The Fourth Reich - the journey…

[Hex]

Glad to be of help, Gary. I'm sure since your user testing didn't flag it as a problem it's just me being neurotic!

 

[Gary Compton]

So I'm having doubts about the name of my series and the 3 book names.

The Fourth Reich - Return of the SS

The Fourth Reich - Hitlers Revenge

The Fourth Reich - The Final Solution

And going by my mockup of the cover, would it and names put you off buying?

The story, whilst it does have the Nazis reinventing themselves. It is a spy thriller with supernatural elements to it.

What do you think?

 

[Ursa major]

The book cover, while eye-catching, does not shout out "supernatural thriller". This isn't a big problem if the supernatural elements are not a big part of the book. (And depending what these elements** are, they may not be that easy to capture in an image). But it does suggest a thriller with post-WWII Nazis at its heart, which is, as far as I can tell, not a million miles from the truth.

All this is moot, though. Notoriously, authors of imprint-published books have little or no control over the covers on their books, and I've heard, as recently as Eastercon 2012, that some authors are almost bewildered about what's been put on the front of their novels.



** - I suppose there's an argument that the cover depicts Earth, Air, Fire (lightning strike) and Water (the coming deluge), but I doubt the average reader will bother with all that.

 

[Gary Compton]

Thanks Ursa, obviously if I am the publisher then I will do the cover design after taking advice from everyone.

If I get an agent publisher then this discussion is futile because they will decide on one.

I am just worried the names/cover might put some readers off who would actually enjoy it. The story, in my opinion, is Dan Brown meets Tom Clancy

 

[Hex]

'The Final Solution' as a title for a thriller would put me off buying. It's clever, but I find it a bit much, considering what the final solution actually was.

 

[Ursa major]

I agree with what Hex says, Gary, even if the solution involved really was a re-run of the Third Reich's genocidal plan (in which case it would be a spoiler of epic proportions).

You could always use: Tomorrow, the World.

 

[Gary Compton]

No, "the final solution," is what the protagonists comes up with to get rid of the Fourth Reich once and for all. But it was a play on words.

But this is what I have to be careful off and at this stage nothing is set in stone. As I said I am leaning toward setting up my own publishing company to publish this. I just think it will be more fun. And to be fair some of the advances I've heard about would return me £1 an hour for all the time invested. It would be nice to have all the profits sitting in my bank.

Off course this could all change if a publisher makes me an offer I cant refuse. But that is a dream. Plan B is the reality at the moment.

 

[The Judge]

To me, both the cover and the proposed titles just say Nazis, possibly a thriller in The Odessa File/Fatherland sense, but not spy, not conspiracies among governments and certainly not supernatural in any shape or form.

As a result, I wouldn't pick the books up to look at the blurb and investigate them further since I'd also assume that they relate to WWII in some way, which doesn't interest me. Having said that, I have read both the Forsyth and the Harris because I knew from the outset that they were thrillers of a different sort -- so yes, by going down that route and pushing the Nazi aspect so hard you will miss out on readers like me.

 

[Gary Compton]

Yes that's what I am worried about. My antagonist has an army of followers. Each one has a tattoo (See my image)

I was toying with the idea of calling the books:

Head of the Snake
Revenge of the Snake
Hunt for the Snake

And then get artistic inspiration for the cover from the tattoo.

The image is actually a WW11 Nazi badge and I'm getting it redesigned to make my tattoo original.

This is hard!

 

[Gary Compton]

Okay, after some thought I've decided on a name change. The Fourth Reich isn't a historical organisation, even though a few organisations fit the bill (EU).

So I'm sticking with that for the name of the series but I'm changing the name of the first book to, "Head of the Snake."

I was probably, wrongly focussing on the antagonist rather than the protagonist so there you go.

My new blog is up so if you want to listen to me argue with myself, please subscribe

Also I have instructed an artist to make a mock-up of the cover. Will reveal as soon as poss.

 

[Boneman]

There's something to be had in mentioning the fact that Snakes shed their skin (ie the bad guys doing the same and becoming reborn... as badder guys). Rather than Head of the Snake,(which seems a little 'bland' as it covers every genus of snake) what about Cobra's head? Nah, there's some computer game with a lot of cobras in the title.... as well as a helicopter. Are there any snakes you're particularly attracted to? (Not Blackadder...) Any decent german snakes you know of? What's the snake in the image?

 

[Gary Compton]

None that I could think of, not sure on the snake in the image, the CIA investigation is named S.N.A.K.E if that helps.

What do they call - shedding of a snakes skin?

 

[Ursa major]

In general language: moulting or, more particularly, sloughing. The discarded skin is the slough**.

The technical term is, I believe, ecdysis.







** - Is a certain town near Windsor the UK HQ? (And does David Brent get a job there?)

 

[Gary Compton]

That's interesting Ursa...mmmm Slough - Sloughing.

Creative juice goes into overdrive.

And no! I didn't miss the "s" of juice. I only have one.

Don't understand the UK HQ - David Brent thing though - sorry

 

[Susan Boulton]

That's interesting Ursa...mmmm Slough - Sloughing.

Creative juice goes into overdrive.

And no! I didn't miss the "s" of juice. I only have one.

Don't understand the UK HQ - David Brent thing though - sorry

David Brent = Regional Manager based at the Slough Office of Wernham Hogg = Ricky Gervais = The Office.

 

[Gary Compton]

I am not a fan of RG so I have never watched any of his programs.

I did follow him for a while on Twitter, but if he moved any further up his own bottom, the Navy Seals would have to launch a mission to retrieve him - sorry.

Can't win them all Ricky?

 

[Susan Boulton]

I am not a fan of RG so I have never watched any of his programs.

I did follow him for a while on Twitter, but if he moved any further up his own bottom, the Navy Seals would have to launch a mission to retrieve him - sorry.

Can't win them all Ricky?

Not a fan either, though I can truly say that over the years I have worked with a couple of managers like David Brent.

 

[Ursa major]

I'm not really a fan either, if only because I don't believe embarrassing situations are necessarily funny situations. (They can be - and be painfully so, as Frasier showed - but that's because that show had writers (and actors) who knew that you had to do extra work to get the laughs.)

 

[The Judge]

Gary, I saw this and thought it might be of interest as far as the cover design is concerned: http://zenoagency.com/news/bitter-seeds-cover-love/

 

[Gary Compton]

Thanks TJ, it's a good cover. I recognised the deaths head straight away with SS above it.

Not sure if the reader would know the significance of this but it certainly is simple and intriguing.

I have decided to change the name of book 1 to the Fourth Reich - the Head of the Snake and I have asked an artist to do a mockup of my idea. Here's what I said:

"Okay the series is called the Fourth Reich and book 1 is "the Head of the Snake."

The "Snake," being a shadowy organisation intent on taking over the world by causing the crash of economies, taking out enemies with subterfuge and infiltration of major political and business organisations.

They are behind supposed natural events and economy busting accidents. The book has lots of spy related chapters spread across the world.

Every member of the organisation has a tattoo see here so my idea is a lighting storm, at the top off the cover a United Nation like building with all the nations flags on poles outside, USA, UK, EU, Russia, Iran, Libya, Japan North Korea.

In front of the building a shadow (who is the ghost of Adolph Hitler) stands with the sword from the pic above stuck into the ground that is covered by skulls; loads of snakes slither over the skeletal remains. One bigger snake crawls up the sword and looks out toward the reader. It has to be menacing with red eyes etc."

I'd be interested in everyone's oppinion