BOOK MARKETING: New Book Cover for Seventh Dimension - The Door: “Meet Great Book Cover Designer Lisa Vento”

Meet professional book cover designer Lisa Vento. 

I was having difficulty uploading my book cover for Seventh Dimension - the Door to Create Space. I had recently "met" Lisa on another book project she did for me and so I asked her if she could help me. 

Lisa had originally been recommended to me by Jerry Jenkins for How to Launch a Best-Selling Christian Book, and I was extremely pleased. My cover had recently been finished on Seventh Dimension - The Door by someone else, but I had some technical issues. The lettering was too close to the edge and Create Space kept rejecting my book. I had spent several hours ineptly trying to make it work and realized I couldn't, so to speak, put a round screw in a square hole. So I asked her if she could help me with it. 

Lisa took my book and performed magic on the cover. I know I am partial, but I believe it's the best cover I have ever seen!  

Making a good book cover is not easy. It takes skill and talent. Anyone who has some PhotoShop knowledge can make a simple cover cheaply, but it takes more than that to make a great one--and great artists in any creative field don't come cheap. I guarantee, however, that at least when it comes to book covers, you get what you pay for. 

What did Lisa do with my original photograph?  

She put clothes on Shale Snyder, my protagonist (I didn't realize when I bought the licensing agreement that she wasn't wearing clothes. Someone pointed this out to me and that it might be problematic for observant Christian buyers. It really is a good thing I don't do my own book covers).  

She made Shale's hair shorter. 

She added the waterfall in the background. The original photograph had a white blurry background. 

Lisa added the golden nuggets to the water (which is important to the story). 

She added detail to the bird and made it more visible. 

She added the sparkle. 

She added plants. 

She darkened the front of the photograph so your eye is drawn to Shale. 

She made the color deeper in tone, more soothing. 

She centered the cover so everything in the photograph is balanced. 

And, of course, she chose the font for the title and my name, as well as the layout. She even added the little stars inside the word "door." 

She sized the cover perfectly. I uploaded the book seamlessly to Create Space. 

She also added extra touch-up work around Shale's face so if I ever wanted to blow up the cover for a banner, the girl wouldn't be blurry. 

I know Lisa did even more than this, but hopefully, I have helped you to see how someone can make a beautiful book cover that will stand out above the rest. 

In this case, I had already picked out the photo I wanted to use, but normally, Lisa will search the web and send samples to you and make suggestions. This is very helpful if you have no idea what you want or you haven't come up with any creative book cover ideas. 

With my other book, Lisa took several photos from a website and merged them into a composite cover. I can't imagine how complicated that might get.

Lisa also designed the back cover of Seventh Dimension - The Door using a photo I found on the web (you must buy the license fee for the photograph or reimburse her for it), added some additional layers, and then edited my picture to make me look better (which was really nice). 

I enjoyed working with Lisa on my book and now have a real appreciation for what's involved in making a great book cover. Lisa sent me sample covers for my second and third books in the Seventh Dimension Series. I immediately wanted to sit at my computer and start writing the second book. 

God works in amazing ways, connecting us with people we need and otherwise probably would never meet. I always appreciate it when people take the time to help me make my books better.

If you would like to visit Lisa Vento’s website and see more of her book covers, go to LisaVento.com. You will find lots of other products she sells for authors like bookmarks and banners 

I tell members of the John 3:16 Marketing Network: There are two things you shouldn't skimp on: Hire a professional editor and a good book cover designer. 

Buyers are attracted to beautiful covers, and once they grab your book and open it, you want to make an impression in those precious few seconds you have. Whether you need a book cover today or in the future, bookmark Lisa's page for future reference. 

GUEST POST BY PAM HILLMAN: For the Love of a Child: An Ode to Will

For the Love of a Child: An Ode to Will
By Pam Hillman

Will Woods was our milk man when I was a little bitty squirt. And by milk man, I don’t mean he picked up those small 5 gallon milk cans. He drove a milk tanker and transported a gazillion gallons of milk every day.

We lived down a long dead-end country road, and I could hear a car coming from a mile away. So it was no wonder that I could hear Will comin’ long, long before he got there.

Will gave me my first tricycle. Mama said Will didn’t have kids at that time, so I don’t know where he got the tricycle, but I distinctly remember that he brought it to me in the cab of his tractor-trailer for my birthday. I loved Will with all the passion of a pre-schooler who didn’t see anybody other than my parents and older brothers all week. Since my parents both worked on the farm, I didn’t go to pre-school or daycare: the dairy was my daycare; my brother, the dogs, cats, and newborn calves my playmates.

Will picked up our milk every other day, but I was too young to process how often “tomorrow” really meant, so I’m sure I drove Mama crazy asking when Will would be there. But I was old enough to know that if Mama and Daddy were done with the milking, it wouldn’t be long before Will showed up.

I have a good imagination (I’m a writer, after all), and this is kind of hazy, but I seem to recall sitting on the cement steps at the barn many a morning on those off days, and then trudging to the house when I realized Will wasn’t going to show up that day.

One Sunday morning, Mama was getting us all ready for church, rushing around as only a farm mother can do after getting up at five am to milk a herd of Holstein cows, and next thing she knew, I came flying out of the back room like a wild cat. She made a grab for me, but I tore out of the house toward the barn, yelling “Will’s comin’! Will’s comin’!”

She hadn’t heard a thing. But I had.

I’d heard that big motor and those big wheels bringing my friend to me. And it didn’t matter that on some days all he brought was a tootsie roll or a piece of gum. He’d remembered me, and I was happy.

While I had a loving, Christian family with roots deep in the red clay hills of Mississippi, my friendship with Will reminds me of Jimmy Denton’s relationship with Slade and Buck Donovan in Claiming Mariah.

Jimmy’s home situation isn’t the best: His pa is a drunkard, and they live in a shack that is falling down around their ears. Slade and Buck Donovan see a bit of themselves in the little boy, and they befriend Jim. Eventually, the caring and acceptance of the Donovans touch the entire Denton family, allowing healing and family to mend. Jimmy’s story is not the main thread in Claiming Mariah, but it is an important part. Jimmy weaves himself into Slade and Mariah’s story and finds a home there. Right where he belongs.

Back to my friend, Will Woods. In my young mind, I assumed Will lived far, far away. As I wrote this blog post, I couldn’t remember his last name, so I called my mother. Mama told me she’d recently seen Will at a Wildlife Jamboree in our community. Over forty years after he ran the route as our milkman, some little nugget prompts me to write an article to honor the attention a man showed a little girl who lived on the backside of nowhere, only to find out he lives right here in my community, and not far, far away as I’d always thought.

That God. He’s amazing, isn’t he?

And so are the men and women who take time for a child.

~

Pam Hillman was born and raised on a dairy farm in Mississippi and spent her teenage years perched on the seat of a tractor raking hay. In those days, her daddy couldn’t afford two cab tractors with air conditioning and a radio, so Pam drove the Allis Chalmers 110. Even when her daddy asked her if she wanted to bale hay, she told him she didn’t mind raking. Raking hay doesn’t take much thought so Pam spent her time working on her tan and making up stories in her head. Now, that’s the kind of life every girl should dream of! Claiming Mariah is her second novel.

Pam is thrilled to announce the release of her second novel,

Claiming Mariah

Claiming Mariah

Pam Hillman’s Author page on Facebook and/or sign up for Pam’s newsletter.

***

BOOK EXCERPT OF SEVENTH DIMENSION - THE DOOR: A Young Adult Fantasy and INTERVIEW OF LORILYN ROBERTS

 

 

BOOK EXCERPT 

Seventh Dimension - The Door: A Young Adult Christian Fantasy

 

I was enjoying the water too much to worry about underlings. After a few minutes, I got out and climbed up on a flat rock. As I lay on my stomach, I dangled my arms out over the river’s edge. 

A blue bird darted up in front of me and danced over the water. 

“She’s so cute,” I said, fascinated by the small-winged creature. 

“They are terrible,” Baruch said. 

“Not the bird, I mean the underlings. Most of the time, they don’t have real bodies. They shape shift, though they look similar to large black bats. The acrid stench always precedes their appearance. I smell them coming now.” 

“I don’t smell anything,” I said absentmindedly. 

“There’s the crackling again,” Cherios said. She nervously twitched her ear to one side.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 

Lorilyn Roberts is a Christian author who writes children’s picture books, adult nonfiction, memoirs, and a young adult Christian fantasy series, Seventh Dimension. The first in the series, The Door, was just published (October 2012).

Lorilyn graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Alabama, which included international study in Israel and England. She received her Master’s in Creative Writing from Perelandra College and is a graduate of the Institute of Children’s Literature.

Lorilyn is the founder of the John 316 Marketing Network, a network of Christian authors who are passionate about promoting books with a Christian worldview.

To learn more about Lorilyn, visit her website at LorilynRoberts.com

 

INTERVIEW 

QUESTION: What Inspired You To Write Seventh Dimension - The Door?

LORILYN: I wanted to share my testimony, but I could never do it as a memoir, so I spent three years earning my Master’s in Creative Writing so I could learn how to write fiction. This story is allegorical and has been compared by reviewers to Alice in Wonderland, Pilgrim’s Progress, and The Chronicles of Narnia. Part of the story takes place in first-century Israel.

I was in Jerusalem studying at the Institute of Holy Land Studies when the Gulf War broke out in 1991. When people talk about “write what you know,” that’s what I did -- scarred, broken, abandoned, and on the road to juvenile delinquency, God took me to the mountains of Galilee and spoke to my heart. For every young girl (or man) reading this book, you will come away with this message -- you are a son or daughter of the king.

QUESTION: How Did You Come Up With The Characters?

LORILYN: Some of the animal characters come from my children’s picture book, The Donkey and the King. Baruch, the donkey; Lowly the pig; Cherios, the rabbit; and Much-Afraid, the dog, all represent aspects of Shale’s complex personality. The battle between good and evil is represented throughout, with the underlings tormenting Shale unceasingly from the very beginning. She faces an ultimate test of life over death, as we all do in one form or another.

QUESTION: Will There Be Another Book With These Characters?

LORILYN: The Door is the first book in the Seventh Dimension Series. 

QUESTION: What Genre(s) Do You Write In?

LORILYN: I write just about everything. I have a children’s picture, The Donkey and the King; a best-selling memoir, Children of Dreams; a nonfiction book for Christian authors to help them launch their books; and then this book, which is a YA Christian fantasy. You can learn more about my other books by visiting my website Lorilynroberts.com.

QUESTION: When Did You Know You Wanted To Be A Writer?

LORILYN: I was writing short stories as young as eight. I have a couple of them packed away in a box under my bed. Writing has been the only thing in my life that’s come easily. That doesn’t mean I didn’t have a lot to learn, and I am still learning all the time. It just means it’s the one thing I crave, the one thing I’ve always wanted to do above all else, the one thing I would do for hours. 

Even if I never got paid a dime, I would keep doing it. If only I didn’t have to work at a real job to pay the bills. My parents were very practical. They made me study something in college with which I could make money. So, my writing was put on hold until very recently. It’s never too late to start. I am fifty-seven and just earned my Master’s in Creative Writing.

Anyone that has ever achieved anything worthwhile, I believe, had to fight for it. So to be able to write at all is something I fight for, writing in the middle of the night, thinking about a story in the car while driving, asking God for direction. My kids care nothing about my writing. It all comes from deep within, this drive to write, to share my story. When I was in fifth grade, a teacher accused me of plagiarism. I suppose looking back, that should have told me I had a gift for writing. But instead, I felt humiliated and embarrassed. That scene is incorporated into this book. I love having the last word and bringing redemption to something that was unfair and hurtful.

QUESTION: What Kind of Background Do You Have, Other Than Writing?

LORILYN: I am a single mother by choice—I adopted my two daughters from Vietnam and Nepal. I provide closed captioning for television, so technically, my writing has been seen by millions all over the planet. On days when I am down that no one wants to read my books, I comfort myself with that thought. I studied classical guitar as a teenager and hope someday to get back to playing when I have more time.  

We have four neurotic cats and two wacky dogs, all from the local humane society. I am an animal lover at heart. I have also scuba-dived all over the world, including the Great Barrier Reef and the Red Sea off the coast of Eilat. My worst experience diving was throwing up at 40 feet under, or maybe it was the time I got left behind by the boat and waited for hours to be found. I have lots of life experiences to draw from, which is one of the advantages of growing old in years but young at heart.

 

To buy Seventh Dimension - The Door, click: SEVENTH DIMENSION - THE DOOR