Posts Tagged ‘My Books’

13
Aug

Book Cover Final

   Posted by: DaronFraley    in My Books

Here it is folks. This is the version I will be using.

The change is minor, but it fixes a perspective problem on the hilt-guard. I redesigned it. And did a more realistic fill on the surface. Other than that, it is the same. Oh, and the end cap where the second crystal snaps in also got the same fill.

(Interesting… a crystal sword. Glows blue. Has a short, removable crystal on the end. Makes you wonder about the story, doesn’t it? You want to read it… I know you do.)

But now I am tired of tweaking it. I think this one is going to be it.


































Thanks for all of your previous comments! Stay tuned for more exciting announcements soon.  Hint: Do you own an e-reader?

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11
Aug

Book Cover Tweaking 101

   Posted by: DaronFraley    in My Books

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.

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6
Aug

Book Cover Reloaded

   Posted by: DaronFraley    in My Books, My Writing Life

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!

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25
Jul

Update – Book Covers

   Posted by: DaronFraley    in My Books

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!

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20
Jul

What If These Were My Book Covers?

   Posted by: DaronFraley    in My Books

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…

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6
Apr

Book Contest: Help Me Tweet It Up!

   Posted by: DaronFraley    in Miscellany

Tweeted blog contests are a double edged sword. If there is a contest out on a blog site, and those entries can be kept at a minimum, then those who have entered the contest obviously have a better chance of winning the prize. So why would anybody want to promote the contest with twitter? Isn’t it better to enter the contest, and then keep it secret? Makes sense to me.

I want to do an experiment… I have a contest going on over at Goodreads. It is for a free copy of my book (a giveaway), and so far there are 432 entries to win a single copy. I want that number to hit 2000. In fact, I would like it to go even higher than that. There are only 3 days and 13 hours left to enter the giveaway.

This blog contest is simple. Whoever tweets the most between now and the close of the Goodreads Givaway, WINS a signed copy of my book. See? If you tweet it up, AND join the giveaway, you actually have TWO chances to win a copy, and the chance you earn by tweeting will probably be much better odds than the giveaway.

I want you to help me tweet it up. Here is a sample tweet, with a shortened URL to this post:

Contest for free signed copy of book by @DaronFraley: http://bit.ly/bBDnAR #thethorn #giveaway #contest

You can say whatever you want in your tweet. But you must include a link to THIS BLOG POST so that folks can find the link for the goodreads giveaway, AND your tweet MUST include both my ID @DaronFraley and the hashtag #thethorn

This is how I will track how many tweets I see. If I don’t see it as a reply with #thethorn, it won’t count. And if it doesn’t have a link back to this blog post, it won’t count either.

Make me proud. Get creative. Be twitterific.

Now, go add yourself to the giveaway at Goodreads:  http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/3214-the-thorn

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1
Apr

David J. West’s Book Review of The Thorn

   Posted by: DaronFraley    in My Books

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!

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31
Mar

Virtual Book Tour starts TOMORROW

   Posted by: DaronFraley    in Miscellany, My Books

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

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12
Mar

Contest Winner Announcement – B&N Card and Book

   Posted by: DaronFraley    in Miscellany

Contest #1 from my post a few days ago is now complete. Methods of participating in the contest included posting about the contest on personal blogs, becoming a Twitter follower and tweeting about the contest, becoming a fan on Facebook, and following my blog through Networked Blogs. Some folks did them all. Others did a few. According to my records, the winner did three out of four methods.

Consulting random.org……  typing in the MIN and MAX number of entries……..

And the winner of the contest is number 78:  Carol Sue!

Carol, please send me an EMAIL (Daron AT daronfraley DOT com) with your shipping address. I will have the still-hot-off-the-presses book in hand on Tuesday, and should ship out on Wed or Thur of next week.

In order to be fair to all participants, I need to hear back from Carol by the end of next week (3/19/2010), or I will have to draw again for another winner.

Thank you all for your participation!

Please remember, the SECOND contest is still underway until MAY 1st. Refer to the link here, towards the middle of the page: Secret Name Contest

….and spread the word!

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8
Mar

Secret Name and $25 B&N Gift Card Contest

   Posted by: DaronFraley    in My Books

This is really TWO contests.

Contest #1, running until Midnight on Thursday, March 11th:

The Prize: A personalized copy of “The Thorn” book one of “The Chronicles of Gan” by Daron D. Fraley, AND a $25.00 gift card to Barnes & Noble. Winner will be chosen randomly (random.org) and announced on Saturday, March 13th.

TO ENTER CONTEST ONE: Spread the word about THIS post in the following ways:

1. Blogworth 5 entries:  Blog about this contest and link back to it. Then see #5 below.

2. Become a Networked Blogs followerworth 3 entries:  Find the “Networked Blogs Followers” section in my sidebar, and click FOLLOW THIS BLOG (it is after the Virtual Blog Tour section, please scroll down to find it). Then see #5 below.

3. Become a FAN on my Facebook Author Pageworth 3 entries: Daron D. Fraley, Author. Then see #5 below.

4. TWITTERworth one entry for EVERY TWEET: Follow me on Twitter ( @DaronFraley ) then tweet the following text:

Win a B&N Gift Card AND a book by @DaronFraley http://bit.ly/cSBDE5 #thethorn #giveaways #contests #authors #books

To be a valid TWITTER entry, all characters after and including @DaronFraley must be present (i.e. @DaronFraley http://bit.ly/cSBDE5 #thethorn #giveaways #contests #authors #books ). You may change the text before my ID, as long as you stay under 140 characters.

5. For all entry types, please COMMENT HERE, on this post, and tell me that you have done them. I don’t want to miss those entries! BUT, you don’t need to tell me about all of your twitter activity, just tell me your twitter userid so I know who you are. I will see the posts if you followed directions.

UPDATE:  Please be sure to leave me a link to your blog post when you comment! Thanks!

There really isn’t any secret to why I am doing Contest #1. My book release is only 7 days away. I want you to help me spread the word about my book. Simple, eh?

Contest #2, running until Midnight on Friday, April 30th:

The Prize: Be immortalized. Be a character in a book.

This contest was previously announced here: Secret-Name-Contest

My book is now available for pre-orders at the sidebar link to the right. Click on the book cover. By this coming Tuesday, March 16th, the book will be available at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and other major retailers near you. You are going to need the book to participate in this contest. To enter, all you have to do is join my mail-list (also in my sidebar), and give the correct answer to the quiz. If you have already joined the mail list, but didn’t know the answer to the quiz, you are welcome to join again. I will remove the duplicate entries.

Here are the details:

One lucky contest winner will get to collaborate with me, the author, on a character in the second book of my series “The Chronicles of Gan”. Currently, that book is called “Heaven’s Garden”. The winner will be able to help me choose:

1. The description of a new character in “Heaven’s Garden”. The physical description of the character could be similar to the contest winner, if the winner desires.

2. The tribe to which the character belongs. Read “The Thorn” and you will know what the three choices are. Or are there four? ;)

3. Whether the character is a “good guy” or a “bad guy”.

4. The occupation of the character, if any. What will they be? A potter? An astronomer? A miller? A horse-trainer? A soldier? A mother? A gardener? A shipwright? A printer? Help me out here!

5. The name of the character. (Caveat: The name will have to be an Old-Testament or Hebrew name in order to conform to the rest of the series. If your name is a Hebrew name, just count yourself as extra lucky if we can use it.)

6. Other ideas? I am open to suggestions for minor additions to character background, etc.

Just to be clear, I reserve the right to edit and modify whatever name, occupation, description, background, or traits the winner suggests, but if the winner truly gets a feel for the tone and spirit of the book, this could be a really cool opportunity for them. And I will mention their involvement in the acknowledgments! (That way they get to have their REAL name in the book too).

Now for the puzzle…

It is really quite simple. At the front of the book, “The Thorn”, there is an extensive glossary with names of all the characters in the book. Every single character ever mentioned is on the list. With the exception of one. One name is a name the careful reader will not recognize. It is a name of a character who will be in book two, but is never mentioned in “The Thorn”.

Read the book. Take notes. Figure out which name in the glossary is never mentioned. Then come to my website and fill out my mailing list form so you can get my quarterly newsletter. There will be an extra field labeled “Contest Entry Code”. Put the name of the character there when you submit. All correct entries will be tallied, then a random name will be drawn. I will notify the winner by email, and we will begin to create the character!

More of the prize…

In addition to being mentioned in the acknowledgements for book two, the winner will ALSO win a personalized copy of “Heaven’s Garden” when it is released, and their picture with me at a book signing (if the winner is able to attend).

What do you think? Excited?

One last note: Please don’t post the answer to this puzzle online where others can find it, or you will ruin it for everyone. You will also severely limit your own chances of winning the prize, because other folks who have not taken the time to solve the puzzle can then simply use your answer and enter the contest on the mailing list.

Savvy? (I love it when Jack Sparrow says that… since we are talking about Captain Jack, here is one of my favorite quotes from the movies: “Trust me on this. You can mistrust me less than you can mistrust him. Trust me.”)

To make the contest lawyers happy, no purchase is necessary… go to the library if you would rather not purchase the book.

For the next week, you may pre-order the book at a discount here: Valor Publishing Group

The “SECRET NAME” contest will end when I draw for the winner on May 1st, 2010. Happy Hunting!

technorati update: 3Y6B8BDBFKZN

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