Tag: book cover

A Festival and Wedding

1 Comment

My excuse this time is that I went to a festival and wedding.

Excuse me—an amazing festival and an amazing wedding. I barely have pictures of the former and none of the latter, but just know in your hearts that I was away this weekend celebrating life (like we all should) which is why this is going to be a short, to-the-point post.

So, which festival did I go to? Reggae Rise Up, and it was hands-down awesome, from the chill but lively music to the relaxing atmosphere to the delicious fried Oreos. My sister has been a few times and always raves about it, and she thought Batman and I might enjoy going. Spot on, sis. Other than the slight sunburn (due to not properly thinking through the OUTDOOR festival) and the port-o-potty-bathroom situation, the whole thing was so great. We attended Friday and Saturday and got to see Rebelution and Slightly Stoopid among other terrific bands. And yep—probably going again next year, so there’s that.

The wedding was equally great because it was a high-school friend, making the whole thing a mini-reunion since I saw some faces I hadn’t seen in a while. It’s crazy that I still feel mentally sixteen (ten at times…) and here I am, this gorgeously amazing thirty-six-year-old goddess. Crazy how that works.

In regards to writing, I’ve got my first round of edits back, and I’m working through making APIP slightly better. I was on such a roll with AROG, but I think I’m going to do half and half. Half editing ARPIP and half writing AROG because I can fly through the edits pretty quickly, and—more importantly—I’ll go mad if I’m not writing. And no offense to blogs or newsletters or witty emails to my coworkers throughout the day, but those don’t count quite the same. They’re fun, but I’m still in this reality. I like to be in other realities with my popcorn watching my characters do their thing. It’s so a passport I wish I had (and existed!) but until then, writing is the only commute.

Also: I’ve made a final decision on the cover and it feels sooooo good. I’ll probably share it in next week’s post because, you know, reasons, but just rest assured knowing it’s chosen. You don’t have to lose anymore sleep over it, so, you’re welcome. That hill is behind us. Only a few hundred more to go.

Since I actually do have evidence of Reggae Rise Up and that I exist as a person (and not an adorable figment of your imagination), here you go:

Check out those hot red sunglasses
Rebelution

Until next week’s cover reveal…and whatever happens between now.

~ Lady Caitlin

The Final Countdown

1 Comment

Here we are again, folks. I’m writing this at the last minute, so please forgive any missing words or typos or any stranger than usual content because I haven’t gone through it like, 1,000,000 times before posting like usual. Probably only two look-throughs and that’s it. Let’s see what we get.

For those lucky newsletter subscribers, and even the more select out of that narrow group that actually reads them…what did you think?? Did you choose a cover you like more? Which was it? TELL ME.

As mentioned previously, I haven’t revealed my cover yet because I’m down to two options, one with the original purple I’d requested, and another with a tint or something cool done to it. I don’t know. But, I don’t want to show you either until I’m a BILLION percent sure that’s the one I’m going with, so I’m only including a small section of each. A snippet. And here these mofos are:

Option 1
Option 2

It’s just a peek, but I’m sure you get the picture. So…which one do you like? Which one catches your eye more and would maybe make you want to buy based off that little bit of an image? I have one I’m slightly leaning toward, but apparently, I can’t make decisions on my own. So, I need your help again. The goal is to have this picked by next week. NEXT WEEK. I’ve got to commit because the longer I stall, the less time I have to advertise. Or pay other people to advertise. Something. I’ll figure out something about advertising later but I need a book cover to do that. So…

Other than this, I got my edits back! Woot! Now I’m putting a hold on writing book two and switching back to the first. With a great cover needs to come a great book, and editing probably helps with that.

Alright, can’t wait to hear which tiny piece of a possible book cover image you like more. Let’s call this the final countdown, shall we? By next week, it’ll be one of these two, so do your part:

Let’s do this.

~ Lady Caitlin

Hustling Status

2 Comments

See my newsletter? Meh? Not too shabby…I mean, for someone completely (sort of) starting out. You can say it: you liked that badass logo, that specifically selected color palette, and that link that led to a FREEBIE (because I know how to do that now). All me, baby. Oh, yeah. Amateur at its finest.

I’d like to say I winged it, but that is quite laughably far from the truth. Mailerlite (the newsletter service I’m using) offers these amazing tutorials that help technology-challenged people like me learn with idiot-proof videos. Huzzah! There IS hope for the dim-witted! I haven’t gotten through all of the tutorials yet, but it’s on my to-do list. Actually, there are about a thousand million-things on my to-do list right now, and I feel like as long as I check off one little thing each day, I’m not doing terrible. And that’s my goal at this point: don’t be terrible. I’ve been (mostly) terrible with all this for the past few years, so the goal is to change that. By doing a little everyday, I’m doing more than I did, elevating my “terrible” status to a “hustling” status, and I got to say: it feels good.

Other writing news:

I’m currently working with my cover designer, the fabulous Joleene Naylor, to bring A Royal Pairing in Perish to life visually. I can sort of see it, although some of it’s a bit blurry too, so I’ll have to figure it out here soon. I wonder if most traditionally published authors like having the burden of cover design taken off them, or if they feel they’re losing a huge creative opportunity. I’d feel like it’d be losing an opportunity, but man, a little creative direction would be nice! Of course, that’s what I’ve got Joleene for, but at the end of the day, it’s my choice. My book. My career. My business. It’s kinda important…should probably get it right…

I wish there was more to report, but that would mean more happened in my life and really, that’s not the case. Car is fine (praise the lord!), hubby’s still obsessed with Batman, and the doggos are still the best doggos in the world. Can’t complain.

What about you? What have you been up to this week? Do you have a thousand-million things on your to-do list like me? How do you handle it/get everything done and not lose your mind?

Share your secrets with me…I am royalty.

~Lady Caitlin

You Can Judge Me Now

4 Comments

Bring on the judgement because we all know you’re going to do it anyway. I do it. You do it. It’s kind of human nature to make snap decisions based on what your eyes see first. Like when you’re searching for your next great read and you scan books among books and stop only on the covers that appeal to you. The title may have something to do with it but—let’s be real, here—you’re attracted to the colors and font and pretty much the basic artwork. I’m guilty of this. There. I’ve said it. I judge books by their covers—but only in the initial stage. After I’ve thoroughly investigated the blurb and read a few pages, it’s content going forward. (I think we all do it this way, yes?)

So, with all that said, I now present to you darling readers/fans/people who happened upon this blog by mistake—the cover for my new release, Better Than This:

and for the 3-D lover:

Eh? Eh?

We like? We no like? We know our opinions are important but the decision has already been made (and paid for) so they might possibly be moot?

I actually really hope you like it. I had a tough time with this one because Autumn, the protag, is a painter and Alex, the love interest (and second main character) plays the guitar, so, I wanted to incorporate both elements. Paint and music. Which seems easy but then you actually try to shove the two together and you have a lot of options that maybe don’t look so great. Joleene (my cover artist) and I went back and forth a few times and after a little tinkering, this beauty was born.

You can be honest: did it catch your eye? Would it make you stop long enough to *maybe* glance at the blurb? Again, this is the final product so no changing at this point, but I’m curious to know for the second and third books releasing later this year.

If you’re curious about more behind-the-scene things like how I ended up on this exact version and all the different drafts in between, I have a post on my Patreon page called the Metamorphosis of a Book Cover.  Should cover everything you need to know 😉 Link on the right side somewhere where it says ‘Become a Patron’ ——–>

Also: please keep your fingers/eyes/toes crossed for my wonderful sister who hears back from the doctor today. Thanks in advance!