They say writing is a solitary experience. While that might be true, getting a book published and marketed is far from that. It’s a team effort. After I finished my debut and got published by Celtica Publishing I learned a lot about publishing books. There’s quite a few people involved in the entire process. Today I’ll tell you a little about two kinds of people you need. The others will be covered in the next parts of my blog series!

Proof readers

During the writing of my draft I make extensive use of proof readers. People who volunteered to read my story. This group of people can be compared to a quality control team for products. They read my story and give me feedback based on what they experienced during their read. Some of them even go as far as to check my grammar, which really helps. Without them I would have sent the manuscript to my publisher in a state that was farther from what the story needs to be. They really help to lift your story to a higher level by giving honest feedback.

Patty van Delft, one of my best friends, and also a well respected Dutch fantasy author, is one of my proof readers. When you have another author look at your work, it really makes all the difference, because they know how writing works. I’d like to thank her, and all of my proof readers for their extensive work and feedback. Patty, Wouter, Jeanine, Martin, Romy,  Sandra and Jeffrey, thank you for reading my pulp! 😛

Cover artist

No book is complete without a cover, and although the saying says: “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” the opposite is often true. I was lucky enough to have Peter Kapritsias as the cover artist for all three books of my trilogy. His ability to listen to my wishes and convert those ideas into a visible image that is absolutely spot on with the concept I shared with him is a gift not many possess. Many thanks Peter, for a superb job done. It was a pleasure working with you during the creation of the entire trilogy. The books wouldn’t look half as good without your hard work and art style!

For each cover we sat down, shared ideas, Googled images to give each other ideas and inspiration. Although Peter takes his time with each cover illustration, that is also a good thing. It means a lot of thought goes into each piece he creates. Now, the first two covers had always shown a villain holding a planet, with ships rushing in to save it from certain doom, I wanted something different for the cover of The Xoron Redemption. Something that makes people think “Why is this person on the cover?” and “Why is the planet crumbling to pieces, yet the title of the book mentions a redemption for the Xoron?”

Wednesday I posted a teaser of the cover. Today I can finally reveal the entire cover image to all of you, including the book’s blurb! Without any further ado, here it is!

The Xoron Redemption book cover

Here it is in all its glory! The cover of book III, The Xoron Redemption!

The cover features none other than Räz Numera, one of the main protagonists of the trilogy and the planet that’s burning and crumbling to pieces in his hand is Netherea. Does this mean the Shaedon’s plans will come to fruition? Is it a possible future? To find out you’ll need to read the novel, of course! I hope by then you’ll understand the cover image more, just as was the case with the previous two books; The Fall of Netherea and The Zar’aranos Deception. I really think Peter outdid himself on this wonderful illustration.

Please let me know what you think of the cover and the blurb! I’m excited to hear from all of you!

Happy reading!

-Jeffrey