April’s Sweet 16!

I’m always amazed at the support these authors generate. This month is no different.  I’m getting used to each month’s first round outdoing the month before it, but I’m more impressed this month.  In about half the time, your readers helped shatter the record for first round votes. You generated 2,250 votes, which is 502 more than ever before.  What makes me happiest is that every match had more than 110 votes. So all your readers came out to show support, and they were kind enough to show that support to all of you.  Please thank them for me.

This month didn’t have a lot of close calls, but the votes were coming in so fast and furious (really hate that term these days) that I had to wait for the next round to start before I could finalize this post. One match had a lead change just while I was typing this post out. (Well fought Michael J. Sullivan and Frank Dorrain!)

Let’s go over some numbers:

The Closest Contest:

The above shoutout should have been the hint. Michael J. Sullivan had a late (like 11:30 p.m. late) surge and took the match by three votes (just 51% of the total votes).  That makes Age of Myth vs To Brave the End the closest contest no matter how you slice it. Sullivan just won’t go away. He consistently finds a way to win (except for that pesky final match).

The Largest Victor:
World, meet Neo Edmund and his outstanding cover Fate of the Big Bad Wolf. He beat Malevolent Mind by Misty Harvey by 64 total votes, which is 74 percent of the matches’ 132 total votes (No, it’s not the most voted on contest. Like I said, you all had a TON of support!)

Most Voted On Contest:
For my money, the most voted on match was the most fun match to watch. It had a lot of lead changes and was always close.  Waters of Salt and Sin by Alisha Klapheke managed to beat Restitution by Kristen Martin by just 8 votes (one of the three closest matches). This match dominated in terms of total votes with 188. I saw both authors tweeting and sharing away.  It was great to see their participation and touching to see how many readers showed up to vote for them.

Least Voted On Contest:
For the first time since I started this, I really think we had max participation in that every match had a significant number of votes.  Yes, the above match had some 20 votes more than the others, but everyone got some love.  However, someone usually gets the fewest.  This round, the match between by Darkborn by Carrie Summers  vs The Lady of the Lake by Andrzej Sapkowski received the fewest votes (120).  Summers took the match pretty handedly though (by 46 votes).

Most Votes:
Usually, the winner of the most voted on contest also earns this distinction.  Not so this month. Joe Hart’s The First City received 100 votes. There were a lot of books that received more than 90 votes, so it’s just a testimony to how much love voters showed all of the contests.

So now it’s on to the Sweet 16!  This round will last until May 7. That’s 3 days to pick which 8 will move on.

Head over here and vote!

Thanks for reading,

Matt

The April Book Cover of the Month Bracket Begins!

Happy first everyone! It’s time to kick off a new bracket.  If you’re curios or new, check out the Book Covers for December, January, February, and March.

April’s bracket has 30 new covers.  Age of Myth is fighting more than I’ve ever seen a cover fight. Michael J. Sullivan finished with the top most votes in the semifinals, which earned him yet another shot in this month’s bracket. Frank Dorrian’s To Brave the End was last month’s runner up, so he gets another crack at the bracket as well.

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.

If you are the author, I feel the need to let’s remember some basic guidelines.  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.

Since we’ve been going, I’ve been evaluating how the participation has been. A few authors mentioned that it can be pretty exhausting having a 22-day-long tournament.  So I’m going to try a few new things.  This month, I’m simply trying to reduce the amount of time in the tournament.  This torment will run from today to the 14th.  I’ll do something different next mont.  I’d like your thoughts and feedback as to which way is best.  My goal is to have a fun, honest, meaningful competition that helps everyone. Your feedback will make that possible.

Round 1 will go from today to May 4.

The Sweet 16 will run from then to the 7th.

The Elite 8 will take it from there until the 10th.

The Final 4 runs from the 18th to the 12.

The Finals will go from the 20th to the 14.

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

March Book Cover of the Month Final 4!

We’re down to four, and I think it’ll be a tough round!

We picked things up a bit. This round had 314 votes, which brings us to 2,524 for the month. I’d love to see us break 4,000 for the month, but as long as you’re supporting the covers you love, that’s all that matters.

Let’s look at how this round broke down:

The Closest Contest:
Last month’s runner up, Age of Myth by Michael J. Sullivan, just finds a way to win every round. It’s always close, but Sullivan always comes through. He managed to beat Empress of the Fall by David Hair by just 10 votes (barely 57 percent of the votes in that match).  That was the closest match no matter which way you measured it.

The Largest Victor:
I’m not an odds man myself, but I’m thinking whoever wants to make it to the finals is going to need at least 65 votes.  And only two people have been hitting (and passing) that mark so far. This week The Burning World by Isaac Marion beat Gilded Cage by Vic James by a sound 44 votes, and at 79 percent of the votes, that takes the cake no matter how you slice it.

Most Voted On Contest:
As dominant as Marion’s victory was, his match didn’t garner the most support. That distinction goes to To Brave the End by Frank Dorrian vs Ahe’ey by Jamie Le Fay. That match was well ahead of the rest with 106 votes. I’ve seen Mr. Dorrian’s posts on FB and Twitter. I’m much obliged for your support, and your readers are doing a fine job of backing your outstanding cover.

This was still a slower than usual round. (Honestly, we’re only three months in, so it’s not like there’s a “usual” yet.) Still, all the contests had at least 60 votes, which is pretty respectable in my opinion.

Least Voted On Contest:
The Door Keeper by Steen Jones vs Asharielle by Kathryn Cook racked up 63 votes. It was a pretty close match, with Jones only wining by 14 votes.

Most Votes:
Marion came on strong, but Dorrian wins his second round of the tournament with the most votes.  He earned 64 for the round and is sitting at 232 for the tournament (That’s 16 votes more than Marion at the moment).  I hope this motivates Jones and Sullivan’s fans: It looks like an epic head to head between Dorrian and Marion unless someone pulls of an impressive upset. For those rooting for those underdogs, remember to share the tournament and ask your friends to support.

The Final 4 ends at the strike of Midnight, April 20. That’s only 2 days, so call your friends, share my posts, get your readers engaged!

The good news for those who made it into this round is that one of you is already guaranteed a bid in next month’s bracket if this month doesn’t work out for you. The top vote-earning runner up will automatically go in for the April bracket, so every vote counts in this round.

Get out there and vote!

Thanks for reading,

Matt

March Elite 8!

Hello everyone! The Elite 8 is here! The Sweet 16 had 457 votes, which puts us at a total of 2,210 votes so far!

Let’s go over some numbers:

 

The Closest Contest:

Empress of the Fall by David Hair narrowly defeated The Secret of Spellshadow Manor by Bella Forrest. It was the closest match both in terms of votes (only by 7) and percentage of votes (55).

The Largest Victor:
Frank Dorrian has thrown down the gauntlet. He racked up an impressive 82 votes.  His book, To Brave the End, defeated The Lich by Adam Vine by 55 votes (75%). In fact, Dorrian earned more votes than any single match. (So needless to say his match had the most votes, and Dorrian’s book received the most votes).

Least Voted On Contest:

Night Lights by Helen Harper vs Gilded Cage by Vic James only received 53 votes. This was a slower round than usual, but we were bound to level off after three consecutive record breaking months. Fifty votes in a contest isn’t anything to balk at, but, as always, I’m going to ask that when you rally your voters, please ask them to vote in each match.

 

To Brave the End is the current leader in total votes due to his amazing support. The Burning World isn’t far behind, but rest of the pack is.  The number three vote earner so far (Asharielle by Kathryn Cook) is 46 votes behind.

There’s still time to support your favorite book cover.

The Elite Eight lasts until April 18, so things should pick up with less time to vote between rounds.

Head over here and vote!

One last thing.  I’ve gotten a bit of feedback that says the tournament is too long. I want the authors to have enough time to drum up support, but I don’t want it to be taxing.  Do any of you have any ideas or recommendations? Is the tournament too long? How many days do you think you need?

Thanks for reading,

Matt

March BCOTM Sweet 16!

I keep feeling overwhelmed when these numbers are so high, but they just keep climbing.  This is another record-breaking round.  This month’s first round had 1,642, which is nearly 200 more than last month’s first round.

Let’s go over some numbers:

 

The Closest Contest:

Night Lights by Helen Harper beat Holding Their Own XIII Renegade by Joe Nobody only had a three vote difference.  Lights won the day. That match was a 52-48 percent split.  So was The Door Keeper by Steen Jones vs God of the Sun by Kimberly Loth. Keeper took that match.

The Largest Victor:
Hello Isaac Marion and his hoard of loyal voters! My goodness, his book The Burning World, beat The Front  by David Moody to the tune of 93 votes and 85 percent of the match.  Get this….HIS match wasn’t the most voted on contest!

Most Voted On Contest:
When matches are getting up there, it’s hard to notice how close they ar.  To Brave the End by Frank Dorrian vs Fade by Daniel Humphreys was only decided by 15 votes, but it had 155 votes total!

Least Voted On Contest:
I’m a little sad.  Most votes had more than 80.  Heck, a lot had more than 90 votes, so I’m sad that Betrayal by Dirk van den Boom vs Arkwright by Allen Steele only received 64 votes. If you could please ask your supporters to vote in each match, that will only increase the level of competition.  Let’s try to support each match.

Most Votes:
Marion is off to an amazing start. I’m pretty sure he broke the record for more first-round votes. He took 112 votes all by himself.  Perspective: All of December’s bracket only had a TOTAL of 144 votes. So Marion has staked his claim. Is anyone ready to take him on?

So now it’s on to the Sweet 16!  This round will last until April 15. That’s 7 days to pick which 8 will move on.

Head over here and vote!

Thanks for reading,

Matt

February

The March Book Cover of the Month Bracket Begins!

The dawn of a new month has become a bit of a present for me. It means I get to kick off a new bracket.  If you’re curios or new, check out the Book Covers for December, January, and February. 

I’m happy to say February was pretty darn successful. It only came a few hundred away from breaking a record! This month has 31 outstanding new covers and Age of Myth has another chance to seize the day! I’ve been tracking this set of books for a while, and I honestly think it’s the strongest so far. Look, I know I might say that every month, but isn’t that the point?

If you know the authors or the artists, please share this and tag 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.

If you are the author, I feel the need to establish a few guidelines.  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. I want your cover to win because it was the best, not because you had the most stuff to give away. When we get to the Final Four, I have a plan or two myself in that regard. Don’t take this to mean you can’t ask for support.

Even if this becomes nothing more than a popularity contest, that’s fine. Why not celebrate with your following? Why not be proud of the platform you have and the number of people who support you? But my biggest goal is to honestly reward the best cover. It’s about the artists. I see TONS of support for authors, and what I want is an honest way to give cover artists/designers credit. The only way that’s possible is to get as many people to vote as we can. Your fans will (and should) vote for you. Your opponent’s fans will vote for your opponent. But it’s when we get to their friends and their friends of friends that impartial voters can help the separate the field. This will ensure the winning cover was decided by the people.

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.

Round 1 will go from today to April 8.

The Sweet 16 will run from then to the 15th.

The Elite 8 will take it from there until the 18th.

The Final 4 runs from the 18th to the 20th.

The Finals will go from the 20th to the 22nd.

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 February Book Cover of the Month!

Another bracket has concluded, and I’m still amazed at how popular this is getting. I’d like to set a goal to do better each month, which we didn’t do this month, but we still had an amazing turnout. As I type this, we had a total of 3,911 votes. It’s just humbling to see the support people are showing these authors and their covers. Last month, I mentioned that I wasn’t sure March was going to hold up against January. I feel confident that March is going to be even tougher. But that’s the past, and the future. It’s time to talk about the present.

The February Book Cover of the Month is…

This cover and other associated images are used for review under fair use doctrine. They’re also used with the permission of the author. Any unauthorized reuse or appropriation of these images are done so against the permission of the work’s right to distribute.

The Unleashed by Bentz Deyo! 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.

Deyo is the first author to win a BCOTM competition as a previous month’s alternate. He lost to Loveless last month, and was hell-bent on not losing this time. Let’s look at the stats!

The Unleashed started out strong and finished superhuman. He went Hulk in the semifinals and didn’t slow down very much in the Finals. I was talking to both he and Joshua Robertson during the semifinals, and they were both going out of their minds looking for ways to get word out about the bracket. The Unleashed received 802 out of 3,911 total votes (21%, give or take what votes may come in the next 40 minutes). Age of Myth by Michael J. Sullivan couldn’t muster up enough votes to take down Deyo. Sullivan’s 320 total votes still don’t compete with Anaerfell’s 574 votes. Or even the 350 votes Robertson garnered in the last round alone. Without intending disrespect to Mr. Sullivan, it looked like the winner of his previous match was just going to be too tough to take down.  Deyo took the finals 184-32.

A note on how I run the bracket. I’m a huge fan of Robertson and the showing he had, but I have a football mentality. Even though I recognize the right half of the bracket was probably stronger than the left half, Myth made it to the finals. For this reason, Myth will receive an automatic bid into next-month’s bracket. This is just the MOST FAIR way I have found to fill out a bracket. If I had another slot, it would have gone to Robertson, but if I deviate from what I have been doing, I invalidate the integrity of the competition. That’s important to me. It doesn’t mean we won’t see Robertson or Boyd (or both) again, but not in next month’s bracket.

The Unleashed is the second book in the Undelightened Series. Here’s the summary on Amazon:

 

(START BLURB)

Leam Holt has done the unthinkable. He’s saved Harbing from utter destruction by consuming the toxin that was intended for the entire town and he’s rescued Eloa’s father from Darkness Headquarters.

But at what cost? Stricken by the poison and unable to remember who he is or access his Light side, Leam is captured by Gideon. Surrounded by evil, Leam revels in his undiluted Dark power and connects with other violent and corrupt kids, especially the bold and gorgeous Rylan. Still, Leam struggles to piece together his memories, including those of the beautiful Eloa, whom he discovers is in grave danger.

While forces of Light work to free Leam, the world is thrown into turmoil. The battle over the prophet, the person who will lead the world into complete Darkness or Light, is heating up, and Leam’s role in the war grows murkier.

(END BLURB)

As always, I’ve purchased the book and added it 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 bought Manning’s cover, and Howard’s cover and they are also on my TBR. Manning’s is on deck while I finish reading the book I just started this week.)

Here’s Mr. Deyo’s Facebook page. Give him a like if you’re curious about his work.

This image of Mr. Deyo was taken from his website with his knowledge and permission.

The artist for this cover is Lisa Pompillo.  I’ll reach out to her and see if she’d like to have an interview later on in the week.  Until then, have a peek at her website and see her work! Mr. Deyo was kind enough to offer the following comment:

“It’s a great cover,” he said. “The book ain’t half bad either. Thanks for the votes!” Then he used a smiley face emoji with shades, but I don’t speak emoji, so I can’t replicate it. I am, however, obsessed with accurate reporting, so there ya go!

The March bracket is ready to go and will launch on April 1. It looks great, and I’m pretty pleased with how April is setting up.

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.

Thanks for reading

Matt

February BCOTM Finals!

So this round didn’t break a record, but it was still amazing.  I’m honestly refreshing as I type this. So I don’t know exactly what the final tally will be because it jumps 20 or so votes every time I refresh.  So it’s all over, and I’m done refreshing.  I couldn’t even prep this post because of how close the matches were. We ended with 981 votes. This pushed us to 3,693 votes (which is more than we had at this time last month, but that’s because there’s been more participation in the other rounds.)  I’ve spoken to both the participants who stole the show these past two days. They’ve been working their tales off, messaging and texting everyone they could. It’s been an honor to watch.

Let’s talk about it:

The Closest Contest:

Age of Myth by Michael J. Sullivan edged out Heart Stone by Elle Katharine White by 9 votes, but both matches were only decided by 2% of the total votes.
Anaerfell by Joshua Robertson and J.C. Boyd vs The Unleashed by Bentz Deyo is the match of the round. They went back and forth every step of the way. Deyo had a late surged and powered through the match with a 22 vote lead. Considering that’s only 2% more, it’s not as “big” a victory as it would have been in earlier rounds.

That should help you all see The Largest Victor area, but it’s wasn’t nearly that large this round.

Most Voted On Contest:
Deyo’s match against Robertson and Boyd had 732 votes. It was amazing. Like I said, I was speaking to both authors pretty much throughout the day. It was a nail biter for me, and I had not stake in the match. THEY were working their buts off.

Most Votes:
Unleashed obviously had the most votes and is the current top dog. He has 619 votes so far. Sullivan’s Age of Myth following is going to have to really bring it if they intend to help him take this month’s title.

The Finals last until midnight of March 22. (That’s about 48 hours).

Head over here and vote!

Thanks for reading,

Matt

February Final 4!

From 32, to 16, to 8, and now 4!

We’ve narrowed a great batch of covers down to four, any of which I’d be happy to stand behind!

We broke ANOTHER round record. (Could we break a record EVERY round? That’d be awesome!)  The Elite 8 had a total of 457 (give or take whatever hashes out as Richardson and Sullivan continue to duke it out as I type this). This pushes us to 2,712 votes, every single one of which I thank you all for so very much! Even in the month of March (you all know there’s this basket ball thing right?), this bracket is still on the most popular brackets page on  Brackify.com.

Let’s look at how this round broke down:

The Closest Contest:
I’m still refreshing the bracket while I watch Dragon Legends by Ava Richardson take on Age of Myth by Michael J. Sullivan. That thing was CLOSE! It came down to 1 vote, but Sullivan took it and 31% of the total votes.

The Largest Victor:
Joshua Robertson and J.C. Boyd are on a tear! Their book, Anaerfell, defeated The Elven Tales by Fabi Ghittoni by 28 votes and 61% the votes for their match.

Most Voted On Contest:
Not to be outdone is the match I mentioned might have a ton of votes. It didn’t disappoint. With Blood Upon the Sand by Bradley P. Beaulieu vs The Unleashed by Bentz Deyo racked up 155 votes (25 more than the above contest). Deyo is BACK in the Final Four, where he fell to last month’s winner. He hasn’t gotten over that, and he’s clocking a ton of votes this time around. Anaerfell vs Unleashed is set to be another nail-biting, vote tallying monster! I’m just glad I get to watch.

Again, all contests had more than 80 votes, but Deyo’s match almost doubled the lowest voted match. By all means, support the cover you like best, but you CAN vote for every match. I had one author ask if he had to win the match AND the round, that’s not true. All you have to do is win your match, so vote in every round to make sure all the best covers move on.

Least Voted On Contest:
Hearthstone by Elle Katharine White vs Flight of the Krilo by Sam Ferguson had the fewest votes with 80.

Most Votes:
Bentz Deyo is out for revenge! He took the top number of votes again (88) for the round and has the most votes overall (241). Basically, the bottom two of this round would have had to team up to take him out. Anaerfell is no slouch though. This match pits the top vote earner (Deyo) against the number 2 vote earner.  WOW is this going to be fun.  Don’t worry though, Brackify is running smoothly, it can handle the votes!

The Final 4 ends at the strike of Midnight, March 20. That’s only 2 days, so call your friends, share my posts, get your readers engaged!

Last month was a bit odd because February is a short month. That’s not the case this time. Only the runner up to this month will get a second chance in the March bracket. So if you want to be sure you land in the Book Cover of the Year bracket, wining the month is your best bet!

 

Get out there and vote!

Thanks for reading,

Matt

February Book Cover of the Month Elite 8!

Hello everyone! The Elite 8 is here, and the voting is getting more and more difficult! I don’t get tired of saying it; this was another record-breaking round! The Sweet 16 had 788 votes, which puts us at a total of 2,255 votes so far!

 

Let’s go over some numbers:

The Closest Contest:

We had two contests come within 5 votes.  Heartstone by Elle Katharine White vs The Last Sacrifice by James A. Moore and Dragon Legends by Ava Richardson vs Surviving the Evacuation: Ireland by Frank Tayell were equally close calls with Richardson and White each wining by 5 votes and only 53% of the total votes.

The Largest Victor:
This wasn’t close by any stretch of the imagination.  With Blood Upon the Sand by Bradley P. Beaulieu showed up big time against An Impossible War by Andy Remic. Beaulieu won by 45 votes, earning 71% of the total votes.

Most Voted On Contest:
I’m not sure what else Joshua Robertson, J.C. Boyd and Karpov Kinrade were doing, but they were certainly calling on their followings! Anaerfell by Robertson and Boyd narrowed out Silver Flame by Kinrade by 15 votes, which is tiny compared to the 139 votes that match received.

Least Voted On Contest:
Once again, every contest received more than 80 votes, which is great, but let’s make sure that if we call on our readers, we ask them to vote on every contest. Stone vs Sacrifice and The Destiny Thief by Luanne Bennett vs Flight of the Krilo by Sam Ferguson both only received 83 votes.

Most Votes:
Anaerfell is the top dog for this round. To show you how close that match was, in terms of total votes so far, Silver Flame received 135 total votes (which is more than With Blood Upon the Sand, which is moving on). In order to move on, Robertson had to surge to receive 138 total votes.  In short, Robertson had to essentially win twice to stay in the tournament.

The Unleashed by Bentz Deyo is still the top dog in terms of overall votes with 154 votes, but Deyo is facing Beaulieu in the next round. Why does that matter? Deyo and Beaulieu are 1 and 4 respectively in terms of overall votes. It’ll take at least 80 votes to for either author to win this next round.

So now it’s on to the Elite 8!  This round will last until March 18, which is only about 4 days! I think this round might be one of the closest ever. I’m VERY curious to see which 4 you all choose to send on in the tournament.

Head over here and vote!

Thanks for reading,

Matt