Cover Art and Print-On-Demand

I’ve finished writing the first two books of The Legend of the White Sword series (and am well into number three). Below are the covers as they stand right now. I’m sure some tweaking will follow. I’m calling these middle grade (the protagonist is a little old for that, so maybe upper middle grade, or younger adult?). These books don’t have any sex, or bad language (beyond damn or douche bag), so they should be safe for any kid who’s allowed to watch television on their own. There is some violence, but I wouldn’t consider it very dark. The books may require you to channel your inner twelve year boy to enjoy them, or maybe not. They’re also quite short (though well within industry standards for middle grade fiction). Hopefully, somebody will like them. I went with manga-style cover art because they have a bit of a light novel feel to them (I know the designation is more based on the simple kanji used, you needn't bother commenting to inform me of that;)

For anybody wondering what the quality of print-on-demand books is like (I’m using CreateSpace right now), I can tell you it’s surprisingly good. Obviously, they just print the files you send them, but the binding and print quality is as good as, or better than, trade paperbacks. (Google book machines to see some cool tech) Somebody compared them to softcover textbooks, and I’d agree with that. That’s for novels, and black-and-white books. The colour books are no heck and expensive. I did one children’s book (for my mom) that way, but I don’t think I’d do another, unless they started offering nicer paper choices. For novels, no complaints. They’re a little more expensive, but the book doesn’t get printed until someone orders it, so there’s nothing in the way of economies of scale. I mostly make the paperback versions for my own enjoyment. Thanks to those of you who bought a physical book. Believe it or not, I make less on them than the e-books (play with the CreateSpace pricing calculator and you’ll soon discover why), but it makes me smile, knowing physical books are out there… somewhere.