Lots of discussion going on about scene-specific covers, characters not looking as the author describes them…so here’s my take on covers.
A cover is a selling tool. Its job is to make the potential customer notice the book. And done. Covers run in cycles & trends, not to mention genres. A woman in a diaphanous gown running along a clifftop, with a scary mansion in the background? You’re looking at a gothic novel, and there will be peril, and some sort of mansion—but not necessarily a cliff. A bloody knife? Probably a Mystery. Maybe Horror. Man and woman embracing? A Romance. He’s wearing a kilt? A Highland Romance! Covers give potential readers an idea of what sort of book they’re holding.
If you have the bucks of a major publisher, you can hire an illustrator. The illustrator will paint something that represents the book. Might or might not be scene-specific. Might or might not follow what the author wrote, how characters were described. If you are a small press or an indie author, you hire a cover designer. A cover designer will take stock images, either public domain or licensed for the project, and make a cover that represents the book. It can be magic. It won’t be a scene-specific illustration—unless you’re in a genre that has tons of affordable images available. If you write in an invented world like I do, those images do not exist, sorry.
Two covers, here, both for the same book: Moonlight, Wildside Press, 2001; Moonshine, Wildside Press, 2014.
Wildside was one of the early Print-On-Demand presses, and the 2001 cover is an Arthur Rackham public domain piece that has a really cool moon, and a spooky wood, both of which figure in the story. The kid in the tree is wearing a kilt, and there’s no sign of Thomas, the cat. Tristan’s not described as wearing a kilt, and Thomas is probably the most important character after Tristan, but the cover is attractive and interesting. It functions, but it’s not exactly exciting.
By 2014, Teddi Black was designing my covers, and I was ready to take the book back to its original title. (An internet search revealed loads of “Moonlights” but no “Moonshine” fiction.) When she showed me that title in the font “Rat Infested Mailbox”, we were on our way! I wanted a real big, full moon. Teddi found that, and stock images of a boy and a cat sitting by water. Is the boy dressed exactly the way I described Tristan? No, but it’s nothing he wouldn’t wear. Does Thomas have a big white marking on his chest? No, but he is a brown long haired tabby cat, and he is sitting there right beside Tristan. And this is the story of their first adventure together! So the cover represents the book much better than the 2001 cover. It’s a compelling cover, and one of my favorites. I love the way those sparkles Tristan is tossing suggest magic, and fantasy!
Lots of discussion going on about scene-specific covers, characters not looking as the author describes them…so here’s my take on covers.
A cover is a selling tool. Its job is to make the potential customer notice the book. And done. Covers run in cycles & trends, not to mention genres. A woman in a diaphanous gown running along a clifftop, with a scary mansion in the background? You’re looking at a gothic novel, and there will be peril, and some sort of mansion—but not necessarily a cliff. A bloody knife? Probably a Mystery. Maybe Horror. Man and woman embracing? A Romance. He’s wearing a kilt? A Highland Romance! Covers give potential readers an idea of what sort of book they’re holding.
If you have the bucks of a major publisher, you can hire an illustrator. The illustrator will paint something that represents the book. Might or might not be scene-specific. Might or might not follow what the author wrote, how characters were described. If you are a small press or an indie author, you hire a cover designer. A cover designer will take stock images, either public domain or licensed for the project, and make a cover that represents the book. It can be magic. It won’t be a scene-specific illustration—unless you’re in a genre that has tons of affordable images available. If you write in an invented world like I do, those images do not exist, sorry.
Two covers, here, both for the same book: Moonlight, Wildside Press, 2001; Moonshine, Wildside Press, 2014.
Wildside was one of the early Print-On-Demand presses, and the 2001 cover is an Arthur Rackham public domain piece that has a really cool moon, and a spooky wood, both of which figure in the story. The kid in the tree is wearing a kilt, and there’s no sign of Thomas, the cat. Tristan’s not described as wearing a kilt, and Thomas is probably the most important character after Tristan, but the cover is attractive and interesting. It functions, but it’s not exactly exciting.
By 2014, Teddi Black was designing my covers, and I was ready to take the book back to its original title. (An internet search revealed loads of “Moonlights” but no “Moonshine” fiction.) When she showed me that title in the font “Rat Infested Mailbox”, we were on our way! I wanted a real big, full moon. Teddi found that, and stock images of a boy and a cat sitting by water. Is the boy dressed exactly the way I described Tristan? No, but it’s nothing he wouldn’t wear. Does Thomas have a big white marking on his chest? No, but he is a brown long haired tabby cat, and he is sitting there right beside Tristan. And this is the story of their first adventure together! So the cover represents the book much better than the 2001 cover. It’s a compelling cover, and one of my favorites. I love the way those sparkles Tristan is tossing suggest magic, and fantasy!
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