The Evolution of a Cover

 

  

If you spend any time on Amazon scrolling through the millions of available books, you know the value of a good cover. A great design can catch your attention and stop the scrolling for a minute so you can study the cover and read the blurb. The cover is what pumps the brakes and the blurb is what convinces you to buy. These are the two most important parts of any book. Because you need to make someone push the button to buy your book before they can delve into it. And if a reader passes you by, they'll never get to enjoy the story you've worked so hard on. 

There are so many things to take into account when creating a cover. I spend hours culling through stock images, looking for just the right person or couple. One of my good friends has a pet peeve with hair color on the covers. It has to match the description of the characters or she throws the book across the room. So, I'm very conscious of hair color when I'm picking out my models. After all, PhotoShop can work wonders, but if you have a heroine with wispy hair, it's almost impossible to change the hair. My publisher and I decided recently that the blonde model on the cover of A British Heiress in America (at right) could not be changed to a brunette, so I had to change the hair color in the book. 

As an example of a changing cover design, I offer up one of my favorite books of all time–Blame It On The Brontes. This was a challenging book to write, since it told an over-arcing story from the viewpoint of the three sisters involved. Three separate stories from three points of view telling one story. Up until I wrote this story, I'd only written historical, so this contemporary was a real change of pace. However, my first cover attempt looked more historical than contemporary, and confused my faithful readers. 

So, after hearing complaints that this didn't give the right image, I asked for the cover to be changed. Since my three ladies had totally distinct personalities, I thought three pairs of shoes that would mirror their striking differences would be perfect. It didn't exactly work out like I had anticipated and my publisher turned a deaf ear to my complaints about cover 2. Better but not quite what I envisioned. 

I wasn't able to get the cover I'd always thought this book needed until I got the rights back from the publisher and was able to buy the exact look I'd envisioned. Here's the final version of this cover. 

Which version is your favorite? Would any of these covers make you stop and read the blurb? And better yet, make you buy the book? 

A British Heiress in America Cover Debut!

I don't know about you, but one of my pet peeves when it comes to covers is when the hero and heroine on the cover in no way resemble the hero and heroine in the book. And any author out there who fills out a cover art info sheet for a publisher or who is responsible for putting together their own cover, knows how hard it is to get the image you've been living with in your head for months or years to translate onto the cover.

For the cover of the first book in my new Revolutionary War series, I am lucky enough to work with a publisher who allows me to have a say in what pictures I want to consider. I have spent hours on the various images for sale sites, culling through thousands of pictures to find just the right one. I found a picture that I really liked, but the heroine is a blonde. She plays well against the dark and brooding hero, but my heroine had dark hair. I asked the cover artist to change the hair color. The only problem was the hair style on the lady was so complex and there were so many wisps going in every direction that it became impossible to change. So we decided to do the obvious and change her hair color in the book from dark to light. A simple Find and Replace did the trick and voila! My heroine is now a blonde. The book will be released on June 25. Here's the cover, for your viewing pleasure:

And, here's an excerpt:

Off the Coast of England, 1775

The minute the ship began to move out of the docks, Pippa’s courage faltered, as if it took a swan dive over the railing and began dog paddling toward the pilings. The shores of her home country faded in the distance, along with her ability to change her course. She desperately wanted a cheroot but couldn’t light up and give herself away even if she had one. Instead, she curled up between the water barrels and closed her eyes, hoping her stomach would settle if she didn’t witness the rocking of the ship. She let the up and down motion lull her into a stupor.

“Blimey! What ‘ave we here?” One of the crew of the Gladys Maria jostled a barrel away, exposing Pippa’s hiding place. She fell backward, hitting her head on the deck, the sun blinding her. She winced, at both the crack to her head, and at the harsh sunlight. One hand shielded her eyes, the other cradled the back of her head, leaving her body exposed.

A swift kick in Pippa’s ribs made her yelp in pain. She curled into a ball, but meaty hands grabbed at her and forced her to her feet. She doubled over and grabbed her midsection, retching.

“Well, iffen it ain’t a little stowaway.” The deckhand laughed as he grabbed the back of Pippa’s shirt and tugged her upright. “Cap’n will not be pleased to see the likes of you.”

Pippa swallowed her bile and struggled as the man grabbed her trousers as well as the nape of her shirt and half-carried her below deck. “I can walk by meself, guv’ner.” She intentionally lowered her voice, but still it sounded more like a socialite than a boy to her ears. Could she pull this off? Her limbs were shaking so badly she wasn’t at all certain she could walk by herself.

He dropped her to the floor once they got below deck but still kept a hand at the nape of her shirt, bunching the fabric in his large hand. “So, walk then, laddie.” He shoved her forward, and she stumbled, but kept her balance.

He’d called her a lad. She blew out a breath. At least one man bought her disguise.

“Where to?” As if she had a say in the matter.

He grabbed her arm and hurried their pace. “To the captain’s quarters. That’s where we take all the stowaways.”

She trembled but wrenched her arm away from his grasp. “How many of us are there?”

“Yer the first one I’ve come across this trip, but there’ve been others.” She glanced at the deckhand. His grizzly face was bearded, his sneer revealed a shiny gold tooth, and his matted hair fell to his shoulders. He made her insides quake. Definitely, he was the most fearful person she’d ever come into contact with. “’Tis a pity we’re so far out to sea already. We coulda just tossed you back into the harbor a couple hours ago.”

Pippa couldn’t stop the full body tremor that pulsed through her. She didn’t know how to swim. Young ladies of the Ton didn’t partake in such foolishness. She took a deep breath and faced forward. Not being able to swim was the least of her concerns right now. She had an appointment with the captain, and her fate awaited.

The gnarly deckhand stopped in front of a door and knocked once.

            “Enter.”

He opened the door and shoved Pippa inside before he followed.

“I was just about to crack open one of them water barrels when I found this mongrel, hiding in the middle.” He clutched her arm again.

As if she could have escaped this small room, with the deckhand standing in front of the door and the captain staring at her as if she were a bug he wished to squash. She held her breath.

“Nice work, Ben. Leave the boy here. I’ll decide what to do with him.” The captain rounded his desk and continued to stare at her. She stared back. English society had thus far limited her to dancing in ballrooms and charming various titled gentlemen, and she was ill-equipped to deal with the likes of the rugged-looking captain. His face was tanned, his body muscled, and altogether, he was the most handsome man she’d ever met. His jawline could slice paper, his blue eyes matched the sea.

Pippa expelled a breath, feeling the walls of the cabin close in. She’d never been alone in a room with a man before. Of course, her first experience would have to be with the most handsome man ever, and she in disguise as a boy. A disguise she needed to keep up for the duration of the voyage. In the ballroom, members of the Ton applauded her using her feminine wiles on a man, but in this case, those tools would not work. She couldn’t charm her way out of her situation.

Pippa is one of my favorite heroines of all time. She steals cheroots wherever she can, and is a bit of an impetuous person. I like to think I'd have done the same, had I been living during those days. I hope this excerpt has intrigued you, and that you'll order your copy when it is released. 

Open House

Most of you who follow this blog know my house in Oberlin is on the market. So today, we're having the first open house for it. We're frantically cleaning each room, putting a spit shine on every piece of furniture, emptying wastebaskets, tucking the extra dog bed out on the screened porch and running the Swiffer one final time over the floors. Then, we put fresh flowers in each room for added ambiance, turn it over to the real estate agents, and leave, hoping for a sale.

I can't help but compare it to the editing process. You knew that was coming, didn't you?

During editing, I go chapter by chapter over the manuscript as I format it, searching for overused words and phrases, making certain all the senses are represented equally and adequately, that I've added in description, visceral responses, some hopefully witty narrative, and given my characters solid reasons why they are resisting each other. I make certain I'm staying in one person's head throughout the entire scene. Taking care of the basics, sweeping away the heavy debris.

When I'm done with the hard edits, I'll go back over the manuscript a second time, reading it through from start to finish, putting a spit shine on each word, phrase, sentence. I look through the file of unused scenes to see if anything is worthy of being put back into the story, and if not, I empty the file. I clean each scene of extraneous materials by eliminating words and phrases that go nowhere, or add nothing to the story.

Then, I read it again. I run through the manuscript one more time, catching typos, extra commas, odd phrasing, making certain I have the same eye color for the hero throughout and that the heroine doesn't change her clothes mid-scene, unless she's supposed to. When I'm done with this read, I'll go back once more and see if there's any place I can add to the story to make it more effective. To add ambiance.

Only then do I consider my work ready for a publisher's eyes. If I'm fortunate enough to capture the eye of a publisher, they turn my manuscript over to their production department and the editing process begins again. By the time the book releases, I will have read it over and over at least seven or eight times, to the point where I have parts of it memorized. In the end, the manuscript leaves my hands, and I hope for a sale.

I just finished the final edits of A Widow's Salvation, due out September 7. It's now left my hands for good, and I'm hoping for a sale come September. Or two. Or two thousand. We'll see how it goes.

Covers Are Everything

My last few days have been taken up by attempting to find an appropriate cover for my newest historical, due to release in March. While I know the best measure for a book's success is to write a really good one, let's face facts here. Most novels these days are sold through the internet. There are none of the tactile sensations that come from standing in a bookstore with the scent of Starbucks hanging in the air while you pick a book from the shelf and crack it open. Perhaps it was the author's name that first attracted you, but my guess is it was the cover art that caught your eye, even in a bookstore.  It's of utmost importance these days to be able to grab a reader's attention with a cover the size of a postage stamp.

While I love the cover for my upcoming contemporary, The Road To Comfort, finding just the right art for my next historical, Blinded By Grace, was a bit more difficult. What am I saying? It was a lot more difficult. Choices are more limited for historical covers, since most cover art is purchased through stock photo houses, and there just aren't that many historical reenactors out there. My publisher's first attempt failed because we discovered we had used the same model for one of my other books. The second attempt was a woman in a wedding gown alighting from a carriage. The carriage part of the picture was spot-on, but the dress was an obvious 21st century creation. I would have been laughed out of the Historical Hearts chapter of RWA if that one had gotten through.

So, the publisher and I both pored over images, searching for just the right one. Finally, three concepts were created, one of them a photo I had picked and thought was perfect. But, it takes a trained eye to understand that a stand-alone image looks different when you layer type over it. And type is needed on the cover for a few important things. Like your name. And the book's name. And the publisher's name, since they went through all this gnashing of teeth with you.

Ultimately, the best cover was the product of the art department, who knows what works. But it was a struggle. I hope, when I do get to reveal it to the general public, you'll approve.

In the meantime, I'm happy to share the cover of my contemporary, which is going to be released in March. The hero in the book is a man named Cyclone Kelley. This gentleman certainly stirs me up, so I think the cover is genius. Do you agree?