Hi, everyone!
As I’ve said elsewhere, it is my plan to reinvest all of the money earned from the books back into the books, until they are as good as I can make them. Initially the first thing on the list was to have all of the books professionally edited. Well, editing is a lengthy process. Since I would like to stick with the same editor for all books, for the sake of consistency and loyalty, it will probably be months before the first book is completed and the second book can be sent off to be touched up.
I’m not the patient type, and I knew that the longer I waited to invest my earnings, the more likely I would be to spend them on something frivolous, so I decided to track down an artist and commission some covers. After a few days scanning Deviant Art for prospective cover artists, a friend suggested Nick Deligaris. I’d actually encountered his work in my initial sweep (it turns up pretty quickly if you search for fantasy or dragon), but I’d dismissed it as being far beyond my means. The guy is EMMY NOMINATED for crying out loud. As usual, my friends nudged me until I sent him an email, and as usual, I’m glad they did. He got back to me right away, and he has been beyond helpful with his advice and support. Never underestimate the insight of a skilled artist and graphic designer. He collaborated with me and guided me away from designs that wouldn’t translate well to book covers, as well as making suggestions on how to increase the impact of the images. On top of it all, he was extremely understanding and supportive of my status as an indie author. Even if I never ended up getting a picture, the advice and service alone makes him worthy of a recommendation.
Barring mishap, he will be supplying the covers for all three books of the trilogy. We just hammered out the final details for the cover of Book 1 this morning, so I imagine it will be a little while before the first draft makes its way to me. Until then, do yourself a favor and check out his other work at www.deligaris.com. I’ve had it open in a tab of my browser since last week. He does great work.
I cannot put into words how cool this is for me. It is like someone is going to finally introduce me to the character I’ve been writing about for all of this time. Like everything else that I’ve discussed in this blog, this is all thanks to you good people out there for giving me a chance and picking up my books. I appreciate your support, and I hope that I can continue to produce things that you will enjoy.
Thanks for reading.
UPDATE: I already got a rough draft, and it is magnificent. You folks will have to wait until the finished product, but for me, Myranda finally has a face.