The original post can be found here on Boys' Mom Reads!
For me, among the toughest things to do when working with my publisher on getting a book out into the world is writing the book jacket blurb and providing my vision to the artist for the cover. So much goes into the cover – not just the visual elements but the fonts and their sizing/placement, the background color(s), the spine and back jacket design, etc.
For background, on my debut novel (Against My Better Judgment), I worked with one of the publisher’s artists that I selected based on her portfolio. There was considerable back and forth between me and the artist as I struggled to articulate the vibe and elements I was envisioning. Remember, this was my first book, so the whole cover thing was new for me. We probably went through at least four totally different versions. At one point I thought we had the right cover until I conferred with my team and realized it totally missed the mark.
In the end, I got what I was looking for – a fun colorful cover depicting a lighthearted mystery. But although the book was well received (and has since won multiple awards), one repeat comment I noted was the cover was not as loved as I thought it would be. I recognize that covers, like art, are subjective, but I am a perfectionist and I wanted my cover to be loved by all. So, I filed the input away and moved on.
With my second book, Fire and Ice, I was determined to have a cover that would fully resonate with readers and still give a strong sense of what the book was about. I also wanted to mature the cover from the first since in Fire and Ice I focused on maturing the protagonist, college student Sara Donovan. Fortunately, my publisher allowed my team to work on the design. And even though we focused on simplicity, the amount of effort that went into the design was considerable and the result was exactly what I wanted and there were no negative comments, which was progress.
When it came time to focus on the Lucky Secrets cover, I wanted to further mature the cover concept to reflect both Sara’s continued character development and the sophistication of the plot. So, I decided to try something different. The publisher’s editor who worked with me on Lucky Secrets, the awesome Lea Schizas, apparently was also a cover artist. Even though Lea was my editor on Fire and Ice, at the time I didn’t realize she was also an artist. My thought process for the Lucky Secrets cover was, who better to design the cover of a book with an ambitious plot than the person who edited it?
I didn’t need to explain to Lea what the story was about, so when I gave her my thoughts on the cover, she knew exactly where I was coming from. I sent her a document with several conceptual ideas and said: “I am visualizing puzzle pieces swirling through the air […] but in such a way it forms either one long tunnel (like a vortex) or two competing tunnels […] – but either way with a shadowy figure in the middle…but where you can’t tell if it’s a man or woman.” She sent me a fantastic design based on this description. While I loved it, once I saw the image I knew it wasn’t right for this specific book (maybe for a future book though!)
While Lea and I continued to exchange thoughts, I asked my team to come up with their own concept. When I received their mockup, which had Mauzzy front and center with ancillary elements behind him, I ran it by the well-read folks in my Thursday Murder Book Club over at the author-friendly indie bookstore, The Book and Cover. The feedback was positive, but I could tell it wasn’t over-the-top enthusiastic.
I sent the mockup cover to Lea with my comments and she replied that she really liked it but also gave a great recommendation that resulted from her fully knowing the story: “The only thing I worry about is that Mauzzy is not a key player here, and the characters have matured and the plot is a bit darker. But I do like the overall dark blue/black mansion/silhouette vibe, but I don't believe Mauzzy should take center stage.”
And with that comment from Lea, I knew she was onto something. I gave her my blessing to work on capturing the essence of my team’s cover, and the very next design she sent was really good but not perfect. I asked her to tweak the design based on the elements I liked from my team’s cover (an imposing silhouetted mansion with a turret – like in the book – and a mysterious shadowy 3-D vibe), and the next version she sent was bang on. After that, we played a bit with fonts and word placement until we had the final version.
I ran this cover by my Thursday Murder Book Club and the response was through the roof, with their comments reflecting exactly what I was looking for in the cover. “Ooh looks so mysterious.” “Looks very mysterious and eye catching.” “I love it – it sets a great mood!” “I like the dark, mysterious, puzzle background.” “I like the mysterious look, the blue, the fogginess around the house.”
The Lucky Secrets cover is by far my most favorite. The collaborative process between Lea and my team was critical to the cover coming together, but there is no doubt my decision to select Lea as the artist proved to be the key to getting the perfect vibe. After all, next to the author, who better knows the story than the editor?
Thank you so much to Boys’ Mom Reads and Goddess Fish Promotions for letting me share the journey that is coming up with a cover design. I never realized how tricky it can be until I was in the driver’s seat.