How to find cover art for your novel

For my first novel, Iron Magic, I had not the first clue how to find good art. So, I just Googled for Free Fantasy Art, and went looking. I looked at page after page of art, most of it total crap. What wasn't crap didn't look like anything i would want to use. Then I saw it. The perfect picture. I contacted the artist and negotiated a fee. Then I used Paint.net to create the cover.

For my upcoming novel, I went back to the same guy, Justin Nichol, and commissioned a work. This is an all-new work of art, so it'll cost me a bit more. Below is an early sketch he made:

I think this is going to turn out Okay! I like the somewhat angry, determined look in his face, and can't wait to see what it looks like as it progresses. If you are looking for good cover art, leave a note in the comments, and I'll put you in touch with Justin.

A $1000 Publishing Milestone for Iron Magic

My new Fantasy novel, Iron Magic, passed a milestone this week. I posted it on April fifth, and it went public on the next day. Since then it has earned me $1000. That mark was passed the day before yesterday. To say the least, I was pretty thrilled.
When I started this, I had pretty low expectations. Not very many new authors, with an untested book, make much money at all. That it has succeeded this well is far beyond my expectations. Sure, I think it is a great story, or I wouldn't have put it up in public with my own name attached. But there are piles and piles of books, many just as good as mine, that never sell beyond a few copies to family and friends. To everyone who bought it, THANKS!
I am hard at work on my next novel, part one of The Tale Of Jon Handshaker. The first few chapters are available on line, in a crude, unedited form, here.

Iron Magic

It has been a wild month. On April 5th I took my manuscript and loaded it onto Amazon KDP, and it is on sale for the world to buy. Iron Magic, on sale for $3.99.
This is a fun experiment, and so far has gone great. Most indie writers struggle to sell a book or two a week, or a month. Due, I think, to a great cover, and a great first chapter, the book sold three copies the first day, and quickly rose in the rankings.
It was featured the entire first month on Amazon's 'Hot New Books' in the Fantasy and Magic category. It is still ranked in the top one hundred in its category. So far it has sold well over 300 copies, making it equivalent to a nice part-time job as far as the income it generates.
Here is the advertising blurb on Amazon:

     The wind blows from the sea to the mountains, bringing snow and rain in season, creating a paradise so enchanting that the first inhabitants named it 'Eden'. This year Eden was invaded and sacked. The books were burned, and fanatics hunted and killed the few who still studied the old knowledge of magic.
      Maac-Kail, a young sorcerer, flees to the ancient city of Selzburg in search of allies strong enough to aid his people.
      In Selzburg, a new power is rising. A local craft guild has uncovered an ancient book revealing the secrets of dark magic, long lost and nearly forgotten. Maac-Kail hopes to ally with these new sorcerers, though he distrusts the source of their power.
      His plans go awry immediately, when a princess is abducted and circumstantial evidence points to him as the perpetrator. He reveals his magical power during his escape, shocking the sorcerers of Selzburg with his abilities.
      Now a wanted man, Maac-Kail still hopes to turn the sorcerers from enemies into allies against their common enemy. With the help of an abusive girlfriend, a small-time con-man, a street boy and a possibly possessed horse, he has to save the princess to clear his name, and win the sorcerers as allies against their common enemy.

So, how does that read? Not too badly, I don't think. 

The cover art was created by Justin Nichol. If you are an author looking for good cover art, contact me and I can get you in touch with him. 

Three Things Conservatives Don't Understand About Liberals

Conservatives Just Don't Understand

Women and men often seem to talk past each other, neither really understanding the other. In politics, it's the same. Conservatives really don't understand how liberals think. That liberals don't understand conservatives is clear from the things they say and write about them. You get the impression, reading one side or the other, that they have never actually met and conversed with anyone whose opinion differs from their own.

Here are three questions, I, as a conservative, would like answered by honest, thoughtful liberals.

Click the title to read the article on HubPages.

My Novel Eden's Rat

Some news. I found a photographer and a lovely model to do the cover shot for my fantasy novel. Have not decided yet which shot to use, there are several great ones, and the lady is good-looking as all get out.
I am now considering publishing it on line, with Amazon or one of the others. So, time to go in for one, last editing job to cut the crap out of the story, format it, and get it all lined up. Given my current schedule this may take a few months, but the end of the beginning is in view ahead of me.

Algebra and Me

Been busy recently, no writing, no posting, no new chapters of my novel, no nothing. Decided to take a Chemistry class at the local college, but found out that it had been so long since I had had college Chem or Algebra that I needed to test out of Algebra before they would let me take Chem. Took the test and FAILED by one point. Spent the last week studying and passed the test. That's a relief. Now to get back to writing.

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter 48

Click here to read from Chapter One.

Chapter Forty Eight

Soldier Yama

The men and boys were lined up, bow-tips resting gently in the dirt, quivers at their sides, looking down the hill at their targets, sheaves of hay scattered about a hundred yards downslope. He raised his hand high and called the count, "Eyes forward." The men stared downslope, each picking out his target.

"Draw!" Every man, in rough unison with his fellows, withdrew a long arrow from his quiver, nocked it to string, and drew past his ear. They held, straining, waiting for the word.

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter 48

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter 46

The latest chapter, now on line!

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter 46

Red State Blue State

Dr David Brin, an author of power and imagination, as well as being a real live scientist, wrote recently of the dangers we face if a severe solar storm, similar to the Carrington Event, were to strike today. Essentially, civilization as we know it would fall to a mid-nineteenth-century level, at best, and millions would starve, unable to escape the cities when their cars failed and the water was shut off. The danger is real. Click the title to read the whole article.

Red State Blue State

Simple Easy Fishing Techniques That Work

I love fishing, but I don't like to drive far to do it, nor spend piles of money. One time last summer I caught a few dozen fish, using just about the simplest possible tackle and methods. Only a stick, line and bent pin would be cheaper.

Simple Easy Fishing Techniques That Work

Make Good Coffee, No Burnt Taste, Coffee Concentrate

How to make great tasting coffee.

Make Good Coffee, No Burnt Taste, Coffee Concentrate

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter 45

Click here to read from Chapter One.

Chapter Forty Five

Jorjah: The Arming

Black smoke filled the skies. Hammering, loud in the icy air. In the south, the snow was off the land, but here icy drifts, melted and refrozen remained. The Iron Mountain was alive with people, more folk than Jorjah had ever imagined in any one place, more than in the largest town of the south that she had dared to enter in her year-long journey in search of the King.

Spear, sword and gun flowed out of the workshops, made from the accumulated iron stock of hundreds of years of slow and patient mining and smelting. The Eldest had been alive that long, planning, plotting. No one knew how long. No one could remember when the Eldest hadn't been eldest, old when grannies were girls. Jorjah avoided her.

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter 45

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter 44

Here is the beginning of The Tale Of Jon Handshaker.

Chapter Forty Three

Memory, Like A Tiny Crystal

"I've been shot," Jon said, and reached across to touch his wounded arm.

Max nodded.

"I have seen men killed with guns, and wounded," Max said. "In the last war the King finally had to bring out his old weapons. He slaughtered us. But those guns fired many times. This one only fired once, and the King's old guns didn't make clouds of smoke. This was a gun, but something new, not old Mars tech. The gunman fired it then charged with his sword."

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter 44

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter 43

Click here to read from Chapter One. Here is the beginning of The Tale Of Jon Handshaker.

Chapter Forty Three

An Element Of Danger

Shan Shen stared out over the city, barely visible through the heavy haze of wood-smoke. Rebels had burned the factory that produced the clean-burning coal oil, and now the city was reduced to cooking over primitive wood fires, like any farm village.

There was a small element of danger, standing here exposed. There were guns loose in the city, Mother Earth alone knew where they had come from. Shan suspected the petty Blood had emptied out their cellars and attics for family relics, and were using them to stir up trouble against the Kings.

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter 43

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter 42

Click here to read from Chapter One.

Click here to see an index of all chapters.

Chapter Forty Two

The Party

The snow had finally lifted, only a few, lonely drifts behind walls and under evergreens remained to remind them of the bitter cold of past months. They were picnicking in the sun, on the stoop of the small house Jon and Max had chosen to renovate. In a tree nearby a ragged crow stirred, shifted from leg to leg.

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter 42

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter 41

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker, Chapter One

Chapter Forty One

The Bird

It was getting past noon, and Jon decided to be heading back to where he had left Max. He was feeling a little guilty about leaving Max there all alone. The news about the hot springs would be sure to cheer him up. They would move over to the village the next day, if Max was up to the walk. The hard climb seemed to have taken a lot out of him.

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter 41

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter 40

Chapter Thirty Nine

To Take Advantage Of A Drunk

When Jon Handshaker woke on the morning of what was to be the last day of his journey westward, the hairs on his arm were standing up from the chill, his skin roughly goose-fleshed. Jumping up, he began a wild and silly dance around the clearing, throwing his feet high into the air and walking on his hands. He was feeling quite cheerful, and besides, he needed to get his blood warmed up and moving. He was not quite ready to start using a fire yet, although there had not been any recent sign of people in these parts for nearly forty miles, only the grass grown road he was following, and the occasional tumbledown house or barn.

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter 40

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter 39

Chapter Thirty Nine

To Take Advantage Of A Drunk

When Jon Handshaker woke on the morning of what was to be the last day of his journey westward, the hairs on his arm were standing up from the chill, his skin roughly goose-fleshed. Jumping up, he began a wild and silly dance around the clearing, throwing his feet high into the air and walking on his hands. He was feeling quite cheerful, and besides, he needed to get his blood warmed up and moving. He was not quite ready to start using a fire yet, although there had not been any recent sign of people in these parts for nearly forty miles, only the grass grown road he was following, and the occasional tumbledown house or barn.

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter 39

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter 38

A link to all of my fiction on line, and my other articles.

Click here to read from Chapter One.Here is the beginning of The Tale Of Jon Handshaker.

Chapter Thirty Eight

Old Uncle

The Old Uncle woke with a start, shaking and sweating in the dark. The dream had been clear, as all had since that unexpected first, long long before. He lay back and concentrated in a way peculiar to his kind. He wasn’t worried about forgetting this dream, every dream he had ever had was still as clear as a reflection in a good mirror.

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter 38

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter 37

A link to all of my fiction on line, and my other articles.

Click here to read from Chapter One.Here is the beginning of The Tale Of Jon Handshaker.

Chapter Thirty Six

Jorjah's Journey

A year in one place! Jorjah paused in her work as she considered the strangeness of it. Her clan had never spent more than six months in any one camp in her life. It just wasn’t done. It was nearly impossible anyway, as well as being impolite. Good relations with your nearest neighbors, hard enought to maintain at the best of times, would have been impossible if one clan tried to monopolize a prime spot for longer than that. Better to move on, leaving a garden half harvested than to greedily overuse the land. The flocks had to move, or strip the land of green. The land had to have half a year or more to recover before the next clan moved in.

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter 37

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter 36

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker

Here is the beginning of The Tale Of Jon Handshaker.

"You are the Handshaker, are you not?" Max said quietly. "I would not fight you under any circumstances. Certainly not now, after you..." He stopped, though there seemed to be more that he wanted to say

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter 36

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter 35

A Push

"I have a knack for making people angry, " Max said.

Jon flushed again and didn't answer. He didn't trust himself not to say something stupid right at this point. His anger still boiled inside him, but the time for doing anything about it had passed. With his sober mind back in control, he didn't really want to hurt Max anyway, in spite of his outrageous behavior. I'll get back at him some other way. Something to surprise him.

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter 35

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter 34

Click the link to read the newest chapter. Find links to all chapters on that page.

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter 34

Training

Jon had an unpleasant day ahead of him, though he wouldn’t have suspected it when he woke that morning. The sun was bright, but with a sweet breeze blowing not too hot. For a change they had had plenty of good food these last few days. Maybe it was the deer liver that made Max feel strong enough for his new, self appointed task.

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter 33

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter 33

Hand Number Seven Dreams

Dream One:

That night I dreamed. You must understand that as with Humans, we need sleep and dreams, though less because of our design, in order to provide the body time to rebuild, and the mind less fettered opportunity to integrate the experiences of the day into patterned memory.

How To Write A Query, Find A Literary Agent And Get Your Book Published

Learn how to present your manuscript to an agent or publisher.

How To Write A Query, Find A Literary Agent And Get Your Book Published

Eden's Rat

Eden's Rat

The first chapter of my new fantasy novel.

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter 31

Sex, violence and a naked blond girl...Chapter Thirty One is now on line. No, it is not x-rated.
The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter 31

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter 30

Click the link to read:

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter 30

Blood Trail

Jon woke with his stomach clenched from hunger, his body aching from half-healed wounds. The dawn was just a glow through the trees, and the last, brightest stars were peering through clouds. He looked over at Max, still asleep curled up inside Jon’s cloak. The nights were warm, but Max always felt cold. He hardly slept, the pain from his burns kept him awake.

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter 29

Alelu Miami On The Run

Alelu Miami stared down into the black pit at her toes. A knotted rope fashioned from fine silk clothing ran from the door handle, across the floor and down into the darkness, the lower end out of sight even with the lamp lit. Alelu got down on her knees and held the lamp down as far as she could. The lower end of the rope was still out of sight.

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter 29

Why Post Your Fiction On Line?

I have been doing an experiment, posting a new novel on line as a serial. The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Every few days I post a new chapter. To date I have 28 chapters posted. Why? Isn't the book good enough to get published?

I think it is, or, it could become good enough. Most of my publishing efforts right now are concentrated on another novel, and I don't really want to be caught up in the query process hell with two novels. Besides, the novel going on line isn't really ready for that yet. It still needs at least a few more chapters written cold, and the chapters that are done are not in a final order yet. I am even considering eliminating some and seriously revising others. No publisher would pick up a novel in this state from an unknown writer.

So, why is it ready for on line if it isn't good enough for publishing?

It is good enough, it just isn't ready, and won't be without a lot of work. Publishing it on line is forcing me to do the work. I have readers now. Real readers, who e-mail and facebook me, prodding me to get that next chapter up. So I sit down and write, edit, proofread, and post.

Each chapter takes a couple of days from the raw state to good enough to post. I have to choose when to publish, which chapter to place next, which characters to emphasize. All of the decisions I would normally do over the course of months, with advice from test readers and an editor.

There are other worries. Some of this story was written ten years ago. My style was very different then. How much do I adapt the old style to my new? How hard do I push the religious theme? Publishing it on line is forcing me to deal with the story on a day to day basis, at what is for me very high speed. It is like the difference between speed chess and chess. Different skills are in play. If I make a mistake it is a lot harder to go back and correct. My readers will react, and I don't want them to react by leaving!

Discipline. Writing on line is disciplining me to write every day, something I have always been weak at. I have often gone months without writing a word, then sat down and ripped out three convoluted chapters in a day. It has worked for me. But it doesn't get the job done very fast. Since I have this story well on the way towards the finish, and I know where I want to go with it, I should be able to write diligently and get it finished in a few months. With my old writing style that just wouldn't happen. Now, I think it will. I have broken the goal down to one chapter at a time, of a thousand to two thousand words per chapter. I can do that. A chapter in a day, then a few days to let it work in my subconscious, a few days to play around with it, revising. A day to proofread, eliminating most of my stock phrases and the typos. And done. Bite the bullet and publish.

Can I keep it up and publish two chapters a week? I will see. It will probably end up being one per week, when I get to the point of writing the final new material.

I wonder, though, if I am losing something. Certainly any chance of ever getting this book in print with a traditional publisher. I plan to finish this on line effort, then put it all together and self publish, an e-book with Amazon or one of the other e-book publishers. Perhaps I can even make a few dollars off of it. I have already gotten a few bucks from Google AdSense click-throughs. Time will tell.

What I really hope to accomplish is to get my name in front of real readers, who are reading because they want to find out how it ends. That, I am accomplishing, though still not in the numbers I would like (millions). Later, they might just buy some other book with my name on it.