The race is done, and The Stolen has won The Qwillery’s 2014 Debut Author Cover of the Year!

From the first time I saw the cover art for The Stolen, I was blown away. I freely admit that I was worried I wouldn’t like the cover. This was after all my first book, and authors really don’t get much say in their cover art, and rarely a veto if they don’t like it. In short, the artists and designers at Harper Voyager (Tom Egner and Patricia Barrow) knocked it out of the park, and into low orbit! When it won the best debut author cover for July, I was ecstatic. Now, I’m almost speechless. Though I’m elated, I’m also keenly aware that The Stolen won because of my fans, whose energy and tenacity kept them voting until the very end. I’m well and truly humbled by the response this vote drew. The previous year’s challenge garnered a total of 396 votes. This year’s total was 2045! That is an incredible turnout! All of you have my deepest gratitude. Thank you, sincerely and truly, from the bottom of my heart for this.

The competition was incredibly stiff for this challenge, and in the end the win was by six votes. Yeah, six! For those curious, that’s .29 percent. Every author in that challenge deserves kudos and I’ll be picking up a copy of each of their books. Every author who was in this challenge was a debut author, and won best cover for the month their debut novel was released. As new authors, we’re all trying to establish ourselves, and I’m fairly certain getting published was a dream come true for all of us. I know it was for me. As I said, I’ll be picking up a copy of each of their books, I hope you will at least look them over, and pick up a few (if not all) of them. Amy Impellizzeri, author of Lemongrass Hope was the my closest competitor, and the results could’ve gone either way up until the end. Her book has some incredible reviews, and I’m looking forward to reading it. She and I exchanged some emails prior to the challenge’s completion, and she was a delight to talk to. I received her congratulations today, and I hope my reply was even half as gracious  as her message was. And yes, as promised in an earlier post, in the near future, I’ll be giving away three signed copies of The Stolen, which will be open to anyone, inside or outside the US.

I also want to thank The Qwillery, specifically Sally, whom I had the pleasure of meeting at the New York ComicCon. The Qwillery is a fantastic site that supports debut authors and helps introduce them to the world. There are reviews, interviews, and cover challenges every month. Stop in regularly to see what’s new, and vote for authors who are just emerging into the published world. I’m sure you’ll find a book that you might not otherwise have found, and perhaps you’ll find a new favorite title and/or author.

So thank you, again, to everyone. Be you family, friends, colleagues, or complete strangers, it was your support that did this. Go raibh míle maith agat (thanks a million!).