Janette Rallison's Blog, page 29

Which cover do you like best?

Good news: for the first time ever, I’m going to put up a completely new, original novel as an ebook. This means instead of having to wait a year or more to read it, you’ll only have to wait a month or so, depending on how fast I get through the last round of edits. It also means it will be a lot less than the usual 16.99 hardback price.

I actually wrote this book about two and half years ago and it has been sitting at my agent’s ever since. They were reluctant to send it out because it’s a paranormal romance, and agents and publishers all think paranormal romances are dead right now. I finally decided to just put it up myself.

Here’s where you come in. You’ve always done a good job helping me with covers, and I’m having an extra hard time with this one. The tentative title is Hunters and Hunted, and as you can guess from that title it’s not a romantic comedy. It has a strong Egyptian bent, (the paranormal groups originated as superpowers who served the pharaohs.) and a few people die, some by flesh eating scarabs. Not my usual light, happy book.  I wanted a cover that reflected that. I envisioned some pretty teen girl in a slightly mysterious looking forest with an expression that is half “come-hither” and half “there’s something frightening around.”

I’ve spent hours looking through pictures of teen girls on istock. It’s hard to find a girl with a come-hither-there’s-something-frightening-around look. most of the pictures were of smiling girls or teens in bikinis.

Su at Earthly Charms has done a valiant job to find something I like, and now it’s time to turn the mock covers over to you to see if you would pick any of them up. (Obviously, the istock logo will not be printed across the final cover. Do your best to ignore that.)

Are the expressions too cheesy? Should I go for something completely different? Do you hate the Egyptian eye? I’ve also included some other photos that I could use . . .

Maybe I should concentrate more on the Egyptian angle?

 

 

The model for this is too old, (Aislynn is 17)  but I thought the lay out here was eye catching. I like this model, and she has the come hither/ something scary expression down, but the back ground is a bit boring. Or maybe that’s a good thing because I need the focus on her . . .

Thoughts?

Book giveaways

It turns out that a few places are giving away my CJ Hill books. I thought I would put links up in case you feel lucky.

http://tressaswishfulendings.blogspot.com/2014/02/blogoversary-cj-hill.html

http://www.newldsfiction.com/win-these-books-february-2014/

http://kashkawan.squarespace.com/novembrance/2014/2/2/give-a-little-bit.html

And because I can’t do a post without, like, at least putting up one pic of Avalon . . .Cuter than all those pretend dolls in the last post.

Time for more doll wrecks!

I’m what you would call a doll aficionado. Or perhaps just a doll addict. I don’t seem to be able to resist buying them. I’ve got three doll cabinets that don’t begin to house my collection, so dolls sit perched around the house like wandering orphans looking for a permanent home.

Every once in awhile I go to ebay and look at the reborn dolls. Reborn dolls are made from molds that artists then paint and add hair to so that they look like real babies. Seriously, take a look at these examples. 

 

 

Isn’t this doll adorably life-like?

 

 

This doll is so cute, if I could, I would do something embarrassing like blow raspberries on it’s little cheeks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And I still can’t believe this one isn’t a real kid. I mean, how utterly precious.

Unfortunately, not all doll artist have reached this artistic level. In spirit of the cake wrecks blog–offering constructive criticism with only the best intentions–I’d like to give aspiring doll makers a few tips

1) Get the color right. And by the way, red is not a normal human color unless you are an alien.

If your newborn looks like this next photo, you need to recheck that APGAR score.

The next child looks like her parents went to the beach and forgot the sunscreen.

Ouch. It hurts to look at her. And this next one: Ouch again. (Note to self: buy more sunscreen.)

I’m all for a healthy tan, but um, maybe it’s not a good idea for your newborns. Just saying.

 

2) Should you want to sell your doll, it should not look like it is contemplating a life of violence and revenge.

The following doll looks like he’s not only planning your demise, he’s pretty certain he can accomplish it.

 I thought maybe the picture wasn’t the doll’s most flattering pose, so I looked at the other pictures too.

Nope, the pose has nothing to do with it. The doll is  just waiting to grow up so it can kick your butt. His street name is probably Vinny the Destroyer.

3) Doll owners like to think of themselves as good parents, so the doll you’re trying to sell shouldn’t look as though it’s afraid of being hit. Like this one:

Or this:

 

In the dolls’ defense, perhaps they’ve seen other doll listings pictures and think they have something to worry about.

I’m not sure whether this doll is being sold, or held hostage for ransom.

4) Speaking of doll emotions, your doll shouldn’t wear a look of disappointment–as though it was expecting better parents and found itself stuck with you instead. You think I’m joking, but you’d be surprised at the level of disappointment visible on various dolls. For example, here’s a doll exhibiting wistful displeasure:

She’s clearly thinking, “I’m much too good-looking for these parents.” She’s probably right.

If unchecked, wistful displeasure may lead to the haughty disillusionment exhibited in the next doll:

“What? You’re my parents? I demand a recount.”

Here’s a doll with pensive discontent:

“Drat. It will be years before I’m old enough to run away from home.”

And here’s a doll with flat out sullenness:

“If my parents forget the sunscreen one more time, I’ll call my friend, Vinny the Destroyer.”

This next doll seems to have moved beyond disappointment and has settled into despair:

“Dang it woman, get me a bottle and make it a double.”

One last reminder to doll artists. This is what an actual newborn looks like: (You knew I was going to sneak a picture of my granddaughter in here . . .)

 

If your newborn doll rendition looks like this:

people won’t want to buy it, they’ll want to send it money so you can put the doll in intensive care.

Again, just helpful little tips because I care.

For looks at past doll wrecks, check out these blogs:

http://janetterallison.com/blog/doll-wrecks/

http://janetterallison.com/blog/more-doll-wrecks-2/

http://janetterallison.com/blog/more-doll-wrecks/

 

Party with your fav YA authors this Saturday

Well, that is if your favorite authors include:

Jon S. Lewis, C.J. Hill (a.k.a. Janette Rallison), Janni Lee Simner, Erin Jade Lange, Tom Leveen, Shannon Messenger, Amy Fellner Dominy, Amy Tintera, Bill Konigsberg, Aprilynne Pike, Austin Aslan, and Shonna Slayton.

At  4pm on Saturday, January 25, Changing Hands Bookstore presents YAllapalooza 2014, a literary extravaganza for tween and teen readers. Here’s your chance to mix and mingle with your favorite YA authors, get signed books, enjoy pizza, and more!

Me, and pizza. What better way could you spend your Saturday evening? Plus we will be playing games where the store will make authors talk with funky accents. Seriously, I’ve got to figure out how to sound like a whole cast of people including Arnold Schwarzenegger. (Clears throat) I’ll be baaack.

Location:


6428 S McClintock Dr.
Tempe, Arizona

Romance Through the Ages

Some of you probably thought this was going to be a commentary on romance now that my husband and I are grandparents. Nope. He’s an engineer, so . . . yeah. . . The romance never ends.  This is actually to tell you about a bargain deal that’s going on over at Amazon:  A boxed set of seven romance novels from awesome authors: Amy Harmon (Author), Janette Rallison (Author), Rachael Anderson (Author), Heather Horrocks (Author), Karey White (Author), Diane Darcy (Author), Heather B. Moore (Author)

It’s only .99 !

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http://www.amazon.com/Romance-through-Ages-Book-Boxed-ebook/dp/B00HFD5OEM/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1389843634&sr=1-1&keywords=romance+through+the+ages

Oh, and speaking of: I’m a grandma now. Here’s another couple pictures of baby Avalon.

 

I’m going to be one of those sorts of grandmas

 You know, the type of grandmas who think everyone wants to see pictures of their grandchildren. Yep, apparently I’m one of those.

Meet Baby X, thus called because her parents haven’t finalized a name yet.

I was four hours away when my daughter went into labor about a week early. I drove through a snowstorm to get to the hospital. Even when she called at three thirty to tell me she was having contractions, I thought I would have lots of time. I only drove fast because I wanted to be as close as I could be before the storm hit. As it turns out, it was a good thing that I sped. When I was still a couple of miles away, she called to tell me she was waiting for the doctor so she could start pushing. I literally ran through the hospital. I made it in time. What a  miracle. And she looks just like her mother did as a baby–angelic.

Blue Eyes new cover

Ta da! Here is the new cover for Blue Eyes and Other Teenage Hazards.  I would like to take credit for it, but the blog readers and an assortment of students chose the cover pose, and Su at Earthly Charms put it together. She did a fab job. Love you, Su! It’s 2.99 at http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Eyes-Other-Teenage-Hazards-ebook/dp/B006HN8MSG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389171619&sr=8-1&keywords=blue+eyes+and+other+teenage+hazards

Echo in Time Book Launch this Tuesday

It’s about time for me to start worrying incessantly that no one will come to my book launch. Don’t make me weep at  Changing Hands Bookstore. It wouldn’t be pretty. So here are reasons to come to the book launch at 7:00 pm on Tuesday:

1) You never know what color my hair is going to be. Last time I dyed it blue in honor of Echo, whose hair was blue in Erasing Time. Only, I forgot to mention why my hair was blue and everyone was too polite to ask so I guess people just figured I had artistic flare.

2) Echo in Time is an awesome book and if I die tragically on the way home, just think how much your signed book will be worth on ebay.

3) Time traveling cookies. Yum!

Changing Hands Bookstore

6428 S McClintock Dr

Tempe, AZ 85283

PHONE: 480-730-0205

7:00 pm. Tues, Jan 7. See you there!

Echo in Time blog tour

Can’t get enough of hot futuristic guys? Want to know how killing butterflies might lead to the world’s demise? (Actually, there are no butterflies killed in Echo in Time . . . not all people fared as well though . . . just saying . . .)

Check out the Echo in Time blog tour

Blog Tour Schedule
Fire and Ice- December 24- Kick Off
Candace’s Book Blog- December 27- Review
Clean Teen Fiction -December 28- Review
Fiktshun- December 30- Guest Post
Getting Your Read On -January 2-Review
Two Chicks on Books- January 3- Ten’s List
Bittersweet Enchantment -January 4-Review
Tressa’s Wishful Endings- January 5- Review
Literary Time Out -January 6- Review
Min Reads and Reviews- January 7- Review

The dish on Echo in Time

This book was a long time in the making. The first incarnation of Erasing Time was a book called Time Riders I wrote over ten years ago. I won’t go into a lot of detail about that book. I’ll just say it was basically my first draft, and had little if any editing done to it. There are words missing, words misspelled, unclear dialogue and at the climax, Sheridan’s hands are tied, then untied, then tied again. This is the literary equivalent of having your fly way, way down–like pants falling around your ankles down.

I’d planned on writing a sequel, but was so unhappy with the publisher, I decided not to. Poor Sheridan and Taylor have waited a long time for part two of their story. Thanks Harper, for picking up the book and giving it real editing!

Good things about the Echo in Time: I get to play with a time machine! Score! Every author wants to drive one of these around the block.

I got to work on two romance lines instead of just one. Two hot guys. Does it get better than that?

I got to kill people in creative 25th century ways. Not that I’m saying I killed anyone. (Hangs head. Okay. I did. Sorry.)

I get to bring people back to life. I think I should claim this privilege in all my books. I also think I should lend my time machine to JK Rowling so she can save Fred or George–whichever of the twins she killed off. I forget which, but I haven’t forgiven her for it.

Bad things about the book: Changing the Timestream sort of changes the story line in the first book. Readers, I fear, may hate me for this.  If you’re one of those readers, you have my permission to pretend it never happened.

Other bad things . . . Did I mention I kill someone off? I sort of regret that now, but I didn’t want to have to rewrite the book to change it. Plus, the death is sort of meaningful, unlike the Fred-or-was-it-George death. I didn’t mind Doby, but the twins? Come on.

If you’re not in AZ, go directly to Amazon and buy it. (It’s out in paperback or ebook)http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E3CV1HW/ref=s9_simh_gw_p351_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1M3F5EKGG9T49FGXS2W5&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1630083502&pf_rd_i=507846

If you’re in AZ, please come to the Echo in Book launch on Jan 7, 7:00 pm at Changing Hands Bookstore

6428 S McClintock Dr

Tempe, AZ 85283

PHONE: 480-730-0205

(If you can’t come on that date, you can buy the book over the phone and have me sign it on that night, then pick it up later.)

See you there!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!