(In addition to my usual Friday Field Trip, it's my day over at Author Expressions, where I'm doing a little happy dancing about WHERE DANGER HIDES)I've been working on a new Blackthorne, Inc. book, and with the release date of WHERE DANGER HIDES rapidly approaching, I'm thinking seriously about releasing my indie-published version some time soon as well. My rationale? WHERE DANGER HIDES is hard cover only. There are a lot of people who won't/can't fork over that kind of money, so I thought I could give them an option. But when you're going "indie" you don't have an art department designing your cover. The new book is DANGER IN DEER RIDGE and it takes place virtually in my own back yard. So, step one in the cover process, just as it was for FINDING SARAH, was to see if I had any images that might lend themselves to the book. Saves paying for them! I leave it to the cover designer to pick the best bits and pieces and turn them into a cover. So, today's trip is slightly farther afield than last week, but we're still in the Colorado Mountains.
A mixed blessing of publishing your own book is that you are in charge of the cover art. If you're talented and have a good vision of what you want, that's a plus. If you're more of a "well, I'll know it when I see it" kind of person, it's a tough call.I'm working with a graphic artist for a potential cover in anticipation of getting the rights back to one of my books, and then publishing it myself. Since it's set in Oregon, I asked my sister in law if she had any images that she'd like to share. You've probably seen some of her work before.She sent me some pictures, and I sent some I thought would work to the graphics artist. Things we had to consider: vertical vs. horizontal, and high enough resolution, since when she took the pictures, she wasn't really thinking of book covers. This week, I'll share her pictures. On future posts, I'll share the various steps we've been going through to come up with a cover for the book.
What I'm reading: Out of Sight, by Elmore LeonardLately, a lot of the books I've been reading have not only the author's name and title on the cover, but also a label telling the reader what kind of a book it is. I can see positives and negatives with this approach.
On the plus side:If I've enjoyed a book about certain characters, it's nice to see that this is another book about Harry Bosch, or Elvis Cole, or part of a trilogy, or a set of connected books. A few days ago, Susan Wiggs posted her new cover on her blog. While the scene—or even the title wouldn't have appealed to me (I'm not big on holiday books about holidays I don't celebrate), the "Lakeshore Chronicles" on the cover would have made the sale, because I've read all the other Lakeshore books. (OK, Susan Wiggs' name would get me to buy the book, but that's not today's topic.)I've seen books that say, "a novel" on the cover. Well, yeah. They're in the fiction section. Do I need to know that? Probably would have guessed without being told. But if the author writes both fiction and non-fiction, maybe that's a good marketing tool.On the 'either-or' side:Keep Reading...
If I'm browsing the book shelves, and I'm not familiar with an author or series, it can help me decide if I might like it. Maybe it says "fantasy" or "paranormal". I'd probably walk right by. So the label can kill a sale.
Personally, I think the labels are there simply to sell books. I've read books that were supposed to be 'romantic comedy' according to the cover, but in reading them, I failed to find the humor. Of course, that's a subjective thing. Just ask my husband.
If I haven't beaten the dead horse enough already, I prefer classic mystery structure to suspense. And again – different genres. Not right, not wrong, not better or worse. Different.
Mystery and Suspense have relatively "simple" definitions. In mystery, the reader follows the detective along to solve a puzzle, and is usually a step behind. In suspense, the reader is aware of what's going to happen, and is usually a step ahead of the protagonist. There's often blending, but a rule of thumb for me, is if you see anything the protagonist doesn't, it's suspense. It's knowing there's a bomb under the table, or seeing the villain planning, or committing the crime. Even if he's faceless, the reader is aware but the protagonist isn’t.
As I was learning these terms, another one cropped up. Thriller. Everything I heard indicated that a thriller was a suspense kicked up a few notches. The problem to be avoided was of massive proportions. Death and destruction of vast numbers of people. Entire nations. Global, perhaps.
A brief trip through Google yields the following definitions:
Thriller is a genre of fiction in which tough, resourceful, but essentially ordinary heroes are pitted against villains determined to destroy them, their country, or the stability of the free world. Part of the allure of thrillers comes from not only what their stories are about, but also how they are told. High stakes, non-stop action, plot twists that both surprise and excite, settings that are both vibrant and exotic, and an intense pace that never lets up until the adrenalin packed climax.
Thriller: Often, but not always, multi-national, high energy, involving major threats such as bio-terrorism, governmental crisis, nuclear weaponry, kidnappings, serial killers; often also high-tech.
Which leads to the minus side of labeling:
Using the above definitions of a thriller, I would shy away from books labeled 'thriller'. But what about the person who does want a thriller and picks up a book labeled as such that doesn't match the expectation? I would think they'd feel cheated. I know if I picked up a mystery and the crime was unsolved, or a romance without a relationship, I'd be upset.
I saw one of my books for sale on eBay (guess that means I've "made it" as an author!), billed as an "erotic thriller." Pity the poor buyer who's expecting both erotica and a crisis of far-reaching proportions. The seller justified the 'erotic' label because she also had books from Ellora's Cave for sale, and my book is from Cerridwen Press, which is an imprint of Ellora's Cave. Logical? Um … the reason it's NOT published by Ellora's Cave is that it's NOT erotic. Ah, well. It's also a mystery, not a suspense, much less a thriller.
This weekend, thriller authors are gathering for their annual conference. Do they all write "thrillers"? I don't think so. Not by the above definitions. But maybe the organization will be able to present a more concise definition of Thriller.
Don't forget - tomorrow is Friday, and I'm sharing another chapter in Detective Hussey's book. This one is a glimpse into the "down" side of police work.
What I'm reading: Mortal Prey, by John Sandford
On Monday, I mentioned I wasn't thrilled with the cover for the Cerridwen Press Free Reads. I didn't think it represented the kind of stories (not only mine; I've read the others as well), but the authors have little say in covers, and for this program, we were totally out of the game.But, one shouldn't judge a book by its cover. And this was truly brought home with Monday's night's episode of "Britain's Got Talent."Now, I don't watch much television, and what little I watch has never included these talent shows. Never. (OK, maybe I admit to watching The Gong Show a few times way back when.) I rarely watch YouTube clips. As a matter of fact, if I do click on one and the timer thingie is more than 2 minutes, I usually pass. However, I got a link from several different sources, so I thought I'd give it a go.I was very glad I did. And as much as I was impressed with the talent, it was the judges' reactions that struck the deeper chord. Yes, the looks on their faces were priceless, and that made me feel good. But it also made me feel bad, because they were obviously expecting a rousing round of ridicule. Sad that they couldn't be open-minded from the beginning. I wonder if this gave them an attitude adjustment. I definitely hope so (although I still won't be watching these shows.) The clip is here: It's worth your time. Tomorrow -- Yep. Another spin with Homicide-Hussey. He's got a great Hot Pursuit story to tell. Be sure to come back.
I promised to show the entire new cover and pick a winner. If you want to see a larger version you can find it on my website. 
Thanks to everyone who left a comment. When I first saw the cover, it looked like the sawed off edge of a tree trunk that was burning. (That's another story--there's no real 'fire' in the book!), but maybe it's an earring after all. It just looks very funky to me, where it connects to the ear. Besides, Sarah wore pearl studs! But since the book hasn't even started edits yet, maybe I should change it.And...the winner, selected by my random number generator is .... AMBER.Please email me (address at the right) to claim your prize. If I don't hear from you by next Friday, I'll pick another winner.
What I'm reading: That Which Survives by Ciana StoneWhat I'm writing: mystery short; e-publishing workshop presentation notes. (Trying to learn PowerPoint on the fly)I got the cover for Hidden Fire, my next Cerridwen Press release. As the author, of course I'm very close to the story, and as an author, know next to nothing about what kind of a cover sells a book. I'm lucky that Cerridwen Press gives authors a chance to comment on the cover after it's designed, rather than blindly accept a cover artist's interpretation of a one or two page cover request form. The elements on the first go-round were there, but there were things that bothered me, so I requested some modifications. The second version was much better, and that's where management said it would stay.I did (and still do) have one niggling questions, which was part of the image. It jumped out at me, yet after studying it, I still wasn't sure exactly what it was.What do you think? 
I'll post the full cover in a day or two. But now, let me know what you think this is. I'll even send an autographed copy of the full cover to a random draw of the comments. I can't pick a winner based on "right" answers, because I'm not 100% sure what it is.
Worked on the galleys for Hurricane Breeze yesterday. Found some typos, some clunkers. Nothing terribly major. I tried to "like" my cover a little more, but it's not going to happen. I mentioned it to my editor, but they don't normally revise covers. What do you think? Can you find the dog? Rottweiler was definitely NOT in the description I gave the cover artist. And I said the heroine was a 'free spirit' not a belly dancer. At any rate, most of the bigger houses don't give author input; I'm spoiled because Cerridwen Press does. 
Let's see -- yesterday's other glitches. Not too bad. I had to get the frames of my glasses fixed/adjusted. On the way back, I was waiting at a stop-sign controlled intersection for the car that had arrived shortly before I did to make up his mind and get going when there was a rather loud bump and a jolt. The driver of the car 2 cars behind me had lost control (it was raining) and hit the car behind me, pushing it into mine. With mixed thoughts, I decided to let the two of them decide what they wanted to do, because it was raining and I didn't have any significant damage to my rear bumper, and it wasn't worth filing a claim for a little dent. Not to mention I didn't have the hours it would take to get someone 'official' on the scene.
