Book Cover Illustrations

Here’s the finished book cover illustration and layout for R.S. Guthrie’s novel Black Beast. This project allowed the creation of another “contrasts” illustration involving a priest (different novels, but both central characters are Roman Catholic priests). In this case the evil is pretty apparent, and obviously provides the main contrast to the priest who’s unaware […]

Today’s project was finalizing the artwork for John Chadwell’s Hunt of the Sea Wolves which will go into print first as a Kindle title and from there… Well, the sky’s the limit because Diverse Talent Group is currently soliciting producers. John Chadwell has written hundreds of articles for magazines and newspapers, is a successful script […]

Got an interesting email from self-publishing author John Backus about his new novel. The book has been meeting with amazing success. I find John’s experience interesting because it paints a picture of what I think the future of publishing is soon likely to be: Authors putting their own stories into print, then shepherding them to […]

Michael A. Stackpole looks at the news that Amazon.com sold more ebooks than print last year — and why that may mean that the golden age of self publishing is finally here. Check it out: Amazon Sells More Ebooks Than Paperbacks. =============================

I love the unexpected that is part of freelancing. I never know what the next illustration job might entail. Science fiction, religion, fantasy, mystery… The subject matter varies and keeps things from ever being boring. This weekend, I received the print copy of the Jan/Feb. 2011 issue of the Lamp Lighter magazine (published by Lion […]

Things are changing rapidly in the publishing field, especially when it comes to ebooks. Unexpected Ebook Events of the Past 18 Months. A PR release from Arbor Books that undoubtedly is a bit slanted, but nevertheless has some interesting information in it: Six Reasons the Anti-Self-Publishing Movement Is Dead How will the title of your […]

A couple of articles for those wanting to build their own books… A nice how-to article that gives the basics of eBook publishing: Publishing an Ebook. Everything You Need to Know to Design a Book’s Interior in 5 Simple Rules is a concise look at what the essentials for creating an excellent text layout for […]

This is the preliminary cover illustration I’ve created for Dale Allan’s upcoming mystery novel Lead Me Not Into Temptation. We tried to capture the conflict in one of the key scenes in the book, in which a priest is faced with the moral dilemma of whether to take matters into his own hands, and perhaps […]

There’s a lot of confusion as to what a small publisher is and what constitutes self publishing. Part of the confusion results because many of these terms are used incorrectly (and I am guilty of this myself sometimes). But part of the problem is that publishing itself is in a flux with technology offering new […]

So you’ve written your great American novel. And despite its merits, you can’t get it edged past the glut of manuscripts now flooding every major publishing house. You’re convinced your book has merit. You decide to publish. Now what? First you need to understand that you face an uphill battle when it comes to marketing […]