New Partnership - £600

Building strong partnerships with authors is something I deeply value. Throughout my extensive career, I’ve had the privilege of collaborating with countless authors—some of whom have entrusted me to design over 100 book covers for their works.

As an opportunity to introduce you to my thorough creative process, this offer allows you to collaborate with me on the development of an entirely bespoke book cover, with a predefined, transparent pricing structure.

This comprehensive package contains the e-book cover, audiobook cover, paperback formatting, along with high-resolution 4k artwork and 3D cover render.

Saving over £400! (On Paperback Package + Extras)

Author Referral - £150 Voucher

As a valued existing client, whenever you refer a new author to me, you'll receive £150 off your next cover, demonstrating my appreciation for your continued partnership and support. (The new author must purchase a new cover before the voucher is sent).

This offer also coincides with the ‘New Author’ or ‘New Partnership’ offers, meaning everyone saves!

Can you describe your typical writing routine? Do you have any specific rituals or habits that help you get into the creative zone?

My writing routine tends to change yearly, and sometimes monthly. I have a high appetite for novelty, and it seems I’m always experimenting with what routine will lead to the best results, in terms of creativity and output. The demands and realities of life have an impact too. After a break from writing, it always takes some time to get back into the flow of things.

Since 2024 began, I’ve been getting up at 6am, which has been something of an adjustment from my normal wake-up time of 9am – or later! Getting up at 6, though, I normally start writing around 8:30. At 9am I do a little bit of necessary admin work, and by 9:20am I’m usually driving to my office in the closest town to me. That’s about a 10-minute drive.

Once there, I write until 1pm, and then I stop, no matter how much I’ve written. For some accountability, I’ve also started logging my word counts, both per-day and per-session, as well as tracking my average rate of words-per-hour.

But what I’m finding really effective is trying not to worry too much about how many words I’m getting in per day, and instead focusing on writing consistently throughout the period I’ve allotted for it each day. I’ve already had one hiccup, but I was able to quickly kick things up again the next day, with a renewed focused on those two principles: not focusing too much on word totals and forcing myself to stop at 1pm, which acts as a signal to myself that I’d better spend my time before 1pm writing, or it simply won’t get done!

What makes you come back to Tom to design your covers?

 I've kept coming back to Tom, dozens of times, for every single book cover, for one simple reason: I understand what gets readers interested in my books.

The saying “don’t judge a book by its cover” is rarely ever followed, if ever. Virtually every reader judges a book by its cover. What’s more, they do it in less than a second.

That’s all you’re likely to have to grab a reader’s attention – a fraction of a second. These days, readers are treated to a smorgasbord of high-quality books to choose from. They scroll through page after page of them.

For yours to catch their eye, it has to leap off the screen at them. That’s what Tom’s work does – it reaches out and grabs them.

Your book’s cover represents the very first step readers must take on the path to reading your book. If you don’t make it an attractive step, chances are they’ll never take it.

What obstacles have you encountered in your writing journey, and how have you overcome them?

My biggest challenges in becoming a writer were what’s often called the ‘inner critic’ and also writing consistently. I decided I wanted to become a writer when I was 15, and while I managed to write my first novel in high school, I really had no idea what it meant to stay disciplined as a writer.

It was partly insecurity, or my ‘inner critic,’ that kept me from writing consistently. I would always have an ideal in my head that I could never seem to match on the page. I’d reread my work and think it was junk. My stories just didn’t seem as special or impactful as what I’d envisioned when I set out to write them. And I let that stunt me. It made writing painful for me, and I would procrastinate a lot, when what I probably should have been doing was practicing by writing more.

Gradually, I gained the confidence to write more and more consistently, and for better or worse, a big part of that involved external validation – first from submitting books to awards and winning a couple of them, and later from readers who enjoyed my work.

As for finding enough time to write: I found it hard to come home from a day job and then make myself write. At the end of each day, I just didn’t seem to have the motivation for it. My solution was to save up enough money to be able to quit the job for a few months and focus on writing full-time. When the money ran out, I’d find another job, and start saving again. I went through that cycle until I started making enough money from my writing to write full-time indefinitely, which I’ve been blessed to be able to do ever since. That was nearly 10 years ago, now.

What advice would you give to aspiring writers who are just starting their journey or facing challenges in their creative pursuits?

I’d encourage aspiring writers to be clear about what their goals are. Is their goal to write for their own fulfillment, or do they want to make a career from this? Would they want a traditional publisher, or to publish their books independently? Will they write fiction or non-fiction? What genre will they write – and what will they need to know in order to write effectively in that genre? All answers to these questions are valid, but I believe it’s important for a writer to know what his or her answers are as early as possible.

Once they’ve figured out what kind of writing they’d like to do, I’d advise them to do their best to combat their inner critics and to stake out time in their schedules so that they can write consistently. I know from experience just how hard both things can be, and sometimes just learning how to practice can itself require practice.

One insight that likely would have helped me when starting out would be to ignore the daily word counts you see other authors posting. The word count an author should shoot for is the one he or she can do consistently, every day - even if that’s just 250 words. If you write 250 words, six days a week, that’s 78,214 in a year, or a decent-sized novel. And you can grow from there.

Ethical Dilemmas: Science fiction often explores ethical dilemmas arising from technological advancements. Can you share how you incorporate ethical considerations into your storytelling and the impact it has on your narratives?

Absolutely. At the beginning of my Ixan Saga, it’s a new technology that leads to just such an ethical dilemma. Technology is a double-edged sword, and during the early adoption phase of a new technology, we often can’t see the negative consequences it will have for our society.

Humans use a technology called dark tech to dominate the galaxy in the Ixan Saga - a technology that allows them to open temporary wormholes to fire on targets with impunity. During this period of dominance, the species it shares the galaxy with grow resentful of humanity, and when dark tech finally fails, humanity finds itself surrounded by enemies.

Storytelling Formats: Science fiction can be presented in various formats, from novels to short stories to episodic series. How does the chosen format influence your storytelling, and what advantages or challenges do you find in each?

I mostly write in story arcs that stretch across multiple books, since that’s what readers seem most interested in reading. Readers seem to enjoy characters they can get to know over a series – characters who become something akin to close friends. Watching characters grow as they confront successive challenges is one of the joys of reading fiction, and in a sci-fi series spanning multiple books, the challenges can get pretty epic!

Short stories seem great for experimenting with unique concepts, and I’ve written short stories that have later grown into novels. But I’m a novelist at heart, it seems. It’s “big ideas” that initially attracted me to this genre, and the longer formats really allow an author to flesh those out!

Why did you choose Tom Edwards Design to create your cover?

I first hired Tom in 2015 to create the cover for my first science fiction novel, Alien Hunters. A few months prior, Tom painted the cover for Nick Webb’s bestselling novel Constitution. The cover for Constitution really impressed me (and all who saw it). At the time, I had already written several fantasy novels, but I was new to science fiction. I contacted Tom and was very lucky that he agreed to create the cover for Alien Hunters. Since then, I’ve written 44 science fiction novels, and Tom created the covers for every one.

You’ve written over 80 novels! With so many different themes, characters and settings, how do you describe your writing career?

I've written 87 novels. 89 if you include two unpublished books. How would I describe my writing career? I’m an indie author who loves fantasy and science fiction and writes a lot. That’s about all there is to it. I was five or six when I read my first book by myself. I was thirteen when I started writing my own stories. I just kept going with it, and it’s an honor to share my stories with other people. For me, it’s all about the joy of storytelling and literature.

In the Moth series and others, you share maps, music, artwork and an encyclopedia specific for each world you create. This is quite unusual so I’m interested in hearing how these different facets come about and the importance of them in your broader writing.

One reason I love fantasy is the worldbuilding. Universes like Middle Earth, Realm of the Elderlings, The Cosmere—they all have such lush, beautiful worldbuilding. Moth is a much smaller universe (there are only six novels in the series), but I wanted to delve into the worldbuilding and make the experience immersive.

How do you define the difference between sci-fi and fantasy?

I don’t think you can come up with one definition for each genre that captures every work perfectly. The two genres are related. Star Trek is clearly science fiction. Lord of the Rings is clearly fantasy. Star Wars? Not so clear. It includes elements from science fiction, obviously, such as starships. But it also includes traditional fantasy tropes, such as knights, princesses, wizards, monsters, and magic. I think the two genres often meet and intersect.

How do you keep track of all the details in your world-building to ensure consistency throughout your series?

Spreadsheets. Lots of spreadsheets that keep track of characters, locations, and alien species. And Word documents that include timelines and details on weapons, starships, organizations, and so on. I still end up forgetting a lot, and sometimes I must go back over old novels to remember.

The fantasy genre often deals with good vs. evil. How do you navigate these themes in your work?

In this century, there’s been a trend toward morally ambiguous characters and conflicts that don’t necessarily involve good vs. evil. Examples are works like A Song of Ice and Fire or The Stormlight Archive, where it’s not always clear which side is “good” and which is “evil.” Those works can offer complexity and, arguably, a more realistic view of how our own world works. Personally, I think that classic good vs. evil – which can sometimes be seen as naïve or simplistic -- has an important place in our genre. Through good vs. evil stories, we can explore the nature of morality and sacrifice. Tolkien understood this. I think stories of good vs. evil resonate with people through the generations. They might sometimes go out of style but they’ll always keep making comebacks. As humans living in a world full of evil, we crave stories that can show us the heroism of good people.

What initially sparked your interest in writing, and how did you discover your passion for storytelling?

I was born in Israel in 1980. Back then and there, we only had one TV channel, which broadcast in black and white, and only for a few hours in the afternoon. There wasn’t much to watch. And I didn’t yet have a computer or game system. And I was no good at sports. But I did have a local library. So much of my childhood was spent reading. I kept returning to the library for more. In 1991, I stumbled across a book called Dragons of Winter’s Night. It was the second novel in Dragonlance Chronicles. I loved the cover and picked up the book, not even realizing it’s a sequel, and read it. I was blown away. It was my first time reading fantasy. Since then, fantasy and science fiction became my favorite genres, and I’d grab everything I could find from those genres. I started writing my own stories when I was thirteen. When I was fourteen, I wrote a novella – it was about 50 pages long – about a post-apocalyptic world, in which the last human survivors battle against robots (the robots were basically ripped off from the Terminator franchise). When I was fifteen, I began to write a fantasy novel. I reached about 400 pages, then ran out of steam and stopped. I was nineteen when I wrote my first “real” novel, titled Firefly Island. Now I’m 44 and still going.

How do you approach creating and developing characters? Are they inspired by real people, purely imagined, or a mix of both?

For me, creating the characters is the most important part. That’s my top priority. Before plot, before worldbuilding, before anything else—I want to make sure I get the characters right. I think the greatest stories, the ones that stay with you forever, have great characters. Years later, we might not remember the plot of Lord of the Rings, but we’ll remember Gandalf. We might not remember what happened in Dragonlance, but we’ll remember Raistlin and Caramon. I want to create characters that resonate like that. I don’t always succeed. But it’s something that’s always on my mind.

You’ve got a very generous section on your website for advice for other authors. What would you say is the most important of these?

Love reading and love books. Writing is a career. But books are also a hobby and a passion. Understand the business of writing—how to market, how to make money. But never forget that writing is about the love of books.

What initially sparked your interest in writing, and how did you discover your passion for storytelling?

I started writing, or at least creating stories, at a very early age. Neither of my parents were writers, so I’m not sure where my interest came from, other than possibly books and TV shows.  I still have some of the books I created as a young boy. Some were about a tiger-masked ninja fighting some monsters. I even created the illustrations for these stories.

That said, I didn’t discover my passion for writing until much later in life. For some reasons, I never believed I could become a writer until my wife, Leigh, encouraged me to give it a try. It quickly became evident to me that writing was something I enjoyed greatly. I’ve always loved to immerse myself in stories, and with writing, not only could I adventure in mystical and new worlds, I now had a say in what could happen. Although I enjoy the process of writing from start to finish, my favorite part remains the sense of wonder I feel as I experience the story and live its events with the characters.

How do you approach world-building in your novels?

In my opinion, world-building is one of the most enjoyable parts of writing. It is often associated with the fantasy genre, but it really applies to any book. Even a story set in today’s world requires the writer to develop a setting, selecting the places, characters and rules he or she will follow and present in the book.

In my case, I usually learn about the world at the time of writing, with the characters as they progress in their own life. It is a time consuming approach, but it is also much more fun. It allows me to enjoy the mystery of the world, at least for a while. It is more time consuming, because it means I have to come back, and review the story once I know more about the world, to make certain everything aligns and that I’m not breaking any rules or going against any history detail. From what I understand, many authors write a long first draft and then have to come back, and cut it down, remove the fat. I work in the opposite direction. My initial drafts are short, often with little background details or without a conclusion. With every revision, I add details, background information, and layers to the story.

The only exception to this approach are the stories taking place in the world of Arvelas, like my novella The Conclave and my upcoming dark fantasy series The Baneseeker Chronicles. This is because I first created the world of Arvelas as a teenager, while playing and hosting tabletop role-playing games. It is a world I’ve travelled to a lot over the years and that I know very well. There is still a world-building element to any story I write in Arvelas, but it has much more background information to draw from than the settings of my other stories.