Welcome Author Friends and Readers, today we're going to be interviewing Cindy Ray Hale and talking about Covers!
Be sure and hang around to the end and join in on the fun of a giveaway!
Welcome Cindy, and before we get into asking about your covers tell us a little about yourself, please. Thanks for having me and sure, I live in Murfreesboro, Tennessee with my husband and four children. I’ve been writing since I was a kid scribbling stories in a spiral notebook. When I was seventeen, I wrote a short story called Instant Harmony, which was published in the April 2000 issue of New Era, the official magazine for the youth of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Destiny is my first novel and is Book One of the Destiny Trilogy. I’ve been querying agents a little bit this summer, but a few weeks ago I decided I wanted more control and a shorter wait to publication, so I will be self-publishing Destiny.
Welcome to the Self Publishing world, I love it here, and I think you will too. Since the topic is covers today can you tell us what made you decide you needed a new cover?
I’ve made several of my own covers on my phone and on picmonkey.com. I even took my own photo shoot with an adorable young teenager I’m close friends with. I wanted to use the pictures of the couple but the photos were taken with my phone and the definition wasn’t high enough. I knew all along I’d eventually have a cover designed by a professional. It was a matter of me deciding to finally self-publish.
I designed it myself on PicMonkey.com. I highly recommend PicMonkey if you’re looking to design a cover on your own, and you have zero budget because it’s easy to use, you don’t have to download anything or register, and it’s free.
My first cover photo was actually taken by, Virginia Hodges of Virginia Rose Hodges Photography, the same photographer that took the picture on my new cover. She’s a close friend of mine and considers herself Hannah in my book.
Who did this second cover?
Cover It Designs at coveritdesigns.net designed the cover and Virginia Rose Hodges Photography
Do you think Authors should create their own covers? I do and I have my own line of pre-made covers that are available for purchase here.
It depends. I’ve had friends design their own covers, and for a simple e-book it can work out completely fine. But if they’re taking it to print, I don’t recommend it unless they’ve had a lot of experience. There are so many details to work out with the correct size and formatting. When my cover designer was explaining it all to me, I felt like it was way over my head.
Do you mind saying how much you paid for this cover?
I paid $135
What did you learn that you might think is helpful for our audience in this experience of changing covers?
Two things: Know your audience and what types of covers appeal to them the most. I write contemporary YA so I did a Google search for “The Best Contemporary YA Book Covers” and found a Goodreads page with the best covers all together.
I made a Pinterest board collecting the covers that appealed to me from similar books to mine, and when the cover designer asked me what I liked all I had to do was link that board to her. Shop around before you decide who to go with so you can know the person caters to your audience. Study the covers on their website and look them up on Amazon to see how well it’s sold. One of the designers I almost went with had designed the cover of an Amazon Bestselling Author.
Share with our audience a few places where they can learn more about you and your novels.
Facebook.
Wordpress
Blogger
When will this book be available?
It will be available for purchase November 2013.
What can folks expect out of you from this point on? More novels?
Yes! I have the rough draft of Synchrony (Destiny #2) two-thirds of the way finished. I’m hoping to publish it next Spring, but we’ll see how it goes. I have an outline written for Destiny #3, but it’s still pretty rough. I’ve also thought about writing a prequel from Hannah’s (Destiny’s best friend) point of view and a book that would take place after the Trilogy to show what happens to the guy that doesn’t end up with Destiny.
Thanks for joining us today and be sure and click on the raflicopter link below and join in on the fun of a giveaway for an Amazon Gift Card $25.00
Cindy Ray Hale Author website
Blurb From Destiny
Destiny Clark, a young Mormon girl living in Tennessee, is wildly infatuated with Isaac Robinson, the headmaster’s son at her Baptist high school. When they’re cast together in the school’s production of Les Misérables, Destiny is horrified to find that she has to be publicly humiliated by acting out her true feelings of rejection onstage.
As
their rehearsals begin, Destiny realizes the unimaginable: Isaac has developed
deep feelings for her despite their religious differences and the fact that he
has a girlfriend. But will they be able to find their place amongst the
backbiters of their ultra-conservative world?
Weaving
around Destiny and Isaac's alternating viewpoints, Destiny is the first book in
a series inspired by the characters of Les Misérables and explores heartbreak,
self-discovery, intolerance, and love.
Visit Samantha's website for an excerpt of Destiny
a Rafflecopter giveaway
