Well here it is, the new cover for Darkhouse!
My thoughts:
Isn’t it pretty? Pretty and spooky and creepy and a whole bunch of things. Like PURPLE!
Why I did it:
Well, though I liked the original cover a lot, it didn’t convey the youth and freshness (and sometimes, silliness) in the novel. I wanted something that would say “Hey, look at this book it’s all sparkly and fun but I’m kind of scared and intrigued. Must pick it up!” I’ve been getting a lot of compliments on it, so I know I’m on the right track.
Darkhouse also got edited. Yes, I edited it before — as did a few beta readers — but I’m a shitty editor (I can see most of you nodding your head) and my GOODNESS is it tough to edit your work! But Dead Sky Morning and Lying Season were both edited professionally by Robert Helle and I think he did a great job, so I decided to give Darkhouse a lil makeover (Red Fox is next).
Self-pubbed books get a bad rap, mainly because many writers don’t bother with an editor (or they can’t tell a story, which is another issue for another time) but I really didn’t want to add to that with Darkhouse. I wanted something to be proud of, inside and out. It’s a tough, cruel world out there and I needed every chance to stand out.
Sure, Darkhouse is not for everyone. Some readers will be irked by her voice, her way of looking at things. Perry Palomino is who she is and she’s unapologetic about it. But I didn’t want to give readers a headache with bad editing. I mean, it’s your money and it’s your time and I wanedt to do my hardest not to waste it.
So a big, BIG thank you to everyone who has already read Darkhouse and — gasp — liked it enough to read Red Fox and the rest of the series. I get a lot of feedback from fans here and on my Facebook page (see sidebar) and it means a lot to me that you’ve weathered through my debut novel, continued on with the series, and have gone on to become big fans. Thank you for taking a chance on me, Perry and Dex. Seriously, I really appreciate it.
How I did it:
The cover design process is SO much fun! Well, for me, not for my graphic artist Bret Taylor.
Me: Use this lighthouse stock photo! Add in Perry! Make her look more organic. How about we add stars! Now I want lightening around the name! And clouds! And nebulas! I want more stars on the bottom…she’s in a place in neither time nor space! Now I want eyes on the cover, Dex’s eyes, really faint! Now I see eyes everywhere, scary. Oooh that’s pretty! Can we jazz up the spine? Let’s put stars on it!! More stars! ALL THE STARS IN THE WORLD.
Yeah, it goes something like that. The man has the patience of a saint!
When it’s available:
The new version of Darkhouse should be available on Amazon and other usual retailers next week. I’ll let you know. Meanwhile, the Kindle version is ready to go!
What else?
ON DEMON WINGS cover will be revealed on March 14th at the following blogs:
Seeing Night Reviews
Unputdownable Books
Attack the Stacks
Hackaroos reviews
Tales of an Inner Book Fanatic
Pawing Through Books
There might be an ARC giveaway for On Demon Wings at a few of them too 
I am also super, duper excited about this one. And yes, the manuscript is coming along. Scary stuff here people, scary stuff.