Happy New Year, and an Elder Empire Surprise!

1/1/2018

You remember how I told you I was going to edit and re-cover the first four Elder Empire books before releasing the last two?

Well, here's the first one. Enjoy the cover art for Of Sea and Shadow! The type is a work in progress (it probably won't just be plain white lettering in the final version), but the art is final. And awesome.

Enjoy!

-Will

Cover art by Micah Epstein
Graphic design by Patrick Foster

74 Comments

Clint

1/1/2018 07:09:47 pm

That is pretty wicked.

Will link

1/1/2018 07:20:03 pm

Yeah, I was very happy with it.

Fellow Daoist Ji Ning

1/1/2018 07:35:48 pm

Looks expensive. Probably cost you at least double what the previous covers did.

Will link

1/1/2018 07:40:37 pm

It did, fellow Daoist. It did.

Nocturniquet

1/5/2018 12:47:58 am

Its literally super hot fire. I went to the illustrator's website and just salivated at all the covert art I wish I could afford for a book I wish I was skilled enough to write. :[

Will link

1/9/2018 12:19:37 pm

Yeah, Micah is the only artist I found myself. I saw his art at DragonCon and I was like, "Whelp, time to hire this guy."

That's the benefit of Cradle doing so well: now I can afford to put better art on my other series!

Brightmoon

1/1/2018 07:39:22 pm

I like it. Reminds me of the cover for Mark Lawrence's Emperor of Thorns

Will link

1/1/2018 07:40:52 pm

Great! I love that cover.

Sword Immortal Darknorth

1/1/2018 07:41:49 pm

I'm glad that you went with your character facing away. I like to have the details of a characters facial features left up to my own imagination rather than having the book cover dictate them to me.

Will link

1/1/2018 07:47:43 pm

I prefer that too, fellow Daoist Ji Ning. But you can't get that every time, so if he's facing the camera in the next cover, don't blame me.

Sword Immortal Darknorth

1/1/2018 08:18:15 pm

Ah! You caught me Will. I had already posted the first comment when I realized I wanted to say something else. Didn't want to double post though.

Hentia For Sale

1/1/2018 07:44:47 pm

Ugh, I wish I could make art like that. Unfortunately I am only good for making tentacle porn >.>

Will link

1/1/2018 07:48:09 pm

Well, there's definitely a market for that.

Hentia For Sale

1/1/2018 07:59:47 pm

Yes, but if I could just get better at drawing clothes I'd be so much more marketable. As of now I can only draw sell-able illustrations when the characters are naked. It... limits my options somewhat. Ugh. I blame the fact that figure drawing classes always use nude models.

Daofather Crimsonbright

1/1/2018 08:01:18 pm

Nice illustration! Somebody should write up a story to go along with it!

Sara

1/1/2018 08:07:44 pm

That cover is sickening (sickening having the extremely positive connotation all the hip youngsters are attaching to it these days). It's *so* well done. I know we're not supposed to judge books by their covers, but I would have read this series a lot sooner than I did if the covers had looked liked this.

Girlygirliful

1/1/2018 08:15:06 pm

Well drawn image. I personally would have chosen to add a little more contrast by making the jacket dark gray or navy blue rather than brown, but I suppose if you've got to stick to classical color of leather you've got to go with brown.

I would also have liked to see the backhand a little farther forward. As an artist having it hidden behind the long coat just makes me feel like you were trying to save time by not having to draw it. This is partially personal preference because in most drawings the hilt of a sword, especially a saber, is far more interesting than the blade.

Normally I'm against character-centering on bookcovers, but because you've got the watermark-monster in the background also centered it keeps the eyes from placing exclusive attention on the character.

It's all anatomically correct though and academically it's a good illustration.

So good job Will. I look forward to seeing more of your work in the future.

kaden

1/1/2018 08:38:38 pm

Amazing can't wait to see the other three!!

The Green Man

1/1/2018 08:42:16 pm

Happy New Year, thanks for the cover art porn!

Steve

1/1/2018 09:16:25 pm

VERY good! Thinking about re-covering the House of Blades or just the in-progress work? Also, still at 7% for progress for OKAK?

Will link

1/1/2018 09:39:36 pm

Probably will recover the Traveler's Gate books in the future, but not soon.

stephen

1/1/2018 09:27:30 pm

That is really nice. I'm hoping the new edit will help me get into the story better. I love your other stuff, but can't get into this one for Dionne reason.

Pie Rat

1/2/2018 06:48:09 am

I read the assassin book first thinking I'd prefer it and never really liked her character at all. She has no personality and does everything effortlessly and perfectly while having hardly any emotions. Turned me off to the series but eventually I decided to read the other viewpoint, and it was much better in my opinion. After finishing his 2 books, I still couldn't make it through 2 chapters of the 2nd assassin book because her character is so uninteresting.

So, half of this series is interesting to me. The other half are the only books of Will's I don't like. Sorry Will.

Sam

1/1/2018 10:32:42 pm

I've read all of Will's other books, but these four didn't seem as popular so I haven't gotten them yet. Are they worth reading?

Ken

1/1/2018 11:00:57 pm

This is MY opinion on the land & sea series, they trump the cradle series but don't beat out the traveler's gate series yet.

I went in thinking I'd like the assassin side more but a magic, gentleman pirate trumps her by a somewhat lessening amount now. For me in terms of interestingfullness (thats a word im sure) it went book 1 assassin = 6/10, book 2 assassin = 8/10, book 1 pirate 8/10, book 2 pirate 10/10. That isn't a reflection on my total enjoyment but I did not find the assassin interesting simply because, true to her character, she doesn't have dialogue.

I feel like a fanboy by recommending all of Will Wight's books that were mentioned wholeheartedly but what can ya do? I went land 1 > sea 1 > sea 2 > land 2.

Ken

1/1/2018 11:04:03 pm

Shadow and Sea!*

I don't think I can edit my post but yeah land and shadow should be swapped.

Chris N

1/2/2018 09:06:04 am

I think they're definitely worth reading. The Cradle series is the best to me so far, followed closely by the Traveler's Gate series, so Shadow & Sea is third for me, but still very good. The world building is very interesting and the set-up of parallel books is unusual but in a not-bad way. The first two I read separately, but then after that started reading them together, reading one book to a stopping point, then reading the next one to it's similar stopping point. They roughly parallel each other. I found there were light spoilers when the stories intersect which is why I started reading them together. It's not too much though so fine to do separately, I just found it was more enjoyable that way. I'm planning to go back and reread them as soon as Will does the re-release.

Jonathan

1/1/2018 11:29:57 pm

Hey Will,

Cover looks great! Just wondering if those of us who have already bought all of the elder empire series will be able to read the edited versions once you release them?

Tim

1/2/2018 12:52:06 pm

Your book version will automatically be replaced with the newest version if your kindle is connected to the internet. Just sync with Amazon.

Will link

1/3/2018 06:36:39 am

Is that true? It didn't used to work like that, but I hope it does now. I've had to wrestle Amazon to try and get the update sent to people every time, and it doesn't always work.

Tim

1/3/2018 10:07:47 am

Well at least that's how it's supposed to work:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201252670

As long as Amazon does their part that's what should happen.

Diego

1/2/2018 09:28:03 am

Is that elder in the background the elder he had tied to his ship? I don't think it's a Great Elder, because I think those are the size of a large island, then again maybe it's too far and it only looks small.

Will link

1/3/2018 03:02:41 pm

Yes, it's the Lyathatan bound to his ship.

Chris

1/2/2018 02:33:47 pm

Very cool. I really like it.

Micky

1/2/2018 02:36:51 pm

Once you finish up the OKAK books you'll only have one active series, Cradle. Are you planning on working on something new concurrently or are you going to be just focusing on Cradle?

Will link

1/3/2018 03:02:08 pm

I'll be alternating Cradle with other things. Either two of Cradle and one of something else, or half-and-half. It depends.

At least one of those things I'm alternating will be Traveler's Gate, but I might start a new project as well.

Azqa

1/2/2018 07:25:51 pm

Looks fantastic!

I Need an Idiot’s Guide to the Willverse

1/3/2018 09:18:18 am

Wow. Just...wow.
This cover captures the story so much better than the first one. I really like how it has the sea as a backdrop, rather than just being expressionist art.

Bryce

1/3/2018 02:46:51 pm

So you spent a bunch of money to redo covers on a book series that you have said is your worst selling one?

Will link

1/3/2018 03:00:54 pm

Yes.

Chris

1/3/2018 07:50:23 pm

One of the reasons that they might not have sold as well is that the covers aren't that great. Updating the covers might help.

scott pike

1/3/2018 02:56:40 pm

Good looking cover. Finally looked at the list story from Christmas. I'll admit I didn't remember who most of those people where since it has been so long since I've read those books.

I was confused why Leah and Wei Shi Lindon where on the naughty list.

kaden

1/3/2018 04:17:06 pm

My guess for the reason for Lindon is he follows a path of literal destruction and fire.

Emily

1/3/2018 04:37:26 pm

Read title “OMG News about elder empire is it finally here after years of being pushed back for Lindon? ...oh cover art”

Although seriously the cover looks awesome and I know it hasn’t actually been that long, I’m just incredibly excited for more elder empire

Will link

1/4/2018 07:04:38 am

I'm glad you're excited, Emily! That helps me balance out the people disappointed that Cradle's getting pushed back for EE.

kaden

1/4/2018 07:31:27 am

^ I have been waiting almost 2 years for you to say that!! ^

Diego

1/4/2018 07:40:10 am

You spoil people too much Will....nobody releases quality books as fast as you do.

Salt and Pepper Shakers

1/3/2018 05:56:41 pm

While we’re on the subject of this series, do you have an estimate on when OKAK will come out?

Danksouls

1/3/2018 06:57:28 pm

Seconded. Anything you could tell us would be awesome. I know you probably don't want to put too much pressure on a single day or even month, but if you could let us know what quarter (or season) of the year that your aiming for it would be awesome!

Absolutely no pressure though, I want quality Will writing.

Will link

1/4/2018 07:03:19 am

I appreciate this, and I know you're being genuine when you say you just want a general idea.

But every time, without exception, giving a general idea of when I aim for the book to be out has burned me. If I say "I'm aiming for early summer," I guarantee you I will get people on May 1st asking me why the book isn't out yet.

Happens every time without fail, and my usual caveats of "this is not guaranteed" or "I'm TRYING for this" never work. So the only way I win here is if I say "Fall of this year" and then release in summer.

But the only time I released a book ahead of what I announced, I got a handful of emails from people upset that I had released early, because they weren't prepared. This is basically a lose-lose scenario for me, so I have to adapt by not making anything that could even be loosely construed as a promise.

Ya Boy

1/4/2018 11:31:06 am

Honestly all I want is a promise that it will be finished within the next decade. I haven't started the Elder Empire series yet and I don't want to start something that's going to either never be finished or is going to be written on a GRRM timescale.

Danksouls

1/5/2018 03:10:48 pm

I understand, Will. Though it grieves me deeply to admit it! I've actually really been looking forward to the conclusion of this arc of the Elder Empire series. (And I hope that you'll eventually return to Asylum)
I've yet to read a book by you that I didn't enjoy.

1/6/2018 03:29:04 pm

Well, lets be honest, the people who does that will complain no matter what you do, theres always a bunch like that, and it wont matter who careful you are. resonable individuals would, if you post a novel early and they werent ready, just wait reading it until you are;)

(personally when Im waiting for a new novel in any of the series I follow and I dont really have time to read, I always end up with sleep deprivation the next day instead but...) Oathbreaker´s realease was like that, I ended up having 30 mins of sleeping that night, the next day at work was... challenging;)

But resonable people(wich I am atleast some of the time) dont go around blaiming Sandersson for that, do they?

But, we can count. If you intend to do cradle next, then we can propably guess the time.

Do you have any rough idea about the length of the cradle series btw? Im hoping its not even halfway yet.. but its sometimes hard to predict;)

Yigiggle

1/3/2018 06:23:28 pm

Hey Will there's an author I found that I think you'd really like called Brandon Sanderson. He seems to have similar tastes to you in a lot of things like magic systems. He just published the third book in a series named The Stormlight Archives. You should check him out!

Johnny boi

1/3/2018 06:53:57 pm

I can't tell if you're joking or not...

Diego

1/4/2018 07:38:44 am

He might just be someone whom doesnt know much about publishing.

Yigiggle. Everyone knows whom Brandon Sanderson is.

thatotherdude

1/4/2018 07:40:15 am

(If you are new to the willverse and have been living under a rock) Will frequently mentions Brandon on this blog and he is a major discussion point in the comments; that being said the last couple posts have been lackluster of him so I see your mistake it could have been any of us no one blames you.

(if it is just a joke) that was a good one.

Yigiggle

1/7/2018 10:19:11 pm

Oh alright. I apologize. I'm illiterate you see, like Yerin, so I don't really follow the publishing industry much.

Illidile

1/4/2018 11:32:27 am

Hey Will I want to write a novel. How do I do it?

TBoy

1/5/2018 10:26:57 pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4ZDBOc2tX8

Will link

1/9/2018 12:17:17 pm

I would like to upvote TBoy's post. I'm upvoting you in spirit, TBoy.

That's a great series on how to build a good story for your novel. Seriously, I watch them all the time and take notes.

But you want to know how to write a novel? Start. Then keep writing until you're finished. Don't make any changes until you're done.

No joke, that's the secret. It sounds too simple to be true, but it's the hardest step for most people to take.

Now, this is no guarantee that your novel is any good. But it is how you write a novel. And when you're finished, you will have done what 99% of people have never done: written a novel.

Illidile

1/25/2018 07:19:56 pm

I'm trying it Will. I just broke the 20,000 word mark. Ugh, it's getting much harder now.

Demanding Fan

1/8/2018 09:22:37 am

Okay, it's been one week. I demand new content Will.

Sam

1/8/2018 03:20:22 pm

Not asking how much you paid for this cover specifically, but in general, what price range do good book covers for self published authors usually fall into?

Demanding Fan

1/8/2018 04:02:02 pm

That could be your next blog post Will. Write me a five paragraph essay on choosing artists and buying bookcovers for self published authors.

Will link

1/9/2018 12:10:33 pm

I'll have a solid thesis statement and everything!

Some people get shy when they're talking about money. I'm not, but out of respect for each individual artist, I don't want to post their rates without their permission. Suffice it to say I've paid ranging from $500 to upwards of $2k for my covers.

As for choosing artists, I've been very fortunate in that regard; Patrick Foster, the guy who did the graphic design for this and every other cover I've ever done, chooses and interacts with the artists on my behalf. So I don't have to spend much time on that.

But I would tell anyone interested in releasing a book on Amazon that you HAVE to get a professional cover. Don't argue about it, just do it. There are premade book covers out there for $60-$200, and they look great. They're not custom--all the artist will do is put your title and name over the art they already have--but they're clearly professional, and much better than what you were going to do in Paint.

Example:

https://thebookcoverdesigner.com/product-category/premade-book-covers/

Will link

1/9/2018 12:13:23 pm

Addendum: each contract with an artist is different. You're negotiating with a freelancer, so they might charge you more or less than they charged me, depending on your requirements and timeline. They're free to charge whatever they want.

If you want a guaranteed cheap cover that's still professional, there's nothing wrong with those premade ones. But I like having consistency throughout a series, so I want to work with an artist.

Demanding Fan

1/10/2018 02:08:33 pm

Very informative Will. I like it. I give you an A.

Not an A+ though. I'm withholding the + until I get a new blog post.

Sam

1/10/2018 02:18:48 pm

Well get ready to cringe Will because I broke all your rules with my "Series"

https://www.amazon.com/Erik-Awesome-Adventures-Part-ebook/dp/B072MXQK85/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

Honesty, I did not expect a single person to buy any of those books. I put those up as a joke and threw the covers together in photoshop from public domain images. The first one I wrote at 4 am on a Saturday night while totally smashed, 0 editing included. Amazon pays me about $150 a month from them, much to my surprise.

I feel kinda bad and want to take them down though because they're kinda... crap. Like I said, I made them and put them up there so I could play a joke on some friends of mine. Unfortunately I can't remember how to get on the book editing page from Amazon, which sucks because I rewrote all the parts into a proper 70k word book that I'd like to replace those things with, but I can't seem to figure it out.

Oh well. I guess I'll just need to get smashed again this Saturday to puzzle through it.

Will link

1/10/2018 04:26:55 pm

Sounds like you're looking for kdp.amazon.com. You log into your author account, go to the Bookshelf tab, and there are your books!

Honestly, all the advice I give is if people really want to run at self-publishing as a career. If you just want to put up a book for fun, by all means go for it. Nothing wrong with that, and $150 a month is awesome!

I'm usually dealing with people who say they want to be professional writers, but they don't learn basic rules of writing craft, edit their stories, get a professional cover, learn how Amazon works and market accordingly, etc. Basic stuff.

If somebody wants to write a book because they enjoy it and release it because why not, then great! I have no problem with that whatsoever. As long as they're going in with eyes wide open and realistic expectations.

Sam

1/10/2018 06:21:37 pm

kdp.amazon.com! That was it, thanks Will! You saved me a night of web searching!

Now I just need to need to find where I put the edited and improved manuscript file...

gorbegail the snackoon

1/8/2018 04:49:54 pm

But will the novel contain raccoons?

Will link

1/9/2018 12:20:27 pm

I need you to remind me of this in a few weeks. I will actually write in raccoons just for you.

Garbagiel the Raccoon

1/10/2018 05:46:04 pm

Holy crap that's awesome!

Oh, and forgot to mention, the new title art looks absolutely fantastic! Can't wait to see the rest!

In which we ramble on.
And by we, I mean me.