Here's the blurb:
James is skilled, efficient, and deadly, a hired blade
navigating the shifting alliances of a deteriorating Assassin’s Guild. Then he meets Thalia, an alluring but
troubled dancing girl who offers him a way out–if he’ll help her kill a
powerful nobleman. With the Guild
falling apart, it just might be worth the risk. But when you live, breathe, and
love in a world that’s forever flirting with death, the slightest misstep can
be poison.
POISON DANCE takes place about six years before the events of MIDNIGHT THIEF (my novel coming out next year with Disney-Hyperion) and the two works share several characters. Because of its subject matter, POISON DANCE is darker and grittier than MIDNIGHT THIEF, and I personally would classify it as adult fantasy, though some people might still slot it into YA.
I'm hoping to release it in a month or two, and after that, I’ll have lots of observations about my self-publishing experience that I'm looking forward to share. If you have any specific questions, let me know, and I'll do my best to address them.
In the meantime, I would love to have your help choosing a cover. I ran a cover design contest on 99 designs and have narrowed down the entries to six finalists. You can weigh in on your favorite designs using this poll. Also, if you are able to sign your name or some other identifying marker on your survey responses, I find that more helpful than an anonymous response. I am the only one who can see comments submitted with the results, though the average rating for each picture is viewable to everyone.
Anyways, thanks everyone, and I'll be back soon with an actual blog entry!
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YAY! That's awesome that you're self-publishing Poison Dance! I'll be pimping out Poison Dance ASAP! I'm off to look at the covers ;)
ReplyDeleteAlyssa @ The Eater of Books!
Thanks for the pimping, Alyssa! :-)
DeleteCongrats! I'm sure you'll find the perfect one! The story sounds right up my alley!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Laura! I'm getting lots of good feedback on my poll.
DeleteCongrats! I enjoyed comparing the covers.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Joanne!
DeleteThanks for sharing, the poll was fun and made me even more interested in checking out the book. A sure win for providing token personal investment turning into a likely sale later :) (in other words, I plan on picking up a copy).
ReplyDeleteI left comments explaining my choices on each of them. So glad the one I liked best is winning.
Haha, nice citation of a marketing related psychological phenomenon, musesings!
DeleteI found myself wanting to take the best elements from some of the finalists, though I know the resulting combination would be a patchwork Frankenstein of a cover. But that didn't stop me from wanting to try.
ReplyDelete(By the way, in reviewing my feedback, my comments should carry more weight than my ratings. Knowing the ratings would be seen made me rank some higher than I would otherwise... I'm sure there's some psychological explanation for why I'd do that, but I'm no brain scientist.)
Hehe, I think the psychological explanation is that Nate is being a nice guy. Judging from the range of responses on the poll though, I'd say that not all people experience this phenomenon :-)
DeleteThanks for running the contest. It's not every day that I get to feel like a judge on some reality TV show. Project YA! I was a bit harsh, but I spoke honestly. Fortunately, I wasn't completely off mark, judging from the poll results.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we should call you "Simon," Helen. :-)
DeleteOooo, I can see why you want help choosing. Tough decision!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I had some really talented artists participating!
DeleteI noticed on the Poison Dance amazon page that the publisher is listed as Lion's Quill Press. I'm curious as to why (and how) you chose to publish under that imprint/name.
ReplyDeleteOut of curiosity, how/why did you choose to use "Lion's Quill Press" as your publisher? Is that for marketing reasons or business/financial reasons?
ReplyDeleteLion's Quill Press is the name of my imprint, Anju. I chose to register a fictitious business name so that the sales page would look a little more professional. As for why that exact name, my dog was named Lion. :-)
DeleteBy register, you mean as a DBA?
DeleteSorry about the double commenting. I worried that the form ate my first comment.
Yes, DBA!
Delete