The Bad Death on all eReaders

Previously an Amazon exclusive, The Bad Death is now also available at iTunes, Kobo, and Barnes&Noble.com. Captivating, sensuous, and terrifying, The Bad Death, at once a sequel and a prequel to Bloodroom, unfolds against a background of eighteenth century human bondage and southern gentility. Passion rules the heart but terror rules the night in this breathtaking tale of love, desire, betrayal, Gullah sorcery, and supernatural horror in the antebellum South. 
 

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The Bad Death

by Naima Haviland

Giveaway ends September 05, 2013.

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Frenemies in The Bad Death

Charlotte, Jane Eliza, Eugénie

Oh, the complicated nature of female friendships. One's a murderess. One's using black magic to get pregnant. One's the product of her big brother's OCD. They're besties as long as no one tries to best the others. Each has a unique relationship to Anika, the plat-eye slaying heroine of The Bad Death. Here's a short bio on each.

Charlotte Mouret - As close to perfect as Julian could make her, Charlotte was educated in a schedule that never left time for idle (or independent) thought and married off at seventeen to the family's financial manager. Though Julian assures her their field hand is an idiot savant, Charlotte suspects there's something unnatural in Anika's sudden talents.

Jane Eliza Farmington - Cherished daughter of a retired slaver. Society beauty. Poisoner. All magic that turns a profit is good magic, and Jane Eliza's murders are just business. As a witch doctor's delivery girl, Anika must avoid becoming a toy in Jane Eliza's deadly games.

Eugénie Mouret - Julian's sister-in-law knows full well the power of magic. She'll pay any price for the charms that guarantee a pregnancy. Anika promised her a son destined for power. But if the magic works, who -- or what -- will live in Eugénie's womb?

Getting a Professional Book Cover Design

In his book How Come That Idiot's Rich and I'm Not?, Robert Shemin emphasizes the importance of a Dream Team to help you achieve your business goals. I enlisted professional cover designers into my Dream Team when I first made the decision to self publish my Dark Fantasy anthologies and vampire novels. I hired Derek Murphy of Creativeindie Covers to design the cover for Bloodroom. I learned about Derek when Joanna Penn interviewed him in her blog, The Creative Penn. He designed the cover for her thriller, Prophecy. I saw from his online gallery that he was capable of creating for a diverse range of genres, and I liked his designs for paranormal novels.

We began with my sending Derek images of book covers on the market in my genre. I told him why I liked these covers and I gave him a thorough description of my book. I also selected composite photos from 123rf and iStockphoto. Derek created about 8 rough, preliminary designs within 2 weeks. For "rough", they looked pretty polished to me. Here you see two of my favorites. However, the third shown here was my ultimate favorite.

I liked the strong image of the book's central character, Julian (the story is told from his point of view). But I asked Derek to tone down the shine on his face; he looked too scary for the leading man in a vampire romance. I wanted him to look like a bad boy who might ravish you, but not rape you. The blood-drippy title was my idea, but it was unreadable at thumbnail size. Derek produced several different text treatments and ornamental flourishes. He was very patient with me. I think I had a crush on this cover. I wanted to marry it. It had to look just right. And so it does! Here's the finished cover for Bloodroom.

I have found most book cover designs run from about $400 to $800. For those of you writing and self-publishing, consider Shelley Hitz, the self-publishing coach, whose blog, newsletter, and Facebook page offer great tips for free or inexpensive resources -- including book cover design! She has been tremendously helpful to me. Also, use OPM (Other People's Money, to borrow Robert Shemin's phrase) and try Kickstarter, a crowdfunding source that focuses on creative projects. In his blog, David Gaughan described his successful experience using Kickstarter to fund production of his novel A Storm Hits Valparaiso. I intend to try it myself next time.

Romance and Twitter Contests

In Juicy Writing last night, Sharon read from a list of phrases in a romance writing phrase book and challenged us to take one or more of these phrases and write a short story on the spot. I wrote a 3-page story using two of the phrases. I love my story! It's not a horror story in any way. It's a romance, untinged by anything dark. I like the rare occasions when I write something completely un-dark because it reminds me that I can write "normal" stuff. I want to put it up on StoryFans at the same time I publish Bloodroom, which is a vampire romance. The StoryFans release will hopefully drive readers to the book.

Yesterday, Steven Lewis' Kindle Self-Publishing blog featured Tony Eldridge, a writer and e-book marketing consultant. Tony's new book teaches techniques for creating successful Twitter contests. The blog story includes a link to a free sampling of Twitter contest ideas. I would love to create Twitter contests as a way of widening my readership. There are so many options for book promotion and I feel somewhat like Columbus upon "discovering" the New World. It's all very exciting. Do you have a successful marketing strategy you'd like to share with me?