The Covers

I have 5 books in progress… No pressure. Anyway, I decided to stop and make some covers. OK, let’s back up, I started my evening looking for pre-made covers from my favorite site and discovered that the prices are skyrocketing. The expensive ones (aka the “good ones”) used to go for around $180, now they’re $240.

So, off to my favorite royalty-free clip art site to pick out some pictures. I was able to find some images that fit the covers I was currently working on. I also stumbled across an image that spoke to me and said “Hey, I’m the image you need for your first Abyss book!” Here’s the first abyss book:

As you can see, I finally coughed up a title for the first book (which is better than the temporary title: “Book 1”).

I finished a short story last weekend to submit to Asimov’s magazine. They rejected my manuscript (which I expected), so I’ll be publishing that book. This is the rough cover:

The font color is a bit too light when viewed on smaller thumbnails. So, I’ll have to change that. Plus, the font is too fat and squeezes the inside spacing. I’ll have to spend some extra time selecting a better royalty-free font.

The last book cover I did is for the story that I really need a cover for because the book is getting close to completion:

Again, the main font is awful. It looks OK on the large size (full cover size), but the smaller the thumbnail, the more hideous it becomes. So, there’s work to be done there. I may tweak the image too, but not sure yet.

Progress

Desperate Action has been my main focus. I have about 10 more major story fixes to do, then a read-through to edit any minor problems. Then I’ll announce the publish date and get it out there. It’ll definitely be ready by the first week of December.

I plan to publish The Space Junk Collector this weekend. It’s a 5,500-word short story about a couple (Randal and Holly) who are running cargo when they receive a distress call. They land on a planet and discover that there is one old man named Fred who has an extensive junk collection. When they convince him that they can rescue him, they soon discover that he collects more than junk.

Daphne will be the next book that I finish. That’s the free giveaway that goes into the bundle for people who sign up for my email list. It’ll be a shorter book. Maybe 30 to 40k in length. It’s about 2/3 done. Still need to come up with a cover for this book. I hope to publish this before Christmas.

There is another short story that I have in progress that is part of the MacKenzie Steele series called Cargo Pirates. I have 1,200 words of it written and I anticipate that it’ll be around 5-7k in length. Maybe longer. Obviously, I still have to come up with a cover for that one.

Then… Oh yeah. I’ll start the Abyss series. Well, technically, I’ll pick up where I left off with book 1 and get it finished. I also need to clean up the Tome of Revelations. The Tome will be free for those that sign up for the email list. It’ll add another layer of fun to the series by containing Easter eggs and pictures to match up with books in the series.

Stay tuned.