Showing posts with label Veridian Rose Designs. Show all posts

Monday, January 2, 2023

Cover Reveal: Swingers Light Up Vegas by Adriana Kraft @AdrianaKraft #EroticRomance #SwingLifestyle

Please welcome my longtime friends and fellow authors (husband and wife team) ADRIANA KRAFT! They are doing their cover reveal for SWINGERS LIGHT UP VEGAS, which was designed by yours truly!

* * * *

I am so excited about this cover from Veridian Rose Graphics for our upcoming release! My husband and I, who write together under this pen name, created a (very) short story to give our readers a sample of the highly charged erotic world enjoyed by a fictional mid-life couple in the swing lifestyle. Swingers Light Up Vegas will be released on January 30, and pre-order will be available later this week.

On our last trip to Las Vegas, we scoured the city for photos and adventures we could gift to those characters, hoping one of the pics could be used on our cover.

Did our cover artist use them?

No, but it wasn’t her fault.

We’d told her we wanted two things on the cover: something sexy, and something that anchored the cover explicitly in Las Vegas.

So even though all the photos say “Vegas” to me, none of them really scream it for anyone else. The fabulous High Roller LINQ? Lots of cities have those by now, and a nighttime shot says nothing about which city it is. Ditto a Lazy River. Pick a tropical setting anywhere (or even just a relatively warm one), and lots of resorts sport them. The view from the Stratosphere? We actually didn’t even send her that one; it does picture the famous strip, but from such a distance that it’s not distinctive. And the same with the view out our 8^th floor window. It gave us lots of pleasure, every night, to watch the sun set over the south end of the strip, but the photo isn’t identifiably Vegas. You can catch all those photos at https://wp.me/p9O7pv-336

Valerie June Bondarenko of Veridian Rose Graphics is the artist we approached to create our cover. She began by offering us several “sexy” photo options to consider, and both Hubs and I were immediately drawn to the shot with a window, roses in a vase, and a partially clad female torso wearing black lace. Perfect. The swing lifestyle is focused on women and what women want; men may love to ogle, but women call the shots. We think our cover gives her the power to beckon, and the power to say no.

Next question: what to put in the window? That’s where we’d thought the High Roller LINQ could go, but it didn’t really work, and it would still have left us with the question of how to convey Vegas. Valerie came up with the idea of the iconic Las Vegas welcome sign in the window, and when we got the draft, we both said “wow.” It’s perfect.

Next dilemma: the window-roses-black lace pic wasn’t the right dimensions for a cover, and anyway we still needed placement for the title and author. We were clueless, but Valerie came up with the dark red lace on black borders top and bottom. This is why she's the artist.

Last issue: font for title and author. We thought about neon lights – we think she’s captured that spirit in the title font and colors. Plus it’s a fun touch that “light up” actually lights up the title. And who doesn’t love seeing their name in big bold letters?

So yes, we signed off on her first complete cover draft immediately and are thrilled we did. We highly recommend her:

Veridian Rose Graphics

BLURB

Swingers Light Up Vegas

What happens in Vegas…

Swingers Brett and Jen head to Las Vegas to celebrate Jen’s fiftieth birthday. Through their friends back home, they’ve scored a free week at a posh Vegas resort condominium. They fill their days with every iconic Las Vegas experience they can dream up. But by night? They’re determined not to leave Vegas without sampling what it has to offer in the erotically charged swing lifestyle. A Vegas swing club beckons – will it live up to their fantasies?

BOOK INFO

Genre: Erotic Romance, Bisexual, Later in Life

Release Date: January 30, 2023

Length: 5K words

Price: 99 cents

BUY LINK

Pre-order coming soon at https://books2read.com/

Thursday, November 24, 2022

Veridian Rose Graphics and Author PA Services is Now LIVE and More!

Hi everyone! It’s been a while since my last update, so there’s a bit to cover. Literally…

The big news…

I’ve put out my shingle as an Author Personal/Virtual Assistant. My fees will be listed on the webpage sometime soon, they are up on the Veridian Rose Graphics & Author PA Services page in Facebook. My services include creating promotional posters, FB cover banners, and posting to various social media sites, as well as helping out with an author’s blog and doing takeovers for them. I’ll be using my real name as a PA, that way I don’t steal anyone’s thunder as an author. I’m probably going to have to start a special page for the PA side of things in time, but for now, it’s under the Veridian Rose banner.

Why did I start it?

I guess I am not busy enough with writing, editing, beta reads for friends, helping out as a moderator in Book Carousel (FB group for Extasy Authors and their readers), promoting my own stuff (takeovers, etc), hosting takeovers in V.J.’s VIP Lounge, and real life stuff. For starters.

Sleep? What’s that?

I’ve been plugging away at more premade covers, this time in a “Rose” theme. I also have a few premade holiday covers up for sale, just posted on my Veridian Rose Graphics page in Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/VeridianRoseGraphicsDesign/

All covers are $50 USD ($60 CDN) for a 6 x 9 inch ebook cover. Packages are $100 USD ($115 CDN) for an ebook cover, a 13 x 9 paperback wraparound, two 1000 x 1000 pixel matching promotional posters, and a matching FB banner - addition of author logo is free of charge.

***All covers ©2022 Veridian Rose Graphics. All rights reserved. No use without permission from the creator. Message designer for purchase details and pricing.*** All elements have full/extended licensing.***

And the best news of all?

I was chatting with some friends in my author profile on Monday when I received a message from one of the top people at Extasy Books. Apparently, my editor and good friend, Jon Bradbury, nominated Honestly for the Extasy Books’ Editor’s Choice Seal, and Honestly got it.

Say what?????? 🤯

This is an honor that I never expected that book to get. Away to Me received the seal in 2019 (Thank you Trish, love ya!), so I wasn’t expecting another one of my books to get it, even 3 years later.

Surprise.

Needless to say I am thrilled to have another Editor’s Choice Seal added to one of my stories! Whoo hoo!!!!!

Check it out on the blog at Extasy Books: https://www.extasybooks.com/blogs/editors-choice?post_id=12

I have to admit, Honestly wasn’t an easy book to write. If you know me, you know I’m one of these people who accept others pretty much as they are. The only thing I care about is that you are a good person, and have a loving heart. Writing up things spewed by a bigot was upsetting for me. Those words made me feel icky as they were flying out of my fingers. I had to get it done – ASAP – or get disgusted and walk away from the book, for good. Let's just say my word count for some days while writing that one was over 11K due to the subject matter.

Check out the cover with the seal on it. Sooooooooooo pretty!

Thank you Jon Bradbury, Angela Waters, Tina Havemen, Jay Austin, and everyone else at Extasy Books! I’m so honored to be a part of the family! SQUEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

Have a great weekend everyone… Happy Thanksgiving to all of my American fans, friends, and family who celebrate it. Don’t overdose on turkey!

I leave you with “Don’t Tell Me” (Featuring Ann Wilson from Heart), off of Divisive by Disturbed, which was released just last week. It’s so pretty, I love this song!

Friday, October 21, 2022

Veridian Rose Graphics: Premade Cover Packages and NEW Premades Available

Hi everyone! I’ve been busy again, this time in Affinity Photo. I got some ideas for some new premade covers, and I have been going crazy trying to get them done.

I’m not doing people on a cover right now, not until my skills in Affinity Photo improve drastically. It’s object covers right now, which seems to be trending more than anything in a lot of genres.

All of the premade ebook covers I create can be turned into a package by request, which includes the paperback cover, a matching Facebook banner, and two promo posters. Message me for details!

So far, I have 4 premade holiday covers and 8 new premade romance covers. So far, I’ve gotten a lot of compliments on all of the romance ones, and a few on the holiday ones. The previous creations, aka the "Skull Collection" have gotten a lot of compliments... Thank you everyone who said they liked them!

The Holiday premade covers are on display in my graphics group, Veridian Rose Designs, and will be available on my Veridian Rose Facebook page as well as my new Patreon page.

The new romance covers, aka “The Rose Collection”, will not be visible publicly. It will only be visible for patrons/followers on my Patreon Page, my author profile and the Veridian Rose group (closed to public) when it’s completed.

All covers – with the exception of one of the holiday ones ($30 USD) – are $50 USD for an ebook, and packages range from $75 USD and up, depending on the cover and how much work went into it. Addition of an author logo or series logo is free of charge for all covers and packages. Basically if you see a premade you like and want it turned into a paperback cover and have some promo banners too, I can do it.

In time, I hope to have more premades ready for sale. It’s been a lot of fun and a long learning curve to get this far, but I’m slowly on the way to being a better graphics artist. One thing at a time.

A HUGE thank you to my coconspirators for helping me with critiquing each cover and banner, etc. as I made them over the last while. Y'all are the best!

Oh… I went a bit nuts last night in Design Bundles, and got some really sweet vintage holiday graphics I hope to use for some holiday covers or promos sometime soon. Watch for them!

Happy Friday everyone… Have a wonderful weekend!

Friday, October 14, 2022

Update: New Logos, And NEW Premade Covers!

Hi everyone! It’s been a while I updated my blog. I’ve been going crazy with beta reads for people, promoting Honestly like crazy, and a lot more… Including designing a WordPress website for my graphics business, Veridian Rose Graphics.

I’ve been playing in Affinity Photo a lot the last month or so, and decided that I needed new logos, two that matched, for Veridian Rose Graphics and my author logo.

They match but are unique in their own way….

The website for Veridian Rose Graphics isn’t ready yet, and won’t be for a while. I’m trying to expand my portfolio before I finalize everything, and expand the business. What I’m hoping to do in time is between me, my cat and my co-conspirators.

I can say that all of the premade “covers” I had listed on the Facebook webpage and other spots have been tossed. The old ones STANK worse than skunk essence (EW) and were horrible. Even the prettiest one of the bunch looked like amateurish. So, I created some new ones, with stock I’ve had around for a long time. They all have extended licensing on them, so do the fonts used.

I will never ever use random stuff off of the internet for backgrounds or elements in anything I sell, nor will I do it for my own promos. You can get in a lot of shit for doing so, like getting your ass sued off for one, and in some cases, jail time. I didn’t know that until I got into the graphics business two years ago, and unless it has a commercial license (for promos) I won’t touch it. I won’t sell anything I make with something unless it’s got an extended/premium license on it… And they cost. A lot. Think $90 USD and up for one photo – and that’s from general stock sites, with multiple uses for the same photo. Purchasing directly from a photographer can be more expensive, think over $1000 for one photo, for one cover or one promo. Some photographers charge $2000 or more for exclusive rights to said photo. I know. I checked!

Over the last two days, I created six new premade covers. All are suited for paranormal, fantasy, medieval, or a motorcycle romance.

Here are the “Skulls” series of e-book covers. All are 6 x 9 inches – Amazon standard. Addition of an author or series logo is free of charge. Many thanks to my co-conspirators for their assistance and critiques of all six covers. They are available as a set, or separately.

The lace one is the most popular so far, in Facebook. I think they all turned out pretty good, considering I’m still learning.

I hope to churn out more sometime soon, but after I finish a beta read and get a bit added to Feathered Tartan 4.

Have a great weekend everyone… I leave you with a band I’ve recently discovered, thanks to an amazing friend at Extasy Books. She introduced me to Mongolian Metal, and it’s freaking amazing!

Have a listen to The HU, and their song WOLF TOTEM.

Tuesday, February 15, 2022

COVER REVEAL: "Checkout Love" by V.J. Allison (and More!)

As promised, the new cover and new name of my short (short) story that was in the Together We Stand anthology in 2020…

Checkout Love

By V.J. Allison

Tagline:

When two people are in love, social distancing cannot prevent them from being together.

Vicki has been half in love with her friend and co-worker, Mason, since she started working at a grocery store eight months ago. When a pandemic reaches the province, social distancing protocols are installed, and their friendship is put on hold. A break at work brings them back together, but will they have the time Vicki hopes to pursue her hidden desires?

It took me only a few minutes to find the right photo on Deposit Photos, but it took a while to get the fonts, positioning, etc. just so, while talking to D.S. (Dawn) Dehel and Cameron Allie in Messenger.

Special thanks to:

Cameron Allie

Julie (JA) LaFrance

Maggie Blackbird

Sarah Kaulback

Jon Bradbury

Jesse (JS) Frankel

Rhonda McIntosh-Tipton

D.S. (Dawn) Dehel

In other news, I have permission to show off the cover I designed for D.S. (Dawn) Dehel! It’s so pretty!

Past Imperfect

by D.S. Dehel

Eve Tate's past romances have been imperfect, to say the least, and her recent--and very public--humiliating breakup has her swearing off men, but when sexy movie star Bastian Cahill wanders into her bedroom, she begins to rethink her vow. The problem is, her past is hot on her heels and could derail her future with Bastian. She must decide to stand and face the ex who stalks her instead of fleeing once again, or risk losing the man she loves.

Past Imperfect is available on Amazon Vella (US Customers). You can read it here: https://www.amazon.com/Past-Imperfect/dp/B09RSK998W/

Thanks for hiring me to do your cover, Dawn! It was so much fun designing it for you.

I hope you loved both of the covers, mine and Dawn’s. Have a great week everyone! I leave you with one of my favorite songs of all time, a cover of Wham’s “Careless Whisper” done by Seether.

Friday, February 4, 2022

Writing, Revising, Creating and Something Blue-Green.......

Hi everyone. I know it’s been a long, long time since I posted anything that wasn’t a tour stop or a guest post.

I have been busy with promoting Eternity’s Gamble, helping out in the Extasy Books Facebook reader group Book Carousel as a moderator, creating book promos for all of my books, helping my kid with school (he was in virtual learning for a week, sitting beside me at the kitchen table doing his work while I did mine), trying to write and so many other things – including getting some work for my graphics business. I’m doing a lot of takeovers in various groups, and I will be doing another podcast via Con-Tinual later this month, we’re going to be talking about romance stories. I can’t wait!

I even hosted a huge takeover bash in my reader group, V.J.’s VIP Lounge in December, and I’m hosting another in March. The next one is to celebrate the five year anniversary of my first book, Stricken, hitting the shelves at Extasy Books on March 17, 2017. Hard to believe it's almost five years old already!

You can sign up for the takeover here:

Takeovers in V.J.'s VIP Lounge.

Most genres are welcome, but I do not want children's books featured, because my group is for the over 18 crowd.

All of this hard work is getting noticed. I’ve had a few people purchasing Eternity’s Gamble, and the few reviews I’ve gotten for it are screaming its praises. I guess I can write paranormal stories after all. People are liking my contemporary works too, and I’m having so much fun meeting my readers via social media.

The tour for Eternity’s Gamble went well. I got a lot of exposure with it, and people are joining my group and following my author page. I have had more compliments on my writing than I could have hoped for, and I’ve met so many great people – authors and readers alike – over the last few months.

Feathered Tartan 3 is slow going but is moving along. It’s easier now that I found an English-CANADIAN French translator… Long story short, this one is set on the Bay of Fundy, which is also the Acadian Shore. Canadian French is much different than its European counterpart. Since I want everything perfect – down to the hair on the hero’s head too – I wasn’t including anything outside of “oui” until I could either remember or find someone who knew the language. I’m ready to roll once I get a day to write, which I hope to be next week!

I had my first custom cover client just today. I allow people to pick their backgrounds and if they want, a couple or a second element to add to it. I do the fonts, the colors and everything else – while I talk to the client and see what they like or dislike, and do my best to design something that suits them and their book. If they want something changed, I will change it on the spot, and make sure they are 100% satisfied with it before finalizing. I’m still doing things like premades, but it’s more fun working with someone to make the perfect cover, business card, or something else from scratch. It is such an amazing feeling.

To check me out at Veridian Rose Designs, or to order a custom cover, please click on the dark bluish-green rose logo on the right side of the blog. Thanks!

There have been a few changes though.

I’ve decide to delist what used to be “COVID’s Arrow”. It was a really good lesson on how much work goes into an Indie publication, especially one that goes WIDE like I had mine. I know I wasn’t promoting it like I was with my traditionally published books, but at the same time, they are the ones bringing in the most royalties, and I am required to promote my books as much as possible. It’s also a sweet story, and ultra short. 99 cents USD was probably too much for a 3K story… Considering Sweet Child of Mine is 11K and its regular price is about $2 USD on Extasy Books’ website. It’s a sweet story. I’m known for my spicy/steamy stuff, so seeing a book with no sex in it from me must be odd for a lot of people out there.

I’m guessing the name was probably throwing people off too. Massively so. We’re still in a pandemic. Who wants to read something with “COVID” in the title after seeing it slapped everywhere for the last two-plus years?

So it’s delisted, and I’m scrapping the name. Sure, it was fine for the Together We Stand anthology at the time, two years ago, but now, it’s not a great title.

With some help from D.S. Dehel and Cameron Allie, I have renamed the story and created a new, beautiful cover for it that more suits the genre of the story. I’m doing the cover and name reveal on February 14, 2022 in V.J.’s VIP Lounge, and I’ll be sharing it all publicly on February 15^th.

This story will be given away to people as a gift, for certain things as a reader.

Watch for the reveal later this month!

Health wise, all is good. I’ve gone partially keto to help keep my glucose down and help me lose weight. No fats though, other than olive oil. It's good for you. Most fats are not! I’m working out more too, using wrist weights, and walking when I can. It’s not easy because we’ve had a lot of ice this winter. Hence the wrist weights. I’m able to exercise safely. (They can be used as ankle weights, which is great while I’m writing or doing my graphics design and can’t move for a bit, leg lifts!)

Anyway, I hope all of you have a fantastic weekend… And a great February.

I leave you with one of my favorite songs of all time. “Lady” by Stryper, from their album “Against the Law”.

Wednesday, December 30, 2020

Going WIDE in 3..2..1...

Coming Soon to an Ebook Retailer near You…

I’m self-publishing COVID’s Arrow. Why not? It’s just sitting on my hard drive, gathering dust. I wrote it for people to enjoy, not languish away in the depths of hell.

Plus it’s been suggested by at least one other experienced Indie author I know that it’s good for all authors to venture into Indie publishing for at least one story. So I chose to do it with COVID’s Arrow.

I even redesigned the cover, using a gorgeous stock photo I snagged from my favorite stock photo site. I have full licensing to use it on my own stuff, and it’s a lot closer to what I wanted when I originally designed the old cover a few months ago. Thank heavens for SALES and downloads that have no expiry date!

COVID’s

Arrow

When two people are in love, social distancing cannot prevent them from being together.

COVID’s Arrow will be hitting most e-book retailers on January 4, 2021. Mark your calendar for it! I decided to go WIDE instead of just publishing it on certain sites because of the limitations of said sites. Plus I find the more places a book is available, the more likely you are to get sales. Or that’s been my experience as a traditionally published author.

Other News:

Sweet Child of Mine is now WIDE! It will be fully available on Friday, January 1, 2021! So if you want to preorder your copy now, check out my author profile at BookBub to find it at your favorite ebook retailer. It won’t be in paperback, it’s too short. That’s okay, it’s still published! (I never thought Stricken or my other books would be in POD but they are, and I’m happy about it!)

https://www.bookbub.com/authors/v-j-allison

Thank you all who have supported me in the last year… 2020 may have been a crappy year for a lot of things like that [stupid] pandemic, but it was an amazing one for me and my career. Have a lovely New Year’s Eve, and all the best in 2021 everyone! Love to all!

I leave you with a somewhat newer tune from Whom Gods Destroy. It’s an unusual one for them, an instrumental called What Remains of Us All. Enjoy!

Sunday, December 27, 2020

Now Available: Sweet Child of Mine (Feathered Tartan 2)

Sweet Child of Mine is now available at eXtasy Books!

The long-awaited sequel to Stricken, Sweet Child of Mine, has finally hit the shelves at eXtasy Books, and it’s a relief to see it out. I’ve been working on edits, promos, talking with the proofing department, and everything else entailed with publishing via a traditional house, and I am exhausted! This is the longest time I’ve had between contract signing and release date – five months, and that’s only because it was a holiday story – they are generally due no later than September or October at my publisher – and we had a *ton* of holiday and Thanksgiving stories released this year. The annual Twelve days of Christmas (4 weeks, three stories each week), several general holiday stories like The Last Christmas (Seelie Kay) and Her Naughty Secret (Cameron Allie – talk about HOT!), and three stocking stuffers (mine, Diana’s and Tim’s)…. Plus the usual amount of general stories.

Check it out: https://www.extasybooks.com/v-j-allison/978-1-4874-3069-6-sweet-child-of-mine/

I’ve been up to the eyeballs in promos too, and learning how to use Affinity Photo – more on that later.

I’d love to thank my dear friend MAGGIE BLACKBIRD for her stellar review of Sweet Child of Mine. Check it out: MAGGIE REVIEWS SWEET CHILD OF MINE.

Sweet Child of Mine should be WIDE (on most websites) either later this week or sometime next week. It will not be on POD paperback… Sorry to all who were hoping to get a copy that way. You see, eXtasy Books only does PODs for stories over 20K – and that’s a THIN book from what I’ve heard – and Sweet Child of Mine is only 11K. So it’s digital only. That said, it will still be available at Amazon (Kindle), Kobo/Indigo, B&N, and other sites that sell digital books.

As for its sequel, Feathered Tartan 3, that is still “under production”. I’m not sure when that will be finished, hopefully soon. I’m on hiatus due to an extra week being added to my son’s holiday break. No complaints. I get to sleep in! Woo hoo!

You still have a few days to get my back list books for 35% off at eXtasy Books site ONLY. Sale ends on December 31, 2020, so you’d better get over there and pick up any books of mine you don’t have yet!

Veridian Rose Designs

My graphics design company recently got an upgrade. Anyone who follows me on Twitter or has my public profile on Facebook on their friends list will know I have a new toy – Affinity Photo. It’s a graphics design program, and I heard about it from another contributor to the Together We Stand anthology.

Before I go any further, I want everyone to understand something.

I am not bashing GIMP. It’s fantastic software, but limited. I needed something a bit more powerful for my growing business, and unfortunately GIMP wasn’t able to handle it. It’s slow, clunky, and didn’t seem to like the huge photos I’ve been getting on deals via various sites. PLUS it doesn’t seem to care to erase things off a lot of things, including PNG files. It was either upgrade or stay stagnant.

I wasn’t sure if Affinity would work or not… Thankfully they do have a 10 day trial and I decided to check it out. It’s a LOT faster, and my computer seems to love it. I spent an afternoon cleaning up a few things that GIMP seemed to despise.

I purchased it that evening.

Since then, I’ve been busy cleaning up a number of files and playing around in it, to get used to its features. It’s a lot more powerful than GIMP, and can do more.

My only gripe is that I cannot do the extra-fine detailing at the moment, but that is easily fixed. I need a drawing tablet for the computer, and they’re quite easy to find - Hello Amazon! – plus they’re reasonably priced for the medium end ones. (I’d love an ultra high end one but can’t afford it now – SOME DAY!). I hope to have one sometime before March Break arrives.

This is a simple poster I did for the TRS Holiday party, as an intro:

I’m hoping to do more over the next week or so, including revamping a thing or two… Just what is my business, and I’ll say it when I’m ready.

There are a few more things on the go right now… It looks like January is booked solid for promos, writing and other things related to both of my businesses. Holy smokes.

I do have a bit of news but that can wait till another day. Hopefully all of you had a great holiday… Have a fantastic new year, and all the best in 2021 everyone!

I leave you with QUEEN and We are the Champions.

©2024 V.J. Allison Art. All Rights Reserved. NO USE PERIOD!