Category: cover love


Feb
2017

Bookish News

categories: Adorkable, Amazon, cover love, doing what you love, Kamuzasok Kavarasok, Romance, YA

So I have some news–of the bookish variety :).

Next month, I should have 2 new releases coming out!

The two books will be: Kamuzások, Kavarások (the Hungarian version of ADORKABLE <3) and Ash’s book (title and summary to be revealed soon!).  I’m so excited and of course nervous as all get out.  But I’ll try and stick with excitement.

The cover for Kamuzások, Kavarások was revealed last week, and it is…gah, so gorgeous *__*.  Absolutely gorgeous!  You can check it out here!  Seeing the Hungarian cover, looking over the Hungarian-translated text–which I wish I could read!–and working with the team at LOL has been such a wonderful experience.  I still feel like it’s all a dream some days.  I think that’s why I’ve held off announcing it, the fear that I would jinx it or something.

Yes, I am completely serious.

But I guess, it’s time–and that Hungarian cover is just too beautiful not to share <3.

As for Ash’s book, it should be coming out in late March.  I say “should” because to be honest?  The road to publication for this one has been so much bumpier than the one for ADORKABLE.  I’ve had problems with the formatting (which were corrected quickly, but they set me back a bit) as well as problems with emails not coming through from my cover designer.  Sigh.  I still don’t know why this is happening, and I’m one of those people who don’t want to be pushy, so I wait…and wait…and get worried.  Until finally, I send a check-in email and find out the cover designer sent an email days ago that didn’t come through.  Sigh :(.

Again, this has not been smooth sailing, but I’m going to try and release the book in March as promised.  But it will be late March–and hopefully the fact that I’m running a few weeks behind won’t affect it too much.

Hopefully readers will still find and want to read the book.

So that is my bookish news!  Pretty cool stuff coming up; I’m just trying to get everything ready and staying hopeful.

And if you are one of the amazing LOL readers who said such nice things about Kamuzások, Kavarások: THANK YOU!!!  You are so lovely, and your comments made me smile :).  I hope you love Sally and Becks <3.

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman

 

 


Oct
2016

Bookish Firsts

categories: Adorkable, cover love, debut, doing what you love, self-publishing, YA

adork1

Can we just take a moment to take in all that pretty? <3 <3 <3

It’s the first time I’ve ever seen so many ADORKABLE books in one place lol.  A magical moment for sure, so of course, Mister Potter had to make an appearance. 🙂  But seriously, someone in my family (here’s lookin’ at you, Colleen) decided to order and have me sign a whole bunch of copies to give as gifts, and I can’t thank her enough.  Thank you, thank you, thank you, Colleen!

When I decided to publish, I didn’t know I’d get to take a picture like this.  I didn’t know I’d see one of my students reading my book, in real life (sigh…a first I will always remember).  I didn’t know my grandpa would come to visit and be spotted on multiple occasions reading the little book that I wrote.  I didn’t know I’d be using Google Translate so much thanks to book reviews from all over the world.  Definitely didn’t know there would be so many amazing ADORKABLE readers and supporters.

Anyway, just feeling really thankful today.  Hope you all have a great week, and if you’ve supported ADORKABLE, thank you so much again!

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman


Aug
2016

It’s Finally Here!

categories: Adorkable, cover love, debut, doing what you love, self-publishing, writing, YA

Got a surprise in the mail the other day! 🙂  Which really, it wasn’t a surprise because I knew it was coming, but it still felt like a surprise.  I wrote ADORKABLE several years ago, published it just this year at the end of March.  Yesterday, I got to finally hold my book in my hands for the first time.

It was an incredible feeling <3.

Sigh…I felt it all.  And yes, I did cry just a little.

The print cover turned out AMAZING! Thank you, thank you, thank you to Stephanie Mooney for working your magic yet again.

And now, I’ll share some pictures (because OF COURSE I had to take pictures!!!).

Prepare yourself for all the pretty.

ADORKABLE_proof

This is what the proof looked like in the box…

ADORKABLE_proof2

…and here’s a look inside…

ADORKABLE_proof3

…and this is the book outside the box, in my hand, with the beautiful cover and spine and all the amazing attributes of a real, live, paperback book!  Oh, I love it, and I loved getting to add ADORKABLE to my bookshelves. 🙂

There is just something about books that you can literally hold in your hand.  No offense to reading devices (I heart mine and use it well and often), but imo a print book is just a different experience.  It’s running your fingers along the cover, flipping the pages, hugging and snuggling the book to your chest…oh is that just me?  Got it, lol!

Anyway, this was the highlight of my week!  I hope you’re enjoying your week as well–and that you get lots of pretty books in the mail, too.

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman


Feb
2016

Choosing A Cover Designer

categories: Adorkable, cover love, debut

This week I wanted to go into more detail about the cover for Adorkable and how it came into existence :).  The first thing I knew I had to do was find a fantastic cover designer.  A lot of indie authors make their own covers, but I sadly was not blessed with this talent, and I felt more comfortable leaving it up to the professionals.  There was a good bit of research involved, some soul searching, and several opinions from my most trusted advisers (aka my family!).

After narrowing it down to four…then to two…I finally selected Stephanie Mooney of mooneygraphics.  I chose Stephanie for several reasons:

  1. I am a huge fan of her previous work.  I knew she’d done the original covers for both Abbi Glines’s Vincent Boys series and Tamara Weber’s Easy (one of my favorite covers ever).  Love these books and their covers definitely stood out in my mind.
  2. Her cover gallery has great examples of romantic, light-hearted, swoonworthy covers.  A lot of the designers I researched seemed to be more focused on the dark and sexy, which simply would not work for my humorous romantic YA.  Stephanie had a great sampling of covers, and I loved the variety.
  3. Her website is very transparent.  It’s the most transparent of any of the designers I researched.  Everything from pricing to a rundown of the step-by-step process is outlined.  As a first-time indie author, I wanted to know what I was getting into, and even before I contacted her, I had a very good idea of what I’d be signing up for with Stephanie.  She was just as fantastic and transparent throughout our correspondence.
  4. My family and I loved her vibe.  This one was my deciding factor.  When I asked my family who I should go with, all of them said Stephanie.  I already had a gut feeling, but for them to have the same gut feeling?  That sealed the deal.

I felt so incredibly lucky when she responded to my inquiry and agreed to work with me.  The cover she designed for Adorkable is exactly what I had in mind.  Love, love, love <3.

If I had it to do over, I would make the same decision.  I’m so thankful to Stephanie for all of her talent and help.  Hope I get the chance to work with her again in the future!  If you’re looking for a cover designer, all I have to say is go with your gut–and your heart.  Most of the time, they will steer you in the right direction.

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman

P.S. People have actually added my book on Goodreads!!!  It still surprises me–in the very best way :).


Feb
2016

ADORKABLE cover reveal

categories: Adorkable, cover love, debut, doing what you love, Goodreads, writing

Hi there, today I’m revealing the cover for my debut YA romance Adorkable.  I’m so excited because I absolutely LOVE how it turned out.  Stephanie Mooney, the cover designer I worked with, did an amazing job and got the feeling of the book just right.  I found the picture; she worked her magic; and the result was everything I’d hoped for and more.  I’m so happy to finally share it with the world.

Hope you like it, too…

…and…

…without further ado…

…here is the cover…

…for Adorkable :).

adorkable-final

Isn’t it just gorgeous?  *sigh*

I love the fonts, the colors, how the models are positioned, the bench, the placement of my name and the tagline.  Here’s the link if you’d like to add ADORKABLE on Goodreads :).

image

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman