Friday, June 1, 2012

Making a Great Thing Better

One thing I thought I got right the first time around, was my cover--with the exception of the spine. Oh, the spine. LAME doesn't even begin to describe it. 

But, you know. My cover was "listed" on Goodreads for having an awesome cover. Fans raved about it--including this video review!

All of this is fabulous . . . except I knew. I knew it wasn't perfect. I knew there were things that could have been better. 

And you know what? As an indie author, I am not stuck with my out-of-the-gate offering. I am free to change it up, switch it up and do whatever it takes to help my book be awesome.

I designed my original cover myself, with the help of Fanye L.O.'s brilliant photo manipulation artwork. Fanye's work is fantastic, mine, however, was not. So I enlisted the help of Susan's cover designer, Dale Pease. I was also able to incorportate some reviews into the cover. I almost wish I could have a couple different covers that I could rotate through to include all the great endorsements. (I promise that's not my pride talking--that's gratitude!)

Behold my new and improved cover for BECOME! (Thank you Dale! Thank you Susan!) And stay tuned . . . DESOLATION (book two in the Desolation series) is coming soon!


This is just one of the reasons why I love being an indie author. Can you limit to just one thing? If you can--tell me!



Ali Cross is the sensei of the writer's dojo where she holds a black belt in awesome. She lives in Utah with her kickin' husband, two sparring sons, one ninja cat, two sumo dogs and four zen turtles.

She's the author the young adult urban fantasy novel BECOME, and a member of the Author's IncognitoExecutive Committee.
Blog Facebook Twitter 

13 comments:

  1. The good thing about being the publisher is that you can 'test' your covers and change them. Publishers do it all the time. Love both though.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Looks awesome! But I loved the first cover too. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. That font for the title is particularly awesome. I love how the color fades.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love this book cover no matter what :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. LOVE IT!!! Can't wait to read Desolation. Hurry up, already. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. love it! the new title really "pops"!

    ReplyDelete
  7. You did a great job. Covers are so important and yours has tension and intrigue and great balance. I love it.
    Regina

    ReplyDelete
  8. LM ~ Ha! You know, I never considered "testing" covers. That's a great idea.

    Aw, thanks Laura. ((hugs))

    Thanks Matthew! It looks especially awesome on the print copy. :)

    C.K. ~ Oh, it's coming your way shortly, my friend!

    Thanks Jessie! I loved the old title, but it looked a bit fuzzy. I like how crisp it is now. :)

    Aw, thank you Regina!


    Thank you Magan! :D

    ReplyDelete
  9. Love that cover! I bet it will look even better in person!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Ali, it's great! The purple is so much more popp-y, and the spine looks great! :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Leslie ~ It's really great in person! I like it so much better in person now, I feel bad for the ones who got the original. :P

    Thanks Jemi!

    Thanks Elana!

    ReplyDelete
  12. This is an awesome cover. Gotta love Ali. She's such an inspiration to all us indi authors.

    ReplyDelete