Check Out Kate & Ruger's New Portrait 📸

Hi, all—

It's been a long time in coming, but Kate & Ruger finally have a banner on the homepage of my website. 🎉 I loaded the image late last week & also pasted it below. Guys, Ivan Zanchetta has outdone himself—again!

Not only did he choose the perfect pose for Kate, check out Max's watch & the 9mm Ivan added. But the most incredible part? Kate's scar. All three personalizations are a testimony to Ivan's immense talent. If you'd like to see Kate & Ruger in their full-size glory, click on the image & you'll be taken to their welcome banner on my website. 

Watch and scar aside, I think you'll agree that Ruger totally steals the show. I admit that in my mind I originally saw Kate & Ruger walking into the trees, with both looking away from the viewer as they faced the threat together. But Ivan wanted Kate to interact with Ruger & Ruger to interact with us, as if inviting us along. 

As usual, Ivan was right!

I have a few more graphics to share. Lately, I've found myself needing a small, round logo to slip into places around the internet. But I wanted something I could also tuck into larger artwork to enhance it. 

I confess, I tried creating a logo on my own with some of the wonderful websites & tools that have become available to authors. (BookBrush, anyone?) Alas, my efforts were amateurish, at best. So, once again, I turned to the master.

Smart decision, eh? 

No matter how deceptively simple or outright elaborate, Ivan's creations always have that little extra woven in that makes them stand out. In this case, I never would have thought to offset the font amid crosshairs—but I love the results.

One of the ways I've already used the new logo—along with Kate's amazing banner—is to flesh out the “From the Publisher” spots on the Amazon sales pages for books included in the Hidden Valor Series. Check out the screenshot I took of the results. (Amazon inserts the spaces that break up the image.) 

Yep, as much as I like the logo/series footer, Ruger still steals the show. 😁

I've also used the logo—along with the gorgeous banner Ivan created last year for Regan—to flesh out Regan's Deception Point Series pages on Amazon:

More graphics are coming! I'm already tapping into Ivan's genius for the next two books in the Deception Point & the Hidden Valor series. Once the covers are finished for Chokepoint & Beneath the Bones, I'll share the results with you here & load the books for preorder across the eStores.

I've also got a third banner order in with Ivan. Why? If you've read the teaser chapter for Chokepoint that I included at the end of Backblast, you know that NCIS Special Agent Mira Ellis will be heading up the next Deception Point thriller. With that in mind, I got to thinking—Mira needs her own banner. 

Once all three banners are set, I'll be hitting up my website designer to see if we can't get them to rotate on the welcome page of my site. Until then, I'm letting Kate & Ruger claim center stage.

Oh, if you do head to my website to see Kate & Ruger's banner at full size, you may catch a glimpse of a “ghost” image of the new newsletter signup form that flashes in on some computer screens before it leaves and then reappears (as it should) after 10 seconds. The ghostly glitch should be fixed soon.🤞

So there you have it. Twenty-two months into my Indie career, I finally have my author branding settled—and it's all because of Ivan. He's taught me more about graphics, fonts & colors than all my time with a traditional publisher. I can't wait to see what the coming year will bring knowledge-wise. I feel very blessed that you all have stuck around while I learned the ropes & found my Indie feet.

Thanks for all the support!

—Candace