Thursday, June 16, 2011

Cover!

Hey All,

Rachel is under the weather, so I'm dropping in to do a post on my latest obsession, my new cover! As soon as my publisher sent me the cover art, I've been in a fog. All right, so this *is* a bit of a narcissistic post, I readily admit. But I can only claim mercy as there is nothing quite like seeing the cover for your book to really hammer home the fact that, yes, you HAVE a book about to be published. That, yes, it WILL happen. And then there is the fact that getting one's cover is a dodgy proposition. A lot can go wrong. A lot.

What if you hate your cover? What if the sight of it makes you cringe? It's been known to happen. As a romance writer, I knew I walked a particularly loaded minefield of scary cover-fail. We're talking Fabio hair blowing in nonexistent wind, heaving bosoms spilling out of artfully torn gowns, or...gulp...pink! Endless, shiny pink. Shudder. So, yeah, I was just a wee bit anxious to see what my publisher would come up with.

Early after I signed with my publisher, my editor sent me an email to discuss my cover. I was asked to provide character descriptions of my hero and heroine, a key scene within the book that I thought might work well for the cover, as well as a list of covers I both liked and hated. That was fun. And, again, a little daunting. I'm afraid my anxiety might have shown as I provided not the brief paragraph of description as asked, but a full character dossier complete with images I liked. Ah, well, I like to be prepared. So off I sent my *cough* package, and then nothing. I heard or saw nothing for months.

But finally, a hint. The cover would feature my heroine only. Okay, that's good. I had mentioned that I disliked romance covers that had the characters clutching -way too reminiscent of those Fabio covers for me.

A little later, there were rumors of a photo shoot. Here are pictures as provided by editorial assistant Lauren Plude who is working on FIRELIGHT with my editor.

http://yfrog.com/h8pjq8j

http://twitpic.com/4zc6zb


Then finally. FINALLY. The cover, which I admit, when I received the file, I opened with one eye open, I was so nervous.


YAY! Not only did it avoid my personal romance cover pet peeves, but I think Miranda looks pretty kick ass.

And that is the story of the cover for FIRELIGHT. :)

11 comments:

  1. WOW! You got a winner with that cover! Oh my, that's a killer and it will hook anyone who sees it. Congrats, Kristen.

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  2. Awesome! That is a beautiful cover, Kristen!

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  3. I'll tell you, it certainly doesn't evoke the usual romance fare. It feels more edgy, more dangerous. Good for you for getting something close to what you wanted!

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  4. Love this aspect of book production. I've been collecting photos of scenery and people for years, juts to be ready On The Day. :) I even make my own mock covers. Very amateurish and clunky attempts, I'm sure, but I just love the process and think maybe it's something I could have done as a profession, if I wasn't so bent on writing books.

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  5. And how did I hit post without adding, GORGEOUS, Kristen. Very striking. It tells me there's way more to this story than romance.

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  6. Squee!! Wow, that's amazing Kristen! Sooo going to be getting this for everyone's Christmas gifts this year :-)

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  7. @Zan Marie -thanks so much. It is eye-catching, isn't it? :)

    @Carrie -thank you! :D

    @Mary -I agree; it's very edgy. But then so is the story. :D

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  8. @Lori -I did the same thing! :) Still do. I would like to think I could do book design, but my sister is a designer. Just watching her make my Romance trading cards, and a the work that went into that, made me twitchy. Definitely not my calling! lol.

    @Deniz -hehe. Well they make good Valentines gifts too. :D And thanks.

    @Beth -thank you!

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  9. Ah, I love this kick-ass cover. Your story deserves no less. :-)

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  10. Ditto what Rachel said. It's an awesome cover. Especially that part that says, Kristen Callihan!

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