Sunday, February 26, 2017

5 Star Audiobook Review

A few years ago I met Lisa on Goodreads, when her twins fell in love with my previous novel, The Sound and the Echoes. My favorite story in relation to publishing that book came from Lisa: How her twins enacted the story with a blowdryer, which was supposed to melt a hole in an imaginary lake, down into the Echo realm.

When I finished recording Looking Glass Friends and reached out to Lisa after all these years, she was so supportive, so excited to give the book a try, though this cerebral love story was as different from my previous middle grade fantasy as a candy cane is from a walking stick.

Today Lisa published her review of the audiobook. She was incredibly generous to rate my narration as a five-star (as well as the story and overall score). This was my first audiobook production, and knowing that Lisa listens to audiobooks all the time (she has 179 ratings on Audible) made her words all the more shocking and wonderful, a sigh of relief and a smile. So Lisa, if you see this, thank you!

Read Lisa's review.

Thursday, February 2, 2017

How I created the cover for "Under Capricorn"

1. I choose two pictures from Shutterstock.

This one for the cover itself:
This one to add the motif that fits with the title:

2. I cut the Capricorn out of the second image, then used Affinity Photo on my MacBook to turn it transparent and super impose it over the image of the face. As for the face, I cut out the portion I wanted, changed the hue, added sharpness and changed the color of the eye to make it stand out.

3. Finally, I picked my font. And here's the result. I hope you like it!



Abridged Classic: Under Capricorn

My new year resolution was to pick my favorite classic novels, which hardly anyone knows, and "save" them from oblivion. The first one--Under Capricorn--was just released, under my imprint: Nothing but the Story. I abridged the tale to about 70% of its original length, and now the story just rushes at you. And it's a stunning, lyrical historical romance.

I'll do a post about the cover I designed, for anyone who is interested in how a cover starts. 
Kindle Edition: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N4UVJZD
Paperback Edition: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1542882192 
(Audiobook: That's the fun edition I'm currently still working on.)