Behind The Cover Artist's Curtain

For a while now, I have been doing a series of posts on the Inside Books We Love blog about what goes into creating cover art (at least for me).  If you have any interest in a glimpse behind the scenes, please feel free to check them out.

The series of posts started with a brief run down of all of the aspects of cover art:
http://bwlauthors.blogspot.com/2012/03/behind-cover-artists-curtain.html

In the second post I addressed the dreaded Cover Art form:
http://bwlauthors.blogspot.com/2012/05/behind-cover-artists-curtain-caf.html

Then I moved on to Image Selection:
http://bwlauthors.blogspot.com/2012/06/behind-cover-images-selection.html

Followed by Cover Elements:
http://bwlauthors.blogspot.com/2012/09/behind-cover-cover-elements.html

Series covers:
http://bwlauthors.blogspot.com/2013/03/behind-cover-series.html

And then today's post - the X-Factor in covers:
http://bwlauthors.blogspot.com/2013/05/behind-cover-artists-curtain-x-factor.html

Next post I am going to look at Author Branding.

Also, I have done a couple other posts on various topics.

Top 5 Website Suggestions:
http://bwlauthors.blogspot.com/2012/03/website-suggestion-top-5.html

What's In A Biography?
http://bwlauthors.blogspot.com/2013/05/whats-in-biography.html

I hope you enjoy my take on a couple of topics, and that you comment with your own suggestions for future posts as well as your thoughts on my posts.

What's In A Biography

A couple days ago, I posted to the Inside Books We Love blog my opinion (as my alter ego Michelle Lee) of a good bio.

Here's the link if anyone is interested in reading it. : )

Here's a brief snippet ...

What's In A Biography

During a conversation at the RT convention, the topic of Biographies came up.  From there it got me to thinking about what makes a good biography (in my opinion anyways).

So I figured I would share my thoughts ... feel free to comment if you agree or disagree with me. : )

BIOGRAPHY DO'ES: 

1. DO write in third person.  I know, it may seem silly to write about yourself that way, but really - it just makes the biography sound better.  Just avoid the royal "we" where possible. : )

So instead of saying "I love to write ______", it should read "Michelle loves to write ________"

2. DO mention interesting things about yourself.  If you have traveled to an exotic place, especially if you found it inspirational, mention it.

To continue reading, visit Inside Books We Love 

RT 2013

With lab finals this week, I was unable to attend the whole RT convention, but I did manage to go up to KC on Friday night and stayed for Saturday.  I really wish I had been able to do the whole week - a lot of the workshops looked like they would be really interesting.

Friday night I had dinner with Jamie Hill and Jude Pittman of Books We Love.  We ate a wonderful steak dinner at Pierpont's, which is in Union Station.  Was real nice to get a chance to sit down and talk shop.  Had a fun slumber-party with the ladies on Friday night at the Sheraton.  Stayed up way too late talking.

Saturday we had a nice breakfast, and then Jude and Jamie headed out while I headed down to the book fair.  Was real nice to meet some of the authors I read.  Instead of taking my books with me, I made up some bookplates that were personalized for each book.  I only made up some for each author - I didn't want to push my luck by asking them to sign one for each and every book.  So I picked a series for each, and that's what I made up.

Among those I went there to see were: Shayla Black, Lauren Dane, Maya Banks, Jaci Burton, Angela Knight, Sylvia Day, Julie Ann Walker, Linnea Sinclair, Lora Leigh, Pamela Palmer, and Karin Tabke.

Was great to meet two of the three ladies who originally got me started in reading romance - Jude Deveraux and Julie Garwood.  Both were so gracious and sweet.

I also got to meet Rachel Kramer Bussell, who has just as big of a personality as I had heard.  It was so exciting to meet her.

After the print book fair, I checked out a fair put on by some Indie Pubbed authors over at the Marriott off of the Plaza.  Got lots of bookmarks and biz cards, and from that plenty of books to check out.

From there, I headed home. Was going to stay and attend a couple of the evening activities, but a friend of mine came into town and I wanted to get home to visit with her.