Category Archives: Book design

‘Beware the Spider’ eBook Looking Good

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Files are starting to show up in my inbox for my new Black Orchid Chronicle, Beware the Spider.

The PDF version for printing paperback copies is here, done, finished, completed and FINAL. I’m just waiting on the cover for the print edition. It’s the last big “mystery” from the design crew.

I’ve seen the front cover, of course, but they can’t do the spine and back cover until they have a page count. With the PDF Final done, they’ll get the page count and produce a beautiful print cover. Can hardly wait.

Meanwhile, I have the ebook versions (.mobi and .epub).

Here are the first two-page spreads for the .epub version (for Apple iTunes, Nook and other non-Kindle readers).

Screen Shot 2019-06-02 at 11.43.24 AM

On the right hand page above, notice the silhouette of the black orchid just above my name. It mirrors the orchid design from the cover and will appear on the spine of Beware the Spider and future Black Orchid Chronicles as the colophon, or publisher’s emblem.

It’s a nice touch, and I owe it to my designers at Damonza.com. Creative and totally professional all the way.

If you squint at the Table of Contents below, you can get an idea of where Beware the Spider starts and where it’s heading.

Screen Shot 2019-06-02 at 11.43.55 AM

There is tweaking to be done, especially for the Kindle version (.mobi), but we’re getting close.

Thank you for your patience. And stay tuned here.

Beware the Spider: Status, Closing in on Publication

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That big sigh heard ’round the world last Friday was me as I wrapped up the last edits suggested by beta readers of my new thriller, Beware the Spider.

Beware the Spider Banner

Banner image for Beware the Spider

I sent the completed manuscript — 432 pages, 75,650 words — to my editor. She has four weeks to work her magic.

I’ll take a week to clean it up and then we’ll go to pub on at least half a dozen platforms and hard copy. I’m looking at mid to late May, but definitely before Memorial Day. I want to hit the summer traffic. It’s going to be a great beach (or mountain) read.

Meanwhile, all of the digital design work is done, including the ebook cover, the bookmark and the banner (see above). All that remains is the print cover, for which the designers need the completed MS so they can determine how wide the spine should be.

So, we are rockin’ and rollin’.

Don’t Forget …

The Mark of the Spider, book 1 of the Black Orchid Chronicles, is still available in digital and print editions. You don’t have to read The Mark to enjoy Beware the Spider, but it won’t hurt either.

And you probably already know how important reviews are to authors.

If you read the book and liked it, jot a review. It’s not like doing a book review for homework in high school. Just say that you liked it and maybe why or how excited you are to see the next installment of the Black Orchid Chronicles.

Thank you. But most of all, enjoy.

The Mark of the Spider, Book 1 of the Black Orchid Chronicles, is available in digital and trade paperback (5.5 x 8.5″, 334 pp.) formats at these fine booksellers.

Enjoy it today; review it tomorrow.

Cover Design Winner for Beware the Spider

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Thank you to everyone who shared their opinion of the cover design concepts for my forthcoming thriller, Beware the Spider: A Black Orchid Chronicle.Beware the SpiderB

By a two-to-one margin, people preferred Concept B / Tracks.

That design will grace the paperback and digital covers, the Web site and Facebook banners, bookmarks and other marketing materials.

It is more than a worthy successor to The Mark of the Spider and keeps the bar high for book 3 in the Black Orchid Chronicles, tentatively entitled Spider’s Blood and is scheduled for release in 2020.

Thanks to the crew of Damonza.com, who produce such great designs.

Book Status

I have all the feedback from beta readers, and over the next week or two I will tweak the manuscript to address their comments and concerns. (Thank you, beta readers.)

I’ve promised my editor that she’ll have four weeks to go over the book with a fine-toothed comb and weed out my errors.

After that, it will go back to Damonza.com for internal design and formatting and then out to readers.