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Kingdom of Ashes available for pre-order (and EVERYONE who pre-orders wins a prize!)

/ Elena May / 1 Comment

Nightfall: Kingdom of Ashes is now available for pre-order on Amazon!

You can pre-order the book now for 0.99 USD. After release on Oct. 30th, you will be able to purchase the book at the regular price of 3.99 USD.

EVERYONE who pre-orders will receive a signed character card! In addition, all pre-orders will enter a lottery and be eligible to win one of the following:

  • 3 Nightfall: Kingdom of Ashes t-shirts
  • 3 Nightfall: Kingdom of Ashes coffee mugs
  • 3 Nightfall: Kingdom of Ashes signed paperbacks
  • 1 box of chocolates

OPEN WORLDWIDE

Also, I always include a small bar of luxury chocolate with each paperback / gift I send:)

So how does it work? Go here for more information.

Happy reading!

~Elena

Nightfall Art: Armida and Prince Vladimir

/ Elena May / 4 Comments

If you are anything like me, then you:

  1. A) Dream to see your book characters illustrated,

and

  1. B) Cannot draw a believable humanoid if your life depended on it.

Luckily, this is where my personal superhero, TheSwanMaindeN, comes in.

When you get an artist to illustrate your characters, you can take different routes. You could describe in detail what exactly you want to see, you could give them complete freedom, or you could go anywhere in between.

When I asked TheSwanMaideN to illustrate my book cover, I gave her a detailed description of what exactly needed to be there. However, when it came to Armida’s portrait, I decided to try something different and to give her only a vague idea about the character. “You are great at drawing hair,” I said, “and even better at drawing dresses. Go for it.”

This was one of my better decisions because – surprise, surprise! – it turns out her imagination is way better than mine. What I got was this:

Armida - PNG

Continue reading →

Self-Publish Like a Pro: How to get a quality book cover on a budget PART 3

/ Elena May / 1 Comment

So far I have covered the simpler, faster, and cheaper ways to get a beautiful ebook cover – a DIY or a premade cover. Unfortunately, for many authors these option’s don’t work. You may have something specific in mind for your cover, and no single stock image or a premade template captures it. In that case, you’ll need to work with a designer or an illustrator.

Designers

Designers work like this:

– You share your vision of what you’d like to see on the cover, including key elements and general mood

– The designer picks one or more stock photos, manipulates them to create the desired image, and adds a genre-appropriate font. Usually designers are subscribed to a stock image supplier and can download an unlimited number of photos at no additional cost for them

– There are several rounds of revisions, where you can give back your cover and request changes Continue reading →