Bernard Jan's Blog - Posts Tagged "contests"
Blooms and Thorns of May
Most definitely May 2018 was one of the most exciting and annoying months. When my heart bloomed and my soul wept with frustration.
Good news? My Twitter profile got its first 10,000 followers! My LinkedIn profile hit the number of 4,000 friends and followers! Fantastic news!
Care to join my old and new followers? Would be so cool!
May 9 was a good day. An excellent day, because the paperback edition of my novella Look for Me Under the Rainbow has been released on Amazon. Oh, happy day! Happy was also May 22 when my copies were released by Croatian customs and arrived at my home!
Celebration! And then frustration!
Boring and long frustration just like all those GDPR notifications piling up in our mailboxes. I must admit guilt on my account too for sending you my Privacy Policy. Did you read it? Oh please, tell me you did because we take great care of your data and privacy protection so you can safely browse my website and feel as good there as in your home.
Thanks to the new EU legislation and everyone NOT being prepared for it I spent a great majority of my time studying it instead of with my books.
As if this wasn't enough, I had an emails exchange with Amazon about my reviews which, thankfully, ended well and had painful few days while updating my Microsoft Office and reinstalling my Windows.
Let's conclude this May chronicles with some good news. Look for Me Under the Rainbow was in the finals of AllAuthor cover contest for May and it ended up ranked #6! Not bad at all considering I entered the contest with one day and 140 votes delay!
Look for Me Under the Rainbow has also been approved in the YA and Middle-Grade Book Category of the TCK Publishing 2018 Reader’s Choice Awards so please follow this link and browse to page 12 where you can cast your vote for it! Wouldn't it be a great thing to do after reading this post?
Thanks!
BJ
www.bernardjan.com
Bernard Jan
Good news? My Twitter profile got its first 10,000 followers! My LinkedIn profile hit the number of 4,000 friends and followers! Fantastic news!
Care to join my old and new followers? Would be so cool!
May 9 was a good day. An excellent day, because the paperback edition of my novella Look for Me Under the Rainbow has been released on Amazon. Oh, happy day! Happy was also May 22 when my copies were released by Croatian customs and arrived at my home!
Celebration! And then frustration!
Boring and long frustration just like all those GDPR notifications piling up in our mailboxes. I must admit guilt on my account too for sending you my Privacy Policy. Did you read it? Oh please, tell me you did because we take great care of your data and privacy protection so you can safely browse my website and feel as good there as in your home.
Thanks to the new EU legislation and everyone NOT being prepared for it I spent a great majority of my time studying it instead of with my books.
As if this wasn't enough, I had an emails exchange with Amazon about my reviews which, thankfully, ended well and had painful few days while updating my Microsoft Office and reinstalling my Windows.
Let's conclude this May chronicles with some good news. Look for Me Under the Rainbow was in the finals of AllAuthor cover contest for May and it ended up ranked #6! Not bad at all considering I entered the contest with one day and 140 votes delay!
Look for Me Under the Rainbow has also been approved in the YA and Middle-Grade Book Category of the TCK Publishing 2018 Reader’s Choice Awards so please follow this link and browse to page 12 where you can cast your vote for it! Wouldn't it be a great thing to do after reading this post?
Thanks!
BJ
www.bernardjan.com
Bernard Jan
Your Votes and My Smiles
Don’t believe an author who tells you they don’t like their books. It’s a pure lie. If we didn’t like the books we wrote, we wouldn’t publish them and share them with you! That is the real truth.
Since we already did that—wrote them, invest a bigger or smaller amount of time, money and enthusiasm to publish them and bring the final product in front of you to enjoy, love or hate it (heaven forbid the last one happens!)—we also hope and count on your support and kindness to help our books reach others and continue their life through your purchased copies, word-of-mouth recommendations, honest reviews or votes in various contests.
As it was the case with my first novella A World Without Color, I have also entered my second novella Look for Me Under the Rainbow to a few contests. This moving story of the adorable seal pup Danny and the Rainbow Warriors activist Helen who is trying to save him from the plight caused by greedy humans already went through two contests.
In The Book Designer’s e-Book Cover Design Contest for April it was reviewed by the guest judge Kit Foster, an award-winning graphic designer who specializes in book cover design. He has designed the covers for over 1500 published works for publishers worldwide, including Pulitzer Prize winners, several New York Times best-selling authors, and countless Amazon bestsellers.
This is his comment for my book cover designed by Mario Kožar MKM Media: “I like the imagery in this one, The adorable seal pup, the crisp white snow, which beautifully contrasts the figure in red and the rainbow above. I think the text, however, could be a lot stronger. The title font, especially, could do to be re-thought. This is a tricky one, since the title contains six words, all of different lengths – it’s a lot to fit in and maintain a balanced design. I’m unsure what the reason for making the word ‘Me’ a different size to the rest of the words on the same line was, too.” Not a bad comment at all, coming from such a reputable graphic designer. I am pleased!
In the second book cover contest to which I submitted, Look for Me Under the Rainbow entered the finals of AllAuthor cover contest for May and it ended up ranked #6! This is a good result considering that due to the error the book entered the contest with one day and 140 votes delay!
This contest is over for my story of Danny and we cannot do anything about it anymore. But my book is running and competing in two other contests and I hope and wish for your votes there.
Look for Me Under the Rainbow has been approved in YA and Middle-Grade Book Category of the TCK Publishing 2018 Reader’s Choice Awards so please follow this link and browse to page 12 where you can cast your vote for it in this book of the year contest! If you have read my book and loved it, please don’t forget to vote for it.
You can also vote in AUTHORSdb: Author Database, Books and Top Charts Cover Contest 2018 for the cover of the year in Literary / Young Adult category. I hope you like my book cover enough to click here and cast your precious vote for it!
Book and book cover contests are fun and often excited, and it is not the end of the world if your book doesn’t win. Only one book per category wins and sometimes it is a question of good marketing and promotion and a bit of luck to win the title. What counts is sharing this experience with other books, authors and readers who vote for their favorites and the extra exposure your book gets while taking part in such contests. That exposure will help it find a way to another grateful reader and fan who will appreciate the power of your imagination and writing skills enough to share it with others who will bring a smile to your face and love it too.
Thank you for reading this and thank you for your votes!
BJ
www.bernardjan.com
Bernard Jan
Since we already did that—wrote them, invest a bigger or smaller amount of time, money and enthusiasm to publish them and bring the final product in front of you to enjoy, love or hate it (heaven forbid the last one happens!)—we also hope and count on your support and kindness to help our books reach others and continue their life through your purchased copies, word-of-mouth recommendations, honest reviews or votes in various contests.
As it was the case with my first novella A World Without Color, I have also entered my second novella Look for Me Under the Rainbow to a few contests. This moving story of the adorable seal pup Danny and the Rainbow Warriors activist Helen who is trying to save him from the plight caused by greedy humans already went through two contests.
In The Book Designer’s e-Book Cover Design Contest for April it was reviewed by the guest judge Kit Foster, an award-winning graphic designer who specializes in book cover design. He has designed the covers for over 1500 published works for publishers worldwide, including Pulitzer Prize winners, several New York Times best-selling authors, and countless Amazon bestsellers.
This is his comment for my book cover designed by Mario Kožar MKM Media: “I like the imagery in this one, The adorable seal pup, the crisp white snow, which beautifully contrasts the figure in red and the rainbow above. I think the text, however, could be a lot stronger. The title font, especially, could do to be re-thought. This is a tricky one, since the title contains six words, all of different lengths – it’s a lot to fit in and maintain a balanced design. I’m unsure what the reason for making the word ‘Me’ a different size to the rest of the words on the same line was, too.” Not a bad comment at all, coming from such a reputable graphic designer. I am pleased!
In the second book cover contest to which I submitted, Look for Me Under the Rainbow entered the finals of AllAuthor cover contest for May and it ended up ranked #6! This is a good result considering that due to the error the book entered the contest with one day and 140 votes delay!
This contest is over for my story of Danny and we cannot do anything about it anymore. But my book is running and competing in two other contests and I hope and wish for your votes there.
Look for Me Under the Rainbow has been approved in YA and Middle-Grade Book Category of the TCK Publishing 2018 Reader’s Choice Awards so please follow this link and browse to page 12 where you can cast your vote for it in this book of the year contest! If you have read my book and loved it, please don’t forget to vote for it.
You can also vote in AUTHORSdb: Author Database, Books and Top Charts Cover Contest 2018 for the cover of the year in Literary / Young Adult category. I hope you like my book cover enough to click here and cast your precious vote for it!
Book and book cover contests are fun and often excited, and it is not the end of the world if your book doesn’t win. Only one book per category wins and sometimes it is a question of good marketing and promotion and a bit of luck to win the title. What counts is sharing this experience with other books, authors and readers who vote for their favorites and the extra exposure your book gets while taking part in such contests. That exposure will help it find a way to another grateful reader and fan who will appreciate the power of your imagination and writing skills enough to share it with others who will bring a smile to your face and love it too.
Thank you for reading this and thank you for your votes!
BJ
www.bernardjan.com
Bernard Jan
Chasing Votes, Not Rainbows
My novella Look for Me Under the Rainbow about the killing of harp seal pups in Canada and the group of environmentalists and activists trying to save them is still competing in two contests.
It would be a great help if you could spread the word because you can only until October 26 vote for the semi-finals of the AUTHORSdb Cover Contest 2018 for Look for Me Under the Rainbow. This is why it needs as many as possible VOTES NOW.
In another TCK Publishing contest for the book of the year, Look for Me Under the Rainbow is on the second place in YA and Middle Grade category. It needs 48 votes to take the leading position! Do you think we can do it together? Can you help Danny become a leader in YA and Middle Grade category? If so, please, tell all your friends to move forward to the page 12 and cast their votes for Look for Me Under the Rainbow! Thanks!
BJ
www.bernardjan.com
Bernard Jan
It would be a great help if you could spread the word because you can only until October 26 vote for the semi-finals of the AUTHORSdb Cover Contest 2018 for Look for Me Under the Rainbow. This is why it needs as many as possible VOTES NOW.
In another TCK Publishing contest for the book of the year, Look for Me Under the Rainbow is on the second place in YA and Middle Grade category. It needs 48 votes to take the leading position! Do you think we can do it together? Can you help Danny become a leader in YA and Middle Grade category? If so, please, tell all your friends to move forward to the page 12 and cast their votes for Look for Me Under the Rainbow! Thanks!
BJ
www.bernardjan.com
Bernard Jan
