#CoverReveal--Blackest Nights

Ooooh wheeee, is it hot in here? Coming soon to Ellora's Cave :)

https://www.ellorascave.com/index.php/authors/index/author/slug/cindy-jacks

Judging a book by its cover by Jacqueline George

Please welcome Jacqueline George talking about one of my favorite topics--book covers...well, actually I really like the cover models **Cindy waves to the Ellora's Cavemen** Okay, I'll behave myself. Take it way, Jacqueline!

~Cindy
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Judging a Book by its Cover

Never judge a book by its cover. Well, yes, but... When you are flicking through Amazon’s many pages, what else is going to catch your eye? If you don’t know the author or the title, there is nothing else to go on. Would you ever investigate an unknown book that does not have a cover image displayed? In a high street bookstore, the cover is what tempts you to take the book off the shelf and look inside. The same applies online.

A book’s cover is important, and publishers do their very best to come up with something that will stop you just passing by and ignoring their book. They are not always good at this, but I sympathise. Finding a cover image that looks stunning all over the world is very difficult. It might surprise North Americans to hear that Europe thinks most of their covers suck. And I’m sure North Americans think European covers are too tame and boring.

Spare a thought for the poor publisher and his graphic designer. Real life is not easy.

One of my titles, How to make Wild, Passionate Love to your Man, is on sale in Australia and the US, but I cannot use the same cover for both places. Seems that Americans want fire but Aussies find that a little embarrassing. We prefer funny, and here are the two covers - guess which is which.

One thing we have to remember when designing the perfect cover is that it will be displayed online very small, as a thumbnail, until the potential reader makes her first click. Any extravagant artistic effect will be invisible and will probably just look a mess. The title itself will be unreadable unless it takes up half the page.

We just have to try our best. Here are a couple of covers from Gemma Parkes. Version one was sort of OK, but version two, with a splash of colour and the girl turned around, made all the difference.

 

On top of everything else, the censor has to have his input too. Of course, Americans have constitutional guarantees of freedom from censorship. Unfortunately, American corporations exist largely outside the constitution and companies like Amazon and PayPal decide what you can read, and what a book can carry on its cover. They are too busy making money by selling books to bother much about the contents, but they do care about covers. So - no pink bits, no matter how pretty they might be. And no muscular butt cracks either, I’m afraid. Look at this poor model :

Notice the difference? I bet she did, because after my distributor warned that Amazon has a strict no-nipple policy, I had to get my razor out and slice off her button. It brought tears to my eyes, and hers as well, I’m sure.

OK - I admit it. I am absolutely hopeless at guessing what people want to see on their book covers. That would not be so bad if I could rely on the professionals to tell me what works and what doesn’t, but sometimes I just have to shake my head. How about these covers, for the American ebook versions of two books and the Australian print versions? They couldn’t be more different, but which one would make you click and buy?

First, The Prince and the Nun, a historical romance.

And then Her Master’s Voice, an adventurous romance set in South-east Asia,

So next time you make a snap judgement and pick up a book because it has an interesting cover, spare a thought for the work that went into it. At least you picked the book up, so that worked as it should. Now let’s see what is inside the cover...

Jacqueline lives in Far North Queensland, on the shore of the Coral Sea. She keeps herself busy with her cats and garden, and by writing books - some of which are far too naughty for her own good. You can find out more about Jacqueline and her books at www.jacquelinegeorgewriter.com

#iobooktours--Murder by Prophecy by @GaryKassay

When I saw this book as part of Innovative Online Book Tours, I was thrilled. I read the first Duke Becker book, Murder by Silence, and loved it so I jumped at the chance to review Murder by Prophecy. Which brings me to an important disclaimer: I did receive a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Okay,  disclaimers out of the way, let's get to the meat of it!

What would you do if you had been falsely imprisoned and if while in prison your wife and your children had been brutally murdered? Samuel Maxwell, the Prophet, decides to spend his time plotting out his plan for revenge against the greedy men responsible..

The Prophet stops at nothing to avenge the deaths. Will Inspector Duke Becker and his squad from Special Investigations Homicide be able to stop the Prophet and the reasons behind the killings before more die?  

I read a lot of mysteries/thrillers and there aren't many authors who can surprise me but Gary Kassay did just that. The murders are carefully crafted and plausible, but definitely kept me guessing. I found the search for the killer exciting and well-paced. The Prophet is a deliciously twisted villain and Duke's pursuit is nothing short of inspired. Also, I loved the deeper insight into Duke's character that his marriage provides. All in all, Mr. Kassay did a masterful job with Murder by Prophecy. I recommend it to all fans of the genre. It's a real page turner. Can't wait for the next Duke Becker novel!

About Gary Kassay:

Gary L. Kassay born on March 20, 1956 in the Bronx, New York. Married to high school sweetheart, Eileen on May 6, 1978. Two children, Jason Kassay born March 30, 1980 and Samantha Kassay born January 6, 1986. Eileen Kassay passed away on May 14, 2003.

Worked as an x-ray tech for six years at Brooklyn Hospital and then joined the New York City Police Department, Transit Police. Trained for the K-9 unit and worked until injured in the line of duty forcing early retirement. Next worked in the field of commercial photography, starting in customer service, then becoming the assistant manager, manager and then with two partners buying Diversified Photo located on Long Island.

Although retired at the time, worked Ground Zero after 9/11 for several weeks.

In 2004 left business to two partners and moved to North Carolina where he met his second wife Raella. Married on September 10, 2005 in Maui, Hawaii. Worked for Homeland Security as a TSA officer, and then as a Lieutenant for Guilford County in charge of the Social Services Building.

In 2008 he moved to Casper Wyoming where he currently resides.

Online Links:

Twitter: @GaryKassay or www.twitter.com/GaryKassay

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/gary.kassay?fref=ts

Website: www.garykassay.com

BUY NOW LINK: Coming soon!

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Giveaway: 5 E-book International

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Why won't you talk to me?

As a professional, full time author, I pride myself on never getting blocked and my ability to write no matter what. At least that's true 90% of the time...unfortunately I'm mired in that 10% where I have a story to complete, a deadline I've missed and I'm high and dry in the idea department.

Here's the deal: the story was due 12/31/2012 and I missed that deadline due to illness. During that time away from the manuscript my enthusiasm for it cooled and now I'm having a hell of a time rekindling it. It's not quite the same as being blocked because I'm perfectly capable of writing just NOT what I'm supposed to working on. It seems the characters aren't interested in talking to me and I can't figure out why.

To be honest, I've never quite understood the fickleness of the creative impulse. Some days are hot, some days are ice cold. Some manuscripts practically write themselves and the characters nag me at all hours of the day and night to get their story told. Some books are as painful as giving birth and the characters refuse to tell me their tale.

With this current endeavor, I've exhausted my bag of tricks--working on scenes that interest me, fleshing out the characters more using a variety of tools, taking a break and working on a different manuscript, etc. etc. Thus far, the stubborn hero and heroine are refusing to drop the silent treatment.

So I'm putting the question out there to all you writers, how do you handle it when you have a project you need to finish, but just can't get into it?

Cheers,
Cindy