The Haps

Hello there, awesome ones!

What's the haps in your world? Lots has been going on here.

WINTER

Firstly, winter has arrived. Booooo hiiiiiss. But when visiting my parents, my mother introduced me to the awesome that is a heated blanket. A rug that you throw over yourself that is HEATED, people. You plug it in. I currently have it draped over my knees, because I stole it from my mum. That's what your kids are supposed to do, right? Commandeer your cool stuff?

EUROVISION

I have been listening to the GOOD songs from Eurovision. And some of them were really good this year! One I particularly liked that didn't go through to the final, was Woki mit deim popo by Austrian rappers Trackshittaz.

I was scratching my head as to why they didn't go through. I mean, it's catchy! Then yesterday I decided to google what the lyrics are when translated from French to English.

Well the pole dancers on stage with them made a lot of sense and I kinda understand why French-speaking voters wouldn't have voted for them, as songs about love are much more universal than songs about shaking your booty in the club. Ah well. I can go back to pretending I don't know what it's actually about.

GAME OF THRONES

For those of you who have seen it (and care) was that the best ever season finale or what? The VERY END, I'm talking. I literally giggled with evil delight. Can't believe we have to wait soooo looooong now for next season.

WRITING

I have an Edwina Ray short story just about ready for sale. A Sarah Billington short nearly ready, and I have written the first and half of the second book in the Saturday Night collection. The timeline for this thing is INTENSE.

         AND then there's this:

I've started writing the sequel! It's lots of fun so far. A little bit insane but I think that's what you expect from Poppy and her friends. And her family. And her dog.

COVER DESIGN

And I've been working on some cover designs for myself, and clients. If you find yourself in need of book cover art, keep this in mind, okay? I have been so busy with editing that I haven't actively been looking for design clients, but it's something I love doing and I want to do more of it!

EDITING

I have a new business client I'll be regularly editing for which is exciting, and I've been working with some really great writers and editing their work to help make them the best books they can be when they hit the market. I love having a hand in that, and hearing of fan feedback. I have a couple of manuscripts lined up for the next few months that I'm raring to get started with. One thing at a time! Or maximum three, really.

STUDYING...well...

And I have an exam on Tuesday. One exam and one unit to go and I will have finished my degree! I'm looking forward to it. I REALLY REALLY AM. 

Whatchoo been doing?

The psychology of book covers

Happy Saturday Aussies!
Or Friday night everone else...erm...should I just say happy weekend?

Anyway.

I was in one of those rare venues called a bookshop the other day, and I saw this book with a crap cover.
Actually it had 2 covers.

Americans might know it with this cover?

Okay, so the images here of the two Australian covers don't do it justice. The font is all embossed and shiny, the white font is the same shade of white as the background and the black is the same black. It's all barely legible unless you pick it up and tilt it to the side a bit so the store's fluorescent lighting doesn't bounce off it.

So I was thinking to myself, GOD. What a horrible cover, and they made two of them? There's NOTHING ON HERE, it doesn't tell you ANYTHING about the book. Poor author being lumped with that. There's no way I'd want to read it from looking at the cover. What the hell is this thing about, anyway?

So I picked it up and read the blurb. And it sounds interesting. And now I want to read the book.

So I guess what I'm saying, is that the incredibly plain, mysterious cover worked (damn it). It was so plain, it made me curious as to what it was about. It got me to read the blurb, whereas other covers that are demonstrative of what you'll find inside, don't always get me to pick them up. I have a bit of an idea what to expect just from the cover, and because of that, I might just leave it where it is, thanks.

But covers that don't actually tell you much about it get TWO shots at wooing a prospective reader toward it. One: The cover. Two: The blurb.

It's a complicated business, cover design, methinks.

Thought?

Here's the blurb for all of you who are curious now! Dystopia FTW!

Sairz


Pure by Julianna Baggott

We know you are here, our brothers and sisters . . .
Pressia barely remembers the Detonations or much about life during the Before. In her sleeping cabinet behind the rubble of an old barbershop where she lives with her grandfather, she thinks about what is lost-how the world went from amusement parks, movie theaters, birthday parties, fathers and mothers . . . to ash and dust, scars, permanent burns, and fused, damaged bodies. And now, at an age when everyone is required to turn themselves over to the militia to either be trained as a soldier or, if they are too damaged and weak, to be used as live targets, Pressia can no longer pretend to be small. Pressia is on the run.
Burn a Pure and Breathe the Ash . . .
There are those who escaped the apocalypse unmarked. Pures. They are tucked safely inside the Dome that protects their healthy, superior bodies. Yet Partridge, whose father is one of the most influential men in the Dome, feels isolated and lonely. Different. He thinks about loss-maybe just because his family is broken; his father is emotionally distant; his brother killed himself; and his mother never made it inside their shelter. Or maybe it’s his claustrophobia: his feeling that this Dome has become a swaddling of intensely rigid order. So when a slipped phrase suggests his mother might still be alive, Partridge risks his life to leave the Dome to find her.
When Pressia meets Partridge, their worlds shatter all over again.

Cover Love #4: Middle Grade edition! (+UPDATES!)

Hello cover lovers,
It's been awhile since I posted one of these. But I have a new favourite book cover - and it's for a middle grade novel!

Debut author Shannon Messenger's cover for The Keeper of Lost Cities is pretty rad, I love the illustration style, and the wind movement and it just looks like an exciting adventure book for middle grade readers, doesn't it? My bet: it IS.

Speaking of covers, I've given The Ballerina & My Best Friend a makeover!

Check it:

Pretty, yes? I think so.

I've been a VERY busy bee lately. I've been putting the finishing touches on Edwina Ray's new short (though it's longer than her other short stories) Guilty Until Proven Innocent, writing a new short YA romance for Sarah Billington, plotting out a series of YA stories all centred around one very eventful Saturday night, preparing my middle grade ebook Life Was Cool Until You Got Popular for PRINT and within days I start on the third round of edits of YA chick lit, The Kiss Off.

The Kiss Off has a cover already and everything.

Yes, it's about girls groping rock stars. But mostly other stuff.

Happy Thursday everyone!

You Can Judge a Book by it’s Cover! Guest Post by Lynn Hubbard

Today I have special guest, romance author Lynn Hubbard on the blog talking about cover art. As you may know, I love book covers. If done right they can tell you so much about what you'll find inside, and hopefully make you think what you'll find inside will be AWESOME.

Take it away, Lynn!

 - Sairz

The Cover is the most important aspect of the book.  I don’t care how amazing your story is if you have a drab cover, it’s a hard sell. The cover is the first thing people see. You have maybe a second of their time for them to make a decision and click on your book.

It took me awhile to come to grips with that. For example my book Desperado. I originally had it published under a different name, “The Hand You’re Dealt” and a different cover. My sales were down so after consulting with family and friends I was told the title was depressing. The original cover which I LOVED had two people on horses staring into each other’s eyes. I saw a man and a woman. Others saw two men. Since it is a romance book I decided to put a hot guy on the cover. Where o where was I gonna find a hot guy? I turned to the internet. And so my quest began.

The vision of the new cover that popped into my head was of a handsome dark headed man with the queen of hearts tucked into his pocket.  So after searching through thousands of pictures of muscular men online I finally came across Julian Fantechi. He was perfect. Moreover, he was on facebook so I sent him a message. The next day I awoke to find several very hot pictures of Julian in my email box. Picking my favorite, I had my son design a card and tuck it into his pocket to keep the original poker theme going.

Below is the Original Cover and my Current Cover.

I also changed my Young Adult book. The original cover was perfect. I LOVED it, it  had a rustic feel with a bridge that perfectly expressed Joanie’s neighborhood and the feel of the book. And I loved the title. “Things Change.”  But apparently no one else did. So a little bit of my soul died and I changed the name, and I changed the cover. And people bought it. And people liked it. And I grew to like it as well.

My Third book was much easier. I again spent countless hours searching for the right guy for the cover. (Its hard work but someone has to do it!) Then there he was. Jeandre. This one was perfect from the start. I cropped him out and slapped him on a pic from my Vegas trip. Perfection. Now the cover is as hot as the inside!

 My current project Chase the Moon is a sequel to Run into the Wind.  I again went with Julian from my Desperado Cover. For my Chase the Moon Cover I wanted it monochromatic blue. I found a wonderful pic of Julian on the beach and matched it to a lake setting. An amazing graphic artist named Tamara made it come to life. Even though technically Chase is a western the cover does not scream Old West. But it does scream PICK ME UP! Which is what we are all aiming for!~Lynn Hubbard

Chase the Moon: Coming October 2011

You can pick up Lynn Hubbard’s books in Print or ebook at Amazon or Barnes and Noble

Desperado is .99 cents for a limited time on Nook, Kindle or Smashwords!

Sarah Billington eBook Project Management...is OPEN!

So I thought I'd tell you about this thing I'm doing. One of the things I'm doing.
I've been UNOFFICIALLY doing it for awhile now, but NOW I have a website. And nothing's real unless it's on the internet.

Sarah Billington eBook Project Management is OPEN!

Really, you're too kind. Those fireworks...oh you spoil me so.

Sarah Billington eBook Project Management (ePM for short) is the grouping together of all the services I offer:

Manuscript Appraisals
Manuscript Editorial (Structural/Copy/Proof reading)
eBook formatting
Cover Design
Query letter assistance
Teaching Writing or eBook formatting (in Melbourne, Australia unless you want to fly me somewhere) and of course,
Project Management

What is eBook Project Management, you ask?

Well it takes a lot of people to bring a book to life. The author, (if they choose, the manuscript appraiser), editor, cover designer and eBook formatter.

A project manager is one person who works on all of these aspects. It helps the author because one person is connecting with them, their work and their vision for their work on a deep level. I'll get to know it inside and out and help craft a spectacular (and professional) book. By having the manuscript appraiser edit the book, your editor can tell what has been improved and how much deeper the book is, and how to get it closer to what you hoped it to be. By having your editor design your cover, you aren't giving a stranger a copy of the blurb and hoping they'll put together something right - the editor/cover designer knows the tone and feel of the book and what will reflect what's inside, as well as being visually appealing to attract readers.

I offer all services individually, at affordable prices, and look forward to helping more writers achieve their dreams.

Soon I shall also be launching Billington Media - my Business/Sales/Academic writing editorial business. There are all sorts of things on the horizon!

Check out the site, give me a shout if you think I can help, and if you know someone who needs me, I don't mind you talking about me. I ENCOURAGE it. :)

Later, lovelies!

Sairz

Brenda Drake/CA Marshall Book Cover Design Contest Entry

To help CA Marshall launch her new cover design service, Brenda Lee Drake is holding a cover design competition, which I think is a great idea and reckon I'll do the same at some point!

As I'm a bit late to the game, here is the mock cover for one of my up-coming novellas, Last Night. I think this IS the cover, but I don't own the stock photo as yet.

and since I've been very into period dramas lately, it felt only appropriate that my REdesign cover would be of a Jane Austen classic, Mansfield Park.

Looks like a modern retelling, doesn't it? Get it? MANSfield PARK? There are men...and they're in a park? Okay so it's not as funny as Brenda's redesign of The Grapes of Wrath. Check it:

Those are sure some wrathful looking grapes right there.

Enjoy!

Sairz

The evolution of a cover: I, Zombie

Here it is!
The week has flown by on me but now I show you just how Emma-Lee of MadCowArt.com and I came up with the cover to my short story, I, Zombie which is available through Amazon, ITunes and Smashwords now.

The unnamed zombie in I, Zombie is lucid and aware and as he was in life, he's quite neat and orderly.
When contemplating cover design, I had an image in my head of a zombie, wearing a work shirt and tie, brushing his hair in a mirror. It tells you something about his personality and the tone of the story, don't you think?

At this stage, we were wanting to get the tone right (not the details), so Emma-Lee came up with this:

It's interesting, don't you think?

Then we thought perhaps a bit closer. And Emma-Lee added someone behind him in the doorway, to make it more ominous.

Then Emma-Lee gave him more shape, getting an idea of what he looked like. We agreed the idea of characters way up in the back wasn't quite working though, and after seeing what it could REALLY look like (as opposed to just in my head) Emma-Lee tried something different.

This is much creepier! There are lots of other zombies in this short story, so adding them to the cover I find quite effective. And the smile playing on his lips works really well, as he's pretty innocent and happy for a zombie. I mean he's not EVIL, just hungry.

 There was a bit of an empty spot in the bottom right, so Emma-Lee decided to fill it with a LIVE, UN-UNDEAD character from the story. Clever thing!

I gotta admit, I didn't love the open-mouthed smile, it was freaking me out a bit and didn't seem like MY zombie. So...

Nearly finished, starting to look like a real painting - I love the shine on his work shirt and tie.  

Last minute additions of gore - he may be a neat-freak but he's still dead! And finally....

The finished product!

I found it an interesting process, watching the image come to life and I think Emma-Lee did a fantastic job.

And for your interest, here's an excerpt from I, Zombie!

I could feel their fear, the little girl, the teenager, the old man. It shimmered in the air around them, almost vibrating. Making my flesh tingle – well, where there was flesh. Between life and undeath, I had been through a lot.

I hate dogs.

Looking at the little girl with her pulse throbbing in her throat, her rosy complexion, moist eyes, her blond hair that made my fingers clench, I wanted to feel her rip as I tore it from her scalp. The old man and the boy, they were good and all, but the little girl made my chest tighten with anticipation, with hunger, with an insatiable hunger, a hunger I’d never had in life. Since I had woken up a couple of weeks ago, lying in my unearthed coffin, the lid torn off and my eyes opening to a clear night lit with stars, I had been so hungry. Always so hungry. No matter how many of my colleagues, my work mates that I ripped apart with my teeth, scared accountants and terrified file clerks who could have sworn I had died a week ago.

My tongue lolled in my mouth, words coming out as mumbles and groans as I enjoyed the satisfying crack of their fingers. I broke them before biting, devouring them like chicken wings.  I tried to assure them that yes, I was indeed dead, but they were busy screaming and passing out and I couldn’t seem to form the words anyway. So I stopped trying and turned my sole focus on eating. Yet I simply couldn’t fill the emptiness.

I devoured people fresh, on the spot. Twisting an arm until it snaps, hacking at it, tearing at throats until they went into shock and became quiet…still. Then I would bounce their heads against the cement until it cracked open like a coconut and I scooped up messy handfuls of brain. I ate it raw, like sushi. Warm, drippy sushi. But it wasn’t enough. I needed more, always more. Maybe in life I wasn’t eating the right things. Noodles, broccoli, eggs – but only the whites –  and chicken. Those foods, why had I deprived myself so in life? There was no comparison to the ecstasy that human flesh brought: the chewiness of lungs, the crunchiness of bones and the blood...the oozing of warm blood down my chin, between my fingers as I squeezed a still pulsing heart. That was the best. 

Ciao for now,


Sairz

More Gore or Less Gore? Cover Wars

So Edwina Ray's next ebook is coming SOON. I'm quite excited by this one as it has shocked readers who know me and my personality, and what I usually write. This is why I created Edwina Ray. Some Sarah Billington fans may not want to experience the internal monologue of a zombie with a craving for crunchy bones and fresh, steaming, drippy hearts.

It is quite different.

I have been lucky enough to be working with illustrator Emma-Lee of MadCowArt.com on the front cover and I'm really happy with what she has produced.

LESS GORE OPTION

But I wondered whether it needed more gore. So she added some which came out like this:

MORE GORE OPTION

The front zombie's gore level has not changed because he takes care of himself. But check out the other zoms.

What do you think? Which cover do you like better? MORE GORE or LESS GORE?

 I, Zombie Cover Art: Do You Like More Gore or Less Gore?

• 
  
  More Gore - Drippy Blood is AWESOME
• 
  
  Less Gore - Less is More

view results
Free vote poll

Decisions decisions.

Sairz/Edwina

A small (but significant) change

You MAY have noticed that the blog has a new name. It's no longer about Sairz That Writer Chick, but is The Sarah Billington Blog.

'Why?' you ask? Or maybe you're thinking more along the lines of 'Yo dawg, wassup wit' dat?'

Well let me break it down for you homie, I used to be Sarah the writer. I was aiming for publication and that was that, really.

But nowadays, I believe I have a lot more to offer. As countless writers are, I'm a bit of an introvert in real life. I find it hard telling people how brilliant I am, that I'm good at what I do. I cringed just writing that, actually.

But aside from being Sairz that writer chick, I am also a freelance editor, having worked on sales copy, academic journals, novels and short stories. I am an eBook formatter. I formatted my own and have the skills and know-how to do it for you too.
Do you like my ebook covers? I designed them myself and had a whole lot more fun than I thought I would in doing so.

I am a multi-skilled multi-tasker.

Though not as multi-tasking as this chick.

I still identify myself first and foremost as a writer. That's who I am. I am thrilled to be testing the shiny new publishing opportunities available through eBookstores with some works, while others, my agent and I are finding the puuuurfect home for with traditional publishing houses.

But eBook formatting, cover designing and editorial are all things I can DO. And do well.

And it's about time I acknowledge that I, Sarah Billington, gots me some skillz.

Email me at SairzBillington at gmail dot com with details of your project for a quote.

Laters,

Sairz

The importance of Book Covers

I think book cover art is important. It is recognised in the publishing industry as being important, as they spend a lot of time, creative energy and money on getting the cover just right.

For series, covers are not designed for the longterm reader, but to draw in new readers. Loyal readers, it doesn't matter what the cover looks like, they love the series already and are going to buy the next book regardless, right?

Well, to me? Sort of.

I love the Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls books by Meg Cabot. They're about Allie Finkle who is in the 4th grade and is having trouble navigating family, friendships, teachers and school, so she comes up with some guidelines and rules. One rule for instance, is never to eat anything red. She just doesn't do it.

Anyway, I think Meg does an excellent job with these books, and the covers are kind of adorable. I understand why they're popular with their TARGET audience, and not just me.

I am a bit of a Meg Cabot fan girl and I've been looking forward to the next book in the series, Glitter Girls and the Great Fake Out.

It's cute, right? All the books have the same girl on the cover, representing Allie. When I found the book in an Australian bookstore, I came across a different cover. I couldn't find an image of the Glitter Girls cover, but the new cover design is the same, just in different colours.

Um...no. I want the other cover. The really cute cover. I don't like this style of cover at all.

And I seem to feel so strongly about the cover art of my books, that I decided not to buy this version, even though I'm not judging the book by its cover. I know it's going to be a good book. But I just don't want THAT.

What do you guys think of a book's cover art? Does it make that much of an impact on whether or not you buy a book?

In my Publishing class today, we were looking at text and cover design. I think it's an area of the industry I might really be interested in.

In other news, happy birthday to me!

Adios,

Sairz