First, it’s important to note that the 2021 July Book Cover of the Month Poll is still live. You can choose from four best covers from July and pick one cover to rule them all. Please vote for that cover here.
August is still going, so that means I get to announce Week One’s winner, which is…
Of Glass and Ashes by Elle Madison and Robin D. Mahle was just too clean and hit too many Disney buttons to be denied. It was a clean concept with strong visuals, and those traits always come out ahead.
Please take a few minutes to head on over to my YouTube channel. Give it a like and subscribe. That’s where I talk about these covers and why I choose them. You can also leave comments there and recommend new scifi and fantasy covers (has to be published within the last 90 days).
My Book Cover of the Month contest is back in the swing of things. Things have picked up a bit more, but we still aren’t getting a ton of votes. I’d be much obliged if you took a few moments to let your voice be heard. The good news is I didn’t have to break a tie. I had ten votes, so we are growing. I still need your help to get this back to the level of support it had a few years ago before I went on hiatus regarding book covers.
So first, let’s announce the winner for week 3.
The cover for City of Time and Magic by Paula Brackston is just beautiful. The font might leave a little to be desired, but the detail in the dress and the perfection of the composition more than make up for it.
I’d be grateful if you would be so kind as to watch my channel, where I talk about all seven of the covers and why I think they were so cool. My middle son joined me for this episode, so that was nice of him.
Remember to vote for your favorite through the link I provided above! This means that City of Time and Magic join The Lost Apothecary and Spellmaker in the finals for the 2021 April Book Cover of the Month! You guys can choose who wins the title and then support your favorite in the yearly competition (obviously next year)! I hope you’ll participate.
About a year ago, Heidi Angell, T.W. Iain, Richard Drake, and I released The Power of Words, an anthology dedicated to the First Amendment. My story for that collection was Stealing Freedom, and fun heist story about a mother who’s planning to shut down the servers that ruthlessly enforce the prohibition of speech and communication on her planet.
As per the agreement we had on that anthology, we’re allowed to release our individual stories (the anthology will remain available) after a year. In preparation for that, I’ve commissioned my artist, Carlos Villas, to do the cover. So, without further delay, I proudly present to you the cover to Stealing Freedom, scheduled for release Oct. 1, 2019.
It always amazed me to see what Carlos does with my concepts. For those who are interested, take a look at my request and little thumbnail: I told him, “The frame is from the bridge of a girl-child’s nose to just below the collar bone. Around her neck is a metal (techno-looking) collar about an inch thick. Blue electricity is arcing around the collar which is visually undone.”
Carlos patiently went through 13 drafts of the image until we got to the image you see above. The bulk of the revisions were in getting the collar to where we wanted it and then getting that arcing light to look perfect.
He did all that work in perhaps a week? If you’re an author looking for a dedicated artist who will eagerly take direction and produce that level of work quickly, I couldn’t recommend Carlos highly enough.
Once I got the final image, I located a font I liked and designed the overall cover with the author and title text. One may argue my author text is a bit dark, but on a monitor it works out fine. I’d be more worried if it were for a print cover (as printing brings up color and density issues), but if my color-challenged eyes can make it out, I’m confident others can see it. I downloaded the font (for free) and placed everything.
The Audible cover (yes, the audio version of this novella will also be available (I hope) Oct. 1.) was more challenging. In order to keep everything I wanted, I had to place the text over the face. My options were to put text over the face or crop the face out. I opted for the first choice.
Once more, you can expect Steal Freedom to be available on Kindle and Audible Oct. 1 (give or take a day or two).
We’ve just wrapped up another month. We’re now one bracket away from the Book Cover of the Year Wild Card Round!
We had 4,983 votes this month. This was one of the stronger months, and that was because one author came out with a much stronger following. It’s still great to see anyone get so much support. It was a run-away month to be honest, but that just means the bracket for the Book Cover of the Year should be amazing!
The October Book Cover of the Month is…
Until Nothing Remains by C.A. Rudolph! If you’re curious about how I felt about the book, check out the Facebook post that I posted when this book first landed on the bracket, here.
As runners up, Unrelenting Tide by Alexa Dare and Into the Fire by K. Gorman get a second chance to claim the title in November’s bracket.
But for now, let’s look at this month’s winner!
Amazon:
(START BLURB)
The United States has experienced its share of turmoil over the years.
Although not particularly war-torn or stricken with genocide and violent crime as other nations, over time, gun violence and terror attacks have become commonplace on American soil.
Never before has the United States been subjected to widespread, coordinated terrorist attacks, devastating enough to bring the entire nation to its knees. Until now.
In this first volume of his Gun Play series, post-apocalyptic author C.A. Rudolph will engage you with the tale of two families from wholly diverse walks of life: a husband and wife immersed in a clandestine existence of murder-for-hire, espionage, and intrigue, and a mainstream middle-class family of six.
Each will find themselves affected by an onslaught of terror attacks the likes of which the world has never seen. Each must learn to survive…or succumb.
A silent enemy lurks among them, and no one knows when they plan to strike. When they do, it will only be a matter of time Until Nothing Remains.
(END BLURB)
I’ve added Until Nothing Remains to my TBR. (For those who are new to the deal, I buy the Book Cover of the Month to read and review in the future. I buy all the winning covers. I’ve already bought September, August, July, June, May, April, March, February, January, and December’s book.
Here’s Rudolph’s Facebook page. Give it a like if you’re curious about her and her work.
The October Book Cover of the Month is coming along, and that contest will launch Nov. 1.
I will continue to identify and select covers for each day from Amazon’s New Release section for fantasy and science fiction. If you follow and like my Facebookpage, you can see what covers will make the bracket.
It’s been a fun two years, but at the moment, running this contest takes more out of me than I have to give. So with that said, I want to announce that I will finish this year’s bracket, but after that, I’m going to, at the very least, take some time to enjoy being married and figuring out what normal looks like. This can be fun, and most of the time it is, but there are times when I fall behind, and catching up takes time from writing, editing, or even marketing. These are all things I have to do. We’ll see how things go, but at the moment I feel like I’m taking a break once I finish this year.
Speaking of finishing this year, this month is one of only two months left. That means November will have two brackets: the normal Book Cover of the Month bracket and the Wild Card round for the Book Cover of the Year bracket. Be on the lookout for those.
For now, let’s send this contest off with a bang!
Sorcerers’ Web by Lucia Ashta joins 31 brand new covers this month.
You can vote all the way through the tournament, supporting the covers you like best through each round. I like to make sure people get the credit they deserve, so please show your support. Please vote and share as much as possible to get people a chance to pick their favorite.
As always, I’d appreciate it if you tag the authors and artists if you know them. I try to tag or friend every author I can, but sometimes it’s hard to track someone down. Max participation is a huge deal to me. The more people who vote, the more recognition these authors and artists receive, and I want this to be as legitimate as possible.
Image taken from Pixabay.
If you are the author, let’s remember to be good sports! 1) Please feel free to message or contact me at any time. 2) Please feel free to like, share, text, ask for support, and call everyone you know. I absolutely want max participation. However, if you’re going to offer giveaways or prizes, please offer them for voting, not just voting for you.
Also, while your summoning your army of voting soldiers, please make sure you ask them to vote in every match. Part of the idea of this is to get exposure to as many artists and authors as possible. By all means, if you can get 1,000 people to vote for your book, do it. Just please also send some eyeballs to the other matches.
A final note to authors and artists: I currently have links to the books’ Amazon pages. If you’d prefer I switch that link to sign up for your newsletter or like your social media page or whatever, just send me the link and let me know. I want this to help you. I want this to be as helpful as possible, so whatever you need me to do to facilitate that, just let me know.
I hope you keep having fun. Please, vote, share, and discuss as much as possible.
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Once more, you can expect Steal Freedom to be available on Kindle and Audible Oct. 1 (give or take a day or two).
The October Book Cover of the Month is coming along, and that contest will launch Nov. 1.
M.L.S. Weech 