Announcing the 2018 M.L.S. Weech Book Cover of the Year!

Greetings all,

It was a great year filled with a lot of great covers, great authors, and some amazing books.  Thanks to this idea, I got to read my favorite fiction book of the year. I got to make some amazing connections, but this is really all about the covers.

We had 3,023 votes for this bracket. That’s not as many as last year, but it’s still pretty great considering the size of this bracket. In the monthly brackets, we started with 32, and that ads 16 more votes per voter. These numbers mean we had at least 755 unique voters, and that’s awesome if you ask me. The winner of this contest can say more than 700 people looked at all 16 covers, and thought his or hers was best. (I have to TRY and keep some drama don’t I?)

There were three different leaders at different points of the contest. It was a close fight between the last two (came within ten voters, which would be less than one percent for those math people out there). However, I’m proud to say we have an undisputed champion.

The 2018 M.L.S. Weech Book Cover of the Year is…

 

 

Metal and Stone: The Awakening by Kevin Potter! This was a Wild Card Round Cover. Just check out that link for a book blurb and more info on how his cover did.

Let’s look at the stats!  The closest fight was between Potter and Asunder by L. Steinworth. These two traded off the lead, battling for their metaphorical lives in the Final Four. Steinworth took the lead on the last day, but then Potter surged ahead by a mere eight votes, and that turned out to be the difference maker. None of the covers on the other side of the bracket provided much of a fight, but that semifinal round was worth watching!

Since Metal and Stone: The Awakening was a wild card winner, that means it never won a monthly competition, so let’s show the book blurb so readers can see if they might be interested.

 

(START BLURB)

DRAGONS.
They exist, but have been in a state of hibernation for millennia. Will mankind survive their violent awakening?

Dauria was young and idealistic when she helped create the pact to force all dragons to withdraw from the world of Man in Earth’s distant past.

When she awakens unexpectedly after a millennia-long slumber, she finds those carefully laid plans unraveling. Someone is plotting a new war against humanity, and this time words may not be enough to stop it.

In her desperation to reunite with old allies, she finds herself separated from her draconic nature. If she can’t get it back, the nightmarish horrors of the past could return worse than ever…

(END BLURB)

Potter received 474 total votes. It’s sort of cool because he came into the tournament ranked twelfth (the wild card round lead vote earner). .

That means the Weech goes to Potter’s cover designer, which means I need him to tell me who that designer is so I can engrave The Weech and send it over to him.

I hope you all had fun this year. I really am pleased with how things turned out. That concludes the year, and, as I’ve discussed, the bracket is officially over at least for a year. With the marriage and release schedule I’m trying to maintain, it’s honestly a challenge to look at covers every day and provide the deep feedback I think it deserves. If I start again next year, I hope the authors and artists who were involved spread the word so other authors and artists can get exposure. That’s the whole point of the tournament.

For now, I’m honored to have the chance to give all these covers some attention. I will still read all the winners (including Potter’s) and review them. I’ll also find another way to give authors some purchases and reviews.  For now, I hope you’ll continue stopping by my blog.

Thanks for reading

Matt

The 2018 M.L.S. Weech Book Cover of the Year Bracket Starts Now!

Hello all!

I’ve been building to this for quite some time, and I’m so excited to kick things off. This is it! Twelve Book Covers of the Month join four Wild Card Book Covers to comprise a sixteen-book tournament to determine which one will rule them all!

If you like, you can take a look at each book cover’s winning announcement: December, January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, and November.

365 book covers. 53,047 votes. All leading to this tournament! The covers were ranked 1-16 by the number of total votes each received. That means the cover that received the most votes (Until Nothing Remains) is going up against the Wild Card that received the fewest votes. (Age of War), and so on and so forth.

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.

It’s been fun! I’d like to end this tournament on a high note. I’m trying to get 10,000 total votes. Please, tell everyone. Get people to vote. I want this trophy to mean something, and it’ll frankly mean more as more people vote.

I hope you keep having fun. Please, vote, share, and discuss as much as possible.

All you have to do now is head over here to vote!

Thanks for reading,

Matt

Announcing the July Book Cover of the Month!

Hello everyone,

We’ve just wrapped up another month. It was simply a historically amazing month. It did so well, I’m pinching myself trying to make sure I’m not dreaming. My goal for this is exposure for authors. Yes, I get some exposure as well, but I’d rather get exposure through helping others get visibility than any other way. This month made me hope we’re reaching a new level.

We had 9,787 votes this month. That’s far and away a new record! Thank you so much! For a moment, I thought we were actually going to crack 10,000.

One cover pulled away early; another surged late (big time), but it wasn’t enough to catch this month’s winner.

The July Book Cover of the Month is…

 

Asunder by L. Steinworth! 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.

Let’s look at the stats!

Steinworth received 784 total votes. I’d put her as the early favorite to win the Book Cover of the Year Bracket in December.

Age of War by Michael J. Sullivan came in second, so Sullivan gets a shot at next month’s title. Hopefully he gets the same support. Usually, 30 Finals votes will get a win.  Sullivan had 64, so he’d be the very early favorite. Also, Sullivan has been in several of these brackets. He’s come in second a few times. I think he’d like to get a win.

But for now, let’s look at this month’s winner!

Amazon:

(START BLURB)

Alden knew life in the Shadowen Thieves Guild would cost him greatly, but when their next mission means abducting Princess Mayli Drake of Ammos, the price is too high. Defying the guild, Alden sets out to return Mayli safely home in hopes of restoring peace with the kingdom of Brimley. Mayli feels as though her life has torn asunder after being taken captive. However, if she is to survive, she must come to trust the renegade thief loyal to her mother’s killer. As Alden pleads for Brimley’s innocence, Mayli begins to question what she thought she knew about her kingdom’s enemies.

(END BLURB)

I’ve added Asunder 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 June, May, April, March, February, January, December’s book.

Here’s Steinworth’s Facebook page. Give it a like if you’re curious about her and her work.

Steinworth actually designed this very cover herself.  There’s a video of some of it somewhere, and I’ll try to link it.

The August Book Cover of the Month is coming along, and that contest will launch Sept. 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 Facebook page, you can see what covers will make the bracket.

Thanks for reading

Matt

Your July Book Cover of the Month Update

Greetings all,

With just seven days left in this month’s bracket, it’s time to update you all on how things have been progressing.

As I type this, we have 5,575 votes so far. This is on pace for a historic month.  At this moment (about 8:45 p.m.), this month’s bracket is only 546 votes away from breaking the all-time record for most votes in a single month. It’s simply an amazing show of support for some nice book covers.  Thank you all. Here’s hoping that record gets shattered.

Asunder by L. Steinworth is in the lead at the moment.

Most Voted on so far: Asunder has the most total votes so far with 480. She’s had 57 voters send her all the way through to the winner’s circle, which gives her a respectfully commanding lead by the halfway point.

Least Voted for:  Mercy Point by Anna Snoekstra. This cover has 67 votes.  I typically hope to see each book getting at least 100 votes. I think it’s a nice cover with good use of color and contrast.

Asunder has a pretty commanding lead in every round, but there area few books that could steal things with enough support.  The first is Dream of the Navigator by Stephen Zimmer, which needs 34 voters to push it all the way through to the finals to pass Steinworth.  The other cover that’s in striking distance is the current runner up, Spell Smoke by SM Reine, which only needs 38 voters to push it all the way through to the finals to take the lead. Given that 337 unique individuals have voted so far, it’s not too far fetched to think another 40 could support one of those covers and completely change this bracket.

A quick reminder of how the tournament works. The easiest way to win is to have the most people vote for you in every round. The trick is you have to have the most people vote you through in each round, all the way to the final.  As an example, 100 people could vote someone through to the finals, but that doesn’t do a cover any good if he doesn’t win the first round. It’s not total votes. It’s not simple championship votes. The winning cover has to have the most votes in each round of the competition.

This will be the only update for this type of bracket. I hope the record does get broken and that I see voters lining up to support their authors by voting, liking, and sharing the bracket with as many people as possible.  You can vote at this address!

I’ll announce the winner is just seven days!

Thanks for reading,

Matt

The July Book Cover of the Month Begins!

Happy first everyone! As is now officially tradition here on my blog, it’s time to start a new book cover of the month competition.

A Guiding Light by Susan Copperfield returns for her third try and 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.

All you have to do now is head over here to vote!

Thanks for reading,

Matt