Dear Readers,
The Circle Begins
In the winter of 2017, my Christmas came in the new year. My friend, who had convinced me that I could make the transition from non-fiction to fiction author, gifted me with his mentorship and the very first cover of my very first novel. Those of you who have been with me since the very beginning will likely experience a wave of nostalgia with this:
It was the kind of cartoon-style image that fitted the genre at the time; it was also what Tim had time to produce. However, with the second book, his schedule was too full and I set about finding a cover illustrator to fit my then slender budget.
Erik and Daniel
After a long search, looking at hundreds of illustrations and covers by as many artists, I finally found Erik. Erik would go on to create jackets for the following three books and to go back and refresh the first book. Giving us this:
As you can see, it’s a little more 3D.
By the fourth book, Erik also became too busy and with his recommendation, the baton was passed to Daniel, who designed the landmark cover for Book 4, Amanda Cadabra and The Rise of Sunken Madley. I soon learned that rather than having a cover artist work from my concept, it was far better to tell Daniel the story of each novel and allow his fertile imagination to conjure up the image. Daniel was to create the jackets for the next five books, then go back and redo all of the first three. Giving us my favourite so far:
During this time, Daniel was studying for a further degree and was able to fit the covers around his studies. I loved every cover, but I knew I could attract more readers. Tim, however, had been suspecting for the last couple of years that the covers were not the best fit for the genre.
The Misfit
And this has been the issue from the beginning. Where do the Amanda Cadabra books sit? This issue was spotted way back at the beginning by Flora Gatehouse who beta-read the first book. Flora noticed that it sat in cozy paranormal mystery but also in urban fantasy. Over time, I noticed reviews from fantasy readers, fans of humour and those who enjoyed British fiction.
The turning point for me was when I got my first professional review from the International Review of Books. What the writer zoned in on was the humour. In addition to that, the Amazon categories where the books were doing the best had to do with humour and satire.
Children?
Meanwhile, when meeting new people face to face on the phone and being asked what I do, they would then check out my sales page on Amazon and ask:
‘Oh, so you write children’s books?’ Well, cozy, by definition, can be read by any age, but that was not my target audience. Oh dear. So what was the problem?
Partly, because I had set the age range on the first book to 8 plus, and it had been enjoyed by some young readers. On my earliest being only 13. But that wasn’t the principal source of the issue.
The jaunty cartoon style covers that are the hallmark of cozy paranormal mystery speak directly and to some extent exclusively to readers of that genre, who, for the most part, are ladies who are over forty. To readers unfamiliar with that genre, yes, they look like children’s books.
My Editor’s Hat
I had to agree with Tim. He was absolutely right. Towards the end of last year, Tim, after a five-year gap since the second in his series, had almost finished his long-awaited third novel. I had edited the second, somewhat inexpertly, way back then. Nevertheless, Tim had been so impressed that he said if I could do that, I certainly could write my own. A very tiny seed was planted. It would be several months before I’d begin writing Amanda but the mustard grain was in place.
Having had a severe health crash last year, I was unable to make progress with the Amanda Cadabra sequel, or indeed anything else. I welcomed something that comes naturally to me and that I could do at my own pace, in my own time. I accepted his request to edit the new book.
The Game Changer
Tim was delighted with the result and wanted to do something to help me and my series. The covers. Since those early days of the very first book, something new had come on the scene. AI-generated images. Artists and designers can now put in a description and, drawing on copyright-free (public domain) images, dream up concepts that can inspire and be refined by those with the skills.
I had begun using Midjourney, which uses only public domain images, for its conjurings. Last year, for your entertainment, I started documenting my efforts to wrangle it into making images for the jigsaw puzzles for you and pictures to brighten the text of the blog posts like these.
What It Can and Can’t Do
These escapades clearly demonstrate its marvels but also its limitations. For example, It still hasn’t entirely grasped that, generally speaking, humans have only two arms and only four fingers and one thumb on each hand. Arguably, Midjourney is the best of the options, but it has the spelling and counting ability of a three-year-old (with all due respect to especially advanced three-year-olds). Ask it for anything old-fashioned and it hasn’t a clue. I spent two hours teaching it what a monocle was.
But it can draw on images it’s been given to come up with, at times, creations of extraordinary beauty. However, if you want something very specific, you’ll need a lot of patience and access to graphics skills, those of professional if you don’t possess them yourself,
It is rare for it to furnish an image that doesn’t require my Photoshop skills. It isn’t taking anyone’s job around here for the foreseeable future.
Full Circle
Now Tim will be the first to tell you that, of all of his what I regard as formidable artistic skills, drawing human figures is not the foremost. But this is something AI image generators can do. Provided, and I emphasise ‘provided’, there are public domain images somewhere of persons with body parts which, when assembled, can depict the particular pose you’re after. It can adapt but very little. However, within those limits, it can give you a nice accurate figure.
Tim was confident that with the aid of Midjourney, he could create a cover that would sit the book on the borders of urban fantasy, British humour and mystery, cozy or otherwise. The illustrating of the book cover that had begun with his design back in 2018 was coming back home to Tim.
The First Version
While I was finishing the edit for his book, Tim came up with this.
I loved it. But.
It said mystery. It said vintage British. But it didn’t say fantasy. It bothered me.
The Midnight Hour
And then, late one night in the calm quiet and that half asleep state of consciousness where things seem easy, I began research. I looked at the books on Amazon in those genres, researched keywords, read advice about cover design, and stumbled across Vondy. Vondy.com has cover generators, or I might more accurately call them ‘suggesters’, in many different genres. I tried fantasy and mystery with various descriptions or prompts, as they are called. None of them fitted. Finally, I tried the font-based one.
It gave me a selection of four. I looked at the fourth. That was it.
The Choice and The New Cover
That very night, I sent the group of four to Tim, who said, ‘Let’s discard images 1 and 4.’ Soon, as he explained, I could see why number 3 was the right one.
This was the raw material from which the cover would be formed.
The city buildings would be replaced with an evocation of Sunken Madley Manor on one side and the village on the other. The Victorian lady would become our modern-day Amanda; Tempest, her feline familiar, would appear; the hat at the top of the panel would become the icon for our Tempest. The sombre browns would be replaced with magical blues and warm sunset colours, and, of course, the letters become the correct spelling of the title.
The subtitle would change from cozy paranormal mystery to British urban fantasy, so readers will know what lies within. And here it is:
The Edgier Seeds
Although the first book has fitted the cozy paranormal mystery genre, even in the first book were the seeds of something darker, edgier, with the history of Amanda’s forebears, the Cardiubarns, and their rivals, the Flamgoynes. These two homicidal witch-clans had a history of existing uneasily side by side on Cornwall’s Bodmin Moor. The dangerously turbulent beginning to Amanda’s life is outlined, although it is only later we learn what really befell her.
Will It Succeed?
The extent to which the book with the new look will hit the mark remains to be seen. It may have further evolution in its future. But this is how it is today, and it sets the tone for the new look cover for the rest of the series. Tim has already developed the concept for the next book, The Cellar of Secrets.
If you would like to assist its birth into the world, please like, share, follow, and even recommend it to anyone you know who would enjoy a novel and a series in any of the genres where it fits. It’s on Facebook now and will be elsewhere. A share would go a long way to introducing it to new potentional fans.
The Next Steps
The next step, tomorrow, is to take it to Bookbub in the hope that it will win a Featured Deal slot in one of their emails to their 3 million subscribers. It will also replace the current images in the Facebook ads, which you might see around, here on the website, and elsewhere.
Meanwhile, I’d love your feedback. So far, I’ve heard back from my Horsemen of the Apocalapse, who provide the most detailed beta-read feedback on the books. Now it’s over to you. Please let me know, either through social media or, my favourite, by email at hollybell@amandacadabra.com. If you could be a fly on the wall by my desk, you’d know how much a message from you transforms my day.
This letter would not be complete without the promised free chapter video. So here it is, read by yours truly, Chapter 1 of Amanda Cadabra and The Strange Case of Lucy Penlowr:
Thank You
In the last couple of months, there have been a significant number of readers who have found Amanda Cadabra through Tim’s new book. I would like to thank each and every one of you for giving Amanda Cadabra a spin. I hope you’re enjoying the books and will welcome what is coming.
My Day of Days
Yesterday, I had the best and perhaps the most significant day of my life so far. I will tell you about it next time. What does it have to so with the Amanda Cadabra series? Everything.
What’s Coming?
A new novella! Â And the Amanda Cadabra sequel engine has restarted. News of them next time.
Until then, in whatever genre delights you
Happy reading.
Holly
PS If you want to start the series now:
