How to Fall in Love with Your Cover

Is there anything better than a shiny new book cover? Especially when it's YOUR shiny new book cover? Whether you're traditionally published or an indie author, the thrill of seeing that email in your inbox with the subject line: "Cover Draft" never gets old.

The possibilities are endless before you open that email. It's the first visual representation of your book baby. The excitement is palpable.

Then you open the email.

And it's not...all that. It's not even close to what you were imagining, despite the detailed cover form you filled out. Why? Why is this draft cover in your inbox so far from your vision? You filled out the cover form!! You were perfectly clear.

Weren't you?

Chances are, you were very clear. To your brain twin. You know, that person who thinks exactly like you do and knows that when you specify a guy who's kind of a cross between Channing Tatum and Liam Helmsworth, you really mean Henry Cavill. He's not doing book covers (but then again, Beyonce just did a wedding, so anything's possible, right?), but you figured there was a stock photo model who would pass. And this guy...could not be mistaken for Henry Cavill. Ever.

So, what to do?

After you freak out - and send the photo to a sympathetic friend - take another look at the cover and ask yourself:

• What do you like about the following?
• Colors
• Fonts
• Cover model(s)
• Background
• Title treatment
• Title placement
• Author name placement

• What, specifically, do you not like about the following?
• Colors
• Fonts
• Cover model(s)
• Background
• Title treatment
• Title placement
• Author name placement

The more specific you can be about what you like and don't like, the easier the conversation with your cover designer - who is NOT your brain twin after all - will be. If you're traditionally published, the changes you're able to make may be limited, which is why it's even more important to be able to dive into specifics. 

If you're an indie author, though, this is only the beginning. It may be that draft number one of your cover is a starting point for the conversation about everything you do NOT want your cover to be, but chances are, there's something in the existing cover that you'll want to keep and your designer needs to know that.

Of course, they also need to know what's not working for you. A black background on a rom com can work, but only if that's your vision. A swirly curly font on a sci-fi novel probably doesn't work very well. As for that cover model...

You can save yourself a world of frustration by diving into stock photo sites yourself, to give your designer some options. Deposit Photos, iStock, and Shutterstock are the favorites, but there are others. It's a minefield, but also your best bet for communicating your vision.

Speaking of vision...there's a lot of differing opinions about providing a cover mock up to your designer. *I* think this isn't a bad idea if you've got a very specific vision. But I also think the cover mock up is best provided in the early stages, not after a first draft. I've given my cover designer a mock up and gotten a much-improved version of said mock up, but I've also provided a mock up and never heard from the cover designer again, so this is definitely a "tread carefully" area.

At the end of the day, the cover designer is an artist. Just like you. His/her vision for your cover might not match yours, but you both want the same thing - a cover that will sell the hell out of your book. Chances are excellent you'll get there - as long as you're clear in your communication through the drafting process. 

What's your top tip for working with a cover designer? And, while you're at it, who do you recommend?

COVER REVEAL: Starswept / Mary Fan

Hey everyone! Mary Fan here! Crashing the blog on an off day because it's COVER REVEAL DAY for my YA sci-fi romance, STARSWEPT! Coming August 29 from Snowy Wings Publishing :-) The cover features photography by Roberto Falck, with graphic design by Streetlight Graphics. And without further ado, here it is!

Title: Starswept
Author: Mary Fan
Release Date: August 29, 2017
Publisher: Snowy Wings Publishing

Some melodies reach across the stars.

In 2157, the Adryil—an advanced race of telepathic humanoids—contacted Earth. A century later, 15-year-old violist Iris Lei considers herself lucky to attend Papilio, a prestigious performing arts school powered by their technology. Born penniless, Iris’s one shot at a better life is to attract an Adryil patron. But only the best get hired, and competition is fierce.

A sudden encounter with an Adryil boy upends her world. Iris longs to learn about him and his faraway realm, but after the authorities arrest him for trespassing, the only evidence she has of his existence is the mysterious alien device he slipped to her.

When she starts hearing his voice in her head, she wonders if her world of backstabbing artists and pressure for perfection is driving her insane. Then, she discovers that her visions of him are real—by way of telepathy—and soon finds herself lost in the kind of impossible love she depicts in her music.

But even as their bond deepens, Iris realizes that he’s hiding something from her—and it’s dangerous. Her quest for answers leads her past her sheltered world to a strange planet lightyears away, where she uncovers secrets about Earth’s alien allies that shatter everything she knows.

Preorder the hardback on Amazon

Preorder the e-book on Amazon (Kindle), Barnes & Noble (Nook), Kobo, or iBooks

Add it on Goodreads

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mary Fan is a hopeless dreamer, whose mind insists on spinning tales of “what if.” As a music major in college, she told those stories through compositions. Now, she tells them through books. She is the author of the Jane Colt space opera trilogy, the Firedragon YA dystopia/fantasy novellas, and the Fated Stars YA high fantasy novellas. She's also the co-editor of the Brave New Girls YA sci-fi anthologies, which are dedicated to encouraging girls to enter STEM careers and raising money for the Society of Women Engineers scholarship fund.

Find her online at www.MaryFan.com.

Facebook: facebook.com/mfanwriter

Twitter: @astralcolt

Instagram: @astralcolt

Bringing a Vision to Life

A post by Mary Fan

Hey everyone! As some of you may already know, I have a new book coming out this August from Snowy Wings Publishing :-). It's called STARSWEPT, and it's a YA sci-fi romance about a viola-playing girl whose world is upended when she encounters an alien boy. It's a combination of my two favorite things: old music and outer space. So when it came to the cover, I wanted something that conveyed both.

Now, Snowy Wings Publishing isn't a traditional publisher. It's an indie publishing co-op, which means we're all doing our own thing under one banner. We have to adhere to certain guidelines to meet the co-op's quality standards, but otherwise, we have total creative freedom. Which means I get to be in charge of my own book cover.

I wrote the first draft of STARSWEPT back in 2013, which feels like a million years ago. Since then, the poor thing's been through the wringer. It went to beta readers, got revised, got signed with an agent, got revised more, got a revise and resubmit from an editor, got revised yet again, got rejected anyway, and sat sadly on my hard drive for an eternity while more rejections poured in, until finally, it found a home with Snowy Wings. What a journey. And throughout the whole thing, I've known what I wanted the cover to look like. Of course, I knew if it got a traditional deal, I'd have little say over the cover, but since that's no longer the case, I had license to bring this vision to life exactly the way I wanted it.

My YA sci-fi romance is pubbing this August with @snowywingspub!! Wheeeeeee!!! 😃 'Tis a book that combines two of my favorite things: classical music and outer space 🎶🎻🌌🚀 #youngadultbooks #authorsofinstagram #bookstagram #scifi #swp

A post shared by Mary Fan (@astralcolt) on Feb 23, 2017 at 7:19am PST

First of all, I knew I wanted the cover to feature the main character, Iris Lei. Partly because I'm just a fan of characters on covers in general, and partly because it was super important to me to have an East Asian girl on the cover of a genre book (think about the last time you saw an East Asian face on a sci-fi/fantasy cover... or any cover that wasn't Memoirs of a Geisha). Secondly, I wanted her to be holding her instrument. And thirdly, there would be STARS.

Here's the thing: There aren't a whole lot of stock photos featuring East Asians. And there are none whatsoever that depict violas. Plenty of violins, but no VIOLAS. Of course, the only real difference is that a viola is slightly bigger, and pretty much no one would be able to tell the difference. But *I* could (I'm a violinist), and it would have bugged me to no end if I misrepresented my character's instrument. Especially since it's pretty central to the book.

So I organized my own photo shoot for the cover. And it was underwater... with the weightlessness of water simulating the weightlessness of space. The model was my kid sister, Angel Fan, who initially got the gig because of nepotism (hey, she's my sister!), but actually turned out to be uniquely qualified (1. She plays the viola 2. She's a dancer and excellent at posing 3. She's a skilled swimmer and a trained diver and therefore comfortable with being underwater... oh, and P.S. She's got the right look, as in young and East Asian).

Here's a pic of Angel right before we began shooting...

Just saw a cover draft for STARSWEPT and I'm so excited that it's finally coming to life!! In the meantime, here's the cover girl right before the photo shoot.. Yes, that's a swimming pool 😉 #writersofig #youngadultbooks #yalit #authorsofinstagram #writersofinstagram

A post shared by Mary Fan (@astralcolt) on Mar 28, 2017 at 8:41am PDT

We spent a whole day at a diving school in Long Island, and it was a blast! Over 400 images were taken... and I somehow managed to pick just one for the cover. Though theoretically, I could now write over 400 books in the series with a different photo for each cover. Oh, and the image in the background of the announcement up there? That's one of the test shots from the shoot :-)

Anyway, after all that, the book will be coming out on August 29! And I'll be revealing the results of that crazy cover process on June 7... Sign up below if you'd like to help me unveil it!

Design Your Own Covers or Not?

Hey everyone, I'm tossing up an idea here:

I took an online cover design class using Photoshop a few months ago, and since have been playing around with designing my own covers and marketing materials. Though doing marketing ads is fairly easy, I'm really nervous about taking the leap with covers, because I've always been a huge proponent of the importance of using a professional cover designer no matter what.

The first two covers in the picture below were designed by my fantastic cover artist. A Highland Knight's Desire was released last week by Amazon Kindle Scout, and Knight in Highland Armor in January. A Highland Knight to Remember on the right is a pro-forma cover I designed for a book due out at the end of May.

In comparing these three, which one pops the most? Is there too much man-skin in the third?

One big difference is that I made my name fit on one line because one of the criticisms I've had for my professionally designed covers is my name takes up too much of the picture:

I'd love to hear your honest opinion on what you like and don't like. Readers do judge a book by the cover, so it's not something to take lightly.

Do any of you design your own covers?

Do you have cover experiences to share? I'd love to hear them!

For a short time KNIGHT IN HIGHLAND ARMOR is on sale for $0.99. Click here for the deal on Amazon!

~Amy

First Impressions

It’s been said that you only have 7 seconds to make a strong first impression.  In this digital age of purchasing books, that means your cover has to do its job—because 7 seconds (or less) is about how long it will take a reader to decide if they are going to click through to your book description or if they will scroll on past.

Your cover has to effectively represent not only your author brand, but your story’s brand as well.

Research Other Covers

It’s easy to be tempted to skip this step, or at the least to do just a partial search. At first it’s fun to look at page after page of covers. Then it starts to get a little daunting, kind of boring, and next thing you know you stop after only looking at the top 100 books on the Amazon list. Don’t get me wrong—that’s a good place to start, however you’ll find some great information by looking a little further. You don’t want to spend days doing this kind of research, but make sure you have a really good feel for not only the general trend of covers in your genre, but also what you like and don’t like.

Decide Your Path

If you’ve done your due diligence in the research part, then you should have a pretty good idea of any trends for your genre. You then need to decide if it’s best for you to follow that same trend, or to blaze a new trail. There’s really no right or wrong answer here—just what works best for you and best represents your brand. For example, some say that romance covers need to have people on them (preferably half-naked, thank you very much). But there are some very successful romance novels that don’t follow this ‘standard’.  You can be successful with either path.

DIY or Professional

Another consideration you will have to make is if you want to design the cover yourself or pay someone to do it. Again, there is no right or wrong answer to this. I will say that if you design your own cover and it screams DIY, then you might want to consider hiring a professional if your intention is to sell a lot of books. Bottom line, if you are considering designing your own covers then you need to do your homework on what works and what doesn't. I'd recommend spending some time over on The Book Designer before you get started. If you go professional, again you need to do your research. Look at several designers (both in and out of your price range), check out their portfolio, and take the time to select the designer that's right for you (and your budget).

A Couple Watch-outs

When it comes to covers, there are two areas where I suggest you think before doing. I mean really think. And possibly ask some opinions of trusted fellow authors in your network, and possibly even some trusted readers.

One is ‘borrowing’ the brand of a popular author—or as I call it the bait and hook. One that comes to mind is Nicholas Sparks. His covers all have the same formula (unless it’s the movie tie-in): his name and book title in a box on an image. This is easy to replicate, and I’ve seen a lot of other authors do just that. The strategy is that on first glance, readers will think it’s a Nicholas Sparks book, so they will click on it to check it out and half your battle is over. I’m sure this works really well. The challenge is that it may irk some people and you could lose readers in the process. Some people don’t like to be deceived and they don’t like copycats. However, you might gain readers using this technique. My advice is to think about your brand, and decide if using a 'bait and hook' strategy will help or hinder the overall message you are trying to establish.

The other watch-out is using a popular image for your cover. I know it’s near impossible these days to ensure that no other book will use the same image you chose for your cover. And as with the previous watch-out, it’s clear that there are some instances where authors intentionally use an image (or the same models) as a popular book in their genre. The challenge is that it could be distracting for readers. Take the three covers below. When I saw the second book with that image I thought, “Wait, didn’t that book have a different title?” I searched and discovered it was two different books. Then when I saw the third cover with the image, it basically didn’t grab my attention other than a passing thought of, “Oh, it’s that image again.”

Now I want to end this post with what I consider a positive example—my fellow Across the Board author, Amy Jarecki. There are two primary reasons for this:

1) She does a good job of representing her brand in her covers (and in her promotions)

AND

2) Today is the release day for her latest book, A HighlandKnight’s Desire, and we want to celebrate!

If you don’t already know, Amy writes Scottish historical romance novels. With this genre, Amy’s covers actually have to represent four specific brand messages:

• Author Brand
• Romance
• Scottish Historical
• Series Brand

I’ve copied below the first book in each of Amy’s novel series. You can see that while her name changes slightly for each series, it’s still has the same ‘feel’ to keep consistent with her brand. The font of the novel title for each series is also unique, yet they still complement each other. And of course, there is the bare-chested model in a kilt. This tells me in no uncertain terms that I’m looking at a Scottish historical romance cover! It’s not to say that all of Amy’s covers will have to follow this formula, but it’s clear she knows the importance of her covers representing her brand.

If you’re wondering why we didn’t have the same kind of party for Amy as we did for my release yesterday, well the answer is because Amy already has a fantastic party planned! If you want to see how amazing she is at carrying her brand through to her social media presence, RSVP to her A Highland Knight’s Desire Release Party! Really, you should check it out. She inspires me!

Congrats on your latest release, Amy!!

~Carrie