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Home > Publishing my first novel! Updated with 2 more covers.

Publishing my first novel! Updated with 2 more covers.

November 2nd, 2016 at 12:37 pm

A lot has been happening in thrift world. You probably know I am writing a book series (I'm almost done with book 2)... and have been looking for an agent to traditionally publish.

Looking for an agent stinks!! I did get a few replies back from agents, but they all said basically "hey. We really like this and it's well written, but publishers aren't buying paranormal books right now." So thanks, but no thanks.

Ugh. My book is a paranormal suspense/romance (a 17 year old girl who discovers she has super human powers and must stop a killer who is terrorizing a small town.)

Anyway, I'm not swayed. I've decided to self publish in paperback and to Kindle on Amazon. It'll probably go live sometime between January and March. I haven't decided yet.

When the paperback page goes live on Amazon, if any of you who like to read that kind of stuff would like an advance copy, I can email one to you, and you can leave a review for me!

In the meantime, I have some preliminary cover designs, if you'd like to vote for your favorite.

Here is cover 1


Cover 2


Cover 3


Cover 4


Cover 5


NEW OPTION!! Cover 6


New Option! Cover 7

Posted in Uncategorized | 36 Comments »

36 Responses to “Publishing my first novel! Updated with 2 more covers. ”

  1. creditcardfree Says:
    November 2nd, 2016 at 01:52 pm 1478094764
    1478094764

    How exciting!! Congratulations on moving forward with your goal of publishing. I like #2 the best, followed by #3. I also would read your book and review it for you! Probably could get one or both of my daughters to read it, as well.

    Also curious if you did your own designs? I have a daughter doing some design work for her music college. Curious if you found a free lance designer. This is something I think my daughter would like doing.

  2. ceejay74 Says:
    November 2nd, 2016 at 01:57 pm 1478095048
    1478095048

    I like 2 and 3. Congrats on moving forward! I've been thinking about self publishing but haven't done a proper edit on my novel. It needs a lot of work.

  3. klarose Says:
    November 2nd, 2016 at 02:42 pm 1478097728
    1478097728

    I like #4 and then #3.

  4. Jenn Says:
    November 2nd, 2016 at 02:54 pm 1478098466
    1478098466

    #4

  5. Pnwmom Says:
    November 2nd, 2016 at 03:14 pm 1478099684
    1478099684

    Congratulations! I like #1 and #3

  6. mathmahna16 Says:
    November 2nd, 2016 at 04:18 pm 1478103531
    1478103531

    It's exciting that you're on your way to publishing. I cast my ballot for Cover # 4.

  7. Bluebird Says:
    November 2nd, 2016 at 04:44 pm 1478105063
    1478105063

    Great! Can't wait to read it! I like #4.

  8. Laura S. Says:
    November 2nd, 2016 at 04:57 pm 1478105877
    1478105877

    I like #3 the best. Congrats!

  9. ThriftoRama Says:
    November 2nd, 2016 at 05:18 pm 1478107111
    1478107111

    Thanks for the input guys!
    I did all these myself. Nothing fancy.

  10. scottish girl Says:
    November 2nd, 2016 at 05:56 pm 1478109383
    1478109383

    I like the first one! I was actually thinking about you because I've been doing a lot of beta reading, so if you need one Smile
    Congratulations!

  11. VS_ozgirl Says:
    November 2nd, 2016 at 07:22 pm 1478114573
    1478114573

    How exciting!!!!! I will definitely read it. I like cover 4 for the simple reason that the girl who has the super powers must be strong as she is saving the town; this picture looks like a strong character.

  12. ThriftoRama Says:
    November 2nd, 2016 at 07:37 pm 1478115456
    1478115456

    #4 was my first cover idea. My friends said the girl looked too old!

  13. VS_ozgirl Says:
    November 2nd, 2016 at 09:40 pm 1478122823
    1478122823

    Maybe; I liked number two also but thought about would a 17yo have tattoos on her arm? I think your hero has to look strong.

  14. ThriftoRama Says:
    November 2nd, 2016 at 11:03 pm 1478127823
    1478127823

    I can remove the tattoos in photo shop, fyi!

  15. LivingAlmostLarge Says:
    November 3rd, 2016 at 12:17 am 1478132261
    1478132261

    Congratulations! Number 4.

  16. Kaycee Fisher Says:
    November 3rd, 2016 at 12:25 am 1478132731
    1478132731





    #2


  17. LuckyRobin Says:
    November 3rd, 2016 at 01:34 am 1478136892
    1478136892

    I have a couple of friends who self-publish and I help them pick their covers. Some of the things you really have to think about is what genre your cover art is implying. The images on #3 strongly push the concept that this is a horror novel, while #5 might easily be confused with a bodice ripper. You don't want the image to make someone think the book is something it isn't.

    To me #4 doesn't do anything to grab the attention of someone just browsing through book covers. Something like making the eye green or blue (or the lips red if her eyes are brown) while the rest of the image stays dark would give it that little bit of interest that would make your eyes linger long enough to want to check it out.

    I like #1 and #2 the best. #1, is this the girl from the story? Or a victim? She looks a little too happy to be dead, like she's sleeping and the water's rising and she might just drown. And if she's coming into her powers, the concept of drowning is good, because the powers or they are advancing they are likely to be overwhelming her and making her feel like she's coming close to drowning at times. Or is it supposed to be just a dead body? I like the imagery of #2 if that's supposed to be a dead body from the killer, but not if it is supposed to be the girl who is trying to stop the killer communing with the Earth or something. Both of them don't seem to have a supernatural element, though. What type of supernatural powers does she have? Is it seeing the future and the past or is she a witch or what? That makes a difference in adding an element (like a bracelet or necklace or the moon) or not.

    I hope that's not too picky aparty. It's the sort of thing I do for my other people and I'd find it more helpful myself if I were picking a cover. Also, I love the font on the second book for the novel title. It's the best of all of them in my opinion.

    I love supernatural teen novels. I don't get publishers. That's all there is on the YA shelves when I go into a bookstore these days. I will be happy to read and review as well. I beta read novels (and fanfiction) all the time for people.

  18. starfishy Says:
    November 3rd, 2016 at 02:17 am 1478139456
    1478139456

    congrats on moving towards self-publishing your novel!! i had a lot of the same thoughts about the covers as LR! I like #1 and #2, but wasn't sure if the girl was supposed to be a victim or the protagonist. But i think those are the two most interesting. I would be curious how a non-cursive (for lack of better word) font would look for the titles. I agree with your friends that the woman in #4 looks too mature Smile . good luck!

  19. PatientSaver Says:
    November 3rd, 2016 at 11:07 am 1478171226
    1478171226

    #1.

    I'm surprised they said there's no market for paranormal right now because I actually understood that to be in vogue right now.

  20. ThriftoRama Says:
    November 3rd, 2016 at 02:28 pm 1478183317
    1478183317

    Wow guys. Thanks for the input and lots of food for thought.

    LRobin, I do kind of agree maybe they don't look magical enough. The book is paranormal, but it's written very much as realism, and rooted in the real world. We follow the girl was she moves to a new town and discovers that some of the residents are not what they seem. She has begun to change as well. As she seeks answers about her own transformation, a series of strange murders occur in the background, each one looping closer to her emotionally, until it's clear she's the next target.

    By the end, she becomes both the victim and the hero. It's hard to get that across. I'm certainly no cover expert!

  21. ThriftoRama Says:
    November 3rd, 2016 at 03:39 pm 1478187563
    1478187563

    I took LR's advice to heart and posted a new cover above. Option No. 6 is more paranormal and is directly linked to the final scene of the book. Any thoughts? Love it? Hate it?

  22. creditcardfree Says:
    November 3rd, 2016 at 05:20 pm 1478193646
    1478193646

    I do like #6. I like that it has more color. I'm not a fan of the font...reminds me of reader's digest or some other font on books my grandparents read! I'm still drawn to cover 2.

  23. ThriftoRama Says:
    November 3rd, 2016 at 05:40 pm 1478194828
    1478194828

    I can change the font!

  24. LuckyRobin Says:
    November 3rd, 2016 at 08:51 pm 1478206280
    1478206280

    #6 might be going too far in the opposite direction. Now it seems more demonic than supernatural or even alien. Unless the girl has some kind of fire power, but even then does it transform her so much she doesn't really look human anymore? Remember your target audience has parents and while they sometimes have gift cards, they usually have to use their parents credit card with Mom or Dad seeing what they are buying. I probably wouldn't let my kid buy a book that looked like that until at least age 16 regardless of synopsis. As a parent you do judge a book by its cover. Even if the main character is 17, target audience for YA novels starts at about 7nth grade. Sorry, if I'm being a pain.

  25. ceejay74 Says:
    November 3rd, 2016 at 09:13 pm 1478207593
    1478207593

    I love that last one!

  26. ThriftoRama Says:
    November 3rd, 2016 at 09:20 pm 1478208023
    1478208023

    I can understand that, LR. The MC does have a red energy power, and I thought this summed it up nicely. I'm in the sticky spot for cover art. Most of the other 'stock' seemed too much like witches, vampires, ladies in corsets, or horror, or as y'all mentioned, not supernatural enough.

    I don't know if this makes a difference, but I'm releasing the ebook through kindle, and rumor has it not many teens are reading ebooks on kindle. The market is mostly 20 somethings or up. I imagine they are my primary demographic outside of traditional publishing. I could be wrong, though.

  27. Laura Says:
    November 3rd, 2016 at 10:12 pm 1478211140
    1478211140

    Two!

  28. LuckyRobin Says:
    November 3rd, 2016 at 10:29 pm 1478212152
    1478212152

    LOL,that's funny. In one of my novels, they have a blue energy power, though it does turn red if something goes very wrong. It's not flame-like, though.

  29. ThriftoRama Says:
    November 3rd, 2016 at 11:06 pm 1478214414
    1478214414

    Okay. I added ONE MORE option that isn't so fiery!

  30. LuckyRobin Says:
    November 4th, 2016 at 01:30 am 1478223028
    1478223028

    Hmm, I like the imagery of 7 and the green dress. I think you need to bring the title down a bit from the top of the cover. At least an inch, maybe 2. Will the image be sharper if you were to actually purchase it off shutterstock? The image looks a tiny bit blurry, but that might just be the watermark. I still like #1 a lot, just think it needs...something.

  31. Carol Says:
    November 4th, 2016 at 03:58 pm 1478275109
    1478275109

    #6

  32. scfr Says:
    November 4th, 2016 at 07:10 pm 1478286622
    1478286622

    The one I'd eliminate is number 5. At a glance it looks like a romance novel. I noticed that on some you included "Book One" and on some you did not. I say definitely DO include it because teens these days are all about the series. I keep wondering how Number 1 would look with a "scarier" font style and color . . .

  33. LuckyRobin Says:
    November 4th, 2016 at 09:13 pm 1478294028
    1478294028

    That's true, what scfr says about a scarier font for # 1. I wonder if you could find a font that was on fire? That might make it just perfect.

  34. ThriftoRama Says:
    November 4th, 2016 at 09:27 pm 1478294824
    1478294824

    Let me see what I can come up with!

  35. Petunia 100 Says:
    November 4th, 2016 at 11:56 pm 1478303765
    1478303765

    Oh, how exciting! I am looking forward to reading your book! Smile

  36. Dido Says:
    November 13th, 2016 at 04:13 pm 1479053582
    1479053582

    I like 1 best, then 2. But mostly, and sorry, just by the covers (especially the ones I didn't pick), your book looks way too frightening for me to read. (I"m a wimp. I turn to the last page and read the end first. I hate suspense. Not *your* reader!)

    Good luck!

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