The Email Newsletter is Back!

After the off again, on again, relationship with my email newsletter, I'm finally ready to committ to this thing and keep it going on a monthly basis. For those of you who signed up for it originally, you should receive the first 'new' issue in your email inbox by the 5th of February. Each subsequent newsletter will be released by the 5th of each month thereafter.

For those of you who haven't signed up yet, I reinstalled a subscription form on my website. Just head on over, input the email address you'd like to have the newsletter sent to each month, and voila!

Each issue will focus on three main things - writing, self-publishing, and 'geeky' things like video games and comics. I'll also use a portion of the newsletter to highlight other artists/writers and link back to their creations/websites.

February's newsletter will contain information about the end of my Black Earth series, the release of Lost Birth, an article on the challenge of video games, my reading challenge for 2012, and a highlight of writer/illustrator Thomas Barczak and reviewer Tiffany Cole.

Endangered Memories Cover Art Sneak Peek

I've been off the radar for a while now, but I'm back with some goodies in regards to Endangered Memories. I'm happy to announce the cover art is finished - thanks to my good friend Jelani Akin Parham, the back cover copy is finished, most of the formatting for ebook editions is finished, and now I'll be spending the next few days getting the website ready for the book's release the beginning of next week. My official release date is Tuesday, June 14th, and on that day I'll be giving away ebook copies of Endangered Memories so stay tuned to the blog for more details on that.

The first piece of cover art I want to give everyone a glimpse of is Carrie Green, one of the main characters of the book -

I am more than happy with the job he did with her character design. I wanted to give the cover a young adult feel but nothing too juvenile. I think his artwork captures the balance between the two perfectly.

Next in line is the background, which Jelani did as well -

The city is South Ryshard, where Carrie is living at the beginning of the book. I almost cried when I saw how beautiful the cityscape was and the coloring he implemented in the scenery.

The third element that comes into play with the cover design is the font. I spent many hours trying to find the right fit for the book. When I self-published Picture Perfect, I ended up changing the cover font later because it didn't fit the feel of the book. I'm happy to say I found the perfect fit for Endangered Memories though. The font is called Chocolate Box and you can grab it for free at dafont.com.

I'll be spending most of today putting all of these elements together into a coherent cover design. This Friday I will be posting a sample of Endangered Memories to get everyone geared up for the release next week! And next Tuesday I will officially release the first novel in a series that has been near and dear to my heart since my youth.