Cover Dissection!

So, other than revealing them, I don't really talk about my covers a lot. I have some that I love and some that I...don't. You see, the fact of the matter is authors get to fill out this little paper about our book that gets sent to the cover artist. From there, they interpret what you sent and build a cover based on it. That's it. That's our say in things. Sometimes if something is really off, we get to go back in and say "Whoa! Wait a minute!" But reality is, we trust the cover artists to do their job.

It's one of the reasons it's so exciting to get covers that are just right. And sometimes it isn't fully clear to the reader (or casual viewer) why it's such a perfect cover. So, I'm going to dissect my newest cover (for Clockwork Mafia) which I love.

*I was going to try to do this all fancy-pants with circles and arrows and numbers, but yeah...not happening tonight. Sorry.*

Okay, first and foremost is the mask. Isn't it gorgeous? Henri wears an elaborate clockwork mask like that in the beginning of the book, and I love that her face is hidden for this cover. You see, a lot of Clockwork Mafia is about Henri figuring out who the hell she is in the aftermath of the events in Badlands so it's very appropriate that she's "hiding" on the cover.

Then there's the dragonfly. While it isn't exactly like my clockwork dragonfly tattoo, it's fantastic. And it's one of Henri's designs that gets a lot of play in this book. I'm really glad it's on there.

Then there's Carson. *happy sigh* Okay, first off, the model is just beautiful in general. Secondly--though I think he actually has short hair rather than long hair pulled back--he looks like Carson. Honestly, the more I look at him, the more he looks like the character right down to the way his neck is all scruffy.

And here's my favorite part of the entire cover. Henri in her mask is kind of representative of Philadelphia society life. And the dragonfly is representative of her life as an inventor... And Carson is trapped in between the two. It's incredibly symbolic for the story.

Honestly, I have no idea how the cover artist managed to fit things so perfectly, but I don't think I could have paid for a brand new photoshoot that captured the essence of this story as well as this cover did. HUGE thanks to Kix by Design for the incredible cover. And if you happen to know the name of the model for Carson... ;-) 

The Romance Is Over

Or at least the Mr. Romance competition.

Word came out last Wednesday that the people behind the Romantic Times convention have pulled the plug on the competition. I'm not going to re-hash their reasons (you can read them here --> http://readersentertainment.com/2011/no-more-mr-romance/ ). It's no secret I'm not happy about this, but I don't think it's for the reason most people who know me (or know of me) think. Okay, that might be a bit of the reason, but it's not the whole reason.

Here's the thing...I love the Romantic Times Convention. I love the scope of it and the parties and meeting authors and, yes, meeting the models. It's all part of this big package to me that screams in orgasmic joy. The powers-that-be at RT are saying that there will still be models there, and I'm sure some of them will be, but I'm going to hazard a guess that for the most part it will be the people who have been there before: CJ Hollenbeck, Jimmy Thomas, Mark Johnson... and maybe a few of the more recent contestants. But odds are there won't be new blood every year. And I don't like that...for a lot of reasons.

We'll start with the obvious one that most people will think I mean--there won't be the opportunity to meet new models. Yes, I like meeting and partying with (and actually talking to) men. Sure, I like talking to men I already know, but meeting new ones is fun. I'll miss that. And if my regular dance partners don't go? Um...the dances are going to be a lot less fun. Sorry to all my girlfriends. Dancing with you is fun, but I like dancing with guys.

Now onto (some of) the other reasons.

First is the opportunity the Mr. Romance competition provided to up and coming models. Many of the guys who competed didn't have connections in the romance industry, and for some, Mr. Romance was their first glance into that world. There are quite a few male models who would love to get into cover modeling but don't have the connections. Mr. Romance was a foot in the door--one that has just been cut off. Considering more than one of the competitors this year alone signed with agents and stock photo companies because of the competition, that means less opportunities for models and fewer options for authors. I don't know about any other author, but I like the increased possibility of having models that fit what my characters actually look like.

But that's not even the biggest issue.

That one is RT itself. As I said, I love this con and Mr. Romance was one thing that made it stand out from all the others. Without it, what makes it special? What makes it different than...RomCom or RWA Nationals or Authors After Dark or (for those of us who write genre romance) DragonCon or World Con or World Fantasy? Every author and reader has to make choices on where their promotional dollar goes, and cons are expensive. As far as registration and promotion goes, RT might be the most expensive. To be fair, someone's going to be most expensive, and it might as well be them. But at a certain point, if RT loses what makes it unique, what is going to encourage authors and readers to spend the extra to attend?

I want to have faith that the powers-that-be have something planned to make RT stand out since they're doing away with the Mr. Romance competition, but I don't know them well enough to say that for certain. The best I can do is hope that something awesome will take its place, because I'd hate to see RT become just another con.

Badlands Release Party!

For those of you who didn't know, Badlands was actually the first story I sold (way back in June :P). At the time publication seemed so incredibly far off, but then it was February and the date just kind of snuck up on me. So here we are on release day, and I hope all of you will rush out to Carina Press and buy a copy this week (assuming you didn't already pre-order).

And considering I'm all over the blogosphere this week with guest spots and such, I'm not going to do a huge post here. Instead, I'm going to ask that you stop by one of the other places I've been in recent days. There's a huge list on my last post, but I'll narrow it down for you...

Feb. 25 - Manic Readers with a guest spot about the inspiration behind Badlands

Feb 27 - Para-Posse for Six Sentence Sunday

***Feb 27 - Katie Reus's blog with a guest spot about danger and secrets***

***Feb 28-Bea's Book Nook for an interview.***

***March 1-Featured at the Carina Press blog talking about strong female characters***

***March 2- Tia Nevitt's blog with a post on how I developed the matriarchal monarchy of the Badlands***

However, before you go chasing me down, you should know that the ***s next to some of those posts are important. In celebration of release day, I'm offering up not one, but two digital copies of Badlands. Here's the twist. You can enter at any of the starred blogs and/or here. If I remember correctly, on the other blogs, you need to tell me about a strong woman in your real life (Double check on the blogs though because I may have done something different on one or two :P)

With that in mind, what I want to talk about very briefly here is inspiration. If you went to Manic Readers, you'll get the low-down on where all the seeds for the story came from, but first and foremost was the piece of artwork that inspired the character of Ever. Without seeing that picture, this story would never have happened.

So to enter contest HERE, I want you to tell me about something specific that has inspired you in some way (this doesn't have to be writing inspiration, it could be just an inspiration to do with life). The key is to be specific--I want to be able to bask in your stories for a few minutes :)

Clicking and Cover Art

First, I got the cover art for the Evernight Publishing holiday anthology. It's so pretty....

Okay, now that I've teased you with something that won't be out until December 3, I have a new story available free...right now. As you know, Danielle LaPaglia shared her flash fiction with us on Tuesday (if you haven't read it, check it out), and yesterday I was on her blog. "More Max" has been something I've heard since Of Course I Try came out. "The Cost of Love" is my answer to that plea. WARNING: If you haven't read Of Course I Try, this story is very spoilerish. Proceed with that in mind. (Click here to read "The Cost of Love")

You're Self-published, Right?

Let me start by saying this is not a rant against self-publishing. Some very successful and well-received books have been self-published and I respect that. Like every road to publication, self-pubbing has some major hurdles to overcome. I do not think it's an easy road. Self-publishing does, however, allow for some utter crap to get released along with the good and as such has a lot of people think of it in a negative light.

Recently, it's come to my attention that even amongst other writers, there is some confusion on what different types of publication entail. Today's post is my attempt to help clear up some of the confusion.

- Traditional publication: Traditionally published books are the ones you're most likely to find in your average bookstore. Odds are these authors have acquired an agent who sold their book to a publishing house, at which point it was edited by a professional editor, received professional cover art, has a marketing team behind it in some degree, etc. For most of us, this is "the dream".

• Large houses: These are the big guns--Random House, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Penguin, etc. These houses have a lot of money and it's likely you would probably get the widest exposure through them. However, until you hit it big and prove yourself worth the investment, you aren't going to have a huge marketing budget.


• Small houses: There are a ton of smaller houses. Some are associated with the big guys, but others are independent. Odds are you will get more one on one attention, but since they don't have the big bucks backing them, you won't either.

- E-publishing: E-publishing is being hailed as the wave of the future. Just as most people now buy their music online, more and more consumers are purchasing digital copies of books. There are a wide variety of e-publishers out there. Some, like Carina Press, have the backing of a well-known print publisher, some (Samhain for instance) have been around for a while and are respected in the industry, some (like Decadent) are new and hoping to enter the ranks of the former with time and quality products, and some are fly-by-night groups that will be gone as quick as they came.

• The more established and better run houses will have professional editors just like the traditional publishers. They'll also have some sort of art department and someone who handles promotion (such as getting your book out for reviews). These houses don't take everything that comes their way, and many of them have acceptance numbers not that far different from what print publishers sign from agents. In that way, they only differ from traditional publication in that they are digital only (or digital first).


• Some e-publishers, as mentioned aren't as well-run. An author may only have cursory editing work done, the art department may not have any artistic ability, etc. And there are those that are nothing more than Vanity Presses in disguise.

- PoD: This actually has a couple of meanings in the industry.

• Print on Demand, is a model that a lot of e-publishers (and some traditional publishers as well) utilize for print books. Rather than printing massive amounts of stock and storing them, they print as books are ordered.


• Publish on Demand is also known as vanity publishing. This is the sort of self-publishing that tends to turn out those books that give all the others a bad name...but it also results in some legitimately worthy offerings as well. At this stage, it all depends on the author.

- Self-publishing: This is when everything except the actual printing of the book is in the author's hands. It is up to them whether or not to hire an editor (and what kind of quality they get). The same can be said for cover art and promotion.  There are several ways to self-publish, and I don't know the ins and outs of them at all, so I'll leave that for someone who knows better than I to explain.

That's my breakdown as simply as I can put it. As I said, I don't write this to judge anyone's path, rather to illuminate those who may not know the difference between their options. Do you have opinions on what's out there? And did I miss anything important?