Dreaming of a Win

I'm taking a few moments of your time not to toot my own horn but to share and help as I learn.
I entered a book cover contest with Authorsdb back in August. Upon entering, I was confident that it would do well. I felt this way because I absolutely loved the cover myself. Not only because it was mine but because it told the story before even opening the book. And I think this is one of the key things to remember when designing a cover. I didn't physically design it myself, I had a vision, and a few ideas. I knew what I wanted and didn't want. After conveying this with the designer, they nailed it on the first try.

Without reading a blurb or a review, one can tell that the two characters depicted on the cover are in morally different places. The character on the left is Stilo, he's the voice of Strength, the Good guy. The character on the right is RIP and is the voice of Rage. He can be heard whispering, "Give up, or Commit Suicide."

Rip is the Bad guy. I hope the impression of conflict & struggle emerge when someone sees the cover.

So, when I  made it to the Semi Finals in the contest, I was very happy. I was excited that people were voting and showing support. ASMSG members played a huge part in that. And I'm truly thankful for the ever present support they show.

I'm still very new at being a writer, I have much to learn. Often I'm learing these things by trial & error. I recently released my second publication only to pull it 2 days later because of a hastily made mistake. I'm going to release a Revised version of it soon but the whole experience really had my spirits low. The editor of my first book City of the Guardians wasn't available during the Month of December and I'd planned to release the book December 25th. Well, instead of being patient and waiting, I decided to edit it to the best of my ability and release it. And that was a mistake. It wasn't ready for the world to see and I should've just moved the release date up a few weeks. Any who, she's editing it now and I'm excited about Re-Releasing it. Lesson learned:)

After that hard learned lesson, I desperately needed a little pick me up and received in the form of a tweet.

@beelkirk #author BOOK COVER FINALIST Congratulations! http://authorsdb.com/author-publicity/book-cover-contest … Download Badge #covercontest pls RT

And just like that, I knew I was doing something right. So I push on, I stay open to constructive criticism, I help people as much as I can, and I keep believing in my dream.

Bee