Time for a Cover Refresh

As many of you may know, in addition to writing books, I design covers--both for myself and other authors. Last week my friend, editor, and client, Jannine Gallant, came to me with a request to help her update the covers of her three self-pubbed romantic suspense novellas. I had helped her with the original covers almost five years ago and thought it would be fun to refresh them.

This project arose because times and tastes change in many things, including book cover art. There appears to be a current movement to emphasize the suspense element in romantic suspense and omit photos of characters from book covers. Jannine wanted her covers to reflect that, so she chose some wonderful new images--including one she took herself of a favorite childhood haunt. I tweaked them and added the text. We'd love to hear what you think! 

The photos on the left are the original covers, and the photos on the right are the updated versions.

A New Cover Project - A Chance to Learn Something New

My latest personal project was to make Unwritten Rules available in paperback. To do that, I had to learn how to format the interior for CreateSpace. I also had to to design a cover with a front, back, and spine. CreateSpace has an easy-to-use template, but I needed to learn how to rotate and move text for the spine as well as create a back cover image that would allow adequate legibility for the book description. Online tutorials answered the text question, but the back cover design required some artistic experimentation. I settled on using a different section of the image I used for the front and reducing the opacity. However, that meant I also needed an opaque fill layer underneath the image to cover the markings on the template. The final result was exactly what I hoped for and I learned several new techniques, so I consider the project a resounding success!

Fresh off the success of my own print cover, I felt confident enough to undertake a print cover for another author. If you've been following this blog, you've seen the three ebook covers I designed for the Secrets of Ravenswood series of novellas by my friend Jannine Gallant, We'll Never Tell, She'll Never Rest, and He'll Never Know. Recently Jannine decided to offer the novellas in a single print book and needed a new cover. 

She was looking for something that captured the suspense feel of all three books and featured an image of three women, representing her heroines. We weren't able to find a good image with three women, but we did find this wonderful image with a single figure. My challenge was to turn one woman into three. What do you think?

For the back, she had the idea of using the same scene but with no figures, as if the women had vanished into the mist. I reduced the opacity and was able to erase the figure. The result is perfect for her book.

 

We were able to take one beautiful image and manipulate it to create the perfect front and back--a cost-effective solution for the author and a wonderful learning experience for me. I consider that a win/win all around!

The Series is Complete - My Third Portfolio Project

My friend Jannine Gallant has just released He'll Never Know, the final novella in her Secrets of Ravenswood trilogy (for which I designed the covers), and I want to take this opportunity to share it with you.

The stories are set in a small town in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and center around three young women who have been friends since childhood. The first is a romantic suspense, the second a bit of a ghost story, and the third more of a straight contemporary romance. I've read We'll Never Tell (and loved it!) and am half-way through She'll Never Rest. I need to hurry up and finish so I can move on to He'll Never Know. 

When I designed the covers, I had only Jannine's notes to work from since the stories were still in editing. I was very satisfied with the final results, but now that I've had the opportunity to see the Sierras firsthand and get to know the characters through the books, I'm even more delighted by how well the covers depict the stories. Check them out; you won't be disappointed.

Congratulations, Jannine!