Author Archives: doranwi

How did we design Weun Academy’s cover?

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If eyes are the windows to the (Human) soul, then the cover is that for books. Everyone – EVERYONE – judges a book by its cover. You get milliseconds for people to decide if they’re going to skip you book all by what it looks like.

There’s a lot of pressure to get a cover right. It has to convey the right theme, look visually appealing, be appropriate to attract your target market, have the right tag line…

When Matt and I began the cover work our starting point was “what should it show?” My D’mok Revival books followed very traditional (read “old school”) space scene covers that were far more reflective of classic science fiction (of the 60’s and 70’s). We’re now in 2020’s, it needed to reflect what attracted people TODAY. So we wanted to go with more of a scene from the book. We talked to some of the Beta readers and selected a few specific moments.

WARNING… Mild spoilers ahead due to images. I’ll hold off on explaining too much.

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Okay? So here they are…

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Arriving at the gates to the school

Eisah exploding with power

Seigie Weun Statue

The Man of fire

We even tried developing some of the concepts, specifically the Seigie statue and the “Crystal Gate” to the campus.

I also tried mocking up some things using Midjourney.

But it wasn’t coming together in a way we really loved.

I then participated in JD’s book marketing cohort in the fall of 2024. We did more of a contemporary book study. I even went out to Target and Barnes and Nobel and took pictures of what was on the shelf, studying what the market put out.

Because this book was going to a YA and NA market it needed to have people on the cover in some way. That set us on a path that began as the Seigie statue. At one point we also tried something far more unique and artistic, before Matt had an inspiration on his ipad and our direction dove toward the main visual we have today.

Here’s an animation showing that end progression taken from Matt’s ipad (using procreate). Yes, he sketched it by hand on his ipad. I watched him apple pen stroke over apple pen stroke carve this from the ether.

From there we evolved the branding for Weun Academy including fonts, finalizing the series emblem, evolving book blurb content.

And we ended up with what we have today!

Final thought on this: the work we did shaping the “Crystal Gate” entrance to Weun Academy actually transformed the description that ended up in the book. It was originally just a gateway in the forest, a large gateway with statues on either side. When we attempted to think like “the architects of Weun Academy’s campus” we thought about what experience we wanted to have students or anyone else coming through the forest to that way on to the campus. We wanted this (preferred way for new students to arrive) gateway to supercharge one’s excitement, to create an anchoring to the D’mok Warriors that came before them, to see their own potential in the statues of the heroes from the (still recent) past. It’s funny how production work can loop back and impact the source material before release! Anyway, I found that interesting and wanted to share.

  • Mike

Weun Academy Fashion – Dress Uniform

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Let’s continue the exploration into the fashion of Weun Academy: The Shadow Maker with exploring the official academy dress uniform.

Taking a page from military schools and organizations, students and faculty have a different attire when attending formal events versus their everyday learning and training uniforms.

A formal sport coat features a front flap and four decorative buttons. In the right light, onlookers can catch a subtle floral pattern across the purple material. Boards on the shoulders indicate their rank, while the same D’mok Classification pin is displayed on the raised collar.

For those with special duties or status, an honor sash or braided cord (“Aiguillette”) worn on the shoulder.

Matching the form and function of the academy jumper, the official and multi-function academy emblem is pinned to the chest. Completing the look, simple black pants bearing a single, vertical, purple stripe down each side are worn.

Weun Academy Fashion – Student Jumpers

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Fans have mentioned how vivid descriptions are in Weun Academy: The Shadow Maker. Among them are the descriptions of what everyone is wearing. Let’s dive into the behind-the-scenes thought process around some of those fashions!

Let’s start with the academy jumper. Uniforms are common among schools across our world. While controversial, some suggest they promote equality and reduce social pressure, reduce bullying based on appearance or wealth, build community and a shared identity, improve focus on academics, increase safety through identifying intruders, simplifying morning routines, and reinforcing discipline and professionalism.

The Japanese culture heavily influenced Weun Academy with their school uniforms along with portrayals in across manga and anime.

Looking to other beloved series, the first two Harry Potter movies used standard robes and uniforms. In the sci-fi space Ender’s Game (2013) was a heavy military focused school that had uniforms for their students. Every version of Star Trek had their students and cadets in uniforms.

It only seemed “logical” to design something for Weun Academy’s futuristic school for those with superpowers.

Here was the original design…

Because training was both academic and very physical, the uniform had to be versatile, cloth breathable. Footwear had to be classic and functional. I wanted to include the school colors including the purple tones. I wanted something that someone in real life could see themselves buying and wearing (at least to cosplay and at conventions)!

I also thought about ways students could could determine the classification of someone’s abilities. The pin on the neck represents one of six D’mok Classifications (the sprit, the body, the mind, the world, the universe, the beyond). Perhaps there could be a secondary connecting pin that could indicate more specific sub-classifications.

On the chest, the Weun Academy emblem would serve as a communicator, holographic emitter, localized computational device with embedded AI, etc.

The final design is inspired heavily by Star Trek DS9, TNG, and Discovery. I feel this result would be something that could fit well into that property while still being distinct.

Weun Academy is launched!

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It’s been a few days now. Weun Academy is fully released with all formats available on Amazon.

This feels like it’s been a VERY long time coming. For those have been keeping track, it has! So many things in my life and in the world have changed since I started writing it.

My son’s original start-of-3rd-grade school outing inspired the experience when Eisah arrived at Weun Academy. And the speech D’abar gives after the bad stuff happens (trying to avoid spoilers) was what I wrote to make sense of my sister-in-law Kristen’s passing. My son graduated from high school at the start of 2025… That is how much time has passed.

In my professional life I’ve moved between jobs. In my personal life I met someone wonderful who then became my spouse!

Oh and the world went nutz with Covid and politics…

When the book released I had one hope: this book would surpass the performance of my first book (D’mok Revival: Awakening) back in 2013. That book reached #18 in space opera before I very stupidly had KDP send out free books which yanked me from the paid ranking… A mistake that I never recovered from.

This time… I DID BETTER!

#15 on AMAZON’S BEST SELLER LISTING and…

WOW WOW WOW!!!! Over the moon on this. Considering I don’t have a developed follower listing, this is amazing. I really appreciate all my friends and fans of the original D’mok Revival series that made this possible.

Now… I get to do this all again for Toriko Tales. I DID push out the launch to the end of December versus the beginning. More time would be good to prepare everything more thoroughly.

That’s all for tonight!

Nearing Weun Academy’s Launch!

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It’s so hard to believe, but here we are! October 30th is coming so fast.

I’m learning a great deal about BookTok and AuthorTok. I’ve started posting some content. Matt and I will be doing a few segments on cover creation hopefully later this week!

I have my Facebook ads ready to go! They had a great click rate when I tested them… Though the AAA content on Amazon needs a bit of tuning yet.

While there will be a campaign to get the word out–including one through the Science Fiction Writer’s Association (SWFA)–I could use your help and would greatly appreciate your support!

Spread the news far and wide about Weun Academy.

You can use the official landing page: https://www.weunacademy.com

OR send people to the main D’mok site with book embedded link: https://dmokrevival.com/index.html?book=WeunAcademy

I really appreciate it!

Weun Academy Final Blurb

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They say the cover is what makes someone pick up a book, the blurb on the back makes them buy it.

Writing a blurb well is very tricky. I’m glad I had some practice at the at JD’s marketing cohort last fall. Here’s the latest Weun Academy blurb!

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Sixteen-year-old Eisah Tanner lives by one rule: blend in.

As an Earther on the fringes of a Martian colony, he keeps to the shadows, evading Redborn bullies who hunt his kind for sport. But when their cruelty erupts into a tactical assault, a dangerous power ignites within himone that can’t be hiddendrawing unwanted, extraterrestrial attention.

Whisked to New Eden, a sprawling space station in the heart of the galaxy, Eisah enters Weun Academy, a school for gifted outcasts. With a fresh start, he aims to master his superhuman abilities and finally belong. However, this alien world proves as treacherous as the power he carriesand some enemies hide behind friendly faces.

When a brutal strike rocks Weun’s community, shifting loyalties and hidden agendas drive Eisah and his friends to uncover answers and forge a path forward. Learning who to trust becomes the hardest lesson. As enemies close in, he must unravel a web of lies, betrayal, and something far darkerbefore shadow consumes them all.

Step into Weun Academy, where mettle is tested, chosen families are defended, and the fight to find your place in the universe begins.

The original wasn’t bad. However, this version works hard to quickly introduce Eisah, provide some background, his aspirations, and introduce the big threat.

I like how it suggests Eisah used to seek shadow for protection. However, it transforms into something deadly. It’s an interesting juxtaposition that unifies and completes the concepts within the blurb.

“Learning who to trust becomes the hardest lesson” is a newly added phrase that hints at core struggles and plays off the location being an academy.

Hopefully this will get people to read more!

Branding Development

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It’s hard to believe, but my book series is now 13 years old with seven released works! Though it’s been a while since I’ve released a new book, I have two new ones coming out yet this year. With the new editions comes a branding update. I wanted to share with you the journey and how things evolved over time.

Zummo Books, LLC

This is my “parent company” responsible for all production, publishing, manufacturing, advertising, and distribution. To be honest the original left-ide version started as a very basic legal entity. I wasn’t thinking about brand. Even the name wasn’t very inspired (but very functional).

My original logo played off what my friend Tara began calling me (“Z”). while I wasn’t very focused on the look and feel, the simple letter and books label got things started.

As we approached the two new books in 2025 Matt redesigned the logo. Using two books he reconstructed the “Z.” I really like his font update for “Zummo Books.”

D’mok Revival

This was my debut series! I spent a ton of time on the cover and crafting something intense, interesting, and feeling very space opera-ey… I wanted the wordmark to feel very classic ala Dune, Star Wars, Star Trek, etc. I heavily modified a futuristic font and added the golden bars on either side. The top version lasted in all books, media materials, and the Web site until September 2025!

Matt’s updated design (lower version) is coming out this month. It feels more robust and modernized but still retains the original overall style. It’s interesting how just the shape of an apostrophe can make all the difference too, but it does!

D’mok Revival Emblem

It wasn’t until Weun Academy that emblems came into the picture. Before that it was all wordmarks! Sometime around 2016 Matt made the first emblem… Years later I would craft one for D’mok Revival… Intending to look like a Northstar beaming brightly on the horizon (or Rhysus up in the atmosphere blazing in light)… Matt still needs to do an updated version of this. Seeing I don’t fully need this until D’mok Revival book 5 comes out (likely a few years), he has time.

D’mok Universe

We needed a concept to put on the back covers of my first two spin-off series from D’mok Revival. It had to show it was in the same literary universe without confusing people that it was an edition of the D’mok Revival series! In the end, Matt and I feel it holds true to the original while clearly spelling out what the labeled book is offering: a piece of the D’mok Revival expanded literary universe.

Weun Academy

My first spin-off series!! Originally the hands of Segie Weun (originally spelling) with her famous green crystal floating in the air, the Weun Academy Symbol intended would become the emblem worn on all students and faculty (and double as a communicator / AI assistant source). There was a etched stone motif for the outer hands and a 3d rendered crystal as pictured on the left. The updated version, which will appear on the cover and within the Weun Academy book content is now flattened with versions provided for use based on color vs B&W, and background.

It’s simple, elegant, and I love it.

Weun Academy Wordmark

While we had an emblem, we still developed a wordmark. As you can see we “attempted” to look like a real university(-ish). We also attempted to play off the D’mok Revival wordmark. They were all pretty rough (to be nice).

The above version is taken directly off the cover. We have a more “academic looking” font with some flourishes. The emblem is on the spine and inside the book content.

Toriko Tales

My second spin-off series! The very first placeholder emblem started as Toriko’s outline, then a cat’s paw, and finally transformed to a kitty head with a Dragonball Z eye glass device.

Once we started working on “real emblems” Midjourney came into the picture. As a springboard for ideas (not final renders) a range of cat/robot/cinematic emblems were generated.

Then came the updated “let’s represent the virtual and real worlds including robotics/AI” approach.

A rough version based off my original placeholder led the approach followed by a collaboration with Matt.

Finally we landed on the versions above that Matt and I both really love. It even creates some unease with the viewer when looking at the “digital side.”

Evolution over time and the future

What a ride! I’m so proud of how far branding has come–and impressed with Matt’s amazing skills and contributions! I’m very thankful to have such a creative and invested partner in something so fundamental to my life!!

Can’t wait to see where the third spin-off series, Wayfinder, goes. If you want a little preview… He’s an emblem I did years ago (yes, I’ve known about this spin-off for a long time). Clearly Matt did not work on this. But it’s what I have for now. 😀

Amazing visuals are required to make even the best story get noticed. I’m very thankful for all the time, effort, and creativity Matt continues to put into the D’mok universe.

And that’s all for today!

Closing in on October!

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How time flies! Great news!

Weun Academy’s book one softcover edition will release this month (August)! These days softcovers are considered soft launches where publishers and authors share upcoming projects to drive interest and get early reviews. The strategy is by the time the main ebook launches there’s plenty of “social proof” reviews to get new eyeballs and readers! The ebook will be going on Book Sirens within two weeks or so to get early eyeballs and posts.

It seems strange to say the softcover is a soft launch, but ebooks are the majority of sales these days! That said, we will also offer a hardcover edition for those that want a truly special edition for their shelves.

Matt and I are putting together a presentation around the Weun Academy softcover design. Holding a “cover reveal” event is a must-do these days. We’d love to share what process we went through to land on such a phenomenal design! As soon as we have a date for the event I’ll post it. We’re going to record the session just in case you can’t make it.

The ebook launch of Weun Academy: The Shadow Maker is still planned for late October!

How about Toriko Tales, you ask? The content for the softcover edition is completely done. It follows a similar formatting used by Weun Academy’s softcover, which helped. Though, we have a completely new series logo design that took numerous iterations to get right.

The front cover design is complete! It’s VERY different than any book within the D’mok Revival series and completely contrasts with Weun Academy’s design. Matt really dug deep to create an interesting, high tech, cat-gal, contemporary cover… Don’t worry about the use of “contemporary” here! Many of you have seen Kindle Direct Publishing, Amazon, Audible, and store shelves littered with books with covers of mostly a few HUGE WORDS and some semblance of “an image” behind them or integrated into or around the words.

I get the strategy for “those types of covers.” Digital consumers mostly see thumbnails on one Amazon platform or another. The big words stand out to get attention and quickly convey a vibe. But … that’s not us. People always judge a book by its cover. So, we want to give them a bit more of a show. Expect a cover reveal for Toriko Tales in early October (date to be announced). The launch of the book for Toriko Tales is planned for mid-December 2025… So still this year (technically)!

The dmokrevival.com Web site design is slowly getting upgraded. Content revisions for the original D’mok Revival series books are in. Weun Academy information has been added. The top content of the homepage has been revised to spotlight the two books, along with the ability for people to subscribe for updates! A complete design overhaul is needed but likely not going to happen until the two books are launched.

I am going to enhance the site so the homepage can transform into more of a landing page when a code is passed in the URL. This way I can do targeted landing pages for Weun Academy and Toriko Tales without spawning other HTML, etc. That’s the plan for the moment at least… I do plan on performing some competitive research on landing page best practices just to see if I need to revise that plan to be more effective with my marketing.

There’s a new offering as a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association that I’m going to take advantage of. Apparently there’s a whole promotion apparatus there! I’ll post about details as it moves forward. But I’m glad to have the help of such an amazing organization and peer group!

That’s all for now!

Launch this year!

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Feels like it’s been a long (very long) time coming, but 2025 is the year. I’ve now worked with all three professionals (JD, Courtney, and Johnathan). The finalized Weun Academy and Toriko Manuscripts are ready, Matt has been working hard on both covers, manuscript reviews from Readers’ Favorite and Reader Views are underway.

I’m taking the amazing marketing work done with JD and enhancing it with a more complete launch plan starting April 1st. My goal is to launch in October.

I still need to work out if I’m doing a parallel launch with Toriko Tales at the same time as Weun Academy, or if Toriko Tales will come 3-6 months later. Technically I shouldn’t flood the market with all my available books. Contemporary strategies suggest I would get all I could from the market with Weun Academy and then keep the market fed by releasing Toriko Tales. Using up all my available stories at one time would put more pressure on me not only to sell what I released, but also fast track my next works. Dual wielding like that could be difficult!

Anyway, good news is: you’ll see a lot more of me and the D’mok literary universe! Stay tuned!