One more, and blessedly for you folks, the last one. For now.
Background story.
In my initial Kindle foray, I uploaded three titles ("Chance Encounter" (novella), "Up and Down" (short stories), and "Out of Time" (novella)). All the covers were DIY, except the "yourself" of the Y in that acronym was my very own Number One Fan who liked Photoshop and wanted to help me gain mass acceptance. Her Photoshop went well. The mass acceptance, not so much.
So in "Chance Encounter," with a friend's and his daughter's permission, I got her in handcuffs, made her all bedraggled, and photographed her. If you look at the cover, she looks like she's stumbling through the woods. In reality, she's in a few pine trees and scrubs by the side of their household pool. I frizzed up the photo, and my No. 1 Fan did the rest - but she was never happy with the font.
In "Up and Down," I paid for stock photos, and No. 1 Fan did the rest. She was never happy with the font.
In "Out of Time" (portrayed here), I took a picture of my son and a family friend with a fake skull. I had to Photoshop the skull to make it look more real. We took the photos on a sunny afternoon in front of a Colorado sandstone backdrop. I played with the lighting and sent it to No. 1 Fan. She made it look more like inside a cave. It was great, but she was never happy with the font.
Yes, in all of these, I properly credited my friend's daughter, the stock images acquisition, my son and our friend, and my Number One Fan for their contributions -
after asking them if they were comfortable being credited.
Now that a more professional touch has been applied, No. 1 Fan and I are all thrilled with the covers. In fact, for "Up and Down," we're beyond thrilled. And N1F is finally happy with the fonts.
All titles available on Amazon. Just plug in my name, and you'll find it. For two bucks, you can check on me and make sure I've properly credited people. (Boy, don't I just have the best marketing pitch, like, ever.)
I have another book coming out March 15th. I've decided, not surprisingly, that that cover needs the professional touch as well.
P.S., last edit: This is actually one of my favorite stories. It's thoughtful, much of it is based on real science (more or less), and just the title has a twist to it that I can't reveal. Besides, our own
Kurben vetted it - and yes, he has credit, too, in the acknowledgments.
You know how you write a story, and it's fine, and people like it, and oh, that's all nice, but then there's a special one that you secretly think, "Yeah. That's what I'm about"? Okay, maybe not. But that's this one, for me.