alfreda89: 3 foot concrete Medieval style gargoyle with author's hand resting on its head. (Mascot)
alfreda89 ([personal profile] alfreda89) wrote2013-11-29 10:03 am
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Night Calls in eBook Revealed....

So, bowing to the professional knowledge of friends, we are having a cover change. The last one--this is my promotional budget. Instead of PR, we get new covers. Mitch Bentley, Atomic Fly Studios, and I would like to introduce you to the ebook cover for Night Calls. Mitch has Life, Interrupted this week, but will soon be back on the wraparound cover for the print edition of Night Calls (yes, she's holding a lantern, hence the light!) and the ebook cover for Kindred Rites. I hope you like it. The art will stay--Mitch may mess with the fonts more as he finalizes the wraparound.

This is the stab to make Alfreda very share-able. I'll be finishing up #3 (if no one else gets ill!) learning MS Office 2010 and also POD this coming month. If this doesn't work? Mundane job, no matter how mundane, and contemporary fantasy...among other things.

Have picked up the Crimson template from Book Design Templates--I'll be using that for Kindred Rites and Alfreda book three. Leah Cutter did the PDF for Night Calls. I will experiment with the finalized WORD document from Book View Cafe. Book Design Templates has a free ebook to help you use their templates, so that will figure into my reading this weekend!

Can Book View Cafe folk drop their Word docs into Book Design Templates with a minimum of fuss? If so, I suspect we will choose a template for a house style and run with it! The great experiment will begin this month, slowed only if I get a mundane job quickly.


Kimbriel-NightCalls414x552
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[identity profile] sheilagh.livejournal.com 2013-11-29 04:14 pm (UTC)(link)
SO GOOD!

[identity profile] alfreda89.livejournal.com 2013-11-30 02:58 am (UTC)(link)
Glad you like it. I hope teens are intrigued without adults being frightened off.

[identity profile] susan erickson (from livejournal.com) 2013-11-29 04:45 pm (UTC)(link)
I love the cover and layout, Not quite so sure about the anime model face, not my loving memory of how I pictured her. But hey! it works. Just a little "pretty, pretty".

[identity profile] alfreda89.livejournal.com 2013-11-30 02:57 am (UTC)(link)
The problem of combining file images, Susan--it's what he had that he thought he could make work. I will mention it to him for his choice of the figure for the next two books. I'm kinda at a loss here. I need to attract more (I hope positive) attention for the book. That wasn't happening with the first cover (which I liked a lot, and will use for a short story.)

I don't know if he can tweak it without it costing more than I can afford.

We forget that covers are marketing copy, not illustrations. If I win the MegaMillion tonight, I'll pay for illustrative covers for the other two books! ;^)

Cover Art

[identity profile] mitch bentley (from livejournal.com) 2013-11-30 07:16 pm (UTC)(link)
For this first book, we wanted to make the character young and appropriately of her time-period - she is not so much "coming into her own" as having responsibility and reality thrust upon her. I hope I captured enough of that coupled with her resoluteness - not fear but caution - to allow a connection with a young readership as well as regular adults. The next cover will see her more developed, more resolute and mature and used to having strength. I am reading the series myself so I can have a clear unified approach that will follow her development and really hint at the content without giving it away.

It is an unfortunate truism that each reader will likely visualize a main character in their own way, and it is always a necessary risk for the artist to create them - and you simply cannot please everyone!

Of course, this is really a joint visualization too - between myself and Katharine who has been a real pleasure to work with.
Ultimately, it's really about selling the book without unrealistic expectations, more than being absolutely locked into every tiny detail.

I just hope people find this intriguing enough! -Mitch Bentley
Edited 2013-11-30 19:36 (UTC)

Re: Cover Art

[identity profile] alfreda89.livejournal.com 2013-11-30 07:50 pm (UTC)(link)
I am holding the faith, Mitch!

We're looking for lots of new fans for Allie, everyone, and the other cover, although I really liked it, wasn't attracting them. That cover will become a short story cover, I hope.

I did hear from a very up-on-media artist friend about this cover, though--her comment made me realize why several other people have said "...she looks a little like a doll." My friend complimented us and said she thought it would attract teens with good memories of their "Bratz" dolls!

The Bratz dolls have large eyes, bow lips, and heart-shaped faces with a touch of strong jaw--exactly like the file art Mitch started with to create a figure for this cover. So that explains people who see a doll-like aspect to the figure.

The original cover for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was unabashedly for a book for kids, and yet adults heard about the book and picked it up. My hope is that word of mouth, plus the good reviews that already exist at places like Amazon, plus the excellent overall art of this cover will continue to encourage adults to try the books!
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