As an author, I tend to default to the DIY route for almost everything—from formatting to tracking down my design elements. But recently, a talented digital designer named Stephanie Danielle reached out to me on social media, and I immediately thought of newbie authors who needed a little help right after launching their books.
To show me what she could do, she put together this stunning 3D promotional banner for my book, Forewarned But Unheeded:
She put this together with just looking at the book cover and a description. She added the 75th birthday elements, and a few other things that I think are details that I don't see too often in book marketing graphics.
The attention to detail, the cinematic lighting, and the way it brings the mystery of the story to life is absolutely incredible. After chatting with her, I suggested she package her skills into official service tiers so other authors could easily level up their marketing.
If you are looking to give your book launch or promotional push a highly professional edge without breaking the bank, I highly recommend checking out her brand-new packages below!
PI Ryan Mallardi is crazy about the beautiful and statuesque Angelica. Colleen Kessler is married for nine months but something doesn't feel right.
Will PI Mallardi find out what is really going on in her life? Will this truth
change Colleen's life or both of their lives? Some journeys are painful but well worth the effort.
The secret to drafting suspense without losing your mind is to write out the bare bones of the crime or suspenseful event first. Don't worry about anything else yet. Forget the deep backstory, the descriptive settings, or the witty dialogue. Focus purely on the mystery or crime itself, and build a strict chronology of how the clues or revelations are dropped.
Leave notes to yourself. When you finish a writing session, make a quick note of where your mind is at and what needs to happen next. It makes finding your place the next day so much easier.
Writing a mystery is like building a clock. While the reader only sees the hands moving steadily forward, the internal gears—the secrets, the motives, and the hidden history—must mesh perfectly for the story to "tell time" accurately.
This is the "Backstory" or "True History" of the event. It begins long before the first chapter and usually ends the moment the detective arrives on the scene.
A mystery novel isn't just a logic puzzle; it’s a story about people. This timeline tracks everything that isn’t the murder—romance, personal growth, professional conflict, or side-mysteries.
Writing the first draft is about getting the story down and not much else. So this timeline tracking doesn't start until you have finished the first draft. The first draft is merely blurting out the story. You don't even have your writer's hat on yet. You are only the story engineer and location scout at this point.
The biggest hurdle for new writers isn't a lack of ideas; it’s the pressure to be an "Author" too soon. If you sit down at a blank page expecting to produce polished, rhythmic prose on your first try, you’ll likely stall before Chapter Two.
Before the first sentence is written, you are an Engineer. You aren't worried about the beauty of the bridge; you’re worried about whether it can hold weight. During brainstorming, your job is to stress-test your concept. Does the plot have enough tension? Is the protagonist’s motivation strong enough to power 300 pages? You are building the foundation.
If you are writing a mystery or a thriller, it’s time to put on your Investigator’s hat. You are working backward, looking at the "crime" and deconstructing it. You need to know exactly how the deed was done before you can hide the truth from your readers.
This is the most critical phase. Now, you put on your Town Crier hat. Your only job is to blurt out the story as fast as you can.
It is only when the draft is finished—when the "The End" is typed and you finally sit back to review the context of the entire journey—that you finally put on your Author hat.