Cover Art

Posts Tagged ‘Cover Art’

Thinking Outside the Box

Posted in writing, tagged Cover Art, e-publishing, fantasy, Multiple Projects, revisions, rewrites, series, writing on April 6, 2016| Leave a Comment »

The way to get through–or around–a block is usually to think outside the box. Re-imagine whatever it is you’re trying to do.

I’ve had to do that once or twice with my writing. FIRE AND EARTH ended up so different from the original story (which didn’t work on so many levels) that I don’t think anyone but me would recognize it.

To a lesser extent, I’m doing something similar with MAGE STORM. Re-imagining it as a much bigger story with more wide-ranging stakes. I haven’t gotten very far with that, yet. That’s okay. I expect it to take multiple iterations. Right now, I’m mostly adding back some of the things I’d cut from earlier versions.

And I’ve also had to do something like that a couple of times with my cover art. Series can be particularly difficult, because I need to come up with a concept or image that not only works for that book, but also can be extended into something that will tie all the books of the series together. Oh, and not look too much like the covers of my other series, too.

And, as I mentioned in my last post, I was really having trouble with the cover for MAGE STORM. I think I’ve solved that issue. I need to stare at it a little longer. And seek some more opinions. Maybe I’ll be able to share the cover with you by my next post.

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Posted in writing, tagged Cover Art, e-publishing, fantasy, first drafts, Multiple Projects, revisions, rewrites, sequels, series, writing on April 3, 2016| 1 Comment »

The plan was that I’d work on the first draft of BECOME

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during this month while the first draft of WAR OF MAGIC rests.

WarMagicNew

And I will be doing some of that. But the plan was also that BECOME would be the next thing I publish after completing the DUAL MAGICS series. And that might not be true.

And the reason is that there are some complexities regarding the ASCENSION series that starts with BECOME that make me want to have at least a first draft of the whole series–or at the very least the first two books–before I start publishing it.

The first part of BECOME, as currently written, is somewhat episodic, because it covers certain pivotal events from the childhood of the main character–both the development of his goals and the development of a relationship with his half-brother, which will be very important to the overall story. I’m writing that in chronological order, but ultimately that may not be the best way to tell the story. It might not be the best way to capture reader interest or keep the story moving. The overall story would make it easy to shift some of those episodes to flashbacks. But I won’t know how I want to handle that until I’ve gotten to that part of the story (likely in the second book, CONVERGE).
The overall series has three main characters, in a way. The overarching story belongs to the main character of BECOME, but his two supporters are more than just sidekicks. And they’re both younger than the main character, so they won’t even show up until the second book. And they’ll have stories of their own that intertwine with his, but are not part of his story.
And here’s the kicker. I really can’t come up with any way to end the first book that isn’t . . . well, not a cliffhanger, but definitely not a satisfying ending, either. The kind of ending that would make me as a reader spit tacks if the second book wasn’t already available. And I hate that as a reader. And therefore I try very hard to avoid it as a writer. If that’s in fact where this story has to end–and I’m very much afraid it is–then I want to have the second book ready for pre-order before I ever publish the first.

And all of that means that I’ll be working on a third story–a rewrite of MAGE STORM–during this month. Too, not instead of BECOME. But that will inevitably slow BECOME down.

And it’s why I spent way too much time yesterday trying to come up with a cover image for MAGE STORM. (One that, hopefully, does not include lightning this time. It’s dramatic and all, but I think I may be overdoing that particular image.)

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Boxed Sets

Posted in writing, tagged boxed sets, Cover Art, e-publishing, fantasy, first drafts, sequels, series, world building, writing on March 23, 2016| Leave a Comment »

I’ve always planned to put out a boxed set of the DUAL MAGICS series some time after I publish WAR OF MAGIC.

WarMagicNew

A few days ago, I had another thought. I could put out a boxed set of the first three books for a limited time as a lead up to the release of the fourth and final book, WAR OF MAGIC. And, tempting as it is to jump on this, the best time to do that is when I can include a buy link (or pre-order link) at the end of the set. So, this can’t happen until I’m withing three months of publishing WAR OF MAGIC (because that’s how long Amazon currently allows pre-orders to run).

And, as you know if you’ve been reading this blog, I’m still working on the first draft of WAR OF MAGIC. I expect I’ll finish that within the next two weeks, but that’s not even close to being within three months of publication. One of those months is just to let the first draft cool, so I can look at it with fresher eyes. Then I have to do a couple of rounds of revisions before it goes out to critique partners (who usually need about a month to read and critique a full novel). Then another round of revisions and a polishing edit. So, yeah, longer than three months.

Nevertheless, I’ve started to work on cover art for the boxed set.

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This will, of course, eventually be replaced by the full boxed set.

And then, someday, I plan on putting out a boxed set of the first books in different series. Of course, that has to wait until I have another series or two under my belt.

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Posted in writing, tagged Cover Art, e-publishing, fantasy, marketing, Multiple Projects, sequels, series, Series Branding, writing on February 17, 2016| 4 Comments »

So . . . I’ve been playing with cover art again.

I started out playing with cover art for BECOME. My goal here is to have at least a first draft of BECOME by the time I publish WAR OF MAGIC. That will allow me to include an excerpt of the new series at the end of the last book in the DUAL MAGICS series. Ideally, I’d like to be far enough along to include a pre-order link.

Become4

I still may tweak the series title, but this is likely to be the cover.

Then I went back to my problem child–the cover for WAR OF MAGIC. I love the old cover image, but I just haven’t been able to get the title, etc. the way I want it. Nothing works. The latest version was okay, but it didn’t really match the other books in the series–and I want the covers to brand the series as belonging together. I’m going for something better than “I can live with it.” So, I bit the bullet and went with a different background image.

WarMagicNew

I may tweak that series title a little, too. But now I’m happy with it. Finally.

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Two First Drafts At Once

Posted in writing, tagged Cover Art, e-publishing, fantasy, first drafts, Multiple Projects, sequels, series, writing on February 14, 2016| Leave a Comment »

I think I may end up working on two first drafts at the same time. That’s not completely unprecedented. I’ve done it before. The trick is to keep the names with the right story.

But I’ve got some momentum and excitement again for BECOME. (I even started playing with the cover art.) Working on that in the interstices between WAR OF MAGIC should move both of them forward and keep me writing.

WarOfMagic7

The very worst thing I can do is stop because I’m stuck on something in a first draft. The ideas only come when I’m actually writing on a story–and they don’t always come for the story I’m working on.

I’d really like to have a good first draft of BECOME when I publish WAR OF MAGIC, so I can get it up for pre-order with an excerpt and a link at the end of WAR OF MAGIC.

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My 2015 Goals

Posted in writing, tagged Cover Art, e-publishing, fantasy, first drafts, Middle Grade, Multiple Projects, revisions, sequels, series, short stories, writing, Young Adult on December 27, 2015| Leave a Comment »

For 2015 my writing goals were:

First: BEYOND THE PROPHECY (Book 3 of the Dual Magics series): Finish the first draft. Revise. Get critiques. Revise again. Polish. Format. And Publish.

Yes.

Second: Tie-in Dual Magics short stories: “Modgud Gold”, “Hunter and Huntress”, possibly “The Seeker”. These stories expand on the events of the novels. Some things that there just wasn’t room for in the novels. Often from the point of view of side characters.

Of those, I only completed “Modgud Gold.”

I guess the other stories will just have to get pushed to next year. Honestly, any time I have to decide between working on a novel-length story and a short story, the novel is likely to win. They’re just more fun.

Third: MAGE STORM: my middle grade adventure fantasy. There’ll be at least two periods when I need to let BEYOND THE PROPHECY rest so I can come back to it with fresh eyes. During one of those, I want to go back over this story. Possibly change the age of the main character. Then give it a try with a small press.

Yes, but no luck. Middle grade is a really tough market, whichever way you try to go with it. I have a different plan for this one now. And its three sequels.

Fourth: DAUGHTER OF THE DISGRACED KING: This one is complete and ready to go. I’ll query it for a little longer, but there’s also a good chance I’ll just decide to go ahead and publish it myself.

Yes. I did decide to just go ahead and publish it.

Fifth: BOOK 4 of the Dual Magics series (No title yet): Start the first draft for publication likely in 2016.

Yes. And it now has a title–WAR OF MAGIC. And a cover.

WarOfMagic5

Sixth: At some point, I’m likely going to need to go play in a different sandbox for a while to keep things fresh. That will likely mean work on either DREAMER’S ROSE or that weird Oz story that’s been tickling around in the back of my brain for a while now.

Yes. What was DREAMER’S ROSE is now BECOME: TO CATCH THE LIGHTNING. Weird Oz is still fermenting.

I guess I did pretty well against my 2015 goals.

Here’s hoping I do as well next year. I’ll be setting those goals in the next few days.

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Evolution of Cover Art

Posted in writing, tagged Cover Art, e-publishing, fantasy, marketing, short stories, writing on December 6, 2015| Leave a Comment »

I do my own cover art. That’s something that’s often not recommended. And for good reason. I’ll show you one. This is my original cover art for my novella, “The Music Box”:

Now, let’s just be honest. It’s dreadful. Frankly, I’m surprised I ever sold a single copy. To be fair, this was only the third cover I ever made. And it was during a period when I couldn’t really afford to spend anything on cover art. Which is why I started making my own covers in the first place.

And I’ve made a concerted effort to get better at it. I actually enjoy making my own covers now.

This was the very last of those original, very bad covers left. And it’s past time I replaced it. But my problem was that I just couldn’t find an image I liked for this story. I finally turned up this one:

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It’s a nice image if a little . . . gray. Book covers need to pop. So, I bought the image (the right to use it only cost $8.15. I really probably could have afforded it (if it had been available then) in the first place, but I wouldn’t have known what I needed to do to make it work.

Then I added color to the background and went ahead and added the title and my name:

(Those funny little dashed lines are because I snipped this while I was still working on the cover. I knew I wasn’t finished and I didn’t want to save because that would have merged the layers, like the text. You’ll see why in a little bit.)

Okay, but now I wasn’t happy with the white costumes. Hmm. So the next step:

(See how I changed the color of the text for my name? I couldn’t have done that if I’d let the layers get merged too soon.)

But now I don’t like him in white, either. And what is likely the final version:

Though I haven’t uploaded this one yet. I may want to do just a little bit of clean up first.

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Cover Art Issues

Posted in writing, tagged Cover Art, critiques, e-publishing, fantasy, Learning, marketing, sequels, series, writing on November 22, 2015| 4 Comments »

I’ve started wrestling with the cover art for WAR OF MAGIC. I’ve had the image finalized for quite a while.

WarMagicBlank

It’s very nearly perfect, but there’s just one problem with it. All the other books in the series use white text. And white just doesn’t show up well on this background.

So I’ve been experimenting with options.

I tried black text. It’s not bad, but it doesn’t show up real well, either.

WarOfMagic1

(This one isn’t finished, of course. It still needs the “Dual Magics Book 4” somewhere. Most of these do.)

I tried to use solid bands.

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This works, but it has the disadvantage that I’d probably have to change all the other covers to match–and I like them better as they are.

I tried a mix.

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I tried clearing part of the background.

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And I tried a drop shadow.

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So far, most of the people I’ve asked like the bands best. But I don’t.

Well, we’ll see.

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It’s Alive!!!

Posted in writing, tagged boxed sets, Cover Art, e-publishing, fantasy, marketing, writing, Young Adult on October 28, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Sorry, couldn’t resist.

But BY SWORD, TALE, OR MAGIC is now live on Amazon (and free on Kindle Unlimited.)

Three YA fantasy novels for the price of only two. It’s like getting one for free.

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The YA Boxed Set Has A Cover

Posted in writing, tagged boxed sets, Cover Art, e-publishing, fantasy, marketing, writing, Young Adult on October 21, 2015| Leave a Comment »

I’m over the major hurdle. I have a cover.

(Ha! I love that I finally figured out how to do boxed set covers.)

Just a few more things to do before I set this one loose in the wild. The files were already formatted for the stand-alone books, but there are a few tweaks for the combined file, of course. I’ll need to work up a blurb for the set. And I may just throw in one of my short stories as a bonus. We’ll see.

I expect to have this one up by the end of the month, possibly with a short pre-order period at a special price.

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