Once again, I come to you asking for help (hey, you’ve only got your selves to blame. Had you not been so wonderfully helpful and supportive, I would not bother).

Specifically, I have three questions I felt you could help me with.

Enough is enough

The first, concerns this very blog: I’ve experimented with posting anywhere from once a week to once a day. I don’t want to clog your inbox, nor to disappear, and I’ve found this to be a fine balance. So, I’m putting it to you: how often should I post? Please use the poll below and the comments’ area for your thoughts.

[polldaddy poll=8139872]

Don’t judge a book by its cover. Yeah, right…

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Next question: Mad Water, book 3 in my epic fantasy series, Pearseus, is now with my editor, Lorelei. It will be published early July (unofficially and at a generous discount – don’t worry, you’ll hear all about it) and officially on July 15th. However, I haven’t started working on the covers, yet, and I’m now stressing over it. You may remember the covers of the two previous books in the series (pictured above).

What I tried to do with these, is have the Pearseus name at the top serve as a “brand”, with the scales serving as a supporting brand element. The scales change from book to book, to illustrate the survivors’ progress: the first one is stone, the next copper, the next will be iron. At the same time, as the Whispers (the corrupting ethereal entities pulling the strings on the planet) get stronger, the scales (symbolizing justice) increasingly crumble away.

My question to you is: How much of this is clear on the covers? Should I make it clearer which one is Book 1, 2, 3 etc? One idea was to use the stone scale for Book 1, much as it is now. The second book would have this and the copper scale on its cover, only smaller, making it clear it is Book 2. The third one would have all three scales etc.

Another idea was to simply increase the font size of “Book # in the series”.

And yet another idea was to change the covers altogether, getting rid of the scales, and using instead a character from the story. This could be a Whisper for the first book, a Fallen for the second, an Iota for the third etc. Or it could be a human character: Lucas for the first, Parad for the second etc.

I haven’t gone down that route yet, for two reasons: one, there are already too many book covers with heroes on their cover. And two, I don’t want to impose how I imagine my characters on the reader. They should be free to paint them in any colour they choose.

What’s in a name?

And the final question: I have come to have second thoughts about the title of the first book, “Pearseus, Year 18: The Schism”. A simpler form might be preferable. I’ve been toying with the idea of changing the title to “Pearseus: Torn” or something similar, to capture the feeling of a group of people torn away from home, but also splitting up in 3 groups by the book’s end. Do you think it’s too late to change the title, and that titles (or book covers, for that matter) should not be changed at this late stage?

If you’re reading this going, “Gosh, what were you thinking when you came up with that title”), do you have a better suggestion for the new one?

Finally, should I also change the title to the second book, “Rise of the Prince”? The current title was my nod to Herodotus, the Greek historian who inspired the story and author of “Rise of Cyrus, King of Persia.” I don’t think anyone got that, though! 😀

So, there you have it. Your thoughts and feedback are, as always, much appreciated!