Contemporary Romance Author
I’ve been debating on whether I should change the cover for Trance.
I’ve been experimenting with both the new and old over the past month to see if it had any impact on sales (it didn’t) so now it’s down to which one I personally prefer. I just don’t know.
What do you think. Should I change the cover?
Old Cover
New (Maybe) Cover
New or Old. Which one?
It’s finished. Phew.
For those that have been waiting on the last Feathered book, A Feathered Child is now live at Amazon. I haven’t done the print version yet, but that will be coming soon too.
The first thing you might noticed however is that the cover doesn’t look like the original two books. Oh wait. It does now – because all of the trilogy have had a facelift.
Here they are:
I gave my designer the mockups I’d done and he recreated them with the purchased images and added the colour. At first I wasn’t sure if I wanted colour, but then looking at them altogether, I can see they really draw the eye, which I hope helps more people find them.
Anyway, you’re probably wondering what is A Feathered Child about?
Well, as you can guess from the cover and title, Ruby’s about to give birth (which she does so about 1/3 into the book).
It explores her and Zan’s fears about having a child. Not only what it means for their relationship, but how the world will react. Understandably, Ruby is scared that someone might want to take it from her, given what’s she’s already been through. Zan thinks she’s overreacting, and this creates a wedge between them.
I really wanted to grow Ruby and Zan’s relationship and bring them closer together (after all, they’ve been through a lot together), so this book is much more about their internal struggles (although there are plenty of external problems happening too).
I think it was inevitable they reach this point.
The first book was about external forces keeping them apart (Governor), the second about them learning to deal with each other and adapt to each other’s worlds, but this third really needed for both of them to come together as a whole. It was always clear that they loved and cared for each other (as well as have sizzling chemistry together), but up until now, they still acted like seperate units. This book is about them learning to become a team.
I hope you like it.
Tabitha 🙂
As Feathered 3 comes to completion a few weeks later (or months if you want to go by my original schedule) than I predicted, I’ve begun to re-evaluate my deadlines. I have to face the facts that I’m not as fast a writer as many other successful romance writers.
I envy those that can put out a book a month, or even in two months. If I was writing shorter, then I could definitely do that, but now that I’ve made the switch to novels (and not looking back), I can’t keep up the pace. I realistically believe I can put out two or three novels a year, and that’s writing full time, but more than that? It’s not going to happen.
My writing process
My process for writing has evolved over the years. As I become more proficient in writing and crafting, I’ve found that a lot of what I was doing in the beginning of my career, doesn’t work for me anymore. Pantsing, where you make up the story as you go, doesn’t work for me (although I really wish it did as I enjoy writing into the nothingness and seeing what emerges). Stories that I have tried pantsing (such as my two novella’s In His Sails and The Brute) are simply not as good as those where I’ve taken time to think about the plot before hand and craft an outline (The Feathered Lover, Trance).
I’m glad that I’ve discovered this early into my career, because it means that if I follow the writing formula of outlining and knowing what I’m going to write before I write it (even if it strays sometimes), my work is going to better.
Not all writers are the same (thank goodness! originality rocks!), so I’m not saying that those that ‘pants’ their novels are not as good as those writers who outline. That would be silly. All I mean is, writers are different. We use different methods to find the story, different ways to bring our characters to life. It’s part of our ‘voice’ as a writer. There is no ‘right’ way to write. There is only your way, which you’ll discover, adapt and change up a million times probably before something fits.
I sometimes wonder if I should go back and fix up Brute and Sails. My plans for the future is to use them as loss leaders for novels that will use the same characters, so maybe I’ll leave them as is. It’s a time factor. Should I fix them up, or spend my time writing new works? It’s hard to say which will be better. I’m inclined to leave them as is and get on with the millions of other stories that are bouncing around my head.
What’s the next novel going to be about?
Which brings me to let you in on what I’m writing next. It’ll be a novel based on Beauty and the Beast. I’m using the jerk guy from The Brute novel as the male lead (with a new heroine). I think it’ll be super fun to try and turn a complete asshole into the love interest. I really like the idea of having him change by the end (isn’t that what all good stories are about – change?). I’ve been catching up reading the original Beauty and the Beast novel by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve (not the Disney version – LOL).
I know it’s been adapted many, many times by romance and erotica writers. But I want to do my own version, I’m itching too. My fingers want to get started right now (although I need to beat-it-out (outline it) first). And I have a rule that I can’t start something new until the current project is finished and published.
But I so so so baaaaadly want to write it.
I estimate (ha!) that it’ll be published around August/September. We’ll see. 😉
Until then, enjoy Feathered 3 (The Feathered Child) which comes out mid-May. I’m tying up a few loose ends and then sending it to the editor on Monday. I’ve briefed the cover designer on the new cover direction and can’t wait for the trilogy to be completed. I hope you like it.
Happy reading.
Tabitha. xx
As Feathered #3 gets closer to completion (2/3 done) I’ve started to think more and more about covers. Normally about now I’d be advising my cover designer to start work on the cover for the third book and give him a brief on the design, however I’m seriously contemplating going in a new direction.
I’m torn.
While I love the simplicity and professionalism of the current covers, I’m not sure it’s clearly conveying genre. When I head over to Amazon and look in the Paranormal Romance section, the predominant type of cover is those with people on them. Sure, there are covers with have symbols or one element (Fifty Shades, Sylvia Day’s covers, etc) but I’m not in the same league as those authors, so I may need to go bang on with what the audience will see.
Okay, so here’s where my head is.
The current covers look like this (without the third since it hasn’t been created yet):
Lovely, right? I think so too.
But here’s what I think I need to do (keep in mind that these are very rough mock-ups, still have the stock watermarks on them, text etc is not properly laid out, and the images are badly photoshopped/pixellated, and they have green ticks on them). If I decide to go this direction, then I’d buy the images and clean them up to look better, of course.
The professional covers look better: more, well, professional. But the mock up’s I’ve done convey genre well and you can tell immediately what the book is about.
I still don’t know which way to go. Like I said, I’m torn.
I guess I’ll have to make a decision soon, though. This book is nearing completion and I’ll be sending it to the editor in two weeks.
Dilemma, dilemma.
Tabs xx
P.S. If you have an opinion on the cover, I’d love to hear your thoughts below.
I’ve had a few emails lately, asking where A Feathered Child, the third book in the Feathered trilogy, is.
I know, I know. I had planned on having it out last month. It was bolded on my production calendar and kept mocking me, telling me that I had to get started on it. I even put the date November 2013 (which we’ve passed) in the back of Feathered Bliss.
But I missed it.
I won’t give you excuses, but I will tell you that it’s my number one priority for 2014. I hate having unfinished projects. I’m not going to give a date yet, but it should be within the first quarter. If I start writing in January, then I’ll give myself three months for writing, editing, cover design and final production. It might get out earlier than that though if the story starts flowing as well on paper as it does in my head. We’ll see.
Other plans for 2014 include a second and third book (novella length) for The Brute (making it a trilogy as well), and a standalone novel called Sublime (which I’m actually about a quarter into already).
After that, I have a hundred thousand ideas, and will need to make a decision on which one to start next.
All in all, it should be a very busy (and exciting) 2014!
Until then, take care and be loved,
Tabs xx
I’ve just uploaded my latest novel, Trance, to Amazon and other retailers. It’s gone live on Amazon but the others will be coming over the next few weeks.
And there’s the cover over there >>
I struggled a bit with the cover. I had it done professionally, but the model was naked, and with Amazon’s strict cover policy I was worried the nudity would get it filtered. So I put a corset on the model. I think it looks okay and it suits the story really well, although I’m not sure it screams romance. For now I’ll leave it though.
It’s about Scarlett. She’s a magician’s assistant to the famous magician Thomas Tinks (her grandfather). But her grandfather is retiring and she has to decide what to do with her life.
She meets Jason Green – sexy charming hypnotist. His career is taking off and Scarlett doesn’t understand why when he’s ‘just‘ a hypnotist. She’s also struggling to control her feelings for him. On one hand she’s super attracted to him, but on the other, she’s built up walls from being hurt in the past so keeps pushing him away.
When they are thrown together she needs to make a decision on what is more important – her career or her heart.
Oh, and there’s kissing, and (ahem) sex and stuff.
Other stuff …
I love it. I seriously think it’s the best novel I’ve written so far. So much that I’m nervous to start another one for fear I won’t be able to make it as good as this one. (But that could be me being a neurotic writer 😉 )
I will be writing another novel though. Next month in fact. I’m doing Nanawrimo again (that’s where you write a novel in a month). No idea what my novel will be about I’m going to just see what happens.
Anyway, if Trance sounds like something you’d enjoy, head over and pick yourself up a copy.
Happy reading!
Tabs xx