Dwayne’s Comments (group member since Apr 01, 2017)

Dwayne’s comments from the Support for Indie Authors group.

Leah wrote: "Wow, both covers are completely mesmerizing to me."

Thanks. I'm going to keep dinking with mine and see what I can make of it. Or I might go a different direction entirely.

M.L. wrote: "In the spirit of helpfulness! Since it is a familiar image/face, a back-facing image works."

I really like the concept of it. I like the look of the trees. The girl seems a bit young, though, and I want some color in the picture.

I'm rethinking the image I found and am considering trying some new ideas. There is a part in the book where my lead female is in a thick forest wearing a red hood, but it's roughly two-thirds of the way into the book. I'm thinking of creating my own image that would reflect the first third or so of the book. I've looked at Paranormal Mystery covers and often they are cartoonish and whimsical. I think I could do a cover like that, though the book is not light-hearted all the way through and I don't want to mislead readers into thinking it's a warm, friendly story all the way through.

Ann wrote: "This is a similar image to one of my covers. I've used the same girl and a forest background. I just thought you might like to be aware of that before you go any further with editing it, although o..."

Hello again. When I posted this cover, I really loved it. Now I'm not sure I want to use it. Not because you and others have used it, but I got to thinking it over... the scene where this girl is dressed this way and living in a thick forest is fairly late in the novel. I'm thinking I need something to capture the spirit of the early part of the book. I don't want to get into much detail here, but what I'm afraid of is readers will think "Ah, a modern Fairy Tale" or whatever based on this cover, then they read the blurb or the first few pages and find that it's not a fairy tale -- not early on, anyway. So, I need to think of some ideas for things that happen early in the book that might be compelling images.

Haru wrote: "The girl doesn't want you to go there, and at the same time, she's puzzled that you've made it to her location. The colors and composition are made in a way that suggests detachment but not danger."

That's not far from what I wanted in an image.

Jeffrey wrote: "That looks good to me Dwaye. I like how the words seem to interweave with the trees and the forest floor. You might--might--think about making the title bigger however. Just my 2 cents."

M.L. wrote: "I like it. It's nice and spooky and the title sort of hovers mysteriously. Have you tried Cinzel, not bold but regular? It's good as it is though."

I've been dinking with some different fonts and sizes for the title. I might share some results soon. I'm kind of getting tempted to go a different direction with the cover, though.

Tony wrote: "Isn't this advertising - no links to books, etc. etc?"

No, this is the cover workshop. She's not advertising, she's asking for help / opinions on her cover. This isn't a link.

Ann wrote: "This is a similar image to one of my covers."

Kind of holding off on responding to comments for a few days as I'm experimenting with some of the suggestions, but I wanted to say I had a little giggle when I saw this. Yes, I remember reading your book some time ago and when I found the image online, I knew it was the same you used!

Catherine wrote: "Celebrate..."

That's probably the only thing about your post that didn't violate a rule.

No links.
No self-promotion.
No hijacking others' threads.
No asking for reviews.

UPDATE:

Scroll down to message 83 to see the latest version of the cover.

Viola wrote: "I'm working on three projects during this isolation."

Lucky. I got labelled as "essential" and I gotta keep working, which means my stress level is higher than normal, and with the usual haunts where I go do my writing closed, I'm not getting as much done as I would like.

Y'know, a word that seems to be coined in one specific film, book, TV show, what have you. Have you ever taken such a word and put it into your own work?

I have.

My latest work in progress has such a word in it.

I'm putting hiding it in a spoiler thingy-ma-bob 'cause it's the kind of word that might bother some people.

And the word is...

(view spoiler)[pederass (hide spoiler)]

...from "The Big Lebowski".

Gail wrote: "And thank you to all who took the time to read it."

And apparently you didn't take the time to read the group rules. Please, no links. Please, no self-promotion. Please don't hijack other people's threads.

Tomas wrote: "The problem with advertising books on the radio is targetting. Maybe you could in some specific genres (country, classics) but you'll never get to the detailed targeting level as you can with internet ads. Thus, efficiency will likely suffer."

Something I never really consider when advertising, but it's a good point for those who write in specific genres. I don't. I'm all over the place.

Eileen wrote: "How many people still listen to radio? People aren't usually looking for books on the radio."

Which could make a radio ad for a book really stand out. I listen to the radio quite a bit while driving and I hear a constant barrage of ads for used car lots, restaurants, nursing homes, etc.

How many people turn on the radio in hopes to find the perfect auto body shop? Probably no one, yet that doesn't stop those places from advertising.

If I heard an ad for a book, it would be so out of place I couldn't help but listen.

I suffer from sleep paralysis and quite often when I'm in that state I know I'm in a dream and I am fighting to get out and the battle seems to go on for hours. To make it worse, I'm often convinced there is something going on in the real world that I am helpless to stop as I can't move (ie someone is in my house, holding a gun to my head) or I feel as if I'm suffocating.

This thread is being deleted and closed. Evidence is coming in that this author opened this thread not for advice or opinions on his writing, but to solicit people to follow him on Wattpad, which is a form of self-promotion.

Godswill wrote: "Spam"

Godswill. Please read our rules before you continue to post. This is the second post and like the first, you're trying to peddle your book and begging for reviews. Please stop.

Godswill wrote: "A lot of stuff that is against the rules."

No links. No self-promotion. No begging for reviews. No offering free books. Etc. Etc. Etc. Please read the rules before posting. Thanks.

Deleted. You're not a moderator and have no reason to post in a moderator only folder. Also, this is self-promotion.

Years ago, I heard that Huey Lewis named his band The News because he couldn't spell "weather". He then named one of their albums Sports because he couldn't spell "weather". His latest album is called Weather.

That's all I really know about the first two topics. All I know about the Tiger King I have gotten through memes. I'll probably keep it that way for a while.