I’ll admit it. I didn’t get much writing done this weekend–only about 800 words on the WIP. I did get some studying in, a fangirl hour, and more studying as a result of being a fangirl. Always a good thing!
First the fangirl: I went to the start of Maggie Stiefvater’s book tour for Blue Lily, Lily Blue at One More Page, an independent book store in Arlington, VA.
I got signatures.
She drew a horse in teen-neighbor-girl’s Scorpio Races.
I happily bought the book and the first because I had borrowed it and these booksellers had thought to order some in hardback. (Support them, they were not only smart, but very nice!) That prompted a study, because before the signing, I had attended a self-pub class on uploading a novel and the conversation had turned to covers.
I will have a series and if a planning-to-be-published author is researching covers, this credit becomes very important.
If you are unknown, the cover is the first way to attract readers. Covers should be similar, but different. Maggie’s series covers do this.
Same font, same location for the elements, but different colors.
Even the spines. (They look very nice on my bookshelf!) And if you didn’t pick up on the look, there is a symbol of intersecting lines as a background behind the titles which are now identified as being in The Raven Cycle.
This cohesiveness was true of the original Shiver series covers, which I have always liked. (And that spot of creepy blood? Poignant, after you’ve read them.)
It even follows through to the back of the books where the back cover copy is blocked with short bold descriptors the same way on each.
An important note popped out when I realized this wording was at the top of The Raven Cycle books.
Bestselling author of ‘Shiver‘. Hmm, how many readers remember this series was called the ‘Wolves of Mercy Falls’? Did that not stick? I know this, but I think of them and talk about them as the Shiver books. The first book of The Raven Cycle is called The Raven Boys. Ah, now readers won’t forget the name of the series.
I may have some more thinking to do. I’ve been playing with naming my series ‘Threads of Magic’. But because I know there will be more books set in the same world, I also want that world name to appear: The Blighted Basin Books. Searching the internet for these terms, I find Threads of Magic and Magic Threads all over due to video game elements. But Blighted Basin? Uh, no. My crit partners all commented on the name in some way, so I know it’s unusual. Because I started using it blogging with my WIPs, the search engines go to me and this blog. Yay! OK, that means it’s a good name to keep. But the titles all have something to do with threads…of magic…yeah, don’t want to give that away.
Does this matter? Is it easier for readers to remember the first title as the name of the series?
Clearly, more thinking must be done, but not now…got a book to write! And perhaps a signature to perfect; Maggie’s is quite nice.
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