Normally I have a concept in mind from the start. This time it's a little harder. I have the photos I swiped for inspiration, the photos I took, and the painting that inspired my main character-female. The setting is a focus in this book, so I'm figuring that will show up on the cover, and for the first time, I want to add people on the cover. The female character is easy, because of the painting, but I needed a strong visual for my male character. Enter Gerard Butler. Found a really yummy picture of him (on my Pinterest page in case anyone's interested) that could pass for my leading man.
With these concepts in mind, I checked in with a cover artist. This will be another first for me - I normally have the vision in mind and, with a little help from my friends on the artwork, I create the covers myself. The cover artist sent me some additional male model pictures (how much fun is it to look at handsome men?) that she proposed (since Gerard's photo is copyrighted, doncha know).
One of my beta readers mentioned to me that the cover is "very important" to her when she selects a book. She agreed that the setting is important in this book, and I told her I wanted to add a "person," too. Now I'm anxious to see what the cover artist throws together for me. Actually, I'm pretty excited about it!
I've also initiated my "Street Team." If you choose to sign up and help me promote (because you love my books, don't you?), you will be first in line to see my new cover reveal. The Street Team is designed to help spread the word. Share the love. Tell everyone that you read this "really great book" and encourage them to buy a copy, too. To thank you, I will send you treats from time to time and insider information. Sign-up information is in the column to the right.
What makes you buy a book? Is it the blurb on the back? The picture on the cover? A familiar author?
And totally unrelated - the photo is an update from last week's post. And yes, I got to help. A little. A very little. But I got to help.
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| Progress September 23 |
I'm trying people on my next cover, but only as an indication that the book is about people. I don't like trying to 'match' what my vision of the character is because I like to let readers envision them to fit their ideal person (which is why so many romance covers cut off the hero's head). I'm turning everything over to my cover artist. I can't come up with what I want until I see what he suggests, and we move forward from there.
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Terry's Place
I find that cover models often do not portray the characters in a book as written. I was pleased that my cover artist found a model very close to how my female lead was written, but the male model isn't quite how I pictured him or wrote him in the book. Often the cover is more of an impression/concept than an accurate portrayal. I'm quite pleased with how mine turned out. Now if I could only feel confident about the title . . .
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