One last look behind the writing of “Voice of the Victim”
Let’s peek behind the scenes again , shall we?
In the previous blog entry, I described everything that transpired before I submitted the final draft of my document to my publisher. Let’s see what happened next.
I sent the newest version of my manuscript to my publisher on April 26, 2023, after I’d mistakenly sent him an older version (Oops!). Despite the confusion, we agreed on a title and back cover blurb and I requested some praise sentences from my beta readers. In May we talked about book promotion options and I contacted a couple people about that. I received praises throughout May and early June and shared them with my publisher to include in the book or on the back cover.
I got tied up with some real life issues at this point and left everything in the hands of my fantastic publisher. By the end of May, I had taken care of the real life interruptions and touched base with the fantastic cover designer who created the cover for the first book in the series, Eyes of the Beholder. Her name is Maria Novillo Saravia, and she runs BeauteBooks.
I first made contact with her about this book on May 26, 2023, and by June 2, 2023, she had examples for my publisher and I to look at and sent them side-by side with the first cover. Although the four examples she sent were not exactly what we wanted, they gave us something to work from, and we communicated back and forth by eMail through the first week of June. By June 5, 2023 she sent three more examples for us to review that were so close to the final cover that I could tell her the features I preferred from each cover and she was able to send me a detailed graphic describing what she planned to do. I include that to the right followed by the final cover next to the cover for the previous book in the series. Both my publisher and I were overjoyed with the final draft of the front cover, which she sent by eMail on June, 7.
At this point we worked with her on the back cover and had a finished product from her on June 8, 2023. Less than two weeks from initial request to finished product is pretty amazing. Even more so when you take into account that Maria lives and works in South America.
I received a finished proof of the paperback, complete with covers from my publisher on June 22, 2023 and poured over every page checking formatting, content, and, of course finding a dozen typos that I had missed to this point. I sent my corrections to my publisher on June 25 and have been in conversations with him about the changes since. I will receive a revised proof from him shortly.
In the meantime, my publisher has put the eBook and paperback up on Amazon. The eBook is available for pre-order on line and the paperback is visible as well. Click Here
Once I approve the revised proof I will let you know so you can order the paperback and be sure of getting the final version.
Rick
Detailed graphic showing what designer would use from each potential cover.
Front covers of first two books in Maui Mysteries series.
About the pictures:
Top Picture: Voice of the Victim cover in progress
Bottom picture: Front covers of Eyes of the Beholder and Voice of the Victim