Interesting changes

Wow...rejigging the formatting and removing the ellipses in The Lyons' Den dropped the page count by 32 pages. Currently, it's showing 196 pages at 63,000 words of text when it used to be 228 and 66,000. Each ellipses was counted as a word. I did get carried away in this one.

The style it was done in was just too busy. It was one of my early self-publishing attempts and while it worked well enough, now it's all wrong. When I'm done with this version, it'll have a cleaner, more professional look and should be easier to read.

My issue right now is figuring out what the cover will be. I found this image on Shutterstock that I can use for the cabin, and I've asked a photographer I know (and whose work graces the avatar for Blood Angel on Smashwords) if he has something I can use. I'm thinking two young men in their 20s, one brunet and shirtless, the other blondish and bundled up and standing behind the first one. Both looking straight at the camera. I think I can meld them into the snowy photo but we'll see if he finds anything. It's too late in the year to have one made; no more snow.

Going through the book, I think I need to reposition it less as humor and more like a dramatic farce. Daniel's had a rough life, as is revealed throughout the book, and has a very fragile sense of self. While the style it's written in is on the jokey and chaotic side, he's dealing with some pretty serious issues and deep self-doubt. Which is why he takes on this writing task in the first place. He doesn't think he's worthy of love unless he proves himself indispensable to his partner. But going through this madness connects him with a man who cares for him as well as his baggage...and sets him on a course to happiness and control.