Preparing to Launch the New Book
So as I get ready to launch my third book, The Vitalis Chronicles: Steps of Krakador, I have a lot of things to take into consideration. One is how do I actually get people’s attention so that they know it’s been launched? This was a major problem with the second book, as I never really did anything to alert people that it was coming out (I just kind of pushed it out the door and moved on – a mistake to be sure, but I was at a rough point in life). The other consideration I have to take into account is when I get their attention, how damn handsome will I look?
That’s why it’s time to update the profile picture. My buddy Tom Bradley took some great shots of me here in Paris, and I held a little vote on Facebook (on my personal page, sorry everyone – I’m sick and not thinking clearly). Here’s what I posted, and asked people to vote on their favorite for my new social media avatar:
Somewhere along the line people started listing which ones they liked instead of choosing just one, so I wound up counting those as individual votes (how on earth am I supposed to know which one they really prefer?). There were a number of comments on how handsome I am, and others about how maybe I should pick one where it’s harder to see my face, but in the end, with well over 100 votes cast, my face won.
There were two very clear favorites, with two distant runners-up and a few that barely got a nod (and everyone wants that arrow in #3 gone). I was pretty surprised by the outcome, actually.
For one, I thought more people would vote for #4, even though I had made sure to say that it would wind up being used in the book either way. While I’m not terribly surprised that #1 won, it wasn’t a favorite going in and was even originally pooh-poohed by Tom, the photographer (though he later voted for it). In reading through the comments I thought #3 was going to come in with far more votes.
I had a fun time reading through people’s reasoning as to why I should choose one photo or the other, but the professionals weighing in all seemed to say #1, and in the end the masses apparently agreed. I’m glad, because I’m pretty happy with your choice. Again, sorry it wasn’t open to the internet at large – next time I’ll make a poll on my page and share that from there (which will also save me the pain of tallying votes by hand).
So over 100 votes later and after a little movie magic by PJ Accetturo, here’s what we’ve got:
Don’t all run for the hills at once, I’m friendly. Promise.
So there we go, a new avatar has been selected. There can be only one! However, the runners up will be available in my media kit as I work to rebuild it, so this won’t be the last you’ll see of them. I think I’ll keep my original photo (with the sunglasses in Sierra Leone) on the cover of the third book for consistency, but the castle photo is definitely going into the back section and will find its way onto the cover of my fourth book.
Thank you Tom for taking such great photos! And of course to Jess, his lovely assistant who kept reminding me to smile for real. And a hat tip to PJ for some added edits.
Stay tuned for the reveal on my new cover art! It’s finished, I just have to decide when to release it. Maybe I’ll make a poll about that…
But I will tell you this much: The Vitalis Chronicles: Steps of Krakador will be available in a matter of weeks! If you need to re-read the first two to get ready (as I’m told people are already doing), you’ll want to get started asap!
Don’t wander far. More to come very soon.
