The Cover Reveal & Giveaway
Are you ready for the reveal of the new Cephrael’s Hand cover?
Because here it is! What do you think? Does it do a good job conveying the
fantasy genre? Is it a book you’d be attracted to in the store? Does it make
you want to learn more?
Thank you for helping us celebrate! If you’d like to see the new
covers for books 2 and 3 in the series stop by www.MelissaMcPhail.com, and check them out.
Guess what else? The author is offering a special giveaway as
part of this grand event. Check out the Rafflecopter form below (it’s also
available at www.novelpublicity.com/cephrael-cover-reveal/) to find
out how you can win a Kindle Fire. Hooray!
Oh, and don’t miss learning more about Cephrael’s
Hand and where you
can pick up a copy—that’s below too.
“All things are composed of patterns…” And
within the pattern of the realm of Alorin, three strands must cross:
In Alorin… three
hundred years after the genocidal Adept Wars, the realm is dying, and the
blessed Adept race dies with it. One man holds the secret to reverting this
decline: Bjorn van Gelderan, a dangerous and enigmatic man whose shocking
betrayal three centuries past earned him a traitor’s brand. It is the Adept
Vestal Raine D’Lacourte’s mission to learn what Bjorn knows in the hope of
salvaging his race. But first he’ll have to find him.
In the kingdom of Dannym… the young
Prince Ean val Lorian faces a tenuous future as the last living heir to the
coveted Eagle Throne. When his blood-brother is slain during a failed
assassination, Ean embarks on a desperate hunt for the man responsible. Yet his
advisors have their own agendas, and his quest for vengeance leads him ever
deeper into a sinuous plot masterminded by a mysterious and powerful man, the
one they call First Lord.
In the Nadori desert…tormented
by the missing pieces of his life, a soldier named Trell heads off to uncover
the truth of his shadowed past. But when disaster places him in the debt of
Wildlings sworn to the First Lord, Trell begins to suspect a deadlier, darker
secret motivating them. Honor-bound to serve the First Lord in return for his
life, Trell continues on his appointed path, yet each day unveils new and
stranger secrets that eventually call into question everything he knows.
Interview
1. How important do you think cover art is to
selling your books?
I think cover art is essential to book sales. A
well-crafted cover will tell the reader in which genre the book is classified,
represent in some way the story's theme, and give an overall impression of the
world. Fantasy book covers are vital to presenting a sense and feeling of the
world. In many cases, the cover is the only visual representation a reader
gets.
And of course, we all know that a book cover done well will
catch a potential reader's attention. It's your best and sometimes only chance
to make that memorable first impression.
2. For self-published and small house
published authors, what do think is important to remember when deciding on the
final cover for your work?
I stand firmly on the side advocating book covers that support
the central themes of the story they contain. For literary fiction, you can get
away with more creative (or minimalist) covers that don't have much to do with
the story itself but are artful and visually compelling.
But for fantasy and other genre fiction, covers should capture a
particular feeling that's prevalent in the story (loneliness, peril, mystery,
love, longing...) and give the reader some sense of the world.
No matter your genre, ensure your cover communicates the things
you need and want it to communicate, and don't settle for anything less. The
cover is your first communication to a potential reader. Make sure the communication
you want is what gets across to them.
3. Who did you choose to use for cover art,
and why? What was your process for deciding on who to use?
With the original covers for Cephrael's Hand and The Dagger of Adendigaeth, I
used an independent digital artist, Kentaro
Kanamoto, to create the artwork, and then I designed the covers around the
artwork.
The new covers were produced by Damonza.com. I really
liked their approach to cover design and was attracted to them originally when
I saw a cover they produced for another independent author. They ask for a lot
of information about the story and its central themes up front, and then they
get busy creating. They worked with me through a number of revisions until I
was happy with the covers.
4. How does the new cover better relate to the
book and its characters?
It was important to me to ensure that the new covers give a
sense of the world as well as some of the story's key thematic elements. All
three of the new book covers give a visual representation of more themes that
are central to their part of the story.
Cephrael's Hand is the name
of a constellation that features prominently in book one, so of course those
stars are represented on the cover.
Patterning is the name of the
magic system in the world, and some representation of Patterning is included on
all of my new covers.
For the cover of Cephrael's
Hand, the most central character in the story is working a pattern.
This was important to me, as I feel having that image there helps establish a
visual concept of Patterning for the reader early on in the series. The
new Cephrael's Hand cover
also gives a sense of the time period and setting of the story.
5. Can we expect similar covers for the rest
of the series?
Yes. I decided to rebrand the entire series with new covers.
Having all of the books similarly branded as part of the same series is
important for continuity and will help readers from becoming confused. The
covers also help establish a growing concept of the world as the story grows.
Interestingly, I debated rebranding the earlier books, since
ideally once your readers are heading into the second or third books, they're
already committed to your series. It brooked the question if book covers were
still that important later in a series. But as I looked at this topic, I saw
that you never know at what point a reader will come across your books. Too, it
isn't always the first book that grabs their attention. So great covers are a
must for every book.
6. Speaking of the series, when will books 2
and 3 be available?
Book two, The Dagger of Adendigaeth, was
released in 2012, and book three, Paths
of Alir, will be available in October 2014.
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