Cover Art

After a couple of hours of testing my concept in my photo studio, I came to the conclusion that it would be difficult to achieve my vision, and nearly impossible without a greenscreen, which I don't have yet.  I also don't have a model.  I was using myself as a test subject just to see if I could make the lighting look right.  I could have very easily used that as an excuse to prolong the project.  But my wonderful wife again saved the day.  She suggested using an image I already have: a waterfall I photographed in Yellowstone several years ago.  As is so often the case, it was a great idea.  I now have a cover.

But there is more to the cover art saga.  Amazon recommends a huge image, the longest side being 2500 pixels with an aspect ratio of 1.6.  I saw one website report that they were upping that to 4500 pixels, which would be ridiculous.  The minimum recommended size is 1000 pixels on the long dimension.  I decided to go with 1200 pixels.

Why all of the concern?  Because at the 70% royalty rate that I have, or will be choosing, I will be paying for the download.  My 1567x2500 image came in at 1.31 mb.  By reducing the image size to 752x1200 I reduced the file size to 364kb.  I basically shaved 1 megabyte off the download.

Still working on the final final final proofread and corrections.  Getting excited.  Soon my only concern will be if anyone actually wants to read it.