Perhaps this is it… thank you all for your numerous comments and for your encouragement. I really appreciate it.

This is the latest version of the cover:

I realize there is no way that I am going to please everybody. But this is probably as close as I can get to considering all of the best suggestions I received. Let me know if this is yet another step above the last version of this cover. Did the tweaks work? (Items changed: Font, coloring on font, edges of font, leading characters emphasized, sword position adjusted slightly, drop shadows added to top of page items (shadow to left and up), drop shadow added to author name (shadow to right and down), drop shadow added to sword for depth (I love the fact that the drop shadow on the sword is solid for the hilt, and then somewhat clear for the blade and pommel crystal).

Let me know what you think.

This is the result of consulting with some artists.  Yes, I did the entire thing on my own. I think this one is getting very close to being a usable cover! But that is just my opinion… what do YOU think? Please let me know in the comments. You may compare it to the previous two blog posts if you wish.

Thanks for taking the time to look.  Let me know what you think!

I had fairly mixed reviews on the last set of book covers. I think I know why.

Therefore, I have attempted again…

Does THIS one change your opinion any? Is it better? FAR better? Or does it still stink?  Let me know in the comments….

And for those of you who are wondering where I got a picture of a crystal sword… have you seen the movie Inception yet? I am learning to be an architect.

Thank you for your comments!

I have heard it said many times that readers DO judge a book by its cover. The artwork needs to catch their eye, the text needs to be sharp and clean, and small versions of the cover need to be more than an incoherent blob.

I am looking for your input here. There is a poll in the sidebar of my blog. Please take a look at the candidate pictures below, and vote!

One quick note… the artwork and pictures are all mine, with the exception of the wheat field in the third cover. I really like the picture, but would have to purchase it if I choose to use it. So ignore the watermark and funny black border, if you don’t mind. Those will be gone when and if I use the picture. I look forward to your thoughts! If you wish to leave a comment in addition to voting, please do.

(note: These are also looking like the titles of the books, so I hope you like them!)

Don’t forget to vote…

Kerry Blair, a friend and fellow author reviewed my book. She claims it’s not a review, but I’ll still take it as such. I had not expected her to do any kind of review, short or long . . . I had simply sent her a copy of the book as a gift for her wonderful kindness to me when I was first starting out on this journey of being a published author.

Her words today left me both speechless and immensely grateful for the person that she is. Her blog post lifted my spirits . . . and after the last couple of months, which have been difficult for me, I really needed it.

In fact, THIS IS WHY I WRITE.

My sincere thanks to you, Kerry! Here is a link to the review:

http://sixldswriters.blogspot.com/2010/07/so-have-you-been-to-gan.html

I hope you like it as much as I did. Also, as you can see, I have recovered from my speechlessness.

There were two great reviews of The Thorn posted on blogs today. I would like to share them.

One came from a twitter friend @duane_scott. He is a co-founder of “The Authentic Blogger”, a popular group of bloggers on Facebook. If you have a blog you would like to share with the group, they are open to new members. Contact either Duane or Dawn if you are interested.

I have been greatly impressed with Duane ever since I started reading his blog sometime last year. He is truly authentic, his blog full of introspection and uplifting thoughts, inspiring readers to develop a relationship with God. I highly recommend you follow his very well written blog. You can read his review of The Thorn here.

The other review came from fellow Valor Publishing author Andrea Pearson, author of the soon to be released YA Fantasy book, The Key of Kilenya. She is a hoot to talk to on twitter, so you might want to check out her profile and follow her: @andreapearson2. You can read her review of The Thorn, here. If you would like to know a little bit more about Andrea, I recently did an interview with her.

Have a great weekend!

During the month of April, my book The Thorn went on a virtual book tour. After a month full of reviews, thirty of them to be exact, I am pleased to report that the book received mostly complimentary reviews. I learned a lot about my writing and about books in general by reading them. I come away from this experience with the following insights:

1. There is no such thing as a fiction book written for everybody. Quite a few of the bloggers took advantage of posting their reviews on Amazon or Goodreads. I had some 5-star ratings, but I also had some 1-star ratings. As far as I can tell, Romance readers (or those who prefer a more character driven story where the setting doesn’t matter much) did not like the book as well as those who prefer Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Speculative works. I think my characters do drive the story along, but not as much as some other genres.

2. Publicized genre has a great deal to do with reader expectations. I had a few reviews where certain elements of the story were judged against Fantasy, or to be more specific by sub-genre, Epic Fantasy. The genre “Speculative Fiction” still seems to be a little misunderstood in the market. Here is why I consider my book to be Religious Speculative Fiction: An underlying religious theme is present, but not overwhelming. Although similar to Fantasy in some respects, it has no myth and no magic. Although similar to Sci-Fi in some respects because the story takes place on another planet with two suns and three moons, it does not have the technology or futuristic setting of most Science Fiction. My conclusion: I will have to do a better job in the future making sure that my readers understand where The Thorn lies as far as genre classification.

3. The cover of a book also has a lot to do with those first impressions and genre expectations. Although I was pleased with the book cover when I first saw it, and I still think the cover will do well for attracting a YA audience, it may not actually fit the genre Religious Speculative Fiction very well. Some readers hated the cover. Too many of the readers expected the book to be YA Fantasy because of the scene pictured. And the book isn’t Fantasy. Even the glow-stones in the book have a scientific explanation. False expectations adversely affect the reading experience.

4. The book may end up appealing more to guys than to girls. I was pleasantly surprised that so many women did like the book. Some of them raved about it. But each of my current 1-star ratings came from a female reader. It may be too early to tell if my impression here is merely an over-generalization on my part.

5. The Chronicles of Gan series is only going to get better. Although I didn’t agree with every point made by the less-favorable reviews, I do plan on making one significant improvement: Heaven’s Garden (book two) is going to have more character development. There were so many characters introduced in book one that it was hard for some readers to identify with them. And some readers didn’t like the fact that there were so many POVs in The Thorn. If I haven’t missed counting one, there are ten characters used for point-of-view. I counted them all (even the first soldier who dies and is only on the scene for a couple of paragraphs). AH! The introductory page! Make that eleven. Dear POV punished reader: I promise to at least cut that down to half. Maybe even to just four.

In conclusion, I want to thank every single reader who took the time to read the book and post a review. Your insights were most helpful. If you haven’t put your rating out on Amazon or Goodreads, please be sure to do that!

I also wanted to mention that I’ve been collecting snippets of my favorite reviews all month long, and now I would like to share them. Please take a moment and visit my “Reviews” page by clicking on the menu bar of my website, or by going here: REVIEWS

Don’t forget to come back here and let me know what you think!

Today begins the month long Virtual Book Tour of my book, The Thorn.

Stop on over at David J. West’s blog, Nephite Blood, Spartan Heart for today’s review.

I am VERY pleased with what he had to say. Go check it out!

For those of you who haven’t heard, David has his own book, “Heroes of the Fallen” coming out within days. I will be doing a review here later, so stay tuned!

I am quite excited for the next few weeks… my book goes on a “Virtual Book Tour”, and will be reviewed by a whole bunch of very cool bloggers. I will be posting short comments here with a link to the review on the reviewer’s blog.

Stick around! This month will be BUSY. But fun!

See you at the LDS Storymakers Conference! (for info, click on the graphical link in my sidebar).

Oh… one more thing.  A gigantic THANK YOU, to all of you authors who don’t write books full of profanity and explicit scenes. I bought a book last week on a recommendation from an employee at a book store. I read less than 30 pages. I regretted my purchase. Then this week I took it back, and I traded it in for a book I know I can trust: Fablehaven 5. Brandon Mull, you are one of my heroes!

Check out his new book!

Fablehaven, Book 5:Keys to the Demon Prison