Tag Archives: young adult

September 2, 2015 · 8:00 pm

Behind the Scenes – Sojourn: The Deadlands

This is a cover for Melange Books. For this cover, we chose to keep the theme similar to the first book in the series, Sojourn: The Wildlands. To do this, we kept a few key elements: the two characters walking with their backs to the reader, a desolate landscape, similar placement of the title treatment and author name, along with the late evening lighting. Though we tried a couple different proofs before this, we found this one to have the strongest appeal.

This is the end result:

SBibb - Sojourn: The Deadlands - Back of Book Cover

Stock images from The Dollar Photo Club:

6 Comments

Filed under Book Covers, Photo Illustration

Tagged as BD Messick, cover art, cover design, Melange Books, photographic illustration, photomanipulation, post-apocalyptic, Sojourn: the Deadlands, Stephanie Flint, ya, young adult

July 27, 2015 · 8:00 pm

Thoughts on Writing – Character Motivation

Today I’m talking about how a character’s backstory influences their actions.

In the first draft of Magic’s Stealing, I never really explained why the main character, Toranih, didn’t like magic. She simply didn’t. But stories generally read better if the author knows why a character behaves a certain way, even if they never explain this directly to the reader. So, in order to add credibility to Toranih’s character, I began to explore her motives.

From Dictionary.com (a really useful resource when double-checking that a word means what you think it means), motives are “something that causes a person to act in a certain way, do a certain thing, etc.”

To see why Toranih acts so paranoid/distrustful of magic, while being so interested in learning how to effectively wield a sword, let’s take a look at her world. Toranih is the youngest daughter of the Lord of the Armory, so she has plenty of access to swords and the people who can teach her. In regards to magic, the kingdom has a high number of ribbon mages, so magic is common. However, the ability to see magic is not. Neither Toranih, nor her older sister, Siklana, can see ribbon magic, though her best friend can.

In the original draft of Magic’s Stealing, Toranih did not like magic because she felt like it was all tricks and illusions. (A side note: the trouble with using the term ‘illusion’ with magic is that if you actually have magic doing something, the illusion of something happening is no longer an illusion. I’ve been slowly weeding this word from the story). So my first idea for why Toranih didn’t like magic was that maybe a bad event scared her in the past. She gets her first glimpse of magic at a parade when she was little, and it overwhelms her. Thus, she’s been wary ever since.

However, my husband pointed out that a parade with a lot of colorful, fluttering ribbons is likely to be awe-inspiring to a four-year-old, not terrifying. While I still feel that everyone has different reactions, so what some kids like, others are terrified of (for example… clowns), I started looking elsewhere for answers. Toranih doesn’t like magic, and to the extent that she is paranoid in earlier drafts, there seems like there might be a bit more to her paranoia. So I cut the bit about the parade (keeping the event, but not having it terrify her), and considered Toranih’s distrust of their mythology. There are already several references in the current draft which lends itself to this theory.

For example, after an event involving Toranih being magically called to do a task she wouldn’t otherwise do:

Old fables flitted to the edge of her mind, haunting melodies of immortals and creatures whose very power was that of magic’s lure, the power to call and demand, to whisper in a person’s ear and convince them, without fail, to do their bidding.

In something of a flashback, Toranih’s sister tells her about life and death magic:

Once, long ago, when Siklana showed Toranih how to use her crystal, she’d convinced a couple of the servants to come stand in front of them. One had magic, the other did not. And she’d pointed to the one with magic and all the ribbons, and explained what ribbon magic was and how it worked.

Then Siklana pointed to the other servant, and said that even though he wasn’t a mage, he still had magic. Everyone had magic, but it was difficult to see because it was closer related to string magic, but couldn’t Toranih see it? There were two thin strings running through his body, each entwined and almost impossible to spot.

Siklana had adjusted the crystal to make them more visible. “That’s the only string magic visible to a ribbon mages,” she’d said. “One strand is life, and the other is death. Everyone has them. If you don’t, then you’re dead. That’s how the gods made us,” Siklana had continued, much to Toranih’s dismay. “But only the really powerful gods can manipulate those strings, so there’s nothing to be scared of.”

That memory had stuck with Toranih ever since.

In a conversation with Aifa, the Matchmaker goddess:

Aifa rolled her eyes. “Such a harsh tongue, tut-tut. Dear, I’m the goddess of relationships, not all-powerful. But if you don’t mind your manners, you’ll find yourself mute.”

Toranih swallowed hard. She had heard tales of citizens who’d crossed the gods in older times. Citizens who found their love lives broken or their ability to communicate… impossible.

Toranih has plenty of reason to be uneasy about magic and the gods’ use of magic. However, we can take this a step further. We know that Toranih is very interested in swordsmanship, and wants to be a guardsman except that her father doesn’t think that position befits her station. This is especially problematic when her sister, Siklana, reveals intentions to marry into a different estate, thus leaving Toranih as the sole heir.

Her father handed one of the servants his empty plate and rested back in his chair. “Understanding self-defense is important, but you’re taking these studies a bit far. There are more important subjects for a young lady to—”

“Siklana is much more adept at those studies,” Toranih interrupted. Her scone crumbled and she swept the crumbs into a napkin before he could get onto her about that, too. “Let’s be honest. When inheritance time comes around, she’ll inherit the estate. She’ll master magic at the academy, and she’ll be the one to win the hearts of the city and lead them in her wise, older age.”

Siklana ducked her head behind her bangs. Her dark brown eyes shown through. She was smaller in stature than her younger sister, especially since she lacked the muscle that came from Toranih’s years of swordplay. “What if I marry into a different house?”

Toranih turned sharply. Her sister… marry? Of course she would, she had always been interested in the attention of suitors, but Toranih hadn’t thought she would try to climb the social ladder through marriage.

If she married into a higher class, she would leave behind the Covonilayno estate. “I’d be the heir,” Toranih whispered, stunned.

Her father nodded. “The rights would fall to you. As is custom.”

Toranih glared at her sister. “How long have you been planning this?”

“I’ve been thinking about it for a year,” she admitted coyly. “I’ve already passed the academy’s first year exams, and I’m well into my second year. Our inheritance is decent, but there are a few worthy suitors who could help me further my education once I finish in Cirena City. With a decent suitor’s allowance, I could travel to the Islands. I’ll make sure that’s part of the contract. I might even learn word magic.”

Toranih swallowed hard. While having at least some degree of ribbon magic was common, word magic was practiced by very few. Anyone could learn it, so long as they knew how to pronounce the spell.

But say just one syllable wrong, and any number of horrors awaited the practitioner. Setting ones’ self on fire, opening a portal in the middle of a crowded city and killing anyone in its path, trying to heal someone and killing them instead… and a particularly powerful spell could bind a target to do the mage’s will.

Toranih shivered. Unlike ribbon magic, word magic was invisible. No crystal could reveal words the way it could reveal ribbons.

My husband pointed out that maybe Toranih doesn’t like magic because, unlike her sister (and most every other mage in the kingdom), she never really became adept with magic.

As a young child, Toranih saw her sister and Daernan surpass her with flying colors while she struggled to control ribbons for even basic tasks. At the same time, young noblewomen were taught basic self-defense, which is where she excelled. She threw herself into the study of swords and knives, hoping to become a weapons master. In the meantime, she became more and more resentful of magic. She eventually understood the basics (which we see her using in Magic’s Stealing), but she never quite comes to terms with the fact that she’s been left behind by the mages.

The result?

She can’t easily control magic, so she doesn’t trust it, and (as the current blurb says) she would rather have a sword in her hand than use her powers to heal and throw fireballs.

And now we have the reason that Toranih doesn’t like magic. We can see why she might, at times, lash out or vehemently deny anything to do with being a mage.

But she lives in a world so saturated with magic that she can’t ignore it, and so she still uses the magical light crystal her sister gave her. She still changes into an owl when Daernan convinces her to go to the parade. She still tries to save people who are dying when their magic is stolen. But she has a flaw, and because of that flaw she doesn’t always use her powers when she should, and her unwillingness to try could cost her the people she loves.

Now I’ve just got to make sure that is apparent within the story, even if I never come outright and say this is why she acts the way she does.

I hope you enjoyed this post. 🙂

Have you found any books where character motivations were well-done, or where they were lacking?

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Filed under Writing

Tagged as backstory, character motivations, character motives, creating a strong character, novellas, novels, Stephanie Flint, story writing, writing a character, writing tips, young adult

June 22, 2015 · 8:00 pm

Thoughts on Writing – Aging Up Characters

I’ve been getting feedback from beta readers for Magic’s Stealing, and one of the comments that has been fairly consistent is that the characters (which I intended to be around twenty years old) feel like they’re twelve- to sixteen years old, effectively making the story sound like it’s aimed at a middle grade or the lower end of the YA audience. Which isn’t a bad thing… if I meant for my characters to be younger. However, I’m hoping to get them to sound like they’re at least eighteen, so it’s time to consider what’s making them sound younger, and what can be done to make them sound older. 🙂

To start with, once I knew that their age was an issue, I sought feedback from the beta readers. I needed to know why these characters were sounding younger.

1. Their actual age isn’t mentioned until later in the story. This leaves their age open for interpretation, and by the time a reader gets to the point where their age is mentioned, readers already have a solid idea of the characters’ ages in mind. (As a side note, there’s a book I read recently, Renegade by J.A. Souders, in which a certain intimidating character is revealed to be a child. The story is told in first person by a character who is brainwashed into thinking nothing of this, so she’s not surprised, but it is a twist for the reader. As a reader, I personally loved that twist. However, it did take me a little while to hold the image of a child in my head, rather than that of an older teenager. In my current manuscript, I don’t want this kind of surprise for the age of my main characters, so I may need to bring up their ages sooner).

2. The characters act younger. In the opening scene, my main character, Toranih, is nervous because she’s been hearing footsteps and thinks she’s being watched. As soon as she ‘turns out the light,’ she dives under the covers of her bed. Personally, I love the image. However… this isn’t what we typically picture an older person doing. Therefore, the first impression is that Toranih must be younger. An option to fix this may be to have her consider diving under the covers, but she forces herself to walk calmly to bed. Or she may walk calmly to bed but reference that she’s going to bed with a knife at her side. Or… some combination thereof. Haven’t decided yet.

Darkness flooded Toranih Covonilayno’s sleeping chambers as she mentally extinguished her magic crystal’s light. She dropped the crystal on her dresser and rushed to her bed, then dove under the covers.

Silly, she knew, but the last few nights had brought strange creaking noises from the attic, soft footsteps and the brushing of rough wool on the edges of the wooden floorboard above. She listened now, waiting to see if the footsteps returned.

3. Lack of romance. The current draft doesn’t show much in the way of a romantic interest between the main characters. Now, that’s not to say you must have romance in a story to make it YA or adult, but without romance, this story seems like a more likely candidate for an MG novella. When I go to edit, I plan to hint a little more at the (lack of) romance between the main characters. I’m toying with the idea of having Toranih and Daernan ‘technically’ courting (mostly so Toranih can keep her father from trying to point other suitors in her direction, since she’s not necessarily interested in Daernan romantically), while Daernan actually does like her. Increases tension in the story, and gives a better clue about their age.

4. Expectations for the type of fantasy. Especially in YA, we seem to get a lot of hints that the teenage main characters are either actively seeking (or avoiding) marriage. These worlds have their characters finding partners at a younger age. In Magic’s Stealing, I’m going with the idea that the characters live longer and have a tiny bit more ‘modern’ of a society (with magic taking the place of electricity, but in an older setting with kingdoms and lords and ladies). However, to pull this off, I’m going to have to show more of their world. We need to see older characters walking in the streets. Maybe a reference to food spoiling when their ‘magic refrigerator’ no longer has magic to keep food cold. Maybe a reference that going to an academy for magic, versus sticking around and getting married, is a common occurrence. I’m considering having Toranih’s sister, Siklana, already be accepted into an academy (think college), rather than expecting to be accepted at the end of the month. Maybe she’s back at the manor because she’s visiting, and she’s planning to oversee the festival that takes place at the beginning of the book. And maybe Toranih actually is studying swordsmanship, rather than dreaming about it, but her lessons are private since she can’t convince her father that being a guardsman is fitting for a lady of her status (but she can’t pass her magic exams, so… what else is she going to do?). There’s a lot of world building opportunities here, and the great thing is that these changes don’t have to be major alterations.

5. Lack of (graphic) violence. Though there are a couple battle scenes, we don’t really see much blood spilled, and nor do we get graphic depictions of the shadows who are burned. Now, this doesn’t mean it isn’t for older readers, but it makes it more open to an MG audience. That being said, I’m considering adding a bit more detail to these scenes, partially for the impact they have on the main characters, and partially so that once we get to the second book, it doesn’t come as a surprise when we actually start seeing more violence coming into play. Doesn’t mean it’s going to be gratuitous. Just means that the MC is going to be distinctly aware of what’s going on around them.

Her friend had backed into a rocky cove, but he was using that to focus his attention on the growing force of shadows in front. He shifted back and forth, thrusting each hand separately and delivering a blast of air or a blast of fire, to which they ducked and dived away.

The shadows shied from the wind, but they hated fire. They scuttled aside when his magic seared their hands and scalded their weapons. They sent new shadows to fight while they nursed their burns. Those burns healed, but slowly. And one shadow lay dead on the floor, burned beyond recognition, and did not appear to be healing at all.

Toranih shuddered. If these were mortal men, Daernan wouldn’t be using fire like this.

But fire did hurt them, and they weren’t mortal men.

6. How other characters perceive them. The antagonist refers to the main characters as the ‘boy’ and the ‘girl.’ Granted, from a god-like character who can’t die, it makes sense that she’d view these characters as being childlike. But with this scene placed early in the novel, it doesn’t help the perception of the main characters’ ages as being younger. I’ll probably keep these kinds of references for the actual deities, but at that point, the actual ages for the MCs should be established, so the reference should hint more at the internal thoughts of the deities in question.

A cloaked figure knelt beside a sprawling sycamore near the girl’s window, her eyes trained on the two owls.

Finally, they’re gone, the figure thought to herself. She climbed up the tree, bark catching on the tips of her leather boots, then slipped inside the open window. The room was dark, but the light crystal glowed with residual energy and lit the bare essentials.

The girl had rearranged the furniture since the night before. No night table or pile of books, and her usual set of sparring knives didn’t hang from the wall. Probably locked in the chest at the foot of the bed, or buried under the mattress.

There’s a lot of little things that could affect the perceived age of the main characters, and with a few tweaks here and there, I think I can have them sounding like they’re at least eighteen. And it’s worth noting that I do read a lot of YA and the occasional MG book. Therefore, it isn’t surprising that my narrative voice would lean that direction.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post, and now it’s your turn. Have you had any experiences with your writing or reading where characters don’t sound like the age that they’re supposed to?

6 Comments

Filed under Personal Work, Writing

Tagged as beta readers, character age, fantasy, Magic's Stealing, MG, middle grade, Stephanie Flint, writing tips, ya, young adult

November 12, 2014 · 7:00 am

Behind the Scenes – The Doors

This is a cover for Melange Books.

For this one, I used texture overlay (the mosaic around the edge), as well as scene creation to create the desired stormy atmosphere and remove some of the birds from the original haunted house stock photo. I added in the girl, then at the author’s request, gave her longer hair. There are benefits to finding pictures where the hair is similar in color and goes roughly the desired direction you want it to go.

My original proof for this cover was too dark and gray, looking more like a horror novel than paranormal, so I lightened it a bit with the various blue and green tones to give it the sea/ocean-side feel, while still keeping the stormy atmosphere.

For this blog post, I’ve also included what I did for the back of the book. I usually keep these fairly simple, and in this case, I took part of the stock image that wasn’t used on the front cover to complete the back. That way the atmosphere remained consistent, while offering something a little different to look at. I used the same texture overlays and adjustment modes to keep the covers consistent, and included the publisher’s logo and barcode information on the back. I also include a separate layer with the author name and book title, that way the publisher can adjust for the spine as needed. I also flipped the back cover image so the white clouds act as a line, leading the eye back to the spine, and so that the dark blue mosaic would act as a frame.

Stock images from Dreamstime:

http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photo-man-walking-field-towards-haunted-house-scary-dark-atmosphere-image35050105
http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-images-dark-storm-clouds-image2046209
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photo-calgary-beach-mull-scotland-bay-located-north-west-framed-low-hills-broad-area-machair-grassy-meadow-image42890362
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-images-beautiful-teenage-girl-outdoors-portrait-jeans-wear-looking-away-image36670484
http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-image-broken-green-wall-tiles-image19929346
http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photos-sad-girl-image22656428

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Filed under Book Covers, Client Work, Photo Illustration

Tagged as Alice J. Black, book cover design, cover art, designing a back cover, designing a book cover, horror, Melange Books, paranormal, SBibb, Stephanie Bibb, Stephanie Flint, the Doors, ya, young adult

August 14, 2013 · 5:00 am

Cover Reveal – Penny Pony and Nickel-Bred

I know I usually just show one cover at a time, but in this case, I wanted to talk about creating book covers that are meant to be part of a series. These two covers are for Melange Books’ young adult line. In this case, I worked with the author to find images that worked well for the book (and in the case of Nickel-Bred, the author actually suggested the picture from Dreamstime, and it worked well without needing to be changed). For these covers I had set a specific style of editing and formatting. A block of color above and below the photo, with the title on top and the author’s name at the bottom. Position varied a bit, but I kept the same font in both. Keeping the scheme the same, it should be easily visible that they are of the same series or type of book. Also, being that they are meant to be of a more realistic/contemporary nature, I didn’t do a whole lot of extra editing. I did edit for lighting effects (see the stock images listed below for the changes), and on The Penny Pony I changed spot color and added ear tufts per the author’s request.

So, even thought the colors are different, the style remains relatively similar. Something to think about if you’re designing a cover or having one designed, is how well can you tell the book are of the same “brand” or series.

Stock Images for The Penny Pony:

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-image-appaloosa-pony-portrait-image20085031
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photo-appaloosa-coat-image888990

Stock Images for Nickel-Bred:

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photos-arabian-horse-portrait-image12661463
http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-images-arabian-horse-image25455479

Photoshop CS6, as usual. 🙂

By the way, if you didn’t know, you can find my work at my Deviant Art account, where I usually upload book covers before I talk about them here. 🙂

http://sbibb.deviantart.com

Cover Reveal: Spirits of the Pirate House

This is another cover for Melange Books.

Stock Used:

http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-image-old-wooden-manison-south-image18682006
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photo-smoking-image10381260
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photos-pirate-captain-image1336783
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-images-man-pirate-costume-pistols-image23677904
http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-images-pirate-image20856919

Putting this cover together was a doozy. While many of my previous covers have been 2-4 stock images, plus textures, this is an example of using digital manipulation to create an entirely different character. Take a look at the different stock images used, then look at the final product. The palm tree was shorter, the pirate consists of several different stock images, a bit of photoshop to make him look angrier, plus doing the color changes and removing the trinkets in the hair. Plus changing lighting. So if you like seeing how you can piece-part an image together, this is the one to look at.

Overall, though difficult to make sure everything was placed as desired, this was a nice review to photomanipulation for creating a new image. 🙂

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Filed under Book Covers, Photo Illustration

Tagged as adventure, book cover creation, book cover design, digital manipulation, ebook covers, Paul Ferrante, photo manipulation, photographic illustration, photomanipulation, pirates, publishing, SBibb, SBibb's Photographic Illustration, Spirits of the Pirate House, Stephanie Bibb, Stephanie Flint, T.J Jackson Mystery, ya, young adult

May 2, 2013 · 1:00 am

Guest Interview: Author Sarah Dalton

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of beta-reading a novella by Sarah Dalton, a member of the Absolute Write forums. (For those who don’t know, Absolute Write is a great place to find information and improve your writing craft, whether you write science fiction, literary, romance, or pretty much any genre you can think of). We got to talking about her self-publishing process, and much of the information sounded like it’d be really useful for others to know as well. So, I asked if she’d be willing to do an interview with me regarding her latest novella, The Fractured: Maggie (released yesterday!) and the approach she’s taken in regards to her book series. The Blemished. Lucky for us, she agreed. Without further ado, an interview with Sarah Dalton!

***

This is her most recent novella, the second of The Fractured series. Not my cover, but I wanted to share it, none-the-less. 🙂

Tell us a little about yourself. 🙂

Well, I’m from the UK and live in Yorkshire. I grew up as a country bumpkin with lots of horses and chickens. The Blemished was my debut novel, but I have been published in short form prior to that, with stories in Apex, PANK and the British Fantasy Society anthology. I’m most definitely a chocaholic and for the most part believe animals are better than humans. 🙂

What kind of books do you enjoy reading? Have any of them been particularly helpful in your recent series?

I’ve always read a diverse range of genres, from literary to science fiction to horror. I had a huge thing for Victorian Gothic classics such as Dracula and The Picture of Dorian Gray. Then, I started reading a lot of dystopian books such as Margaret Atwood’s MadAddam trilogy and JG Ballard’s novels. I think Atwood is a particular inspiration; I love her feminist themes and genetic mutations. Her books are incredibly clever and insightful.

Then I discovered the Hunger Games and it opened up a while other genre for me – young adult. In Britain we didn’t have a YA section before the Hunger Games, there were children’s books and adult’s books with nothing in between. I loved the drama of being a teenager coupled with the post-apocalyptic setting.

When I was a teenager I loved to read Point Horror and Goosebumps books and now that I write books for teenagers I’ve realised that I would love to be a similar kind of author.

What was your inspiration for the Blemished series?

I wanted to write a book for teenage girls with a heroine they can look up to, and with a love interest worthy of that heroine. It was really important to me for feminist themes to be brought to young adults. When I look around and see the models and beauty industry it makes me feel like I already live in a dystopia. It made me think about what else I could cram into a novel, what do girls need to know? And that was when I thought up the idea of control and choice. The Blemished is about choice being taken away and women not having control over their bodies. In the Blemished it is the women who are sterilised, not the men, because that has always been typical to the way the world works. Mina is the person who stands up and thinks to herself that this isn’t right, and she doesn’t want it to happen to her. She’s just not sure how to go about changing things.

But I also wanted to write something entertaining that has you reading it with a torch at night. So there’s lots of action and adventure. Throughout the series Mina and the gang get into lots of trouble, discover different ways of living and just how nasty human beings can be. On the flip side they discover how wonderful human beings can be, what it’s like to love and be loved, and how you can find a family in unexpected places. There’s something for everyone, and boys can enjoy it just as much as girls.

When did you first start writing the Blemished series?

I think it was just over two years ago. At first I tried to write a novel set on a different planet. It went a bit wrong so I decided to give myself an easier ride, keeping just one thing from the original idea – superpowers. But at first Mina had the extraordinary sense of smell, not the telekinesis. It made the book a bit boring so I changed it!

Tell us about your latest/upcoming novella, The Fractured: Maggie.

Maggie is about Mrs Murgatroyd from the first novel – The Blemished. She’s a very nasty woman who vilifies Mina and Mina’s choices. She’s not exactly a girl’s girl! J I wanted to write about her story in order to show her human side. I don’t believe in evil and good, and I think that even the most horrible of people have something inside that we can sympathise with. It was a long and hard road for Maggie, she didn’t become Mrs ‘Murder-Troll’ Murgatroyd overnight.

What made you decide to write the Fractured novellas?

There were a couple of characters whose stories I couldn’t quite finish, or forget. They appeared in the first book but didn’t make it to the second, and whilst I always planned to bring them back, I wasn’t sure how much ‘page time’ they’d get. In the reviews of The Blemished, Elena always seemed very popular, and I really liked her too. I figured she deserved a story, and some romance.

What’s your favorite part of writing this series? Any favorite characters?

Ali is hands down my favourite character. He’s the kind of guy I want to be best friends with. He’s just a chilled out rock star. In the third book we learn more about Ali. He has hidden depths.

My favourite part of the series is writing little civilisations, like the Perthans. I like thinking up ideas for societal structure – so in The Vanished there is the Glasgow cult who keep women as slaves, but then the Perthans where the women rule and the men take on historically ‘feminine’ roles; then there’s the Moorlanders and Dales folk coming up in The Unleashed. In The Blemished we have the Slum people who live in the Areas but outside the law.

Why did you decide to self-publish?

I decided to do it after getting a few rejections from agents. For me it was about timing, and going down the trade route could have taken too long. I knew that YA dystopia was popular now so thought I’d best get it out there while there are readers wanting to buy it.

How has self-publishing worked out for you?

It’s definitely a long game, because you don’t have a publisher behind you to help with marketing, you have to make a name for yourself and that takes time. The first few months were slow but the reviews were encouraging. You have to work out how much you want to spend on your marketing, and how much you need to spend on editing and cover art. There is only so much you can do yourself, and I’ve learned the importance of beta readers, and of people who support you and your book, such as bloggers and reviewers.

I’m really happy with what I’ve achieved so far, but as my goal is to support myself as a full-time writer, I’ve still got a long way to go.

Has it worked out well having beta readers help edit for you? Has there been much of a difference? How many do you typically ask? I know some people go the beta route, others go editing.

Betas are really important in my opinion. They’ve helped me to shape the relationship between Mina and Daniel, to make sure that characters are well-rounded, and helped a great deal with grammar and typos. I usually ask two or three beta readers to read my book and send me their comments.

In an ideal world I think a combination between beta reading and editing is best, but when you need to be frugal, betas are essential. Especially trusted writers. It can be hard to know what advice to take and what to dismiss, but you get used to trusting your instincts.

I’m using Betas as a necessity at the moment. I can’t really afford to pay for editors, as much as I’d like to. I think betas do a fantastic job but I must admit there’s always a part of me in a slight panic over spelling and grammar, especially grammar. But even professionally edited novels often have tiny mistakes in them so you have to learn to switch off that panic.

What is bookbub?

Bookbub is an email subscription service telling readers about kindle deals. They have thousands of sign-ups and you can pay them a fee to email their subscribers details about your discounted book. I was lucky enough to be picked by them and it really worked for me. http://www.bookbub.com/home/

At what point did you submit to Bookbub, and how long did it take to accept your book? Did it help with sells/reviews?

I went to Bookbub in February. I think they responded in a week. There might be some info on the site about how much notice to give them.

To be honest, I feel as though I owe all my sales since February to Bookbub. On the first day I sold 300 books which tripled the amount of sales I’d gotten in the first five months of publication. Since then, even after putting the price of my book back to 2.99, I’ve had really good sales.

I noticed you have a Wattpad account. Have you found it to be a useful tool? How have you used it?

Actually, no! I probably don’t spend enough time on there, but not many people read my stories. It seems more geared towards One Direction fan fiction! I know some people find it a great place to post their work, and I do like adding stories that were not good enough to sell. At least then someone gets to enjoy them.

Your book covers are beautiful (and so are the promotional materials you have posted on Facebook). Who did you have do your covers? They look really well done. 🙂

My cover designer is Najla Qamber, she’s the in-house designer for Inkspell Publisher and a really lovely person to boot http://www.najlaqamberdesigns.com/

I have a go at image manipulation from time to time and experiment with covers and promo bits and bobs but Naj is the real talent.

Have you found having the promotional banners to be helpful? What sort of promotional tools do you use?

I tend to use whatever is free and inexpensive – posting images to facebook, using social media, contacting bloggers, setting up blog tours… I don’t tend to spend a lot of money on adverts. I have tried Goodreads and Facebook adverts but they don’t affect sales.

I have some bookmark designs but until I find myself at a writer’s conference I don’t think I’ll bother getting any printed.

Do you primarily use the internet to promote your books, or have you done any book signings or other author events?

Just the internet for me! I’m a bit shy about book signings but would like to once I have a few more sales and maybe more books. I’d love to team up with another writer in my genre and maybe share a table at an event. Perhaps in the next year or so.

Does having your own specialized website help promote your books? Did you create it yourself or hire someone to make it for you?

My partner is a computer programmer so he did it for me! I’m very lucky to have him around.

Do you plan on continuing to self-publish, or do you hope to trade publish as well?

I’ve really enjoyed the experience but I must admit I would like a trade contract. I think my ambition is to be both trade and self published. If I can get at least one book to a bigger audience, then hopefully my sales would increase for the other books, and I’d get to keep 70% of the royalties from the self published books.

Or another ideal would be to have a print deal and retain my ebook rights. Some of the authors who have had amazing success at self-publishing – Hugh Howey, Bella Andre – have done this. It would be amazing to walk into a supermarket and see your book on the shelves.

I saw on goodreads you had a few short stories trade published (congrats on getting into Apex, by the way). Do you think being located in Britain versus the US has had any difference on your market/target audience?

I’m not sure about the Britain/US thing. I tend to read US based YA so I think my books are heavily influenced by the US trends. But at the same time I write in British spelling and set my books here, so that might actually work to my favour for a US audience. I think we’re pretty popular in America at the moment, what with Harry Potter, Doctor Who and One Direction. Most of my sales are in the US. I find my home country the hardest to sell to!

I saw on your Amazon page that FeedARead is listed as your publisher. Can you tell us a little more about them and how they work, and if they have been useful to you?

Feed a Read are a Print On Demand service for British writers and funded by the UK Arts Council. They pretty much offer the same service as Create Space but work as a smaller company. I’ve had no problems with them at all and am very happy with the royalties and the quality of the book.

I went with Create Space for my second book so I could compare. They are a lot quicker and the direct link to Amazon is really helpful, but the royalties aren’t quite as generous. When I first published The Blemished, Create Space didn’t have direct bank transfer payments for UK authors (another reason for choosing Feed a Read) but now they do, which is much easier.

For the third book I’m not sure which way I’m going to go. Amazon is my priority for sales, so I’m drawn to Create Space.

Any suggestions for authors considering going the self-publishing route?

I’d say have a go to anyone. As long as you research everything and get a really kick-ass cover (and have a good story) then there’s no reason why you can’t have some success. One key factor is releasing more than one book. That’s one of the reasons I decided to do novellas, so readers wouldn’t forget about me when waiting for the third book. It does put a little bit of pressure on the turnaround time, but I work part time so have been able to handle it so far.

Check out Kindleboards Writer’s Cafe if you want to know more. (http://www.kboards.com/index.php/board,60.0.html)

I understand the novella bit. It was something I’d wondered about doing. Actually, I’d wondered about splitting novels into self-contained “episodes” that were novella length and releasing them within a period of five months or so, but I wasn’t sure how well that would go.

The episodes thing worked really well for Hugh Howey and Wool. I think it’s a good idea when self publishing because regular releases bump sales. One thing I’ve noticed from the people who earn their living through self publishing is that they write fast and they release often.

On the topic of suggestions for self-publishing, was there anything you found particularly useful or not useful when you started promoting your books?

Kindleboards Writer’s Café and Absolute Write are really useful forums to learn more. I love reading other people’s experiences with selling their work.

Having a good cover is really important, and it needs to represent the genre you’ve written.

Goodreads – excellent for finding reviewers and building up a good relationship with people enthusiastic about your books.

I saw that you had advanced reader copies available for reviewers when you published the Vanished. Have you found ARCs to be useful in getting reviews? How early do reviewers like to have their copies to read?

I got some advice from a publicist before I published my first book (she was kind enough to stop by my blog and offer advice) who suggested I send ARCs out about a month before the release. I don’t always make that deadline.

Anything you’d like to add (either about the books or self-publishing) before the interview concludes?

Just that you’ll come across many cautious people who make you feel like you’re doing the wrong thing. Sometimes people are right and sometimes they are very wrong. It’s a learning curve. You have to learn who to listen to and who to ignore. When people begin to tell you their way is the right way alarm bells ring in my head.

***

And that’s a wrap. To find out more about her books, take a look at the links below. I hope you the information proves useful, and perhaps you’ll even find an intriguing book to dig into. 🙂

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sarah-DaltonAuthor/152388908154545

https://twitter.com/sarahdalton

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4720363.Sarah_Dalton

http://theblemished.com/

http://sarahdaltonbooks.com/

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/sarahdalton

http://www.amazon.com/Sarah-Dalton/e/B004S7FQE6/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

Interview with Rebekkah Ford – Dark Spirits

Hello, everybody. Today we have an interview with Rebekkah Ford, the author of Beyond the Eyes, and most recently, Dark Spirits. For today’s interview, we’ll look at both Dark Spirits and the self-publishing process. So, without further ado, please welcome Rebekkah Ford to the blog! 😀

***

What was the inspiration for Dark Spirits?

Well, the whole series was created from an idea I came up with from the beginning. The movie that scares me the most—The Exorcist, my love for history, my experience with the paranormal world, and the out-of-box ideas I have about it.

Was it easier or more challenging to write Dark Spirits than Beyond the Eyes?

I think it was harder because I had to recount some of the things I wrote in Beyond the Eyes to keep the continuity of it all and to remind readers of events that happened in that first book. It’s more time consuming I think.

Who is your favorite character to write?

Nathan. He’s fun to write, and I enjoy writing in the male POV.

Anything we should look forward to in book three, The Devil’s Third?

Yes, the reader will finally get to discover what Paige is, there will be magic, and shocking revelations.

Why did you decide to write the Beyond the Eyes trilogy?

Because I grew up in a family that dealt with the paranormal and the unknown fascinates me.

What was your process for writing Dark Spirits?

I wrote every chance I got. I have a f/t day job, so I would get up extra early in the morning just so I could write before I had to go to work, and then in the evening I would write as well. I also spent most of my whole weekend writing. I still keep to that routine.

What made you decide to self-publish?

It felt like the right thing for me to do. Beforehand, I did a lot of research on it and the pros outweighed the cons. I did have some agents interested in Beyond the Eyes, but unfortunately it didn’t work out. So I decided to take the plunge and self-publish.

Have you been satisfied with the experience?

Pretty much. It’s hard, hard, work though. I don’t care for the marketing aspect, but then again, even if I were to have taken the traditional route, I’d still have to market my books. So there’s really no way around it at this point in my life. I honestly would much rather write than try to sell my work.

How did you go about choosing an editor?

I was on Absolute Write, which is a wonderful writing forum. I saw an ad an editor posted for his services, so I emailed him, and the rest is history.

What kind of editing did you have done to your novel, and how was the process?

My editor and I have a process—I send him a chapter at a time. He line edits, checks for errors, and leaves comments. Once I receive my chapter back, I make the corrections, maybe do some rewrites, and send it back to him. He double checks it and sends it back to me. Afterwards, I send him the next chapter.

Did you do your own formatting, or hire someone to format the book for you?

No. I’m horrible when it comes to technology. I wish I knew how to format my book, but I don’t. I hired somebody else to do it for me. Tugboat Designs formatted Dark Spirits for me and did a wonderful job.

How have you gone about promoting your book?

I did a launch party on Facebook and next month I’m doing a couple blog tours. I’ve been using social media like Twitter and Facebook. I’ve been doing giveaways as well and getting reviews from readers who are already a fan of this series which is wonderful.

You mentioned enjoying writing Nathan’s POV. I personally enjoyed reading it. What was the best part about writing his POV, and what was the most challenging?

Thanks! The best part was stepping inside Nathan’s head, discovering what thoughts he had, and getting to know him on a much personal level. The most challenging was restraining myself from writing erotic thoughts about Paige. Nathan had them, but since this is a young adult series, I had to refrain from writing such naughty things. 🙂

Any idea when we can look forward to reading The Devil’s Third?

I’m not sure yet. I’m hoping before the end of this year.

You introduced the concept of parallel dimensions in Dark Spirits. Will we be seeing more of that?

Oh, yeah! 😀

What’s your favorite part of the magic system in the Beyond the Eyes trilogy?

I like that Paige is slowly discovering what she can do and Carrie has dabbled in elementary magic. It’s not like their characters woke up one day and BAM, they have all these powers. I like to keep it realistic, so my favorite part about the magic system is it’s not ostentatious.

Do you have any favorite books that helped inspire you to write the trilogy?

Believe it or not, Anne Rice’s vampire books. There are no vampires in my trilogy, but one of the many things I love about Anne Rice’s stories is how she spins realism into a fictional tale that’s dark, but yet alluring. If that makes sense? The cool thing about my Beyond the Eyes trilogy is, after The Devil’s Third, I still have the option to continue writing this trilogy if I wanted too. There are still endless avenues to explore without it being tiresome.

Anything you’d like to add (either about the books or self-publishing) before the interview concludes?

I just want to thank the fans of this series and future readers. Your support means the world to me. I could have went the traditional way and published this series through a publishing house. However, I had to find out if I could do this on my own. I also wanted complete creative control and to know that my books would never get pulled from the shelves. So I carved out my own path, and although it’s a lot of hard work, I have no regrets. I did this and nobody can ever take it away from me. That’s a feeling that money can’t buy, along with bringing enjoyment to the readers who fall in love with this trilogy and them telling me about it. So if you’re an author reading this, do what makes you happy and follow your heart. If you do those things, there will be no regrets. 😀

***

Great, thanks for the interview! You can find Dark Spirits at the links below. As a side note, Beyond the Eyes is currently available for 99 cents on Amazon, so get it while you can. 🙂

Beyond the Eyes: http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-the-Eyes-ebook/dp/B0088JF7HQ/

Rebekkah’s Blog: http://themusingwriter.blogspot.com

Rebekkah’s Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RebekkahFord2012

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Spirits-Beyond-Eyes-ebook/dp/B00BEKJ9VG/

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dark-spirits-rebekkah-ford/1114506937?ean=2940016397214

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/286383

1 Comment

Filed under Book Covers, Business Ventures, Client Work, Writing

Tagged as Beyond the Eyes, book cover design, Dark Spirits, fantasy, interview, novel, paranormal, paranormal romance, Rebbekah Ford, review, SBibb, self publish, self-pub, self-publishing, Stephanie Bibb, Stephanie Flint, young adult

March 22, 2013 · 8:52 pm

Dark Spirits – Book Review

Alright, so Rebekkah Ford gave me a copy of Dark Spirits as part of the payment for the book cover design, and now I’ve finally had the chance to read it. Yay! So, this is my review. In the meantime, look forward to an interview coming soon from Rebekkah Ford. 🙂

Blurb:

“Now immortal, Paige is emotionally and physically stronger than ever. She must find the location of the ancient incantations to prevent mass genocide. But the war against good and evil is spawning another war–a battle between the dark spirits themselves. Paige is saddled in the center of both growing revolutions and is ready to take on the dark forces. But Nathan’s overprotectiveness prevents her from taking action, and he’s hiding things. Paige’s personal life gets more complicated when Brayden arrives back in town and offers the equal partnership she desperately craves from Nathan. Then there’s Carrie and Tree, her two best friends and only family she has left. Unfortunate circumstances thrust them into Paige’s dark world, giving her no choice but to allow Nathan to arm them with combat techniques in hope they’ll be able to protect themselves. Meanwhile, Paige is having visions and discovering abilities she was unaware of. When Anwar comes to visit, his weird behavior alarms her. Could he be turning to the dark side? Time is running out. Paige not only needs to find the incantations but also to untangle the bands around her heart and make a decision that could leave her with a life worse than death–a life of betrayal from the ones she trusted most.”

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My Review:

Quick Disclaimer: I don’t typically read paranormal romance, so what I may say might not be the same as someone else who reads a lot of paranormal romances. That being said, on to the review!

The characterizations were definitely enjoyable. My favorite characters were Tree, Max, and Ameerah. Even though Max had very little screentime, he stood out as a nice guy. I’d like to see more of him, though I’m hoping he doesn’t cause complications to the already iffy relationship between Paige and Nathan. Tree has the awesome “I’m a protective friend” aura, but he isn’t quite as overprotective as Nathan, so that’s a plus. Ameerah was a really neat character, and I hope to see more of her in Devil’s Third. I want to know more about her.

Again, I enjoyed the “Old One’s” character, and how his personality showed in Dark Spirits. I expect we’ll see more of him, and I do hope to see more about the magic and the different dimensions and such. Some of my favorite parts in Dark Spirits was in dealing with Carrie and Nathan’s witchcraft, as well as the mention of the different dimensions and types of dark spirits.

A large part of the story focused on Paige and Nathan’s relationship, and I was fine that they were having to work out a few issues… such as Nathan’s over-protectiveness (I’ll give Paige that one; he could’ve avoided a few problems by simply taking her with him), and Paige’s conflict between Nathan and Brayden. I did like Brayden’s character in this book better, but I kinda wish Paige wouldn’t be so quick to forgive and trust him. Needless to say, he doesn’t have my trust yet, and both Nathan and Brayden are a bit too obsessed with “protecting” Paige.

One downside I found for this story is that Paige’s emotions are all over the place. Granted, she does have the new-immortality-heightened-emotions thing going for her right now, but when she seems to have the hots for Nathan at almost any random moment, it felt like she should have spent a little more time learning to control them. On that note, there were times the descriptions felt a bit wordy, especially in regards to the characters emotions. It felt like we got a lot more information than necessary, or information we could have guessed on our own. But I also don’t read much in the way of paranormal romance, so it might just be a personal preference.

I did really enjoy getting to see both Paige and Nathan’s point of view. It threw me off at first, because I didn’t expect it, but I think it added to the story, especially during some of the scenes Paige doesn’t witness. It also gave a good deal more insight into Nathan’s character (and his brutality), and it makes me leery of him. So I think it adds an extra bit of intrigue.

The greatest thing about Dark Spirits is that the plot kept pulling me back to it. I wanted to know what happened next. Since I read it during break times at work, I was often having to sit it down right in the middle of a “But… what happens next?” moment. Though it felt a bit heavy on the description, it painted a clear picture of what was going on, and I didn’t get lost. I could easily remember what was going on. A very nice thing to have if you can’t read it in one sitting.

Formatting was good; it was easy to read, and I only noticed a couple typos. The beginning (first two chapters) was a bit slow, but it did well to remind us what happened in the previous book and what was going on in the meantime.

Dark Spirits was an enjoyable read, I really enjoyed the ending, and I look forward to reading The Devil’s Third. 🙂

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You can find Dark Spirits on Amazon. 🙂

The Socks Project: Ashes Cover Reveal

As I get closer to self-publishing “Ashes,” I thought it might be nice to do a cover reveal. So here it is, the cover to “Ashes.” It’s got some similar treatment done to it to resemble “Socks,” but it has a different color scheme to match the themes in the story itself. As an interesting little side note, I believe this is actually the same picture I used in “Socks,” but done differently enough that it shouldn’t be noticable. (Except that I pointed out, but anyway).

As a side note, I was debating on whether or not to include a blurb on the cover mentioning that it was a short story or prequel. After some discussion on Absolute Write, I decided not to include it. Why? Because the same information will be mentioned on the web page where it can be bought/downloaded. Also, because hopefully it will resemble the cover of “Socks” close enough that a connection will be made. Granted, this is experimentation on my part, but that’s kind of the point of doing this. 🙂

Without further ado, the new cover!

Also, as a quick note, I found this article and thought those of you interested in doing your own cover creation might like reading it. It’s about font choice. 🙂

http://clancytales.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/how-to-font-your-cover.html

4 Comments

Filed under Book Covers, Photo Illustration, Writing

Tagged as 1000 Words, Absolute Write, book cover art, book cover design, book covers, photo illustration, SBibb, science fiction, self publish, self-published, short stories, Socks Project, Stephanie Bibb, Stephanie Flint, young adult