Tag Archives: Promoting

Book Two: The Wars that Rage Within

There’s a dual meaning behind the cover of my second book

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The Charging Bull

The second book in ‘The Rhythms of Greedom‘ series features stampeding bulls on the front cover. This is a reference to a specific event during the story, but it also has a deeper meaning.

I based the original sketch and the centre bull on the ‘Charging Bull‘ statue that sits in the Financial District of New York City. The sculpture depicts a bull, the symbol of aggressive financial optimism and prosperity. It is one of the most iconic images of New York and symbolises Wall Street and the financial district.

In many ways the bulls on my front cover represent the greed and financial drive that lie in the heart of mankind’s (often bad) decisions.  This is a fundamental theme that lies throughout the book series that sees a future world run by corporations tear itself apart and abuse the less fortunate.

Screen Shot 2016-01-12 at 13.04.53

I used an iPad and stylus to sketch this illustration, using the app Procreate to draw and build up the layers of texture. Some final tweaks were made using Photoshop before the final cover design was implemented.

The first book in the series (The Kings of the New World) is now just 99p / 99c on Kindle. You can read the first two chapters for free on this blog here. The second book (The Wars that Rage Within) was released  this month and I am currently working on the 3rd instalment.

TROGseries

Fun Ways to Promote your Book

Fun ways to promote your book

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I was traveling across the English countryside earlier this year when I came across a traditional Red Phone Box.  Now many years ago these were once a key part of our country’s communications infrastructure, but now they are often found derelict with the original phone inside removed.

But the one that I had stumbled across had a surprise hiding inside. It had been converted into a micro-library with a simple notice on the side asking you to honour their simple swap rules.

Telephone_Swap_Box

I cursed myself for not having a copy of my book on me at the time and have since tried to ensure that I have a spare copy at hand to jump at such an opportunity. Of course I would have been at liberty to pick a book in return, but the simple knowledge that a copy of my book would have been waiting for a stranger to stumble across was a lovely notion. Even better… leave a hand written note inside to wish whoever picks the book up to enjoy the read 😉

Phone_Box_Library

I have since discovered that there are a number of these converted phone booths dotted around the UK and that it was an idea taken from the US. I came across a whole map of them on Google as well.

If you happen to know of a red phone box near you then you can apply to buy it from BT and do the same for as little as £1. What a great way to save a bit of our heritage and endorse community spirit!