'The Snow Queen'

My Christmas Card 

Tools: Photoshop Cs5 + Wacom intuos 3

2009 - 2014© Marilena Mexi.all rights reserved

'DEERWARD' - My New Novel

DEERWARD is a High-Fantasy Novel for New Adults

Alcander is a young prince who lives in the city of Silver Fir, which is being plagued by continuous winter for two decades. Though he’s a generous and patriotic young man, he is disliked by the commoners, who see him as nothing more than the son of the land’s tyrannical queen, Charna. When he discovers a secret about his past, he reconsiders everything he knew so far and he sets forth on an epic quest in order find the source of the evil plague and save his homeland. He comes across deadly enemies and he experiences love, loss and treason. However, the greatest milestone of this quest is a powerful dragon, who will change his fate forever. Alcander isn’t prepared to face the massive changes which are about to happen in his life, but the strength hiding in his heart will keep his hope alive.

Watch The Book Trailer Here

Green Dragon

Concept art from my new novel. I made this some months ago, I hope you like it.

Wacom intuos 3, Photoshop Cs5

 2009 - 2013 © Marilena Mexi.all rights reserved

The Hobbit

Inspired from one of my favorite books - movies and of course from my favorite writer J.R.R. Tolkien 

6 hours work, tools : Wacom intuos 3, Photoshop Cs5 

Thanks for viewing!

 2009 - 2013 © Marilena Mexi.all rights reserved

Solitary Resident

Concept art from my new novel. I made this a year ago, I hope you like it.

Wacom intuos 3, Photoshop Cs5

 2009 - 2013 © Marilena Mexi.all rights reserved

Olivine

Concept from my new novel. I made this a year ago. For the time, I can only share a few concepts from the project.

Wacom intuos 3, Photoshop Cs5

 2009 - 2013 © Marilena Mexi.all rights reserved

Unseen Threat

Concept from my new novel. I made this a year ago. For the time, I can only share a few concepts from the project.

Wacom intuos 3, Photoshop Cs5

 2009 - 2012 © Marilena Mexi.all rights reserved

The Secret

Concept from my new novel. I made this a year ago. For the time, I can only share a few concepts from the project.

Wacom intuos 3, Photoshop Cs5

 2009 - 2012 © Marilena Mexi.all rights reserved

Aurora Lake

Concept from my new novel. For the time, I can only share a few concepts from the project.
Speed Painting - Wacom intuos 3, Photoshop Cs5

 2009 - 2012 © Marilena Mexi.all rights reserved

Searching for the right book cover

For a long time I'd like to write an article regarding book covers. As an illustrator/graphic designer/writer I think I could contribute a bit to that subject and help aspiring new authors, self or traditionally published.

I'll try to be as objective as possible; I believe that a book cover plays an important role in the book sales. Of course a good story defines its long-term success, but many good books get "buried" because of a bad first impression - which means a bad cover. As a reader, the first thing I look at when searching for books is the synopsis  on the back cover. The second thing is to study the cover, and I thing that many people do the same. So a book cover affects the buyer's decision - mostly subconsciously.

Let's take things from the start. I spend many hours every day in sites like goodreads, amazon, etc. searching for books, and I've seen thousands of book covers by now. I often see books  by self-published writers, and I'd say that most of them are indifferent to me or just wrong. I've also been a self-published writer and believe me, I understand how difficult it is for new writers to publish their books on their own. In practice, they have to do all the things a publisher would do, and most of those are out of their expertise. Furthermore, they have to pay an editor/illustrator/graphic designer themselves. There are many things to take care of in order to create a decent final product to the audience.

For your convenience, I've written a FAQ about book covers.

Q. Where can I search for an illustrator?

A. There are a few options:

• Search in online art galleries/communities, such as deviant art, itartmag, cg cosiety cg hub or behance. There are plenty of freelance artists in there who make book covers. Browse various artist profiles of search for keywords to find more easily what you're looking for.

• Contact an agency that represents illustrators, and they can suggest a handful to you after you describe your book's story/style. However, that's usually more expensive, so mostly publishers do that.

• Search in online book stores for books similar to yours. If you come across a cover that you like in terms of style and quality, just contact the artist that made it.

If you're a writer who's going to be published by a traditional publisher, you can also suggest an artist of your liking to your publisher, after making your research.

Q. How much does a book cover cost?

A. There is no definite price list, because that varies greatly from one artist to another ($300 - $5000). Apart from that, it depends on many factors, such as:

• The amount of elements involved in the scene

• The amount of complexity of each element

• The amount of detail and the overall resolution of the image.

In other words, the cost of a cover depends on the amount of time that the artist needs to spent for it.

Q. What's the best way to describe what I'm looking for to an artist?

A. Send a short synopsis of your story (half page max) and also describe your idea about the cover, but don't get way too descriptive. Personally, I love reading the entire books, but most artists don't have the time to do that, since they work in multiple projects at the same time. Also, try to show a serious and professional image in general.

Q. Can a cover artist also add the cover text, such as title and author?

A. It depends, so you'll have to discuss that with the artist. If the artist has graphic design knowledge, then he/she can do it. If not, you'd better search for a graphic designer to do the job. Personally I'd recommend not to use a very common font, but not very complex either. The ideal would be to have a custom logo made for the book's title, so that it stands out from the crowd and look more special. Don't use more than two different fonts in general, because it doesn't look cohesive. I'd also prefer the writer's name to be much smaller than the title (unless it's a famous writer); it expresses timidity and discretion.

Q. I'm self-published and I don't have the budget to hire an artist for my book cover, but I've found an image online that suits my needs; can I use that?

A. You can, as long as it is royalty-free. However, the vast majority of the images online are copyrighted, so you'll have to contact the owner/creator of the respective image in order to ask for permission. In any case, you are obliged to give the full credits for any image you use. Also, if an image is royalty-free or a stock photo, make sure it wasn't used again as a book cover. Being unique is always better.

Q. I'm writing a fantasy story and I've found many artists that I like, but I'm not sure who's best for my book. Any suggestions?

A. You'll have to choose the style which fits better with your book's audience. For example, if it's a children's or middle grade book, the book cover needs to have more vivid colors, because it is targeted at younger ages. Children also like to see characters of their age. In epic/high fantasy things are different, as the colors could be darker (not necessarily though) and the general mood more mature.

In general, a good cover should have an appealing illustration, sketch, or anything that fits in your book's category. 

• It should have simple (but not simplistic) and balanced typography and composition.

• It should be clean and "readable" even in thumbnail size and have a clean focal point. Overly complex compositions usually create a mess.

• It should trigger the viewers' interest and make them want to read the story.

• It isn't necessary to feature the main characters in your cover, but any element related to your story.

• Avoid using scenes from your story as book covers and go with something more stylized - like a movie poster.

• Trust your illustrator's opinion, he/she has more experience than you in book covers and compositions (especially if they're graphic designers too). Many times the cover may be great, but the style could be wrong for the book's audience.

• Remember, quality over quantity.

I hope my article was helpful, good luck!

© Marilena Mexi

Fish at Shore

This is concept art from my illustrated novel 'Ninemia' ( Antara book 2 ) the second book and sequel of 'Antara'. I made this a year ago, I hope you like it. Please check the promo trailer Antara Trailer Where you can buy 'Antara' and 'Ninemia' check the list . 'Antara' is a duology for older teens. It's about a modern fairy tale with elements of romance, mystery and adventure, set in a magical world with merfolk and humans. 'Antara' is an illustrated novel by me, and it includes 26 illustrations. 'Ninemia' is the second and final part of 'Antara' and it includes 15 illustrations.

Tools ; Photosho Cs5 + Wacom intuos 3

© Marilena Mexi - Antara - Ninemia 2009 - 2011 All Rights Reserved

Thanks for viewing! Marilena

The reason I’ve chosen the path of self-publishing and why I’m still looking for a literary agent.

Many people often ask me why I’ve chosen the path of self-publishing. It’s a very hard question, but after so many months the time has come to answer and describe my thoughts. As many of you know, Antara is a book written and illustrated by me. There isn’t any similar style of book in the market. There are children’s picture books and graphic novels, but scarcely someone would come across an illustrated novel. The rarity of this kind of book has prevented me to find a literary agent to represent me. If in the US there are 1000 literary agents, only 30 of them would represent author/illustrators, and the ones I’ve contacted rejected my book because that kind seemed unusual to them. A lot of people say that excuse was unfair, and yes, I believe the same thing as well. But life is unfair many times (so I’m not going to nag about that). In the process, I tried to contact a few publishing houses directly but that turned out to be impossible; No one of the large publishing houses accepts unsolicited submissions.

Therefore, there was but one solution, to self-publish my book, so that Antara wouldn’t wreck. Sometimes I read articles where some are against self-publishing, but they would do the same thing if they were in my position. In no occasion would I let my dream fade. I worked very hard for Antara; the illustrations took me almost 2 years, I wrote the story in Greek and I paid for the Greek-to-English translation myself, and all of this because I didn’t want my effort to be wasted.

Some would-be writers ask me what they should choose, self-publishing or traditional publishing. Many self-published authors would reply that they don’t know, I’m going to propose traditional publishing. What for? Self-publishing definitely has some pros, but there are times that I feel like I’m going to burst and abandon everything; in the end, however, I always come to my senses. Since Antara was published, I work hard on a daily basis to promote my book totally by myself, and this is exhausting and difficult. No, I’m not nagging about that, I’m just noting that the promotion is the most difficult aspect of self-publishing. It needs a lot of continuous nerve, time and effort. So if anyone asks if I’m in favor of traditional publishing, I’d say ‘yes’, simply because I’d like someone else to undertake the burden of promotion and other things in instead of me. I’d like a professional editor to correct my books, and I’d like a literary agent to promote my name and my work, because it’s impossible to do everything by myself. I would just like to focus on writing and painting; that would be much better. That’s why the path of self-publishing is a difficult one.

All of the above have led me to a huge dilemma for my next book. I’m thinking to begin writing a new story, and I really want to do it. However, the question arises: should the third book be illustrated or not? As I’ve explained, the reason that most agents rejected Antara was the book’s category and the kind of my illustration. So, if I start sending queries to agents, I will have again the same results, and I don’t want to get through that again. But if some people bought Antara, they did because of the illustration, that’s mostly what made the book special, and that’s what many reader reviews say. Therefore, I’m truly torn on this issue, and I don’t know what to do. The only thing I can do is to mention that even if I chose the difficult path of self-publishing, I’m still looking for a literary agent or publisher to make my life easier.

I hope everything goes well.
Marilena