The Rescue was the first book I wrote after Trials of the Teldear, and it began my self-publishing journey.  At first, the only desire I had was to make sure a print version would survive another computer disaster.  Unfortunately, I already had two of those that erased more than a few pages of one of my early books in progress. 

After looking into a backup strategy for my systems, I initially pursued publishing on a direct-to-print site, which is still in business today.  The Rescue (as has been mentioned in a previous blog post) was originally just in a simple, blue hardback cover.  That contented me for a while, but I did not like the “drabness” of my book.  It was nearly embarrassing to show it to anyone because it looked in no way professional. 

So, I started tinkering with a “popular graphics program” that came bundled with my computer.  This program is a somewhat trimmed-down version of the more expensive version of the “popular graphics program” which only has to be purchased by subscription.  Needless to say, today, I’m not a fan of the company, but I could actually use the program.

After playing around a bit and asking friends for help (including one who is now dearly departed – Laura, we miss you), I had my first version of the cover.  I liked it, and although it was still not to the standard of what I saw in “popular book stores” at the time, it was … close.

“Close” worked for a while until I decided that many of my covers needed revision, and I needed to find a way to make my covers appear truly professional.  So I took another recommendation from a good friend and settled on a company that provides the exact product I wanted to publish.  Their cost was at the high end of my budget, but it was worth it in the end.   The Rescue was the first of this new adventure, and I have used it for several books since then. 

As one of my few books on Audible, I’m grateful to have a beautiful cover to stand in front of the work.  People misquote the aphorism “You can’t judge a book by its cover.”   The actual saying is, “You can’t always judge a book by its cover.” Unfortunately, this usually means you can!  So, I guess that is the best explanation of why it was important to me.

See you in the future! 

JTL

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