The Worth of a Cover

Happy Birthday to me! I'm 23 now. 23. Can't believe it.

And happy cover reveal day to all of you. You guys get to see the ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS cover that Alea Harper made me for The Worth of a King, and let me tell you, this cover was a bear and a HALF for us to get right.

Seel, I really didn't know what I wanted, other than a different style than the Rizkaland Legends. I had a few pins on Pinterest that I felt would be a good starting place ... but getting art of the sort would have been tricky ... and I didn't want it to look like Obsidia was the focus of a Love Triangle.

I also had half a dozen motifs of the book that I felt were important - crown, stars, dragon, winged horse, perhaps some others that I can't remember off the top of my head ... but I when Alea sent me the first concept ... I really wasn't feeling it. Or the second or third ... and I really hated that I was being picky ...

She's a saint, though, and put up with me.

I even made my own mocks, trying to help find what the story needed, but ... well, they weren't hitting the nail on the head, either.

And, for the record, I'm completely in love with both of the fonts that I used on these covers, and I will find a use for them. someday

But we still just weren't feeling it. I was despairing of finding the perfect cover ... when suddenly, a concept came to me, quite radically different from what we were trying to create - and spinning our wheels on.

I drew a quick mock of it and sent it to Alea, along with the color scheme I was envisioning.

Please excuse my art skills. I can't draw dragons, apparently.

And while what Alea sent back to me wasn't the minimalistic line-drawn thing that I was envisioning, I fell immediately fell in love. Here, FINALLY, was the cover I was searching for.

We had to do a few more tweaks to the layout and lighting, but, here it is, in all its glory. You guys have waited long enough:

Add it on Goodreads

Oh. Oh. Just isn't it the most gorgeous thing ever? I love the minimalistic nature of it, the slight Game of Thrones feel that it has. (Though this story is worlds different from that saga. And MUCH cleaner.)

And I canNOT wait to hold this baby. Trying to decide if it'll look better in gloss or matte. Might order it in both to see.

Now, I have a number of other lovely bloggers who are participating in the cover reveal - and I encourage you to click through to every single one. Each has a unique snippet from the book that they'll be featuring, some have a mini interview, and most are also featuring one of my inspiration pins for the story.

And I have a special prize for anyone who comments on EVERY post. Have at.

Savannahjaysworkshop

Dreams and Dragons

Unicorn Quester

Kiri Liz

Morgan Elizabeth Huneke

Read, Write, Laugh, Dance

Elvish Pens, Fantastical Writings

Books, Baking, and Cowgirl Boots

Jenelle Schmidt

Reality Reflected

Jessica Greyson

The Music of a Story

The Flowering Vales

The Rambling Rose

Written Rest

The Labyrinth

Bible and Books

Jaye L. Knight

This story has come a long way from the idea that Jack and I started together. I do miss her, but it's come together so beautifully... 

Now just to finish writing the last three chapters...

What Not To Do In Cover Design with Rachel Rossano

Hello! I have Rachel Rossano here with us today to talk about what NOT to do in cover design. Rachel's a professional cover designer, and all of her covers are absolutely GORGEOUS, so I'm honored to have her here with us to talk about this.

Her books are awesome, too. I've read five of her books, and loved every one of them - and I'm not usually a fan of romance, which is what she writes!

Follow her on the Interwebs:

Blog~Amazon~Goodreads~Facebook~Twitter~Pinterest~YouTube~Newsletter

Rossano Designs

A well-designed book cover accurately represents the book within in a way that is professional, engaging, and appealing to the reader’s eye. The design communicates genre and builds expectations in the reader’s mind about the contents. The main goal is to entice the reader into picking up the book, reading the back matter, and hopefully buying the book.

With that in mind, here are some mistakes you should avoid when designing your own cover or working with a designer.

Image Issues

Lighting – If one image was taken outside in direct sunlight, it will be hard to meld with an image taken in a studio. Bright images don’t look organic when paired with dark. Warm colors don’t always mix well with cool colors. The cover as a whole should feel cohesive, not a coloring book with stickers on top.

Color clash – Make sure the colors in your cover work together as a whole. If one color jumps out and grabs the eye, it should do so for a purpose; otherwise, it needs to be adjusted. At no time

should the reader be inclined to look away because a color makes them cringe.

Perspective – Placing images requires a sense of perspective. Objects in the distance need to be smaller than those up close. Nearer objects overlap over more distant objects. The sharpness of the focus cannot be the same for the foreground and the background.

Painful angles – Contorted bodies, twisted arms, and missing limbs all are disturbing to the eye. Make sure the placement of people and things doesn’t make the reader cringe in pain or flinch on the

character’s behalf.

Sizing – Don’t resize an image in only one direction (horizontal or vertical). It warps the image, giving it an unnatural appearance.

Busyness – Focus on the message and a few telling elements from your story. Don’t try to fit every element or character from the book onto the cover.

Eyesores - Floating heads, levitating objects, and anything that looks off should obviously be avoided and needs to be addressed before finalizing any cover.

Typography Issues

Font – Choose a font that is highly legible. If someone who isn’t familiar with the book can’t read it at a glance, then you probably need to choose a different font.

Size – The title should be large enough to be partially legible when the cover is shrunk down to thumbnail size. If it isn’t, there has to be a good reason for the smaller size.

Coloring – The color of the fonts needs to work with the colors they are being placed on. For example, white will disappear on cream, and navy blue doesn’t contrast enough with black to be effective. On the other hand, the color chosen should enhance the whole and not scream at the reader.

Placement – Typography needs to be placed with consideration for the whole design, not just slapped on willy-nilly. When the words are placed over the background much like the prose, left-adjusted and starting in the top corner, there is a problem.

Too many fonts – The general rule is to stick to one or two fonts per cover. As usual, there are exceptions to every rule, but it is a good guideline to follow.

Spelling mistakes – Avoid these at all costs. Triple- and quadruple-check your spelling.

Pet Peeves

Series that don’t look like series – If a set of books is all part of the same series, they need to look like they go together. This is easy to do, using similar color schemes, elements, fonts, or

just title and author placement.

Overused images – If you do an Amazon search in your genre and encounter five to ten obvious instances where your image was already used, you need to reconsider your choice. Unless you or your designer are going to do something unique with your image, I would avoid using it for your cover.

Genre – It should be clear by looking at the cover what genre it probably is. The typography should agree with the genre, or at least be genre-neutral.

Nowthat I have completely overwhelmed you with things to consider, avoid, and do, I would like you to apply your new knowledge to my bad cover design below. How many issues can you spot? 

Also, I would love to hear about any questions or pet peeves you might have.

About the Author

When Rachel Rossano isn't absorbed in writing and publishing books, she designs covers and other art for herself and other authors under the business name Rossano Designs. With over fifteen years of experience in the indie publishing business, she has seen and learned a lot. Always eager to help other authors, she loves talking shop, whether it is writing or design. 

Author Rachel Rossano

Blog ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ YouTube ~ GoodReads

Rossano Designs

Website ~ Facebook

Photoshop with C.B. Cook

Hello! I have C.B. Cook here with us today to talk about PhotoShop. A nifty little program that I can't afford, so I use Gimp instead. Still, if you can afford it, it's nice to have.

Find her on the Interwebs:

Blog~Amazon~Goodreads~Facebook~Twitter

Photoshop

C.B. Cook

Hello, friends! I’m C.B. Cook, author of Twinepathy and Paralyzed Dreams. I’m a teenager/college student and a self-published author. I’m really happy to be here with you guys! I’m going to be discussing Photoshop with you today, as we talk about publishing.

Almost everyone has a cover creation software that they absolutely love, if they make their own covers. Mine is Photoshop. Now, I know Photoshop isn’t for everyone and it has its flaws, so I’d like to go over some pros and cons of Photoshop and some of my favorite aspects of the program.

Pro: Photoshop has a looooot of tools. As in, so many that I have absolutely no idea what half of them do.

Con: It’s true… Photoshop can definitely be confusing. With so many tools, it’s easy to get lost in the layout trying to find out how to just change your font size!

Pro: Since Photoshop is a program you install on your computer, you can get extra fonts, stamps, effects, and more online (some free!) to use in the program, unlike some online programs.

Con: Depending on what version of Photoshop you get, tutorials might be off for you, or they might use tools that don’t exist in your version.

Pro: Since Photoshop is a program you install on your computer, you can get extra fonts, stamps, effects, and more online (some free!) to use in the program, unlike some online programs.

Con: Installing new fonts and other extras may be hard to figure out, since they usually have to be in a specific folder.

And finally, the complaint many people have…

Con:  Photoshop is really expensive. The fancy extended version is $999. Which is a lot. The cheapest, which is Photoshop Elements (the one I have), is $79, which is still pretty expensive.

Pro: If you’re in school, whether you’re in high school, college, or even homeschooled (Yay homeschooling!), you can get student discounts. It’s still pricey, but if you’re wanting to do professional design work, it might be worth it.

A few of my favorite aspects of Photoshop

I’ve spent quite a bit of time exploring Photoshop and everything it offers, so I’ve found several things that I really like about it.

Gradients

Gradients are something I really enjoy using. They help make thinks stand out more without drawing too much attention to themselves. If you have white text you want to put on a gray background, you can put a black gradient behind the text to provide more contrast. True, you could do the same with a black rectangle, but that draws more attention to that one spot. On the cover of Paralyzed Dreams, you can see that I used a gradient behind the title to help the white text stand out more.

I also like using the gradient tool on text, as you might have seen on the cover of Twinepathy. The gradient tool can do normal gradients like the one above, but it can also do different shapes like diamonds and circles.

The Eyedropper Tool

This is a tool that’s pretty simple, but it has saved me multiple times. All this tool does is pick up a color from a picture in Photoshop so you can use it for font colors, your paint bucket, and other things. You can only have one foreground and one background color at a time, so it’s really easy to lose a color that you might need again.

Quick Selection Tool

I am terrible at changing out backgrounds. Because of that, I try to avoid it as much as possible. But when I have to change a background and can’t avoid it, the quick selection tool helps me a lot. Basically, this tool will help you outline your central object (a person, a building, anything) so that you can delete the background or copy the object. I don’t know if many other programs have this, but it’s a really handy tool.

Those are a few of the things I really like about Photoshop. Do you use Photoshop? If so, what are a few of the things you like about it? Comment below with your thoughts!

On Other Blogs: Publishing

There's so much awesome information about publication that we couldn't fit it all onto my blog. So I let the other blogger share some stuff, too.

First off, a video by Alea Harper, this one about trends in covers. 

If art and graphic design escapes you, Sarah Holman's here to talk about how to find a good cover designer.

Now to the blog posts:

First off, we have Rachel Rossano here to talk about Creating a Unique Cover for your book.

Rebekah A. Morris has a bit to say about Audiobooks.

Though she posted this yesterday, I'm sharing it today. Julie C. Gilbert has tips for Writing a Good Description.

Are you looking for Stock Photography for your covers? Jesseca Wheaton has you covered!

Interested in writing books for other authors' series? Julie C. Gilbert would also like to talk about Kindle Worlds.

And, finally, Hope Ann is here to talk about Formatting Ebooks.

Using Less Stock Photography with Alea Harper

Hello! You know the awesome graphics that I've been using for Indie e-Con? All of them were made by Alea Harper, a good friend of mine. She's absolutely brilliant with graphic design - and she's here today to share a really cool trick that can help cut down on your need for stock photography!

Oh, and be sure to swing by her blog!

Links mentioned in Video:

https://www.amazon.com/Strathmore-Press-Watercolor-Inches-ST440-1/dp/B0027AGLM2/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1489532516&sr=8-3&keywords=watercolor+paper

https://www.amazon.com/Pentel-Aquash-Water-Assorted-FRHBFMBP3/dp/B00AX31TZO/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1489532578&sr=8-4&keywords=water+brush+pens+watercolor

https://www.amazon.com/Artists-Loft-Fundamentals-Watercolor-Colors/dp/B013S1A4Q2/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1489532586&sr=8-3&keywords=watercolor+paints

https://www.gimp.org/

Cover Reveal - Adela's Curse

Have I told you guys of my (slight) obsession with fairies? Someday, I'm going to write a book about them - more than what's already in Bookania - and it's going to be awesome. I have a fairyworld built, with lots of fairies created to inhabit it (and I do mean a lot ... I also have a lot of pictures drawn for them, because I fancied myself an artist at the time. Some of them ain't bad)

Why am I going on about fairies, and sharing my old artwork ... well, because I'm participating in a cover reveal today, and the author didn't provide me with an image besides the official cover art, and you guys know me and my stinginess with cover arts.

So first off, the author - Claire Banschbach

Author Bio

Claire Banschbach was born and raised in Midland, TX, the fourth of eight children. She was homeschooled through high school and is now a proud member of the Texas A&M University class of 2014. She is currently working on her Doctorate of Physical Therapy at Texas Tech University Health Science Center. She continues to write in her spare time (and often when she doesn’t have spare time). She hopes her strong foundation in God will help to guide her writing. 

Contact Info

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/clairembanschbach/?ref=hl

Twitter – https://twitter.com/ClaireMB_Author

Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7758532.Claire_M_Banschbach

Blog – https://clairembanschbach.wordpress.com

And now about the book (and you guys will now understand why I'm talking about fairies)

Synopsis

A witch and her master capture a young faery and command her to kill their enemy. Adela has no choice but to obey. If she does not, they will force the location of her people’s mountain home from her and kill her. To make matters even worse, the person she is to kill is only a man struggling to save his dying land and mend a broken heart.

Count Stefan is a man simply trying to forget the woman he loves and save a land crippled by drought. When a mysterious woman arrives at his castle claiming to be a seamstress, he knows she is more than she seems.

Adela enlists the help of Damian, another faery, to try and delay the inevitable. He insists she has a choice. But with the witch controlling her every move, does she?

Goodreads link

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29085448-adela-s-curse

I have the privilege of reviewing this book. I've only read a little bit of it so far, but what I've seen of the worldbuilding is awesome, and I can't wait to get back into the book to finish it!

And now the cover.

And shall we all agree that this artist is much better than I am? 

WPFP Countdown - 7

7

Just seven days before the release of Water Princess, Fire Prince! Have you preordered your kindle copy yet?

So today, I'm going to share some of the concept art that I've drawn for WPFP over the years. I'm not the best of artists, but I make a valiant effort.

Thingishness, Water, and Fire

Greetings, peoples of the internet. Sorry I've been a bit absent this month. I've been busy with work and all things editing related.

First of all - if you look at my sidebar, you'll see two new features - a countdown timer until the release of Water Princess, Fire Prince (as much for me as for anyone else, because I'm notorious for loosing track of time) and a wordcount bar for book 2. As you can see, I'm not far in ... mostly because I randomly decided to start the story over (again) a few weeks ago. It's been brilliant, but word chipping isn't always the greatest bit of fun (especially when my mind is in editing mode.)

Second of all - I drew a map last night!

Not the most glorious thing in the world, certainly not on the level of Middle Earth ... but it's the general layout of Klarand, so far as I'm aware, and I like it. Now to just figure out how to get it IN the book!

Twelve Things You Didn't Know About The Rowa

There are twelve days in this party, so each day, I'm going to share twelve things about the featured book that I hadn't shared ever before.



1. At one point in Rowan worldbuilding, the girls got to move into their own houses when they were eighteen (cough, nine actually because of the way they counted their years). No, I'm not sure what my sister and I were thinking, because I'm looking at my nine-year-old cousin, and I would not give her her own house.

2. Infiltration is, to date, my only book with guns. Some of my sci-fis have phasers, and The New Division has some sort of laser, but only Infiltration has an actual gun. (This may change in later Rizkaland Legends, however.)

3. Magnol was partially based on a Chinese kid that I had a crush on at a time. He actually picked out the name.

4. I was acting out a scene with my sister and the cousin who inspired The Ankulen, which was really tense and involved Tiger's Ma not being in their village. And Tiger was panicking and wishing that her Ma was there, so Sweet Gum (the cousin) kept trying to go get her. And when I protested that she was too far away for that to be possible, he came up with a weird reason that I don't remember to say that he could.

5. V has actually written more individual stories about the Rowa, though, thanks to Infiltration, I have more words invested.

6. V had an elving costume. Granted, it was originally a hobbit costume, but it became a elving costume.

7. A story I wrote for Library thing to go with the picture above:

Tiger Lilly Grows a Tiger Lily.

Once upon a time in the Rowa there lived a girl named Tiger Lilly. Now yo may think you know all the breeds there is, but did you know about elvings? One day, her mother Dafidil, her, and her sister Mary Gold to go get some Dafidil bulbs, Tiger Lily bulbs, and Marigold seeds. On the way, they saw Spider Lilly and Snap Dragon. When they got there, she took the two bags of bulbs, and Mary Gold took the packet of seeds. When they got home, they planted them and waited till they grew and when they grew they were pretty.

8. Despite what the two pictures above would lead you to believe, it is Tiger who has hairy feet, while Mary prefers shoes.

9. Tiger at one time was a herbalist, knitter, and a baxter (female baker). I realized that having her good at everything (which is something I *cough* am) would be a bit unrealistic, so I cut back and only let her be an herbalist.

10. During the NaNo that I wrote Infiltration, I asked a fellow NaNoer to do up a cover for the book (because, apparently, that's what you do in NaNo forums.) This was the result. (And for the life of me, I can't remember who she was, or else I would give proper credit.

11. Tiger's Pa is a Scribe because I was trying to find an non-electronic occupation that "Computer Programmer" translates into. Although my dad does preach occasionally on Sunday nights (we don't have an official pastor at my church, so the men rotate), and he does have a radio show on Rapture Ready Radio, so it works.

12. One of Tiger's daughters will have the name Mem Mosa (my favorite flower) the other will have one of the rarest occupations in the Rowa - Finder. Which basically means they find things.

Of Cinders and Swords

I told ya'll that I would try to publish CinderEddy this week. It didn't happen, and honestly I'm not sure when it will happen. Don't get me wrong - it's all set to go, and I thoroughly intended to publish, but Amazon and I are having issues. I'm not certain what these issues are, but it appears to be some sort of policy change, and getting around it will require me getting my business in my name instead of my dad's. (Yes, I have a business - and there's a crazy story why ... No. I don't feel like telling it.) I may be able to circumvent it in the short run, though. You see, I'm trying to switch all my books over to my own Amazon account (Because I was sixteen when I started, I had to publish under my Mom's account), and it's my own account that's giving me issues. Mom's might not, haven't tried, and I may transfer CinderEddy back to her account soon. We'll see.

But despite that, I'm going to show you the cover art today, let you drool, and entice you with a few snippets.

First of all, because I'm cruel like that, here's the working cover art that I used for the original short story. Fun piece of trivia - that sword is taken from what was my attempt at drawing a better cover art for Sew, It's a Quest. Go any lower, and there's a "Book 1" on the pommel of that sword. Any higher, and you'll run into
a box with title information. Any further to the right, and you'll find a needle.

I'm actually quite proud of that mock cover. It's only problem is that I made that box with the title information too small.

Anyways, you didn't come here to talk about Bookania (because CinderEddy is not officially part of Bookania. I suspect that it is - on the same level that Tears, Frogs, and Laughter is, but it's not an official part of the series), you came to see the cover for CinderEddy.

Fine. I'll let you see it.

And yes, I used the exact same sword - I just ran it through more edits to make it look more professional. I'm quite fond of this myself.

Now for the blurb:

Edward, called CinderEddy by his stepbrothers, has been treated as little more than a servant ever since his mother died after her remarriage. When the Princess Elicia is kidnapped, however, his stepbrothers join the other knights attempting to rescue her, and Edward uses their absence to make his own attempt at her rescue. He doesn't expect to succeed, but somehow, he keeps finding himself on the right path.

I'm not quite as fond of that, but it explains the heart of the story. Let me know if it could use improvement though!

And now for snippets - however, since I just came from reading what would have been Kiri Liz's entry to the contest (Secret of the Hazel Tree. Like me, she hadn't finished the story in time to enter it, and unlike me, it was far too long anyways.), they kinda pale in comparison. I won't say that it is my new all-time favorite (Ella Enchanted holds that place irrevocably in my heart) but I think I now have a new second favorite. And the fun part is, our retellings both lean towards the Grimm's version of the story. (Mine is a very loose retelling, but while there's no official Fairy Godmother, it is while he's talking to his father's suit of armor that he decides to rescue the princess ... which is kinda like how Achenputten - Cinderella's name in the Grimm's version - received her dress from her mother's grave.) By the way, Kiri will be displaying this cover over at her blog as well.

But, snippets - Enjoy!

"Well!" exclaimed James. "Then we must begin at once - CinderEddy!" He turned sharply to face Edward, a frown appearing on his face. "You're dawdling."

"Well, I - I was eager to hear the news as well, Sir James." Since the twins' knighting, Edward had been forbidden to leave the Sir off of their names, though they had done little to deserve the titles.

"Do you hear that, John?" questioned James in a sneering voice, as he turned to look back at his brother. "He was eager to hear the news." Then he looked back at Edward and added, in a dangerous tone, "The news does not concern you, CinderEddy. What concerns you is your work."

Edward hastily looked back down and pulled at the nearest weed, wishing he could dare remind them of his mother’s status.

For some time after that, Edward just roamed up and down the halls, wondering what to do with himself in his new-found freedom. At last he came to a stop in front of where Sir Hector had set Sir Henry's armor on display - the armor that had always been the nearest thing to Edward to actually having his father. How often had he snuck down here as a child after a beating? Edward knew not.

He drifted into thought for a moment, then snapped back to attention, turning to face the armor. "So how does that sound? I'd take a horse as well, but I think that that would cause too much of a commotion."

Since he got no negative response from the suit of armor, he decided that the answer must be in the positive.

The Ankulen Cover Reveal!

We come at last to the day we've all been waiting for!

The day I post The Ankulen's table of contents! There aren't any spoilers in any of these, just some really nasty teasers. Don't be afraid to read them all. They're fun!

Prologue: In Which I Tell My Life Story as Homework
1. In Which Chris Shows Up and He and Tisha Confuse me
2. In Which I Acquire a Flashy Bracelet
3. In Which I Discover that My Imagination is Gray
4. In Which We have Frog Leg Soup for Supper
5. In Which I Help a Little Boy
6. In Which I Agree to Help Mermaids
7. In Which My Hand Gets Stuck at a Bad Time
8. In Which I Go Home For Lunch
9. In Which I Decide to Lone It
10. In Which I Meet a Jilted Knight
11. In Which I Encounter a Strange Castle
12. In Which I Discover Disturbing Things About Chris and Tisha
13. In Which I Dream
14. In Which Derek and Megan Become My Traveling Companions
15. In Which I Fix a Few Things
16. In Which Questions are Asked and Answered
17. In Which I Visit Queen Tailya and Ask the Old Woman for Advice
18. In Which Megan Makes an Offer and Derek Doubts
19. In Which I Have a Building Project
20. In Which We Party
21. In Which I Catch the Polystoikhedron and Derek Surprises Me
22. In Which We Are Given Swords of Light
23. In Which We Put Up a Good Fight, but I Still Get Eaten
24. In Which I Am Scarred for Life and New Friends Abound
25. In Which I Get a Few Happily Ever Afters
Epilogue: In Which My Life Does Not Return to Normal

Wait ... you didn't come here to read the table of contents (delightful surprise though it was)?

Ah, then you must have come to see my new author photo which my sister helped me get at VBS last week.

Kendra E. Ardnek  is the eldest daughter in a homeschooling family of four. She has been making up stories since an early age and published her first book, Sew, It's a Quest, when she was sixteen.

When she isn't writing, she's usually knitting, crocheting,  making swords out of paint-stir sticks, or looking up random facts. You can follow her writing adventures on her blog.

That's the Bio that's going on the back of the book. Delightful, isn't it?

Wait ... that's still not what you're here for? You want to see the cover? Oh, fine, I'll show it to you. I guess I did promise, didn't I?

This is the Kindle cover. The print will look a bit different, but I'm still fighting out issues with that one, so I'm not ready to reveal it yet. (Incidentally, I haven't been able to order the proof, either.)

Those are my arms on the cover. I couldn't find a redhead to pose for me. I did have a friend who, while she has more freckles than I do, doesn't have a terrible lot of them, and I did have her pose, but the pictures didn't come out well either had our freezer in the background (not a good background) or her arm was bent at an angle that looked weird.

So I had my mom take a picture of my own arms. I ran it through my special effects blender and here we are.

You can head over to Goodreads and mark it as to-read, if you like, since I've created a page.

Anyways, now that I have a cover, I can now reveal more about the blog party! (Including the button!)

Here it is in all it's glorious beauty. Feel free to steal it and post it on your blog. Link it to this post. I have, unfortunately, still not discovered that secret of making those code boxes.

We're going to have lots of fun, with a giveaway for a two e-copies of The Ankulen, a mad-lib, a "which character are you" quiz if I can put it together, a world-building activity, and other fun! There are two events that require prior involvement from you, my lovely readers.

First, I'd like to do a show of Ankulens. Ankulens are, you see, special pieces of jewelry that are capable of bringing imagination to life. Jen's is a bracelet, mine is an amethyst ring, my sister's is a pair of earrings. Just send me a picture of your "Ankulen" on you, (faces are not necessary unless its a nose ring and I seriously doubt that any of you have one of them), your name, whether you're a guy or a gal (if I don't already know already) and the name of one or ten of your worlds. Oh, and a link to your blog if you have one. (If you don't have a blog, don't worry about it.)

Second, Jen is looking for some blogs to interview her like I had Robin and Robert do. If you're interested in having her over to your blog, just email me.

My email's on my FAQ page, or you can use the Contact Me page on my Official Website.

And before I forget and this post becomes WAY too long, I had some of my friends posting the cover arts on their blogs and I gave them each the option of asking me a few questions about the book. Jack apparently didn't see the email telling her to ask me questions, so she has some trivia instead. They'll be posting over the course of today and perhaps tomorrow, so check back if they haven't posted yet.

Miss Melody Muffin
Kiri Liz
The Notebook Sisters
Abbey
Miss Jack Lewis Baillot
Lily Jenness

I also have a post on my mom's blog, and I pan to post on my sister's sometime today if I can figure out her google password. Oh, and Eowyn may be posting something, too!

Oh, and keep entering the world-building giveaway! I currently have six or seven entries, and all but two of them belong to Jack! I'm looking forward to seeing more of those lovely entries, and we only have half of August left!

The Saga of a Cover Art

I had never really considered the Cover art of Sew, It's a Quest during the plotting and writing process. Even the ideas my Mom suggested to me ... I didn't like.

So, when it came to time for me to order my proof copy from CreateSpace,  I really din't know what I wanted to do. The first cover art I tried was basically just text on a pink background. Legible, but not very appealing. Mom told me that I needed to get a picture.

I wanted a sword, but unfortunately, CreateSpace didn't have any in its stock photos, and I didn't have any in my possession. (Unless it was about three inches long, wooden, and attached to a Nutcracker) However, there was a really nice one with a path, so I settled on it, since the book was about a quest, after all.

I liked this over very much ... and it stayed my cover for about a year ... Until I discovered that there were about ten or so other books with almost the exact same cover. The only difference was the fact that I bothered to changed the text color to pink. (Default color on that template is olive green)

So I realized that I needed an original cover art.

First I tried drawing myself something.

This was actually my third attempt ... but the previous two were so bad I refuse to let them be seen. I really liked this picture ... but I made the text box too small, and it would have been difficult to attract readers with on Amazon.

So I decided to take drastic measures. In the middle of July (and where I live, it's very humid, which means that both heat and cold are amplified to insane levels) I donned a pair of khaki pants and my sister's leather jacket (didn't have one myself) and traipsed into the woods carrying my big stick and with my mother trailing behind with a camera. Afterwords, I pulled out my Picasa photo Editing program and played around.

Here are some of the results.

I then uploaded these to facebook and asked my friends, family and fans which one they liked best. (There were more ... some of which left much to be desired. I gave you the best ones here.)

And that's when Cousin Tenya decided to take pity on me. She asked to be sent the pictures we had taken, and she came up with what I have now. (Minus the sword. She added that later.)