Pax in the Land of Women: Cover 1

February 29, 2012February 29, 2012 Monica La Portaindie author, indie book cover, indie stories, interaction between author and cover artist2 Comments

Pax, which is currently being edited by the extraordinaire Amy, is the second installation in The Ginecean Chronicles, so its cover should immediately convey a sense of belonging to the trilogy. At first, I thought to ask Alessandro to mirror the composition of The Priest’s cover in Pax. Instead of having half face on the right, Pax’s face would be on the left. As a background, I wanted a glimpse of Ginecea City. Although the result is beautiful, after seeing the first attempt I think Pax’s cover should follow The Priest’s exact layout and feeling, but in a different shade; something blue to symbolize the city, whereas in The Priest the sepia was chosen to symbolize the desert. Also, I asked him to display the portion of the city’s image containing the statue of the Goddess instead of the ruins. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Cover 1

Proud Parent

February 24, 2012February 24, 2012 Monica La Portaalternate reality novel, amazon reviews, indie author, indie publishing, just published, nanowrimo published workLeave a comment

The Priest got its first review. And it’s like watching your kid walk his first timid step. A mix of trepidation and exhilaration. Hoping that he’ll run soon but afraid he’ll get hurt, and you know you won’t be there to help him. Will he be strong enough?

The sixth novel I’ve written, The Priest is the first I published and it took me almost fifteen months to go from writing the story to pushing the button to release it into the wild, vast world outside my pc. There were frustrating moments, it was a long gestation for mere 54k words, but I never thought to quit. Now, 271k words later, The Ginecean Chronicles are complete, but my work is not done, yet. The second and third in the series will be published only when I’m sure I’ve done everything in my power to make my creations stand for themselves. So that the other kids at the playground won’t mock my babies.

Talking about The Priest

February 14, 2012February 14, 2012 Monica La Portaalternate reality, book promotion, forbidden love, indie author, indie publishing, indie stories, nanowrimo project, nanowrimo published work, realizing your dream, same sex marriage, slaveryLeave a comment

Marketing the book you wrote can be a daunting experience. It is for me. But when nobody knows you and your presence on social networks is scarce, you must talk about it, somehow. So, I spent the whole day Sunday studying how to push my book without pushing it and, most importantly, how to avoid becoming the friend who wrote a book and nobody wants to frequent anymore. After a discreet amount of frowning, sighing, and downright swearing in Italian, I reached the conclusion that word of mouth, someone else’s mouth, not mine, it’s my only hope. But, to be realistic, I’ve also decided that, after all, one day a week will be devoted to market my book. This is where I started. And, I must admit, I had fun in writing that piece. This is another place, Kindle Board, where I can promote my work. Only time will tell what works and what not. For now, I’m simply trying to reach out.

Got Interviewed?

November 19, 2011November 19, 2011 Monica La Portablog interviews, indie author, indie author interview, indie stories, nanowrimo interviewLeave a comment

Twice! Okay, I’ll admit this is shameless plug, but I’m a newbie, my first novel isn’t out, yet—although it should’ve been out a month ago, but that’s a different story…anyway, my point is I enjoyed seeing my words running freely somewhere else, and I want to share here as well.

My first interview was with Andy Rane, and it was lots of fun. Andy asks the same six questions to all his guests, and I took my time to make the answers as short as they could get.

The second interview just got out today, and it was about my Nanonwrimo experience with Ashley Paternostro who runs a delightful blog called La Bella Novella.

The Priest Is On (the cover, at least)!

July 31, 2011 Monica La Portacollaboration between authors and graphic designers, cover design process, indie author, indie publishing, indie stories, indie writing5 Comments

Sandro’s website is up and running. Take a look!

I am thrilled with Sandro’s art. He is talented, and professional. I don’t think I could ask more from him, although I tried…

The Ginecean series is on its way to publication. The Priest is currently waiting for the final foolproof editing, Pax in the Land of Women is in the editor’s hands, and I am trying to write the final chapter, Pax at War. I am experiencing a few problems with the writing part, the fool-proofer is taking a mental vacation, and the editor is dealing with her daughter’s illness. All in all, a mess! But, comes September 1st, The Priest will be published. I had to put it black on white. Now, I can go back to painting murals on my parents’ house.

The Priest (the cover journey IX)

May 11, 2011 Monica La Portabook cover, book cover design process, book cover models, collaboration between authors and graphic designers, indie author, indie publishing, indie stories, indie writing4 Comments

I am proud to present you The Priest’s cover in its latest incarnation:

Cover Frenzy (the cover journey VIII)

May 10, 2011May 10, 2011 Monica La Portabook cover, book cover design process, collaboration between authors and graphic designers, indie author, indie publishing, indie stories, indie writing6 Comments

Sandro is starting to work on Pax’s cover, but he still has some energy to play around with The Priest’s.

The Final Frontier (aka cover # 15)

Sandro fixed few little details out of place (a white spot under Mauricio’s ear, and a juxtaposition line on his neck), and I asked for the sun on the horizon. Roberto doesn’t like the sun centered, he prefers it by the side. Maybe behind the City of Men?

Cover 15A

Different font for the title

Banner#3

Thumbnails

My final requests are: Sun centered by the side, my name bigger, and the shadow under the title. And then, that’s it!

The Final Cover? (cover journey VII)

May 9, 2011 Monica La Portabook cover, book cover design process, book cover models, collaboration between authors and graphic designers, indie author, indie publishing, indie stories, indie writing2 Comments

Without further ado:

The Other Banner

As a personal note, I prefer the first one with the tear (dot of the i) on the other side of the eye. But it is still awesome!

The Last Touches (the cover journey VI)

My editor sent me the last three chapters yesterday, blessed the people who work on Mother’s Day Sundays. At the same time, Sandro sent me the final layouts for the cover and the banner. In less than a month so many things have changed in my life, I have cried and laughed. I have felt the whole spectrum of human emotions between pure happiness, and absolute sadness. My family and my writing are the only constant. Here is something that makes me ecstatic.

The Last Cover (to be retouched slightly)

This is lucky number 13!

I like everything, I only asked Sandro to play with the fonts to free Mauricio’s eye.

Getting Closer and Closer!

I like this one better, but I would make the black background bigger to enlarge the title’s font. I also would like to see more of Mauricio’s neck. And probably we have to put back the shadow under my name to make it easier to read at thumbnail size. Or maybe not, I can’t decide.

The Best Banner Ever!

I absolutely love this banner!

The Final Countdown (the cover journey V)

May 5, 2011 Monica La Portabook cover design process, collaboration between authors and graphic designers, cover books models, indie author, indie publishing, indie stories, indie writing, models6 Comments

Seeing all the layouts together, and scrolling up and down between images has given me a clear idea of what I want to show on The Priest’s cover. Although the last two models were clearly attractive, judging from the comments I received, I disliked the Jacob-looking one, and I thought that the other one was too beautiful. Mauricio is raggedly handsome; he is definitely not a pretty boy.

So I decided to go back to the first Mauricio, and combine two different layouts.

Working on the final cover (hopefully!)

Amazon is killing me. They didn’t do a clear job at explaining what they require regarding the cover’s format. So, Sandro played around with the numbers we found, which clearly don’t make sense, as you can see from the examples below. Anyway, I asked him to try something at 960×1280 at 72 dpi, and let’s see what happens to the cover. For now, what do you think?

First batch