The Sorceress’ New Clothes

Hello, everyone!

I’ll start this post off by being brutally honest: I’ve been putting off writing this for about a week now.

A whole, crazy, nerve-filled week.

And yet, because I can’t put it off forever, here we are.

So.

Ahem.

(Just get on with it, already!)

Some of you may remember my blog post a little while back on genre conventions and having to change the way I look at my covers and my digital art in general, and the wonderful advice and support I had at that time from a wonderful and generous author friend who knows more about covers than me.

Yes? Excellent.
No? Don’t worry – I’m going to blather out an explanation anyway.

Basically, the change in headspace led me to look over the covers I already had on my active books, and realise that as much as I loved them, well… it was time for a change.

But wait, there’s more.

Yep, there’s something else – something that’s been bugging me since my very first release. I brought Sorcery and Stardust into the world full of love for the characters and hope for the series, and it’s been wonderfully well received. However, there were a number of people then, and since, who said: “But… it’s so big. I’m too scared to read something that big! I couldn’t possibly.”

This made me sad, because the idea that someone could be intimidated by the size of a book had never occurred to me, and the thought of someone turning away from my book because of the length was.. still is, rather devastating. I wished I had known better before I published, and when people ask me ‘if you could change one thing,’ I always say, “I wish I’d cut that one huge book into two smaller ones.”

So I did.

Nobody panic!

There is NO CHANGE to the story. It’s exactly the same, word for word; I simply ended book one at the finish of the first part of the story, where there was a soft reset anyway, and started the new book two with the next chapter, which organically had a soft recap. All that’s changed is the chapter headings… oh, and the blurbs, and the covers, and that sort of thing – but the story is exactly the same, I promise!

So from now on, the series is as follows:
(Click any of the covers to find out more about each book)

Followed by:

And, with no changes at all (apart from the cover):

I feel good about this change; I’m hoping others will too. I love the new covers, and I’m already sleeping better at night with the first book split into two instalments.

A few notes on the ‘old’ versions: if you have either a digital or print copy featuring the previous covers, congratulations! You now have a collector’s item. I’m keeping a print copy of each myself, for posterity, because even though they didn’t quite do what they were meant to, they were special to me – and I hope they remain special to you, too.

From here on in, this will be the way the Weaver’s War series will look moving forward, and I’m so excited that I have been terrified to share both the new covers and the decision to make two books out of one. Silly, but there it is.

If you’ve never read this series, now is a great time to check it out! The digital version of Sorcery and Stardust is currently available for 99c to celebrate the release of the new covers, so you can pick up a copy at a great price.

Finally…

If you HAVE read this series… could I ask a favour? Would you mind heading over to your ebook vendor of choice, or even goodreads (or both, if you love me that much) and leaving a review? As I’ve had to make fresh listings for the new book one and two, none of them have any love and it would make my life much easier and my day so much brighter if you could pop a review onto the new versions. Currently they’re sitting there looking naked! Eeek!

(No pressure, but if you do, THANK YOU in advance.)

What about my print copy?

They’re coming. I’m submitting the manuscript to the printers today, actually, so as long as there’s no glaring errors in my copy (darn margins get me every time) then they should be available some time in the next week. I’ll make a post when they’re available, so if you feel the need to snatch one up, you’ll be able to!

And now… breathe.

I have a bunch of other stuff to share, which I’ll put in other blog posts, but for today, this will do. (One scary task at a time, right?)

If you’ve read this far, thanks for sticking around! Why not let me know in the comments (or email me at samwrites@sliceofsammy.com): which of the new covers do you like best, and why?

Until next time, happy reading!

Love,
Sammy
xoxo