It’s been a busy few months. Getting a book ready for publication, and doing it right, involves a lot of people and patience. But I’ve finally incorporated edits from my editor, commissioned a cover from an artist, and put it up for pre-order.

I’m excited to share the fruits of that labor.

The Cover.

Since I don’t know any professional cover designers, I started a contest on 99designs. For those of you unfamiliar with the process, it involves creating a brief, selecting a monetary reward, and allowing the cover artists to come to you. I received over 100 designs from 22 artists. I was able to offer feedback for several days while they refined their ‘contest’ submissions. After a few days, I selected 6 finalists, who were allowed to make additional changes. The submissions were so great, it was difficult to choose between them. Thankfully I was able to run a poll and send a voting link to a number of family and friends. They helped me select the winning cover design.

Slobodan Vukovic (WolfBell) was the lucky winner.

I offered to buy several of the designs from those who didn’t win, and they all took me up on the offer. I intend to use those as promotional material and character art. You may have seen some of it in my previous post. The character art will come later.

And finally, I present to you the cover for my debut novel, Motus:

Here is the full spread:

If you like his style, I invite you to reach out to Slobodan (WolfBell) through 99designs for your own art/cover needs. I feel like he really captured the story in a single image, showing Corun’s dig through the rock to reach the rumored surface and save his city.

Some Considerations.

It is obvious to you all by now that this takes place on Mars. I’ve gone back and forth on whether this should be obvious to the reader or not at the start of the book. On the one hand, the main character doesn’t know this, or even what a planet is, before he reaches the surface near the end of the book. It could certainly be satisfying to the reader to discover this with the main character. In fact, my editor had no idea but figured it out right beforehand. But this is also a bit risky. For anyone with a knowledge of geology, it would be obvious early in the book that this couldn’t take place on Earth. Yet if the reader believed it was meant to be on Earth, they might be put off by the apparent inaccuracies. And for readers of hard scifi, scientific accuracy is expected.

On the other hand, if I make it known early on, by literally having the Martian surface plastered on the cover, instead of surprise, the reader’s suspense will presumably build with every pickaxe swing, leaving them to wonder when the oblivious main characters will break through… and how they will survive the experience. In my experience as a reader, that slow buildup of tension is exactly what I love in the books I read. Do you agree? Let me know in the comments.

Preorder.

This book should now be available for preorder on all the major digital platforms (Amazon-Kindle, Kobo, Goodreads-Nook, etc.). Click on the image below to find your preferred ebook or print book vendor to preorder:

I will post details of a preorder campaign in the next month or so. So if you decide to preorder, hold on to the receipt to enter for a chance to win some merchandise, signed books, and book swag.

Advance Reviewer Copies

If you just can’t wait to get your hands on the book, head to the contact page and shoot me a message. I am happy to provide an early and free ebook in exchange for leaving an honest review on Goodreads and Amazon (on release day).

Here’s a picture of the first ever copy of Motus out in the wild, courtesy of my Mom:

First Page Preview.

Here is a first page preview for your reading pleasure. If the first line seemed like a strange choice, that’s because it’s an homage to one of the very first books that got me hooked on reading. Terry Goodkind’s Wizard’s First Rule. It begins with “It was an odd-looking vine.” While I am no huge fan of his or the series today, there’s no denying it had an impact on the rest of my life.

The Audiobook.

I’m excited to announce that audiobook production for Motus will begin very shortly. I’ve received nearly 100 auditions from narrators and producers in just the past 3 days. It will take me a bit of time to narrow it down to a single person and work out the details, but I will endeavor to make the audiobook available by release day. It’s amazing to hear so many talented narrators read a part of my book. I hope you all will soon be able to enjoy it as much as I do.

Until next time, write well and science hard… and preorder my book.