Great news for Jessie’s Song!

Jessie’s Song is a finalist for the Readers’ Favorite Book Awards. The timing was fortuitous as I also made a new cover for the book. My mother received the proof and loved it, but she brought up how she would’ve preferred a different hair style for Jessie. When she mentioned cornrows, I knew I had to make the change as that’s what I had originally intended but had trouble finding the right image to work with. I finally did but then I had a bigger issue to deal with. I’d blended the hair with the original image and didn’t have the separate layers to work with. I usually leave duplicate copies, but for some reason I didn’t for this cover as I thought it was finished. As with my writing, my covers are never finished. Don’t know what I was thinking!

Rather than go through tweaking the original image, I took more shots of my daughter and worked on the skin tone. It looked good, but the original image captured the best mood, so I returned to it, spending almost two full days tweaking Jessie. It was worth the effort, so I’m not complaining. She’s the perfect Jessie. I can easily see her singing her song! I also threw in some inner-glow to further define the guitar-shaped shadow box.

In other news, I’m currently tweaking the book cover for Beyond Omegas’s Sunrise and editing Forever Valley. I’m also preparing for a book tour that will be starting on August 1st.

Love and light,

Eleni

Unison Gets a Facelift

Unison just got a face lift. I didn’t intend on a new cover. I signed up with 99Design to get one made for the second book in the Spheral Series. None of them were grabbing me, so I requested a different design. I liked it so much, I decided to replace the original image. Ego slightly hurt here as I designed the last cover, but I thought the new design represented the book best. I also ended up purchasing the image used for the next book in the series, but it needs tweaking.

I’m currently working on the second book in the series. Lots of unexpected twists and surprises in this one, including a new character who is mentioned in passing in Book One. I love the characters of this series. They’ve become like family to me, and it’s fun to be working with them again. The proposed title for the next book in the series is, The Sixth.”

On a side note: I might turn the Spheral into a five book series…possibly more. I’m reluctant to give a final count! Another character decided she wanted her story told.  The amazing thing about a series is that it has a mind of its own. I can see this moving way beyond five books. I feel truly blessed to have been given such a rich and complex story.

If you like the design of my book cover and are interested in commissioning Buzz Erlinger-Ford for your artistic project, contact him here.

Love and light,

Eleni