Friends,

I am looking forward to the week ahead, and am grateful to have yet another opportunity to do my passion: writing. If you find yourself wanting to try something new or you haven’t made time to explore your passions, I encourage you to do so! I have a few developments I’d like to talk about today…

The Faces of the War Collection

I received the final draft of my book cover last week, and I am excited to show it to you when the time comes. It wasn’t exactly how I originally envisioned it, but it’s something different that I ended up liking a lot as the process went forward. I’ll reveal it to you down the road, when the manuscript is much closer to being the finished product.

Inkitt Short Story

There is still time to read and vote for my short story; of course, voting for it if you enjoyed reading it! You can find it on the Inkitt website under the historical fiction contest entitled “Reclaim Time” here. It was a fun story to write, and I hope it’s a great story to read!

Indie Writing Advice

In light of my book cover being completed, I’d like to touch on the misconception that you don’t need to have a professionally designed book cover. In my opinion (and this is a shared opinion by many big names in the industry, like David Gaughran), not giving your book cover the attention it deserves is tantamount to not seeing people buy your book. Even if it’s free, a badly designed cover will turn potential readers away. Think of it this way: your cover is the first view a potential reader gets of your book and the story within it. If the cover doesn’t at least keep their attention for ten seconds, then there’s very little hope.

I’ll compare this to something I experienced when I was studying abroad in Russia. When I was picked up by my host family and taken to their apartment building, I was caught off-guard by their building: it was somewhat run down, the landscaping wasn’t kept well, and the atmosphere just seemed a little “back alley.” However, when we got inside the building and into their flat, it was amazing! The style of their home was welcoming and eclectic, and it was quite a step up from my own home. My point is this: the outside of the building probably wouldn’t appeal to many, but once inside that perception would drastically change. The same can go for books with poorly made covers – the outside might not appeal, but the inside could be amazing.

That’s about it for this week. I thank you for your continued support, and if this is your first time reading my blog then I welcome you! Follow me for project updates and details regarding upcoming books. I look forward to interacting with you!

Until next time,

-Eli