Stephanie Bibb's Blog, page 57
July 3, 2015
Thoughts On Writing – Foreshadowing
I was talking to one of my beta-readers the other day and they got me thinking about foreshadowing. Foreshadowing is important to having a satisfying ending, especially if thereader doesn’t see that ending coming. Without foreshadowing, readers may feel confused and lost. That’s okay if that’s the effect you’re going for, but be warned, sharp turns, like on a really rough, old, wooden roller coaster (I’ll take the smooth metal ones, thank you), can leave a reader nauseated if they aren’t prep...
July 1, 2015
Behind the Scenes – Dusk Runner
A cover for Melange Books. For this one, we focused on conveying the genre of the book, rather than particular characters. As such, people who like other fantasy books in a similar vein to this one can easily recognize another book they might enjoy. The author suggested covers similar to those of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series, which reminded me of the cover art for Game of Thrones. I merged the two styles, and this is the result:
For the back cover, I flipped the background from the fron...
June 29, 2015
Thoughts on Publishing – A Blurb for Magic’s Stealing
As I get closer to publishing Magic’s Stealing, I’ve beencompiling thevarious elements meant tocatch a reader’s attention. While a lot of emphasis is placed on the book cover (and I’ve realized the current version I’m considering may be better suited to the third book, so I’m debating what I might use instead for the first), after the cover, a reader inevitably sees the blurb. The blurb should show what the book is about and entice areaderto either buy the book, or at least take a look inside...
June 26, 2015
Thoughts on Publishing – Book Trailers
Isaac and I have been considering ways to promote our books once they’re ready. I’ve got a cover in mind for Magic’s Stealing, along with a couple possible blurbs, but we both agree that having a few other promotional materials meant to pique the interest of readers would be handy. One promo piece we’re considering is that of a book trailer.
Love ’em or hate’em, a good book trailer catches the eye of a potential reader and either gets them to investigate what the book is about, or get them to...
June 24, 2015
Sneak Peek – Battle Decks
If you’ve been reading my blog lately, you may know that my husband, Isaac, and I are starting a publishing company for our stories and games. Well, I’ve talked a lot about the stories, but today I’m going to give you a peek into one of our games-in-progress: Battle Decks.
I’m not going to give a whole lot of detail on the game just yet, but I will say this: it’s a fantasy pseudo-steampunk table-top card game, where there aretwo battling factions and your goal is to take out the opponent’s he...
June 22, 2015
Thoughts on Writing – Aging Up Characters
I’ve been getting feedback from beta readers for Magic’s Stealing, and one of the comments that has been fairly consistent is that the characters (which I intended to be around twenty years old) feel like they’re twelve- to sixteen years old, effectively making the story sound like it’s aimed at a middle grade or the lower end of the YA audience. Which isn’t a bad thing… if I meant for my characters to be younger. However, I’m hoping to get them to sound like they’re at least eighteen, so it’...
June 21, 2015
The Infinitas Publishing Site is now Live!
I’m happy to announce that Isaac and I now have our Infinitas Publishing site live. :-D
http://infinitaspublishing.com
Took most of yesterday (including a couple photoshoots) and a few hours here and there to get it up and running, but after finally figuring out how to get the domain properly mapped, it’s now up. You can read about the behind the scenes process on our first blog (written by Isaac):http://infinitaspublishing.com/blogs/post/Behind-the-Website/
A few parts of the site aren’t qui...
June 19, 2015
Thoughts on Publishing – Pricing the Novella
Today, let’s talk business: What are you willing to pay for a novella?
When I went to ConQuest, I knew full well that I planned to fork over twenty bucks for a hardback copy of a book that contained two of Brandon Sanderson’s novellas. Sure, they’reavailable for purchase in ebook format for considerably cheaper, but having the hardback is nice, and I’m a fan of his work. (A note here: I’m the kind of person who likes having a hard copy, be it paperback or hardback. I’ll happily read non-ficti...
June 17, 2015
Behind the Scenes – Hide and Seek
A cover for Melange Books. For this one, the publisher wanted a cover that conveyed the romance of the two novellas in this book, as well as the suspense and western themes. So we stuck with a silhouette, darker (but still romantic) colors, and softer imagery. For the back cover, I simply used part of the desert landscape imagery I hadn’t used from the front, then applied a similar treatment.
This is the result:
Stock images from Dreamstime:
June 15, 2015
Thoughts on Writing – Consistency of Style
With Magic’s Stealing out to beta readers, I’m trying to avoid working on that story line until I get the collected thoughts of the readers. That way I can evaluate all the comments and figure out how best to apply them. In the meantime, I’ve switched gears. I’m working on Isaac’s and my Distant Horizon story line. The first book is written and mostly polished, so I’m working on plot consistency in the second book. To do that,I’m rereading the first book to refresh my memory on what changes w...
