I've examined it multiple times and I don't find anything important missing. In order to elongate it I would need to add another conflict, but wouldn't doing so make the story tiresome? One could view it as all conflict as it is ~ conflict with nature, relationships, with oneself. There is one unseen character I suppose I could introduce, but would I just insert her willy-nilly? There'd need to be a reason for her to show up. And the only way to even make her relevant would be to create another conflict. It makes me tired just thinking about that.
While that's worth pondering, I do believe, bottom line, that the thing is ready to publish. That means it's time for the blurb. I used to detest writing book descriptions. In the beginning I included too much detail, as if I had to explain the story in detail in order to evoke interest. What that did, in fact, was bore a potential buyer. It took me a while to figure out how to do it right*.
*"right" is subjective. It didn't help me sell books.
One thing that one of the promo sites taught me was brevity. It only allowed a description, I believe, of fifty words. Reducing the number of words tightens things up. One has to dwell down to only the aspects that need to be conveyed ~ they don't have to be described in minute detail.
For Shadow Song, my blurb is tight:
In a backwoods town, finding your boss’s dead body in the woods is enough to get you charged with murder. Worse, Ashley Montrose is saddled with the most incompetent attorney in the county. She only has herself and a man she loathes to find a way out of this mess.
The inciting incident is up front and the description hints at the major characters and the roadblocks they present.
I could have started at the beginning of the story: Ashley loses her job when a conglomerate takes over her company (Who cares?) She finds a job as a painter/carnival ride operator at a resort (again, her new occupation is irrelevant to the dead boss scenario). She immediately hates the competing sidewalk artist who shows up (my description says "loathes". That's enough. We don't need his background.) A big part of the actual story is the private detective who helps clear her name, but how many characters does a brief description tolerate? I suppose I also could have included something about Ashley's dad, but now we're lurching into ridiculousness. Frankly, the incompetent attorney doesn't play a big role, but mentioning him helps set up the conflict. Why include "in a backwoods town"? That part is an explainer for how an innocent person can immediately be presumed guilty.
I won't say that I suddenly enjoy writing blurbs, but now that I finally understand how to do it, it doesn't fill me with dread. I could probably dash off one for this novella with little thought and slight word tweaking.
As for my cover, that's going to be more difficult. For all but one of my books, I've featured a woman on the cover. I believe that women's fiction needs to. Every genre has its cover tropes, and while many women's fiction books have been bestsellers without my unwritten rule, those authors have name recognition.
Canva has not been forthcoming with an appropriate image this time, however. I've tried a few different keyword searches, with increasingly bad results. I'm not against paying ten dollars to iStock if I could find something that works, but while iStock offers thousands of images per keyword, its results hardly adhere to the searcher's input. That leaves one scrolling page after page, bypassing all the inappropriate results. I did use iStock for The Diner Girl, but the image I licensed wasn't perfect; it was simply the best I could find anywhere. One might be tempted to use AI, but if you've never tried it, be prepared for a huge disappointment. None of the "people" look real, and some may even have an extra arm or hand. (Once when I complained to the AI bot about that, it apologized and told me it's not good at appendages.)
One quibble I have with Canva is that every person depicted is clearly posing for the camera, generally wearing a huge smile. "Happy" or "gleeful" is generally not the mood I'm going for. I lucked out with a couple of previous covers that depicted "wistful". Those are probably the only two that exist in its entire arsenal. I have made a provisional cover for this latest, but I don't feel good about it. But covers can always be changed. If I'm really in a hurry (not sure why) I can use this one and substitute something better later.
I've already settled on a title. Those, too, are frustrating. What AI can accomplish is give an author a list of really bad suggestions, but one of them might jog the mind into creating something better. And I've found one title generator online that asks for a story description, as opposed to those that just throw random titles at you that have no connection to the actual story or genre. Again, the good one's suggestions aren't perfect, but it can give an author a starting point. In the end, I came up with a play on the word "inn", and it suffices. I don't hate it.
So, barring any complications, this novella will be ready to go this week.
I shall not sit back and wait for the royalties to pour in.
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