Trying to Sell Your Skills but Come Off as Obnoxious

 

If you’ve ever been on Threads, you’ll see a lot of scammers trying to sell their alleged skills to you. Some of those people may be genuine artist just trying to give you an opportunity to sell you their skill on creating a cover for your book, however I’ve come across way too many on social media that genuinely seem interested in your book, then trash your cover by saying that either it’s ai generated or you could’ve done better by not selecting on of the generated images from KDP or IngramSparks. They will say that your book won’t sell with a cover like that, they come off as snarky and mean-spirited.

 Personally, I don’t like it when these supposed artists jump into posts created by the author and then they begin to scrutinize their work. As an author, I have created a couple of covers myself for some of my books, but most of my books (novels) have KDP covers. Below are images of the books that I created covers for. In the Company of Elves book cover, is an actual photo from a trip I took to Yosemite national Park.

For these books I used Render/Blender and some digital art tweaking. As I mentioned before, In the Company of Elves cover art, is an actual photo. No tweaking it or enhancing it. When you get on Threads, particularly in Book Threads or Author’s Threads, no self-published author is safe from scammer harassment. Some of those scammers pretend to be authors themselves but once you get into a conversation with them, then they’ll start peddling their artistic skills and the price you’ll have to pay them for their art. I totally understand that they have a degree and want to get people to buy into their services, I get it, but they don’t have to criticize, demean or accuse indie authors of things that they can’t prove themselves.

Also, the fact that ai has caused such upheaval in the industry of the arts, people call everything ai nowadays even though they don’t have proof. So, if an indie author created their own cover/book, some people (Trolls) want that author to prove they didn’t use ai. What? Don’t do that. An author is putting his or her work for you to enjoy and read. They are not asking to be put on trial. And yes, that’s what it feels like for some authors. It is sickening and ridiculous at this point. Most indie authors have started blocking accounts under the assumption that those accounts are trying to scam them. By the way, in traditional publishing, the cover art gets done by the company with approval of the author. No, I’ve never published with a trad company but I’m fine with what I chose to do, I just don’t like the constant bombardment of, “I can do your cover better,” or “I can edit your work, and people wouldn’t think it’s ai.” 

These people will cause dramas where there shouldn’t be, just to harass the authors into buying their services. They do not know if you used ai or not, they’re just pushing the fear of ai and hurting indie authors that truly wrote their own books by using false accusations. 

It’s a madhouse online. In addition, with the economy the way it is, everyone, except those who are privileged of well off financially, can't afford to pay for cover art, videos or an editor. They can barely afford food! I'm lucky that I have someone who can edit my work now and I trust his skills. 

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Lost in the Backrooms: Author's Notes

 

(At the end of the book, you will find a section titled Author's Notes, which delves into the story, the characters, and the inspiration behind this story. Below are the Author's Notes for Lost in the Backrooms.)

This book is part of an anthology/book series related to supernatural/ paranormal stories, the first book in this series is, Lost in the Backrooms Vol. 1. This is the main character’s first encounter with the non-Euclidean dimensional realm. When I began working on this book, I checked out videos and read various writings to gather more insights on the subject. Most of my research happened online, and since the Backrooms concept isn’t copyrighted and is open to interpretation, anyone can use it for videos, books, art, and other creative projects. 

Not all the books on the Phoenix Files will be related to the Backrooms, in fact the next time the Backrooms are mentioned it will be in Volume 4 and that's several years away from publishing. 

The main characters in this book only skimmed the surface of the Backrooms. They did not go through all the levels. I place them mostly in level 0. According to the lore of the Backrooms, it starts like this: If you’re not careful and no-clip out of reality in the wrong areas, you’ll end up in the Backrooms, where it’s nothing but the stink of old moist carpet, the madness of mono yellow, the endless background noise of fluorescent lights at maximum hum-buzz, and approximately six hundred million square miles of randomly segmented empty rooms to be trapped in. God save you if you hear something wandering around nearby because it sure as hell heard you. 

I found this very intriguing and somewhat scary, but it gave me inspiration for this book. According to some people, most wanderers don’t meet each other in the Backrooms, it’s rare but in my story, I chose to have the characters meet each other so they can fight together and find a way out.

About the main characters: Jane is 28 years old; Father Patrick is in his early 50’s and John, her mentor, is five years older than her. Jane’s sexual preference is loosely mentioned in this book. The relationship between Mary Kate and Jane will grow throughout the book series. I feel that being diverse in character is important to go with the flow of today’s society, despite what certain groups think. As a writer, I feel that it’s important to represent certain groups in society in my writing. Jane is also half Scottish/Irish and native American. Her parents were Hunters but died during one of their assignments. Jane was raised at one of the orphanages that the Church owns and trained to be a Hunter.

 What about the subtle connotation of religion in the story? I grew up Catholic, so I included some religious themes in the story. Jane and MK's faith, bravery, and trust in God really helped them as they looked for a way out. In the narrative, they belong to a church-related group that tackles paranormal and supernatural cases that the authorities shy away from because they can't solve them. Jane and MK were changed by their experiences in the Backrooms. It left a scar and for months they’ve experienced restless nights as any person would if the Backrooms were real and he or she ended up there and came back. They would have PTSD and would suffer some inner turmoil. Unlike Jane’s nightmares, MK’s dreams take her into the BACKROOMS. She is in astral form when she enters, and she can go further into the Backrooms, visiting other levels. There she finds people who have set up small colonies and are living a life there unbeknownst to the outside world.

On occasion, Reyna experiences similar dreams but cannot astral project. Reyna and others who have been thrown into the Backrooms by accident, they were unprepared unlike Jane and MK. Jane and MK are Hunters and have dealt with entities and cryptids in the past, so they were prepared but the Backrooms was something else entirely different. MK found new powers hidden within herself but once they crossed over, she was back to normal, or she thought. Jane and MK ventured through three or four levels before ending up back at level 0. They may have been prepared with weapons and other necessities, but they had no knowledge of what they would find and what to expect while looking for Talia. John arrives at the Backrooms searching for all three of them. I felt that the characters stood a better chance of escaping the Backrooms together. Together they fought monsters and together they found a way out. John and Talia were the first to exit the Backrooms and after some tribulation, Jane and MK found their way out too. The exit may appear anywhere. Portals can appear anywhere at any time. However, in the Backrooms lore, it’s probably not that way. Mary Kate’s connection to the Backrooms will not be addressed until volume 4, when she ends up entering the Backrooms once again. The gentle voice she hears in her dreams is an unknown person who lives in one of the Human based communities in one of the levels of the Backrooms. The next book in the series is called, Path Less Taken vol. 2.

NOTE: For those who need to know, A24 has the copyright to their movie, but not the actual word, The Backrooms since the word and the concept of the Backrooms is an internet creepy pasta and it's origin is unknown. Thousands of people have created videos, literature and other media involving the Backrooms. If A24 suddenly started asking social media platforms to remove everything related to the backrooms, they would be alienating half of the Backrooms fans. The fans are what made the whole concept popular!

(Images in this blog are for the reader' entertainment only)

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What About AI?

I know I promised that I would post more excerpts of books that have been published and books I am working on but I must address this matter: 

Do you use AI to write your books? 

Let me say that I DO NOT. I am old school, and I really don’t know how to use AI to write. I feel that AI doesn’t capture what the author envisions for his/her books so therefore using AI to write is like using Alexa as your audio voice for your audiobooks. 

With that said, I do use images created by AI for short videos and for my blogs ONLY. I am so old school that I still use photoshop online editing tools for pictures I make that I use in my books. I’ve been doing it for over 15 years, now. Using online editing tools for my images is my personal prerogative and I see nothing wrong with it. 

What I think about AI?

I feel that people are up in arms over AI art much like when 3D rendering and photoshopping were ostracized by certain groups. But just like in the past with 3D rendering and photoshop, the dust will settle, it will pass and be accepted.

 I am grateful that back in the 2000’s I discovered certain online tools to create my images, I still use those tools to this day. If people don’t like that I use photoshop and online editing tools, well they don’t have to and they don’t have to follow me. Just saying.  Anyways, peace and no hate. Support other authors, stop being mean-spirited Haters. If you don't like what an artist created or what an author wrote, don't follow them, its' that simple.

NOTE: I am happy to say that Lost in the Backrooms continues to be downloaded and read. Thank you.

If interested in my books please visit link below. I mostly write preteen to young adult books under the pseudonym Cecile Garcia however, I do have another pseudonym which I will use to publish adult rated books (18 & over).

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Updates on Books I Am Writing

 

I just want to give my readers an update on my progress of the books I am currently writing. 

Diary of a Time Traveler’s Companion: so far, I’m at 207 pages in; this book will be a full-length novel. It will be published under another pen name. It is based on a fanfic I’ve been writing. There are some changes in the book that sets it apart from the Fanfic. For those who know about my Fanfiction, kudos to you! You’ll enjoy the book as well. 

 

Path Less Taken: I am working on this book, I just haven’t gotten as far as I would like but it's possible that the completion date will be around the same time the Time Traveler’s book will be completed. I alternate between books when working on them.

*Pictures of the characters from both of my books are posted on my Facebook author page. 

Note: the character Jack Harlin is similar to the Jack character in Doctor Who but there are slight differences. And as you probably have figured out the woman with the curly blonde hair represents River but not the same personality. Both Jack and Melanie are bisexual.

Jack & Melanie

For those who follow me on TikTok, some of my videos have been muted, but you can find them on my YouTube channel or on my Facebook Reels list. Follow links below. 

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CECILE GARCIA

CG HEANDEZ