Category: Cover Art

New Covers (For literally everything!)

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The first cover I changed belongs to Sid and Teddy. I absolutely love how it turned out. It’s so fresh and as my newest baby looks pretty and like it smells good. It also has its very first review, five stars. So there you go. Want to read it? You can for free for like, another day. https://www.instafreebie.com/free/  But if you’re already convinced that it will be worth it, you can buy it at all the usual places, check my catalog here: Sid and Teddy

 

 

 

 

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The second cover belongs to Violet’s Mountain. This one is perfect. Exactly how I wanted it to look. I hope you like and if you haven’t taken a chance on the story yet, now that it’s all cleaned up… (sadly I can’t offer it to you for free, while it’s in Kindle Select exclusively, but follow this link if you want to buy a copy.) Violet’s Mountain

 

 

 

 

 

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Then I altered Fly: The Light Princess Retold ever so slightly. Simple is always better, now it’s like a cool breeze, much like the hero of our story, Amelia. The flightiest princess you’ll ever love. Available for free here, for a limited time: Fly

 

 

 

 

 

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Lastly, I made Bright so much better, and improved Beyond a bit too. I also added a tag line and the number that each book is within the trilogy. You can get a copy of Bright for free here: https://www.instafreebie.com/free/ But it’s always for free everywhere now. Check my catalog page for your favorite store: Catalog

 

Belief (Book Three of the Estelle Series) is in the hands of my beta-readers!

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I am sooooooooo excited to have new eyes on the page. I have read and re-read and edited and then, when I knew it was perfect, I re-read it and edited it again. Every layer gets better and better and there’s still more. My first beta-reader just wrote to me that she had finished. She said:

“I think I’ve read everything you’ve written so far and this is my favorite.”

There are parties and protests and rebellion and turmoil and tragedy. Hearts break and riot police are called in. I think you’re really going to like it. And so, here’s the cover: Belief best cover smaller

The tree in my front yard dresses up quite well ;o)

I’ll let you know in a few how to pre-order the book!

xox,

H.D.

 

Covers!

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While my new book, Violet’s Mountain, is being beta-read (by Mara, Mel, Melissa, Isobel, and Fiona, thank you!!!) I took a few moments to work on the cover. I have been posting the results on my facebook page  and have narrowed it down to two.

I haven’t created a professional blurb yet, but here’s a quickly jotted down synopsis:

Edmund and Benjamin are brothers. They surf, alot. They are also wickedly rich, not in the self-made manner, but in the inherit-it-all-and-don’t-care manner. Except Edmund, he’s an environmentalist.

They’re on an extended surftrip when they come across a mountain of hoard. The mountain is a gigantic trash pile, like 10 stories and a quarter mile, of collected things. The hoard belongs to one extended family who collects and collects and collects, and is tended by a young woman, Violet.

Violet is a hardhat wearing, crane driving badass, who tends her family’s junk with unwavering commitment. She also sculpts whirlygigs and adorns the top of the pile with their spinning beauty.

Her cousin Lala and her father live with her on the pile.

Benjamin and Edmund take one look at Violet and fall in love. They want to rescue her from the preposterousness that is the hoard. They want to…but should they? And when it all becomes too late, and trouble spills, who will be left living alone on the summit?

This book is a romance. check.

It’s got rich hotties. check.

It passes the Bechdel test. check.

Violet is a strong character (despite needing a rescue) yet she does the rescuing in the end. Did I mention that she’s a welder? checkedy-check!

Have a choice, opinion? Leave it in the comments ;o)

another version again more some better violet polaroid

 

 

 

I entered Bright’s cover into a cover design contest…

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I didn’t win, but Joel Friedlander, yes, the book designer, had this comment ;o)

http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2014/09/e-book-cover-design-awards-august-2014/

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JF: Simple and strong. The hallucinogenic cityscape and good use of negative space really work here.

 

I’m pretty happy with that. Also, just above my cover I found that a writer that has just published a retelling of The Light Princess. Funny, me too!

 

The proof of Fly arrived!

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This is a tremendous day of amazing importance. I have a proof copy and I love it.The front cover is exactly as I had hoped. Actually prettier, because the blue is more vivid that I had dreamed. (I’m untrained enough to think that vividness relies on dreams, still.)

front cover, Flythe back is wonderful and except for the top right text looking a little squished compared to the bottom right text, it’s exactly what I wanted. I will unsquish and upload a new version. I plan to give my cover designer a raise.

back cover, Flythe inside though is not exactly right. 

For my first proof copy I used Garamond typeface. For my second, this one, I used Didot. I wanted a spacier, lighter, stretched font. It seemed to make sense at the time. And Garamond looked kind of short and squat.

The left is Garamond, the right is Didot.
The left is Garamond, the right is Didot.

Come to find out Didot typeface is known for its thick vs thin contrast. It’s rarely used as a body text because, as one expert said, “it sparkles.” Indeed.

You can see above the difference. I left it a little blurry, come to find out typesetters prefer a type that creates a uniform grey on the page. It’s comforting and readable. Sparkles are not desirable. So I’m going to amend my font choice. Luckily with computers and createspace it’s only a matter of pushing a few buttons (though I do have 92 drop caps to contend with.) Imagine if I was placing type old school? I’d get what I got and I’d like it. 

Are you also picking fonts for your self-published book? I love the book designer. He recommends fonts, and I won’t deviate next time. Unless I know what I’m doing. If you’re interested in anything self-publishing, drop me a line. I’m figuring it out bit by bit and love to share.