THE FINALE! The Making of a Book Cover

 Book covers are the first thing readers see when considering purchasing a book. Book covers are the first step in whether a reader is drawn to the story. A poorly designed cover can prevent a novel from being a success.
 
If it isn't selling maybe it is the cover that is not attacting readers. Some may not agree, saying it shouldn't matter what the cover looks like, but it does. You know the old saying, 'Don't judge a book by it's cover'. When this saying came about, books were hard bound and simple, some with a bit of gilding and fancy scroll work, but  not like the graphic designs we see today. If you have any old books on your shelf, like I do, you know what I mean.

 It is in our nature to be drawn to beauty. We are in awe at a vivid sunset or a golden sunrise. We soak in the glory of a starry moonlit night, or the allure of an open rose. 

In this post, I want to share the production of a novel I plan to have released this May. It is a two-in-one historical drama of romantic love and frontier adventure beginning in 1774 in Georgian England and Colonial Maryland.

The cover is extremely important to me. So I conducted a poll, and everyone said 'have the heroine on the front'. As a result, I began searching for the perfect model. I poured through online stock photos. Nothing but a lot of cheesy stuff. 

Finally, after a long search, I found a young lady's page on Flicker. She makes and models period clothing. When I saw the photo above in her turquoise gown, I knew she was exactly the model I was looking for. She perfectly represents my heroine, Rebecah Brent, in demeanor and looks. So I emailed her and asked if I could have her permission to use her for the book cover, and she promptly replied and sent me other photos to choose from.

The aqua color of her gown was wrong for the period. My designer, who happens to be my oldest son Paul, changed the dress color also because it was too bright for the emotion we were aiming for. Then he used two of my photos, a sunset and a farm field, and inserted them. There were tweaks to be made and he wanted to make a new banner for the title, and we chose black for the spin to match her choker.

We were on our way to an awesome book cover that readers would love. How do I know that? I placed the cover on Facebook and asked. The response was enthusiastic. One last point, I highly recommend Amazon's KDP program for authors who want to bring their out of print books back to readers. Visit this site to see how some bestselling writers have done just that. http://christian-ebooks-fiction-reissued.blogspot.com/

Here is the final cover. 

As a reader, what do you look for in a book cover? What makes you want to pick up the book and read it?

(Thorns in Eden & The Everlasting Mountains to be released May 1st to Kindle and in paperback, exclusively through Amazon.)