Wordsmith Wednesday...Cover Art

As a reader, I’m very particular on which books I spend my money on.  The cost of print books has gone up so much its almost ridiculous. Not only does the dollar not stretch as far as it once did, the rise of eco conscious footprints has led to massive scaling back on recycling. Ebooks came along at the right time. Sure, I love the smell and feel of books, but you can't stop technology and eventually, paperback books are going to be a thing of the past. 

The first thing I look at is, of course, the cover art.  Let's face it, in this business, people will judge a book by its cover, at least initially.  I see a beautiful cover and it makes me want to read what it’s about.  I see a cover that’s not visually appeasing and I tend to pass it by. Graphic artists have been forced to design these covers to be better, bolder, and beautiful. 

Two of my books, Black Leather Pants & True to Her Heart, were written while I lived in Paris, France.  Much of the background of the story is basically day to day stuff of when I lived there.  For instance, the streets the heroines walked across were the ones I walked across.  Or the art she inspected while there was art I appreciated. When my paranormal trilogy, McKnight, Perth & Daire, was picked up, I wanted to portray that it dealt with ghosts.  The covers all match with wicked lightning in the background, giving it that spooky effect.

I had a book published through Siren titled "Dreamland", and it was a time travel where the hero was whisked back to 1927. It is one of my favorite books I've ever written. The cover I got was AWFUL! I asked for it to be revised because it had this half naked woman in a bikini with a feather in her hair...and this was supposed to be a Roaring Twenties Flapper. WTF? No! It was just terrible but my publisher wouldn't budge on how terrible the cover was, and because I had already signed a 7 year contract, I was stuck.

I ended up leaving Siren for that cover.

I eventually got the rights back, tweaked the story, added a scene, and now Evernight Publishing has picked it up for a 2020 release. I made sure to let the cover artist know exactly what I was looking for. Fingers crossed!

I firmly believe that having a great cover is the best asset a writer has, no matter if it’s a veteran or newbie.  Newbies don’t have fans behind them yet and so must rely on the visually pleasing covers to get readers to buy their books. And so my warmest thanks and praises go to the talented artists who bring characters (especially mine) literally to life.