Cover Reveal

I'm excited to announce that SFF Insiders SFF Insiders has agreed to do a reveal of the cover art for Relentless Blades. The illustration is fantastic, and I can't wait to share it with everyone. It will be revealed on August 29, 2024, at 10am PST/Noon CST. Save the date!

While I can't share the cover yet, I can let you know the aesthetic I was going for. My influences growing up were the Dungeons and Dragons inspired fantasy novels of the 1980s through early 2000s. This means cover art by legendary fantasy artists such as Larry Elmore, Keith Parkinson, Jeff Easley and Clyde Caldwell. I think the results hit the mark. 

The further I progress on this self-publishing journey, the more I understand how much work it is. For example, simply having the art commissioned was the easy part. Far more difficult was ensuring it fit the correct size for publication. I had the dimensions to share with the artist, but they changed slightly when I decided to switch from white to cream paper for the printing. 

Once the illustration was set, I had the artist add in all the narrative, book title, my name, back cover blurb, spine text, etc. This was a whole separate process of determining the perfect font style, size and color. 

After that, I ordered a preview copy of the print book. The cover illustration looked great on the computer monitor, but much darker than I wanted on the print book, so I had to play around more with the brightness and exposure. Honestly, I'm still doing that and may have to do that several times before the book officially releases. 

I still need to go through the actual text to ensure I don't find any errors, then I need to get some ARC readers, and the whole time, continue to market the book. Unfortunately, this has severely hampered my ability to work on the sequel. To top it off, I came down with COVID a few days ago, so that's slowed me down even further. This is the first time I've contracted it. Overall, it hasn't been terrible. It's felt like a pretty typical flu, body aches, headache, congestion, chills, etc. Thankfully, I've not lost my sense of taste or smell, so overall it's been manageable. 

The whole process has been exhausting, but also rewarding and thrilling. I wouldn't trade it for anything. Please keep following me and I'll continue to document my publishing journey. Cheers!

Cover Art

 The book's cover art is complete and let me tell you, it's fantastic! It captures the essence of what I'm going for. I couldn't be more thrilled. Unfortunately, you'll have to wait a bit to see it. Trust me, it will be worth it. In the meantime, here is a draft of the concept for it to tide you over. Currently working with the formatter to get the lettering on the cover complete to compliment the beautiful illustration. 

Book Cover Commissioned

 The formatting took a bit longer than I expected, but it's all done. Well, all done save for ebook cover formatting, which has to wait until I get the cover illustration completed. On that note, I am excited to announce that I've commissioned the cover artist and he should begin work on the cover shortly. He's very talented so my expectations are high. 

Now I'm onto the not so fun task of figuring out a marketing strategy in advance of the book launch. 

Formatting almost Complete

 I worked with the formatter today, and should have the final, formatted version of Relentless Blades tomorrow, July 21, 2024. Once I receive the file, I can commission the cover artist. That's the part I'm really looking forward to. 

EDITS COMPLETE!!!!

 I've finally done it. Edits are complete on Relentless Blades: Volume 1 - The Scepter of Cymathu. It's hard to describe the mixture of excitement and trepidation as I type these words. It's been a long time coming. 

I've learned a lot, particularly how murky some English writing rules can be. Determining when made-up words and titles should be capitalized and not capitalized was more challenging then I thought. Add to it the myriad of options around how to display numbers, and these last few weeks for challenging.

However, I got through it. I'm now on to hiring a formatter to format my book for both e-readers and physical copies.

Getting excited!

The Initial Journey is nearing its end

 I'm meeting with my editor, the fabulous Evelyn Cammon, tomorrow to review, what I believe to be, the final edits for Relentless Blades: Volume 1. It's been a long and winding journey, but it's nearing its end.

Once I finalize the edits, I'll be lining up a formatter to get the book in shape for both Kindle uploads and for physical purchases. The final step will be to hire my cover illustrator. I have an artist in mind, and she does fabulous work. I'm beyond excited about that!

I'm trying to figure out my launch and marketing strategy now. I don't mind saying it's a bit daunting. You spend years writing, editing and perfecting the work, but not really thinking about how to get it out there to the largest audience. It's a whole different skill set to go from writer to marketer. 

I'm looking forward to the challenge. I'm still targeting a fall 2024 release which would put it at almost exactly two years from when I first sat down to commit words to the page. 

Unfortunately, between my real job which is getting very busy and finalizing the edits and thinking about marketing, I have not been writing as much as I'd like for Book 2. I constantly think about it though, and will get back to it

Cheers!

6th chapter

 A quick update today. Took a mini-vacation with the family to celebrate my daughter, Sofie's 16th birthday. We went to Santa Cruz, CA for a couple days. The weather was gorgeous! I don't think it could have been any better. 

While the vacation was fun, it cut into my writing time. I just completed chapter 6. My word count is up to 21,578. However, I'm not in love with this chapter. There are aspects I like, but not the whole thing. I'm trying to resist much editing for this first draft, but I'm giving in on this one and going to go back and tinker with it a bit to see if I can get it closer to something I like. 

I'm exploring other ways to drive interest in the book prior to its launch. I'm not super savvy when it comes to marketing videos, but that's where it helps to have teenage kids. My daughter, Isabel, is great at making short videos. As I type this she's working on a short video for Relentless Blades. It's looking good so far. I'll be excited to unveil it.

I'm still awaiting my second-round of edits for Book One. They should be sent to me within a few days. A writer's work is never done!