Jane Killick's Blog, page 2
July 7, 2020
New Look
If you're in the habit of popping by janekillick.com every so often, you may have realised the website has a new look.
Like many things in life, this was not the plan! This spring, I volunteered to help out the fan club for the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by re-designing their website, zz9.org. It turned out to be a much larger job than I had envisioned (which is a whole ‘nother story), but along the way I found a bit more about websites. Keen to do more with what I learned, I came back to my own site and gave it a freshen up.
As I write this, I'm still tinkering, but I hope it's a real improvement on what was here before.
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July 5, 2020
Making the Perceivers Covers
The raw photo that became the cover for Mind Control
I knew that getting the right covers for the Perceivers series was going to be tough. The usual method is to find a picture from a stock photo site and manipulate to become part of a great cover. But not only doesn’t this give you an exclusive image (as in the many, many ‘woman with bird cage' covers), you may find it difficult to find the image you want.
Michael starts off his adventures with the perceivers aged 15 and, although he reaches 20 by the fourth book, Mind Power, I still wanted a younger person on the cover. But when I looked through the stock photo sites, there were very few young men to chose from. I did find one or two, but when I looked for more pictures of the same model, the other images weren't going to work — mostly, they were smiling which wasn't at all the mood I was after. I spoke to my cover designer and she agreed that images for this age group are very difficult to come by.
The finished cover for Mind Control
Getting my own photos
Then I read a blog post by someone who had had her own photos done for her book covers because she wanted someone of a certain ethnic background (I wish I could find this blog post, but I can’t. If anyone can point me in the right direction, I’ll post a link). This seemed to be my solution. I could get the sort of images I wanted and I could have the same models on all the covers so they looked like a series.
I put an advert on Models Mayhem, offered to pay a small fee to the models plus give them a photo from the shoot which they could use in their portfolio. I wasn’t too prescriptive as to the look of the models as I was never going to get someone who exactly matches the images I have of Michael and Pauline (introduced in Mind Control) in my head. I also decided to go for slightly older models. Firstly, because the rules around working with children present their own challenges, secondly because there are very few teenagers on these model sitess, and thirdly, because a lot of young adult movies (eg, The Hunger Games) actually have people in their twenties playing the parts.
This is the image Emily chose for her portfolio
Of the people who answered the advert, Nick was the best match for a Michael and was very keen. In fact, he had to travel down from Manchester for the shoot and I was sure the train fare was going to pretty much wipe out his whole fee. I asked if he was sure if he was happy to travel so far, and he said he was. The woman I initially chose was a bit nervous at the prospect of nudity, despite my assurances that I wanted her to keep her clothes on! When she stopped answering my emails, I decided I better look for someone else. Fortunately, due to a cock up on my part in not cancelling my ad on Models Mayhem, I had a late application from a dancer called Emily. She immediately agreed to do the shoot, and I had my ‘Michael’ and ‘Pauline’.
This is the image Nick chose for his portfolio
The photoshoot
My photographer was already lined up. I’d chosen someone with a great portfolio on her website, a list of prices upfront and a talent for working with people who were not necessarily experienced models. Charly Woodhouse has her own studio in Southampton (England) and is great.
On the day of the shoot, everyone else got there before me and the models were already in makeup. The first question that stumped me was what sort of makeup I wanted. Not being a makeup person, I just said to emphasise the eyes, as the books are all about telepathy. This involved my cover designer “photoshopping out” some of the eyeliner which the makeup artist put on Nick. Entirely my fault!
The other thing I hadn’t thought too much about was costume. What a character is wearing on a cover can really help evoke a feeling. I just said for them to bring tops and trousers which were plain without any branding and stuff on them. Apparently, such items of clothing are rare in the wardrobes of people in their early twenties.
What I had thought much more about is the sort of poses I wanted from the shoot. I had written down lots of ideas, some of which worked and some of which didn’t. One idea I had was for Nick to put his fingers to his temples like he was focussing his mind, but Charly thought it made it look like he had a headache. Then Nick said he had done some sort of medical photoshoot and had to look like he was in pain and used a similar pose. So that idea was out of the window.
The other unexpected thing was that Nick is a good foot taller than Emily. We got him to take off his shoes and Charly found some high heels for Emily to wear, but Nick still spent a lot of time bending his knees to make himself shorter. If I remember correctly, he’s bending his knees on the cover for Mind Control.
Venturing outside
One of my ideas which was near impossible to achieve in the studio was the pair of them leaning against a wall in an urban setting. This was when we ventured outside and got the shot which became the cover to Mind Power. I had asked Nick to bring a hoodie top to wear, but the item of clothing he'd packed turned out to be an unpleasant shade of salmon pink (sorry, Nick!), so he suggested he wear the coat which he’d worn on the journey down instead. Emily had travelled down in a leather jacket, so I got her to wear that too and we got a great shot.
(Going outside was an impromptu move and the lighting wasn't great, despite — or, possibly, because of — my lack of ability holding up a reflector to bounce light back into the faces of the models. You can see the original raw image is a bit on the dark side (entirely my fault!), but it was easily lightened up in photoshop).
I sent the results of the shoot to my cover designer and, between us, we picked the four shots for the covers. As Pauline doesn’t appear in the first book, Mind Secrets has just a shot of Nick on it. I always had an image in my head of Michael timidly crouching down as if on the run, so this was the shot we chose for Mind Secrets. It was a difficult look to achieve because I didn’t explain it that well and the photographer couldn’t really get high enough for the shot. She wasn’t too keen on it because she thought it lacked depth of field, but the designer did a great job and I think it works well.
Definitely worth it
In the end, because I went with older models, I probably didn’t need to go to the trouble of doing the photoshoot. But I’m glad I did. It made sure the people on the covers are the same for the whole series. If I’d gone the stock photo route, that almost certainly wouldn’t have happened. In the end, I got some brilliant covers and, like a crazy person, I’m doing another photoshoot for my next and upcoming series.
Links
Photographer: Charly Woodhouse
Cover Designer: Karri Klawiter
Male Model: Nicholas Harley Naismith
Female Model: Emily Colclough
The photo taken against a wall outside the photographer's studio
The raw photo transformed into the final cover
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May 14, 2020
Traitor’s Code audiobook is out!
After lots of work, I’m pleased to announce the release of my first audiobook – Traitor’s Code.
The first of the Freelancer trilogy can now be heard at Audible, with the only two instalments have all been recorded and are waiting to come out.
You can listen to a sample and download at Audible.
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March 17, 2020
Picked for a Cover Contest!
The cover for Traitor’s Code is up for an award!
Find out more and vote here:
https://indtale.com/polls/créme-de-la-cover-contest
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February 26, 2020
Assassin’s New Cover
This is the new cover for, Assassin, the third book in my Freelancer trilogy.
Framed for an assassination she didn’t commit, Cassy must prove her innocence to bring a life-saving technology back to her home planet.
More about the Freelancer series of sassy spaceship captain adventures at the Freelancer page.
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February 25, 2020
Prince’s Mission new cover
In my series of posts highlighting the new covers for my Freelancer series, this is Prince’s Mission:
See all the new covers for the series of sassy spaceship captain adventures at the Freelancer page.
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February 23, 2020
Announcing New Covers
A sassy freelance spaceship captain, a stolen code and an attractive prince trying to stop her.
A page-turning space adventure, Traitor’s Code mixes murder and intrigue with pirates, gun battles and a ‘will they/won’t they’ teaser in the first, unmissable instalment of the Freelancer trilogy.
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January 31, 2020
The Complete Freelancer Trilogy
I just wanted to share this cool graphic I’ve been working on depicting the three Freelancer book covers.
I completed the final part of the trilogy in December, after which time I sort of collapsed and caught up with all the other jobs I hadn’t had time to get to. So I thought it was about time I put something on my blog about it.
If you have been putting off delving into my Freelancer books, there’s no need to wait anymore. All three are done and out there which means there is a conclusion to the epic story of Cassy the freelance spaceship captain. Discover if Cassy beats the odds in bringing a new technology to the galaxy and finally gets together with Prince Stephen.
When a dying fugitive begs Cassy to protect a stolen code, she becomes custodian of a secret which could save humanity
Amazon | iBooks | Kobo | Nook | Google Play | Smashwords
Caught in the crossfire of brotherly rivalry, a spaceship captain must risk her life to save an entire planet.
Jane Killick.
January 26, 2020
Traitor’s Code ebook sale: 0.99
Now that my Freelancer series is complete and out in the world, I’m running a sale on the first novel in the series.
So, not delved into the world of Cassy, the sassy freelance spaceship captain yet?
Pick up your copy of the first in the series, Traitor’s Code, at only 0.99 from ebook retailers:
Amazon | iBooks | Kobo | Nook | Google Play | Smashwords
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Assassin is out!
Assassin, the final novel in my Freelancer series is out!
Amazon | iBooks | Kobo | Nook | Google Play
Framed for an assassination she didn’t commit, Cassy must prove her innocence to bring a life-saving technology back to her home planet.
When Freelance spaceship captain Cassy discovers an assassin at the wedding of her ex-lover, Prince Stephen, she fights to wrench his rifle away. But a stray blast shoots into the royal party and kills Queen Triana. Knocked unconscious, Cassy wakes to find herself holding the murder weapon, the assassin gone and a squad of guards who condemn her as guilty.
Facing certain execution, Cassy breaks out of jail with Prince Stephen’s help and they escape together. Taking refuge in a secret underground lab, they learn of a forbidden technology hidden in a spaceship and sent beyond the rim of the galaxy. Retrieving it promises plentiful food for everyone, but the journey lies through a supposedly impenetrable barrier.
Even if they achieve the impossible, they cannot return until they prove Cassy’s innocence. So they must infiltrate a dangerous rebel army on another world to unmask the real assassin.
From the first page to the final scene, Assassin maintains its page-turning action. Can Cassy find the real assassin and prove her innocence? Can she find the lost spaceship and bring back its secrets? Can a freelance spaceship captain like Cassy and a prince like Stephen ever be together? Find out only in the thrilling conclusion to the Freelancer trilogy.
Assassin
Freelancer 3
by Jane Killick
Amazon | iBooks | Kobo | Nook | Google Play
£2.99/$3.99 ebook // £9.99/$11.99 paperback
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