Thursday, May 5, 2011

PLAY DEAD GETS A MAKEOVER

What do you think of this cover?




I spent a week trying to find the perfect image, but everything I came up with missed the mark. Nothing really evoked the feel of the book, which is decidedly dark Gothic, but with a tiny bit of camp thrown in.

Finally found this image, which I sent to the great Robin Ludwig, who worked her font magic. I also had the book professionally formatted, and it can now be found at Barnes&Noble as well as Amazon. The iBook will be next.

I chose Play Dead for this makeover because it outsells all of my other titles, and I wanted readers to have a more satisfying reading experience. I also think Play Dead has held up better than most of my Frasier titles. Why? In my opinion, it's because it didn't adhere to the expectations of the police procedural. This can be a tough sell on release day, but in the end I think writing outside the lines has given Play Dead a longer life because it doesn't feel dated and it doesn't feel like a plot you've read a million times.

5 comments:

  1. I really enjoyed this book when it first came out and I love the new cover! Off to get a copy for my nook. :)

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  2. you will be my first nook sale! if there's anything big wrong with the formatting, please let me know! i don't have a nook. or a kindle. or an iPad. heh. one of these days...

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  3. I like it. Glad to see this book's getting a second life. It's one of my favorites.

    How did you find the image? Was it a creative commons image, licensed from a photographer or did you have it done on commission?

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  4. Stephen, I purchased it from a royalty-free image site. You have to wade through a ton of images, but it was worth it in the end. And it wasn't that expensive. I think the image was 10 bucks.

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  5. I think it works. The eyes stick with you.

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