Wednesday 11 April 2018

The Big Seven-Oh oh oh oh


I've been doing this for a while now with posts to celebrate my first book, Prince of Thorns, turning 30, 40, 50, 60, and 70 ... as in 70,000 ratings on Goodreads.

This time the milestone has fallen just after the release of my latest book, Grey Sister, in the US. It comes out in the UK on the 17th of May.



Since the last post it's been a busy time on the blog. We've had:

The results and winner of the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off 2016.

Prince of Thorns reaching half a million sales.

My grimdark reworking of The Three Billy-Goats Gruff.

A crowd-sourced definition of grimdark.

I found out if my readers were "angsty teens".

The finalists of the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off 2017.

My observations on unfinished series.

I discussed LITERATURE.

Assessed the major causes of fantasy deaths.

& announced my appearance in a talkie!


But what exciting and controversial subject am I going to broach in honour of the big

Actually, none. I'm just going to share with you some of the roughs that artist Tomasz Jedruszek did on his way to producing the UK cover for Grey Sister.






Bastien Lecouffe Deharme, artist for the US cover of Grey Sister (and who you may have heard of recently in connection of Terry Goodkind's latest cover) also did some great roughs, but didn't want me to share them. That's an attitude I can understand. Many writers wouldn't want their readers to see the first drafts of their books. But I can tell you that it is very interesting to see the artists' process.

Like most authors my input into the cover is minimal and it is the publisher who directs the artist toward the result they want. Self-published authors cite the control they have over their covers as a freedom they cherish, and I can appreciate that. But on the flip side, I have no great confidence that my instincts for covers aligns closely with that of the hoped for readership of my books, and in one sense it is nice not to have to agonise about it. 






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