Don't you just love that new cover art smell?

Good morning!

Most of you know that I'm deep in the process of e-publishing my second novel, "Lies in Chance."  We are about 12 weeks, give or take, away from having the story of my heart  (more on that in a late post) out for the world to see.

I have the very great honor of working with talented artist  (and, it turns out, editor and author) Nicola Martinez, who was the talent behind the beautiful cover for my first book, Dream in Color.  She has, I believe, given me a cover that captures the feel of "Lies in Chance."

I'd share it with you, but I still have to figure out a tag line for the cover before it's ready for human consumption.   I will give you this little taste 

Obviously, this isn't the final look, but it's the foundation for the cover.  And I am in love with it.

There are a number of stages, for the starting out author, that we go through, so of like the stages of grief, except good stuff.  You've got the first draft stage, where you're literally vomiting up words.  Then there's the drafting stages where you're getting feedback from critique partners, from workshops, from contest judges, and you're polishing, polishing, polishing.

Then you have the marketing stage which I believe it the hardest because this is business, this isn't creativity, and writers are creative.  Maybe that's why digital publishing has exploded.  Writers are tired of the marketing treadmill.  Submit and reject, submit and reject.  It's hard, it takes a lot of time and energy, and it's not terribly creative.

Then there's the sales stage, that special euphoria when a publisher or agent says YES and you know you're on your way.  That stage is very short lived because then you wind up in the business/contract/editing stage, which again, is hard work and not awfully creative.

And then there's the new cover art stage.  This is the best stage of all because this is when you get to see your name on the cover of a book.  And that cover, if done correctly, captures the spirit of your book in a way that maybe you could not.  For me, I paint word pictures.  Put a paintbrush in my hands an all you're going to get is spilled paint. 

Publishing digitally is still very hard work, though a few key stages are cut out.  The marketing stage is replaced with the formatting stage.  I am NOT brave enough to format my own book this time around, so I'm working with someone to do it.    Bigger still is the fact that I'm pretty much on my own for editing.  And editing is vital.  Boring, but vital.  People are NOT going to read a poorly edited book.  They just aren't.

So, while I'm still inhaling that wonderful new cover art smell, I still have A LOT of work to do!