Authors, Kai Strand & LA Dragoni

An author friend recently had a book in a cover contest and reached out asking for honest votes. I eagerly clicked on the link (because I like her cover) and it turned into such an intriguing exercise. The contest had several categories to vote for, though all the books were romance books. Which I think it the first wrong step authors/publishers make in covering a book. No book is simply romance. You can’t tell a story about love without something else surrounding it. Maybe it’s in a contemporary setting. Or futuristic. Or Historical. Now, read those choices again: contemporary, futuristic, historical. What did you picture? A naked man chest in every single one of them? Probably not. Let’s say the cover does have a naked man chest, but the guy is wearing a pair of worn (and probably tight) jeans, a cowboy hat and tossing a bail of hay – what kind of story do you expect to read? Because of the elements portrayed, you will probably expect a western. Back to the c...

The last Monday in January. It's been a long month! Is it because there were 5 Mondays? Because we got tons of snow, had a gymnasium collapse and missed lots of school while they shoveled rooftops? Perhaps its the vitriolic political climate that threatens to decimate our country. Idk. But I wasn't sure the month was going to end. Ever. But speaking of ending, there's a giveaway of King of Bad on Goodreads that ends on the 31st. Hop on over after you've devoured this post. Link is in my sidebar --> All month long #InkRipples has been exploring all things book covers.  I explored the making of a book cover by sharing different incarnations of my covers during the design process and sharing my collaboration experiences. Other Ripplers have shared new covers, talked about why certain covers attract their attention, etc. It's quite fun. Search #InkRipples on Twitter and find the plethora of book cover goodness.  Today I'm wrapping up the month by becoming ...

January's #InkRipples topic is book covers. Throughout the month I’m exploring the making of a book cover. So far this month I’ve shared the progression of a couple covers as I worked with digital artists, I shared my experiences working with an illustrator, and the challenges of covering a series. Today I'm sharing my favorite cover collaboration to date. The cover for Finding Thor was such a challenge in so many ways and my publisher and cover artist were SOOOO patient through the process. Such a gorgeous cover. I want to write a book I could use this cover for! Finding Thor is a romantic suspense, which means there are two important aspects to the overall story that should be portrayed on the cover. 1) The reader needs to know that there is suspense and intrigue in the story. 2) They also need to know that the love story is an integral part of the story line. Though real life often twines suspense and drama throughout your love life, it isn't as easy to combi...

This month I’m exploring the making of a book cover. So far this month I’ve shared the progression of a couple covers as I worked with digital artists and I shared my experiences working with an illustrator. This week I want to share the experience of covering a series. Even though I have The Weaver Tales series, it didn’t start as a series, so I didn’t go into it knowing the covers had to relate. Plus each of book in The Weaver Tales series is a standalone. When it came time to work on a cover for King of Bad, book 1 in my Super Villain Academy series, I knew that there would be more books with the same theme. But I still didn’t understand what it meant to make the covers look like a series. Not really. I would love to say that I approached the cover of King of Bad knowing how the over all story arc would progress over the next two books. But I mostly didn’t. Instead, I approached King of Bad with my blinders on. Looking only at the single book and it’s single cover. The...

This month #InkRipples is talking about book covers and I’m exploring the making of a book cover. Last week I shared the progression of a couple covers as I worked with digital artists. This week I want to share the experience of working with an illustrator. Oh my gosh! So cool. (It’s all cool, actually, but whatever.) My first published novel was The Weaver , published by Guardian Angel Publishing, a publisher of books for children from 0 – 12. The majority of the books they publish are picture books, which require heavy illustrating, but my book was a middle grade novel – no illustrations required. Or so I thought. The publisher paired me with illustrator K.C. Snider for my cover art, because we live close to each other. K.C. invited me to her house to see her studio. Then we went to lunch and talked about my book and what I might want on the cover. Keep in mind this is my first book. I’ve never collaborated over a cover before. Never thought about what a cover should lo...

Welcome to the New Year and a new year of #InkRipples. This month we are talking about book covers. I have a thing for book covers. As a matter of fact, I have folders on my computer where I store the jpgs of each book I read. It makes me remarkably happy to open those folders and browse the images. Have you ever wondered how the book covers come together? Each one happens a little differently, but some of the general rules are that the author gives the artist some basics about the book’s theme, the characters, the setting, any key item, etc. The artist designs a mock up and asks what the author thinks, the author says what they like and what they don’t like and the artist makes appropriate changes. I know, you’re probably falling asleep by now. Such a clinical explanation. So guess what? Each Monday in January I’m going to share with you the progression of some of my very own covers. You’ll get the behind the scenes look at how the covers came together. Today le...