Bannister's Way and a new cover

Bannister's Way has been one of the toughest books to come up with a cover. It's set in the art world of a small liberal arts college in Oregon. Much of it takes place at the heroine's home on the Tualatin River, very much a Moon River kind of river. Other scenes are in a classroom or studio. Trying to come up with a cover, especially since the hero soon finds out, what life drawing means-- and if you are an artist, you know. 

The hero was a secondary character in Desert Inferno :). This scene is him remembering when he first arrived for this job. He and his partner have a fun bromance (something I always like writing). 

    Over a quick lunch at a small cafe, Vance, who'd done the advance work and set up the situation, had grinned as he had told David, “I found you a way in.” 
   “Let’s hear it.” David had sipped the strong coffee while checking his Blackberry for emails. 
   “It’s a natural.” David had looked up. Something about Rich’s face had told him this wasn’t going to be good. 
   “And?” 
   “As an artist’s model. Classroom work and private sessions for a sculptor.” 
   “Not a chance.” 
   “It’s not like you could come in as a professor. Give me a break and don’t be so selfish. This was the only way, and it took some work setting it up.” Rich’s look had been aggrieved. David hadn't bought it. 
   “There has to be another way.” 
   “It’s your ex’s drawing class. She’s the sculptor.” 
   David had clenched his jaw but hadn’t tried to explain to Rich how many ways this idea bothered him. He’d always found his supposed good looks to be more detriment than advantage. The idea of students watching him, drawing him, painting him… Geesus. And then there was his ex-wife. She’d be there seeing him in the weakest possible light. There had to be another way. 
   “You do it. I’ll stay outside this time.” 
   “I’m not the type for a model. Too many doughnuts. You work out all the time for tense nerves, but it’s paid off on the body too. Come on, you know it makes sense. It gets you inside, lets you be where you can look for what the cops missed. There will be something there, you’ll find it, and we’ll be out of here with another brilliant solution to a cold case.”

Moon Dust and a new cover

One of the aspects to publishing your own books is the need to come up with covers that depict the story in a way that will entice a reader to look at the sample and then buy the book. I've tried quite a few different images for Moon Dust with nothing quite saying all I wanted.

The book is complicated because it's about a marriage on the rocks as well as about sexual abuse and its adult ramifications. The hero is a high school principal who is dealing with militia driven youth gangs. I labeled it romantic suspense but it is also emotional suspense. It's not hard to see why romance readers turn their noses up at it. Many are looking for a relaxing read. Although I believe Moon Dust is a positive book, it does deal with difficult subjects. 

Recently I came across an image that inspired me to try a new cover for it. Don't ask me how many this book has had. The new one depicts the conflicted emotions of the hero and heroine, and it's set in the new apartment the heroine has acquired. She is looking to recreate herself after she opts to leave her marriage-- even though she still loves her husband. 

I went looking through CanStock for an apartment and found the perfect one for my interior decorator heroine. Unfortunately, I couldn't use the whole image as book covers are vertical, but I wanted to share it here as I think it'd be great for a downtown apartment, which is where she moved when she left her husband. It says a lot about the new her.

I have always had two sides to me. One would love a very modernistic room like this one. The other wants a rustic cabin in the mountains. While I'd love an apartment in downtown Portland where I'd look out at the lights of the city and see Mt. Hood in the distance, I also love my country life, where we raise livestock.

This is the new cover with an attempt to show the conflict and love between these two people who will have to not only fight for their marriage but also for survival.

 As part of reintroducing the book, I also created a new video for it on YouTube. I do trailers for all my books. Sometimes, as I get a better way of showing the book, the trailer needs a redo also-- Moon Dust Trailer.

Changes to Sky Daughter and about covers

I tried this image in my blog, 'Romances with an Edge' for the buy links. It never made it to an actual cover... although....

It might seem, what with marketing a new historical novella, the Oregon historicals needing a final edit before coming out March 21 (tentative date), and a future novel to work out preliminary details and do research, that a book, which never sold well would not be on my to-do list.  

Sky Daughter, which I wrote in 2002, was a book whose characters I especially liked (hero, heroine, villain, and some wonderful elders) as well as its plot. Ironically I held it back to be one of the last contemporaries I ePublished because I thought it was one of my best. It combined many elements into what I considered as a strong story. It did have one reviewer who felt the same way: 

"SKY DAUGHTER is Rain Trueax's best, most thrilling romance novel. I feared for Maggie and the man who entered her life from the first to the end. The characters were trapped in a situation that is close to reality which makes the story more interesting and profound. One of the most basic quotes from the book is Maggie's words. "Fear makes people do bad things." This book will be most appreciated by women who like female characters who learn to use their own power to fight for their rights and male heroes who are more than just beautiful on the outside."

Sky Daughter

This is now 2½ years later and before giving it a shot at success in Select and KU, I decided it needed a new cover. The fact that it never sold a lot of books may have nothing to do with the cover. Covers are supposed to fit the book, give a clue to what a reader will find. In a book with a lot of elements, which one do you use on the cover? Romance? Paranormal? Family? Nature? Hero? Heroine? Both?

The heroine of Sky Daughter has come to her grandfather's Idaho mountain as a way to heal from disappointments and tragedies. She loves nature and was taught that by her grandmother who died years before. The thing is she didn't really know that grandmother -- at least not as well as she thought. Besides healing and growing into her own power, she finds mystery, danger, and love.  

When I wrote the book, I debated whether to make the spiritual power real or what some assume is real by tricking their minds or even using their own energy. I did research regarding experiences others had with monsters and unexplainable, frightening spirit beings. I then opted for the real deal. It was my first paranormal/fantasy with Diablo Canyon (made up of three novellas: When Fates Conspire, The Dark of the Moon, and Storm in the Canyon) following 12 years later. All of these stories are set into what feels like a real world but it's what you don't see at first look that are at their heart.

Below are Sky Daughter's many covers and the approximate order in which I tried them, with the reasons why each was eventually replaced.

In 2012, when it came out, my first attempts were painted by me. I like painting people, and this was at the point I was still naive enough to believe readers would like that. They saw it as amateur-city. It was about then that I realized, if I wanted to do my own covers, I would have to buy model images, using my photos as backgrounds. 

I could have turned those first model images painterly, but actually once I had the people, I kind of liked them. The first choices didn't do any better for attracting readers.

If showing the couple wasn't going to work, I decided to use the woman alone (and by the way, those aren't the original titles for these two. Most of the first covers were deleted awhile back with keeping only their basic images. I put the titles on them to protect them from being used by someone else. Yeah, that does happen). I was kind of going back to my first concept but with real models. The heroine went through a lot of stages as the book progressed; so I opted to try different phases.

Nice covers but didn't do any better. 

Because the book has sensuality in it... yeah, it's spicy, I thought maybe a spicier cover will work.

By this time, it is obvious I had no idea what would work, but I was into playing with images... I admit, that there's been a little of that all along. Anyway, I found creative images I liked at CanStock and bought them-- going for a little artier look.

Much as I liked the last one, it was too cluttered for a cover. I am keeping the one above it for the paperback but decided when the book went into Select and KU for the Kindle, I would give it a different emphasis and create a cover I liked-- as clearly, I had no idea what would appeal to a potential reader. 

The final cover is made from an image I bought from CanStock last year, with no idea how I'd use it. Below is a spider web. I think the two show the love my heroine has for nature, the land she has claimed now for her own, but also the trap that lingers waiting for her. I do think it's the last cover the Kindles will see. In the end, every cover has to satisfy me first... well and my publisher. This one does that (he did the titles).

Some might think that this long string of failures must be depressing-- all these attempts and none worked. But I am also a visual artist. For me, creating covers is play. Yes, I could have bought someone else's covers, but I want them to be my concepts, my art, my philosophy behind my books (with one exception, the cover for Diablo Canyon). When I am writing, it's fun to get a break. Doing covers or trailers is recreation.

What kind of cover do you prefer? Will a cover lead you to read a sample of the book or turn you off totally?
 

images and chest hair-- or not

When creating covers, one of the things that both amuses and frustrates me is finding male images where the men have hair on their chest-- even a little bit. That royalty free images generally do not is a testament to waxing, shaving, male modeling, body building, and who knows what else as it's sure not about reality for men's bodies.

Yes, metrosexuals might wax, but real cowboys, loggers, men who work with their hands, very few of them do (as in I have not known any). Most movie stars likewise still have hair on their chests. 

Remember the guy below and his popular television show? Oh probably not if you are young (Clint Walker and he played Cheyenne from 1955-1963). I suspect he played a role in how many western writers still write about the tall, black haired western hero ;). His show almost always had him taking off his shirt for one reason or another. None of us complained :). I will admit when I was 13, I thought I'd marry him someday. Then I found out he was already married. A major disappointment!

So finding men with bristle on their jaw, that's easy but on their chests... not so much. Yes, it's true some men have very little chest hair, but all men, by nature, have some. I recently saw Dirty Dancing again and Patrick Swayzee had a great body in it, several shirtless scenes, and I had to look hard to see if he had chest hair-- he did. Just not a lot.

Even Native American men had chest hair, but genetically they had little. Many of the tribes plucked their chest hairs-- maybe because they were into body paint for battle. Could that explain the hairless men of the royalty free sites?

Maybe this is because young women like smooth hairless chests. To me, likely a testament to my own age, I like chest hair although I wouldn't particularly like it heavily covering the whole body.

Some object to the covers of romances having bare-chested men period and find especially negative the need for so much muscular definition. Well men do have muscular definition, at least those who work hard for a living. What they do not have are waxed and oiled chests. I am all for muscular chests... but for my book covers, give me some chest hair please? 

When Jimmy Thomas, one of the models for book covers, said he'd be putting out some images with hair because he'd had an injury and was unable to model for awhile-- hence had not waxed, I was waiting and bought two different ones. Currently this is not on any of my covers, but someday it'll be the inspiration :). To me, hair on a man's chest is manly. Why is that not more popular for book covers???

The art of the cover

Probably it seems I talk about covers more frequently than some might think I should, but they are so important to a book. They also are one of those areas where opinions come fast and furious. I see the issue of covers both from the perspective of reader and writer. 

As a reader, a cover might attract my interest, get me to read a blurb, but it will never lead to my purchasing the book-- or not. I've bought books where I hated the cover. I've seen gorgeous covers; but after reading blurbs, I cannot bring myself to buy the book-- sometimes regretfully because a cover can be beautiful and oh-so tempting. For me, the cover can get my foot in that writer's door, but that's all. From what I've read, that's not true for all readers. Some do buy/not buy a book based on the cover.

The arguments go from there to what should be on that cover. One writer claimed no stock royalty free images are good. They are either overused or not that effective. She had found someone to pose for her camera. She felt it was the best solution if someone cannot afford to pay a professional model. Since it was a family member, she does not have to worry about royalties although I imagine she still uses a contract even then just to be sure it doesn't arise as an issue somewhere down the line if the book becomes a huge seller. 

Having a model pose requires a couple of things-- one they have to look like the heroine/hero the readers expect as well as the characters in your book. Basically they better be good looking (or at least interesting looking) for romances-- and then willing to show up on a romance book cover where others will see it. I think to that end, it'd help if they liked your type of writing.

So from the people on the cover, another argument goes that you should never do your own. You should go to a graphics designer who either sells you a pre-made cover, which you have chosen from their catalog or you pay more to find someone who will work with you and create something that fits your story more specifically.

Up until recently I had never thought I'd use a cover by a graphics artist. I like doing my own. I enjoy playing with images. Yes, I do put money into purchasing those images, but since I can also use them in blogs and other places, I get a lot of images for what it'd cost me to buy one cover. Besides, I have felt I know my characters better than anybody else. 

But I have been known to change my mind when new information comes along as happened on this issue. A writer I know, this year began designing covers-- [Charlene Raddon, aka., Jenneta Dodge or maybe that is vice versa]. She offered a free one to a few writers. My first thought was I didn't have a need for any covers at the moment (boy was I wrong about that but that's another story). 

Then I remembered Diablo Canyon which would put together the three novellas. I had had a rough idea for its cover; but to be honest, my idea was pretty bland and I hadn't taken it farther. What had complicated this cover-- three love stories, fantasy elements, ranch life, Montana,  Native American history, and mythology. How do you get that all across? I mentioned it to her, and she told me look at her sample pages -- 

Cover Ops

The page she meant for me to see wasn't coming up at the time; but when I looked through the rest, I saw the perfect cover. It had a mystical look, suggested the Native American connection, had mystical looking eyes looking down from a cloud, and showed land which suits some of what I have seen south of Billings, Montana (if you add in a little fantasy to the mix). I fell in love!

Yes, I like doing my own covers. It's play for me, but she had created something that I don't see myself able to do short of copying her work. I don't like to copy work. So it will be my first book with a cover done by a cover artist.

This cover also changed my mind about only bringing this book out as a paperback. It will be both-- oh and then there is that added spice ;). I cannot say the cover was why I did that. Maybe it's that muse of mine that thought it'd be a good shift.

One of my previous resistances to buying a cover (besides my books not selling enough to pay for that) has been how many times I have changed some of mine.I don't think that will be a problem for Diablo Canyon. I can't imagine any cover doing a better job suggesting nature, mysticism and that Native American thread.

Where to see her covers and get more information:

facebook-- darn good book covers 

cover ops

 

She also does blog design if you want to spiff up your blog:

Elegance Blog Designs

Diablo Canyon

As I mentioned in the previous blog, things come along to change my mind on many things. I do not consider myself wishy-washy, but I am one of those who loves nuance and likes being flexible. I can decide something is going to happen and then change my mind when new information comes along. In some ways I am the ideal Aquarius, open to the new world and changes. Except in reality I am not an Aquarius, not even in minor elements of astrology. What I am though is a Libra and most Libras are also open to changes as they are often dabbling in this or that and curious about the supernatural.

cover by Jenetta Dodge (Charlene Raddon)

This kind of change came along with my fantasy novellas after I decided  they would be published as a trilogy-- Diablo Canyon. I had decided they would be in one book as a paperback but was in no hurry to see them put together. 

Also I didn't have in mind changing them at all for that compilation. In the novellas I had deliberately chosen to leave out sex mostly because in a novella, you are pushed to get a complex story told using less words. A book length isn't so particular. When I put them together, I decided to give my characters a fuller romantic experience. For readers who prefer closing the bedroom door on such goings on, the novellas will stay as they were.

More about the cover coming next blog but it was a factor in changing my mind on making Diablo Canyon into an eBook as well as paperback. I liked a cover from Jenneta Dodge, aka., Charlene Raddon, at her site [http://cover-ops.blogspot.com/]. When I decided on it, I wanted the book to be more widely seen than a paperback was likely to be.

These three novellas, are set in the ranchland around Billings, Montana to tell a story of life and spirit. It's about what is or might be and how much do we really know about the world we cannot see. For those who don't think such a world exists, how about atoms, subatomic particles, what is out there in space ;)? There is a lot where we take someone's word for its existence or go by the effects that are seen!

So, part one is about whether there fairness in life and what happens when we die, using two couples who are struggling to find their happily ever after while tragedy seems ever ready to put a period to their existence. 

Through all three stories, there are two spirit guides, Remus and Justus, who are attempting to communicate with their charges and make their lives better. When fates conspire is that possible?

In The Dark of the Moon, the story advances a year and a half with a new hero and heroine. The questions explored here get more into what can we really see of the spirit world. Are there those who can communicate with the 'other' side? It is also more about the ranch world as well as when something threatens us is it always physical? Can we make assumptions as to what it is that block us from actually dealing with it?  

The trilogy is wrapped up in Storm in the Canyon when three powerful women of different generations will be matched with three powerful men, all with their own secrets, their own destinies. It is about power and why do some want it? How can we change our world? By this time, the main characters have long since learned life is more complex than most humans assume. This love story is one of two people litterally from different worlds and times.

All three are romances, stories of adventure, fantasy, but they also explore the way our actions have consequences. Some do't look beyond the immediate and pay a high price for their short-sightedness.  Diablo Canyon, as many believe other vortexes do, has been drawing power to itself through natural events, which are now being used by timeless beings with a desire to retake their power. 

Each of these stories takes the question of what is real one step farther into the unknown. I label them fantasy or paranormal but they are pretty metaphysical in that I have heard from one person or another that pretty much anything I have happen-- can and has-- but it's not the norm with which we live. 

One key point to Diablo Canyon is-- just be aware of what is around you, listen to others, pay attention to history. That little second sight, the times you look back-- sure someone was there but there isn't-- maybe there was.

I suppose here's a good place to add that I, like Myra in the second of the three books, had an imaginary playmate as a child. I knew his name and told my parents-- which gave them concern, as many parents would feel. I then quit seeing him. But that doesn't mean he isn't still there and helping me with my stories when he thinks I need a nudge. ;) 

Trailer:  http://youtu.be/h5AfRZbalLQ

 



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revamping yet another cover

Yes, I've read of the agony of the struggling writer-- how each book is wrung from them with blood and sweat. I confess. I have love and have fun writing. I enjoy creating covers. What I hate is accepting they won't be liked-- yes, it's a conundrum to do something you love and know others won't love it also. 

When my books aren't selling, it's enough to sometimes make me want to cry. I stop and remind myself this is creative work. It is the reward just to be able to do it. Don't ask for it to be appreciated by others, but in reality we all want our work to be liked. It's unrealistic not to admit that. 

Creating covers is a lovely break from thinking about the harder aspects of marketing. They are also, however, part of marketing. So with recently purchased new images, I took a hard look at my existing covers. Could any be made better?

Better means more adequately tell, in one image, the story within the book. That is the object of covers. They are meant to attract as flowers do bees. They must though depict what is within, or they are cheating the potential reader. Putting up a cover that looks wonderful, the type that has sold many books, when it has nothing to do with the book, is unfair and as a writer-- unsatisfying.

From Here to There was one of the books to which I looked. That poor book. It has had so many covers-- the most of any of mine-- a few of its rejected covers. 

I love its story, plot, characters. It is about human relationships, several kinds, and the world of cattle raising. But one cover after another didn't get that across. Well, there is no use crying over spilt milk--onward and upward is my motto-- both likely cliches. (One I took from a friend who used it often). 

So when I re-edited that book, I decided to once again look at its cover. What could I use instead of what I have tried? The most recent one represented the western cowboy-- a major theme of the book. I liked it but can't say it was helping sell the book.

Part of the problem possibly was-- what does this cover say in regards the romance? The guy on the cover looks like the hero in the book. That was a plus. He also illustrates the underlying theme of ranch life. But was that really enough?

Looking at the book itself and its deeper themes, what did that cover do for illustrating them? It's about the modern west, cowboys, ranch living, illusions and how sometimes what we think is not real turns out it is. It's about families, relationships, love, sexuality, animals, and how we can do what we must-- with enough motivation. Obviously I can't get all that onto a cover.

I went looking through my images, found one I had bought just because I loved it with no idea how I could use it. Next I looked for images that could represent the hero and heroine. I found one that had the right look and only took a little adjusting to look like them. 

The next step was playing around to see how I could put the two images together in a way that depicted the energy and love of the West.

Will it help attract readers? I have no idea, but it definitely does the book more justice in terms of beauty and vitality. For readers who hate the very idea of romances, it will ward them off. For someone who would enjoy a romance that offers two stories of how love can come together, one told through an old journal, well that part I could not get onto the cover or it'd be cluttered. You just cannot get it all one one cover... I don't think anyway. 

That wasn't the end of rethinking covers. At this point, I was taking an art break before my next editing job (three books I have not decided to  ePublish) before getting back to finishing writing fourth in that series (Oregon historicals). 

behind the covers

cover by Jennetta Dodge 

This blog is about book covers and the images behind them. Both are much on my mind because this month I've been engaged in picking out photos from a site that offers royalty free images through credits or subscriptions. Since winter, I have put together five covers for new books (two out and three to go). Make that six covers as one of them, after making what I thought would be the cover, I changed my mind. Actually that does not count the ones I changed on books already out.

cover by Jennetta Dodge

Although the covers here were done by a professional, I do my own for several reasons and cost is only one of them. I enjoy playing working with images. I know my characters better than anyone else, and I like my covers to reflect what my hero/heroine look like. I also change my mind sometimes for what a cover should say. Twice that happened because of reader complaints. Sometimes it's all about me when I look at a cover and decide it doesn't tell the story as well as it could-- and a cover should tell the story.

I won't argue with those who say a graphic artist can do them better. But for me, doing them is part of writing my stories. There are those who say I would sell more books if I bought covers. I don't know. I won't say that someday I might not put it to the test and buy a cover like one of these gorgeous ones by Charlene Raddon who sells them under her pen name-- Jennetta Dodge.

cover by Jennetta Dodge

Charlene/Jennetta has long been doing covers but only this spring turned it into a business. I think she has a knack for finding interesting model photos. And having spent a lot of time looking for such, since I got into ePublishing, I know how expensive, time consuming, tiring, and difficult that can be. 

Under her pen name, Jennetta Dodge, she has created spirited, complex, beautiful, and very tempting covers for readers and authors. She said when one is sold, she will put the author's title and name onto the cover, send it to them, and take it out of her catalog. Check the links for more about her images.

Facebook-- Covers

  more of the covers.

I think it's pretty universally agreed that the right cover is a big part of selling a book. It is important it fits its genre but also that it attracts the eye. A good cover tells a story; and if that story looks like one a reader wants, it might just be the one thing that gives the writer a chance to have them read their words.

For my own covers, the royalty free images I purchase are generally of people and animals. Literally I have looked through thousands of images--some professional models and some just someone who thought it'd be fun to put their photos out on a sell site. I buy what I know I need for what I've already written, but am always interested in images that might inspire a new book.

While I am looking for the right people, I am also considering the right background for each book. My backgrounds usually are strong parts of the cover because of how I see the land in my stories. To me, landscape is another character. So along with wanting the right couple, who seem to fit my story, I look for the right background. 

Backgrounds have, so far, all come from my own photos as I haven't seen many images at any site that I like as much as the ones we have taken on trips-- and all my stories are set in the American west-- contemporary or historical

For this blog, I decided to create an example of how that works-- which may or may not ever become part of a cover or end up in a trailer. I opted for one that might fit into the Arizona story coming out in July. Great saguaros, interesting mountain-- totally bland sky.

Again from my own photos (other than lightning-- I buy those), I found a sky better suited for that scene. I took it from the moving truck as we were driving to Arizona on one of our trips. Those hills are in California and as you go over the first ridge of them toward the Mojave.  It was a phenomenal sky for interesting clouds. Sometimes I like a stormy sky but not this time because of the lighting on the cacti.

To create a cover, I start with a blank canvas, created in the desired size-- 2500x1566 pixels for an eBook and 8.75"x5.75" for a paperback (and the paperback has to leave space for the publisher to crop-- nothing important goes right up to the edge as it can with an eBook). 

On that white canvas, I lay my re-sized sky, move it around until I find the part I like best. The sky photo was gorgeous from end to end, but I opted for the feathery cloud-- interesting and this book does have a Native American theme. Sometimes the sky is the most important part of the picture, and I would keep most of it making the landscape secondary. In this case, I don't consider that the case.

I had to sacrifice with the landscape also. I gave up the biggest, most beautiful saguaro to keep the mountain. It is possible sometimes to bring the two together. You can do some adjusting with changing dimensions but watch out that it doesn't end up looking stretched-- that does your image no favor. 

In the first image, I went in and cut the land away from the sky, did a copy, and laid it onto the new sky-- again playing with what looked most balanced. I could be doing this for my photography, but I don't like changing what I saw when it's meant as a landscape photo. The fad for over photo-shopping photographs just ruins them in my eyes. But for a cover, well anything is fair.

If the image is intended for a cover, I'd normally then find the hero and heroine and set one or both into it. That has its own complications for making sure they are the right size. For mine, they are generally in the foreground and should be dominant which might mean a little fading out of the background to give them that dominance.

In a trailer, something like the image above might not have people as it would more be about atmosphere, getting the right vibe, and setting a stage. Trailers have around 4 seconds for the viewer to look and you don't want to crowd it with a lot of words or images.

A consideration in the background is also leaving room for readable text. So by the time I actually have one I like, I will have spent a fair amount of time and some money for any purchased images. 

One other thing about making your own covers and trailers-- every image I have bought hasn't been used; which means it's not as saving of money as one might think. Some might show up in a future book, some never be seen; but since for me doing covers is fun, I consider this my chance to do art and play. I also find sometimes seeing a particular face can be inspiring and give me an idea for a future book

Last step in creating a cover comes when I have the image put together and exactly as I want it-- fonts. That's where I turn it over to my husband and publisher. He has a good feel for fonts. I approve them to be the size and color I want, to not cover up anything critical-- like a hot male chest-- but mostly I like what he has learned to do. Then they're off and hope that they will be liked by potential readers.

It was a week for...

Last week was an interesting/different time. We drove to the Oregon Coast to spend a few days with friends. The four of us have been doing this pretty much yearly for more than a few. Farm Boss met him before meeting me. I met her when he began dating her. We go back fifty years with a lot of shared experiences. Fun to spend time with people with whom you have a long, positive history.

This year when we began to make our arrangements for going in December, we learned our favorite house was being remodeled and was not available, would no longer be what it had been. We had loved it for its eclectic decor, odd placement of rooms, kitchen, etc.  It had the best view of wildlife that I know of on the Oregon Coast as it overlooked a small cove with tidal pools, lots of birds, and seals. We could sit by a window and just watch for what birds would fly by. My favorites were the pelicans as I love how they soar in a long line, evenly spaced, just above the sea. So we were disappointed in its loss. The lady who had arranged our yearly jaunts in the past suggested another we might like. We made our reservations based on photos and her recommendation.  

That was set for mid December but the other couple got sick. We postponed it for early March since we had a lot of other activities to work around. Even that had to be rescheduled due to a conflict. Finally we made it last week, and it was great. The weather could not have been better-- 60s and sunshine to start although it grayed up the last day. By then we were packing up.

The house was a delight because it had been the home of an artist who made every corner of it into something special. It's amazing how much you can tell about the personality of someone through their gardens and home even when they have been dead eleven years, and their home is now a vacation rental. I'll be writing more about it for the other blog. Well, I might here later if I run down a little on the rest of what I've been doing-- which right now is all about writing and promoting.

The new Arizona based historical romance is starting off well. I got the first two chapters before we left but am rewriting and adding to my research as to what went on in Arizona in 1899-- hint: a lot. A lot of planning is happening in my head right now. I put off writing it when at the beach as I wanted to 'be' there totally. Besides, when I am taking a lot of photos (and I was taking a lot), I like to download and sort as I go. I also enjoyed good conversation time, food, watching the surf, and I figured the internal musing will be all to the good when I start in again this week.

Then came our return to the farm (all was well there) and Saturday when I had agreed to take part in an 'event' at Facebook which one of the writers for the anthology had done the work of setting up. I'd never done anything like it; so had no idea what to expect. I can't say I wanted to do it, but it was part of team playing. I knew I could, and I should.

When I took my own hour, I wasn't sure there'd be anybody there (other than my friend who said she'd come). I don't have the network some of these writers have. Some of that is my own doing. I don't do an email newsletter. I do a blog and blogs don't necessarily give you a list of people to invite to an event. I guess they could; but since I have never done the follower thing for any of my blogs,I haven't developed any lists-- and even if I had, not sure how many would be readers of my novels.

Fortunately there were enough who came to my hour and were very interactive, helping the event to work. I had prepared some things to write about but didn't use them with the way it developed. It was handy that I'd once done chat rooms as the whole thing went very fast, and it was a challenge to keep up.

I don't know how the anthology will do. I am insecure regarding how romance readers will like my own short story which is not exactly traditional for romances-- no boy meets girl and a couple who are in their 40s (adding it's about a psychic which might make some uncomfortable). That's the drawback to a cooperative kind of anthology. You are trying to put out something you will feel proud of, that depicts your writing, but also that will help the overall sales. How can you know it will when it doesn't have a publisher to say yea or nay? Anyway I did it and did the promotion. So we'll see about the rest. I hope the anthology does well for all those who put so much work into it happening.

On the week-end, we spent time trying to get a better cover for When Fates Conspire. We tried several before we got the right combo after I have no idea how much revisions. This first cover, for what will be a trilogy (each standing alone), had been particularly hard to figure out due to the complexity of its plot-- fate, consequences of actions, spirit guides, star-crossed soul mates and finally is there really anybody out there.

The second novella is written but not yet edited. I will edit it when I finish the historical's rough draft. I like to have some time between writing something and going back over it. I think it'll be out in late April and its cover is already done, much easier for what it took to create it.

There is one drawback to the new cover-- my husband has figured out how to do complex fonts... and it's making all the other covers jealous...

Finally, where it came to my first paperback, we discovered a disaster and I don't use the word lightly. It was the book where my husband learned how to do them (he does all my publishing). Through the idiosyncrasies of Word and CreateSpace, there had been some major glitches in formatting. And when I say major, I mean major. No paragraph indents when they had been there. Changing of fonts within paragraphs. I literally had no idea until a friend wrote to tell me what she had seen. Ack! That was not good news. I think it took my husband eight hours to get it fixed [finding conflicting style masks and buried codes]... I am just glad she told us as I hadn't checked-- irresponsible of me to say the least, but you know when you are writing, you are onto the next thing. Well, it's fixed now and when it comes back up, it will have no glitches.

in the family room at the beach house

So last week was a mix of good and bad. Wonderful time with friends. Intriguing beach house full of discoveries. Great opportunities for wave photographs. Followed by enjoyable time with the Facebook event-- even if I had worried about it-- but then that paperback goof, the need to redo a cover-- even with good results in redoing it. Questions of whether my short story holds up its own in the anthology (was it the story one reviewer said they disliked out of them all?) Will mine drag down ratings based on romance reader expectations? I have no clue, of course, but when you write something on your own, you are the only one who suffers if readers don't like it. That's not the case with an anthology.

Based on a lifetime of my own experiences, that's how the creative life is-- just not always crunched together in one week!.

writing reviews

Besides writing, fooling around with images for blogs or trailers, having a life, I also follow a couple of threads about writing. One of them was, for awhile, discussing reviews-- most especially those of books. There are a lot of quotes out there about reviews.

"The bitter truth we critics must face is that, in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is more meaningful than our criticism designating it so."    food critic-- Anton Ego from movie Ratatouile.

"I have learned not to read reviews. Period. And I hate reviewers. All of them, or at least all but two or three. Life is much simpler ignoring reviews and the nasty people who write them. Critics should find meaningful work."   author-- John Grisham

"I get terrible reviews everywhere I go."   musician and singer-- Harry Connick, Jr. 

The discussion I'd been reading in the forums was started by the author, Anne Rice. It was intended as a place for authors where she would share what she had learned about editing and writing (generous I thought). One of the subjects that arose was reviews and how important they can be to the reader in making a choice. Reviews, especially on Amazon are regarded as very important.

Now for me, I don't buy books based on them, but how much should they impact? How many people do them?  Publishing houses understand their value and send out promotional books ahead of a book's arrival to hopefully get good reviews from other authors in their house and especially well-known authors.

When anyone buys a book from Amazon (or CD or DVD) they are asked to do a review but how many take that time? What is the benefit of ordinary people, not those educated to it, writing reviews of what they liked or did not? For that matter-- what educates someone to be a professional reviewer? Are they English majors or just someone who can write satirical articles? Admittedly, personal preference cannot be wrong but as soon as you do a review, you (pro or amateur) are telling someone else what you think in order to influence their own purchases, right?

Writers of books, especially indie books, want reviews and they want them whether they are positive or negative. Reviews mean someone cared enough to take time out of their day to express their opinion. Most readers will never do them. I rarely did one in the past and don't do a lot now-- of course some of that is because right now I have little time for pleasure reading.

My books have gotten very few reviews but anytime they do, it means a lot to me. I've had a few where the review is lukewarm, none really negative (so far), but when they say why they feel that way, I can learn from it-- painful as it might sometimes be.

Recently I had another review for one of my books that criticized its cover. That is NOT the first time that cover has been criticized in a review. It led to my redoing it now several times. It might though be the new cover won't please them either.

From Here to There is a romance but it's not just a romance between a man and woman but also of the West as it was and is. I just could not, and believe me I have tried, do a cover that showed a couple for that book. Nothing ever really worked to satisfy me and the readers. Yes, this is one I worked on but just didn't meet the mark.

My covers have many people on them, a few of just a person, but but this one has seemed it should be of the West where it is set. This book is, as one of my readers said, a novel with a romantic emphasis. I think that's a fair assessment.

So I did redo the cover (at the top of this blog), but left it a western scene of the mountains and beauty of Montana. After all, it's why this romance exists-- not only to discuss why so many of us love the West, but how realistic is our view of it? It is shown through a romance with a couple (two actually) learning the lessons first hand.

That reader review led to my looking again at my cover, seeing the font wasn't that good and deciding maybe a different western image would work better. But will it satisfy the next reader? Maybe-- maybe not. I do know though if you read someone's book, buy a CD or view a DVD where you can review it, please consider doing so. It does matter. It's not the end all and be all why someone like me is a writer, but it's a sweet perk.

a little history

My history with eBooks goes back to December 2011 when, with some trepidation, I brought out the first contemporary romance. Actually it goes back nine months earlier as that's when I began fine tuning books I had written over a lifetime-- plus creating covers. I had ten contemporary romances, the last of which was out the end of June 2012.

Some of those books made it into the top rankings (33, I think was the highest) of western or suspense contemporary romances but that was a lot due to having free days once in awhile. That used to increase Amazon rankings.It took me awhile to get the message that when a book would have say 1500 free takes over two days, then sell maybe 10, it wasn't working out to be a good idea.

Worse, people would tell me that a book looked good-- but they were going to wait for it to be free. I think that worked better for those who had a series of interconnected books where the first book would lead to sales of the others. Mine, although I had some sharing characters, were stand alone books and not series.

Learning as I went, I continually worked to improve covers, extended one book's length when I had to re-title it since the original title (one I liked) led readers to expect erotica-- and it wasn't.  I also wrote a novella to finish out 2012 (Christmas story connected directly to From Here to There), while I continued to debate what to do with my historicals.

One thing I learned from this-- the only free books will go to friends or someone who might review the book. No more thousands at a time. Even if I still thought it was smart, I learned Amazon changed their system of ratings and free books didn't increase rankings-- only sales get your books into the upper echelons where they can be seen by more readers. It might seem writers want sales for the money, but it's important as a way to get rankings where books can be seen in searches.

Free books had another drawback as it began to create a mentality among Kindle readers that all they wanted was free. It's pretty obvious a writer cannot make a living at writing (not that many do) if they don't sell books. Like duh! But worse, you can give away thousands and still find your book disappearing into Amazon's black hole without regular sales. That's just the way the cookie crumbles-- or something like that.

 

Original concept to be cover for Sam and Abigail before I found out how disdainfully readers viewed artist painted covers. I still like it a lot-- but reality is a writer has to please the potential reader more than themselves. Readers saw a cover a writer painted as being amateur which meant by that reckoning that the book would be also.

So while I worked on covers that would appeal to readers while staying true to the stories, I debated what to do with the historicals. In January-February 2013, I wrote a second Arizona historical romance which follows Arizona Sunset three years later, some shared characters but a new romance. At that point, I was still undecided on bringing out those or the Oregon historicals due to marketing issues.  Writing is something I will always be doing. I am currently researching the fourth Oregon historical romance. Publishing however, that is a choice-- one I had a hard time making where it came to the historicals.

The dithering is over.  Arizona Sunset comes out August 31 on Kindle and hopefully the same day as a paperback. I added that hopefully because we ran into a small glitch with Amazon-- so much to learn and so little time. Adding to the complications is that work here on the ranch has been incredibly busy not to mention my getting a sinus infection which eventually led to the doctor and a prescription for an antibiotic--generic form of augmentin--which is nearly guaranteed to upset your whole system if it manages to cure the sinus problem.

More about Arizona Sunset tomorrow when it is officially published. The following video is on my motivations behind a book that is dear to my heart for a lot of reasons.