What's in a cover?

When you look a book, there are a few things that strike you. If the book is by an author you know and love, the name alone may grab you. The title is another thing that might pique your interest. For me, the cover is very important. Especially if the book is by an author I do not know and the story is not familiar to me. The cover can tell you a lot about what's inside and it may even tell you whether or not the book is worth picking up to read the description.

A book's cover can get a reader past the point of interest to the part where they read the description and maybe even a line or two on page one. The cover alone can even compel someone to buy the book or forget about it. A book cover is very important to what's inside.

That being said, I am an author, not a graphic designer. And my book covers have come from a variety of places throughout my career. I'd like to take the opportunity to share a few with you today in anticipation for the Mamarazzi cover reveal. (I'll announce a date for that soon!! I've seen the cover!!)

Let's start with the first book I ever wrote, Someone Always Loved You. This book has two covers, the one on the left shows up on Amazon. The one on the right is for the print copies. The reason for this is because, quite simply, this was my first book and I had no idea what I was doing. :) As I said above, I am no graphic designer and putting this book out for public enjoyment was a pure experiment. I made the covers myself. I wanted the feel of someone sitting by an invalid's bedside (as you get more from the picture on the left). And I wanted to showcase the main male character's job as an ambulance driver (as you get from the picture on the right.) This book is one I hope to revisit in future years to polish its image. In the meantime, it's been a #1 best seller in its category on several occasions and I couldn't be more thrilled about its success.

I also made this cover and once again, the print cover is different than the amazon cover. This is the amazon cover. The print is similar and the title etc shows up better. I simply wanted to showcase that the "bars" portion of the title meant prison type of bars and not bars where you go to drink. And the barbed wire looked cooler than actual prison bars. This book was a writing experiment and it has yet to really take off. Though it's gotten some really positive reviews recently and that's encouraging.

Wrong Place, Right Time, is my first romantic comedy and the first time I had someone designing a cover for me where I actually got input. They asked me what I envisioned for the cover and then created a cover based on what I said. This book was put out by The Writer's Coffee Shop and the cover was pretty much exactly what I asked for. At first, the cover designer said she was having trouble finding an Elvis-like image that she could use on a book cover legally. She suggested another route. I can't remember exactly what, but something to do with wedding rings. I remember my heart sinking at the idea. I wanted the wedding scene. It was how I started the book and the reason the whole book took place! She looked further and came up with the above cover. I shouted with glee. It was EXACTLY what I was looking for. It shows a scene that is VERY important to the book, which happens to take place in a Vegas wedding chapel in front of an Elvis... :) After this cover, I felt like the bar was set high in terms of creativity.

This is my favorite book to date. I wrote it in a strange, sleep-deprived mood and every time I read it (or listen to it since it's in audio form now!) it makes me smile and even giggle. When it came time to create the cover I knew JUST what I wanted. Have you ever seen promos for the Bachelor TV show? They show a man in a suit holding a rose behind his back. That's the image I wanted. Only substitute a dandelion! My publisher tried to put that together and it wasn't quite what I wanted so my photography-loving husband took the above shot of himself holding just a stem and my publisher agreed to use that photo instead. They placed a dandelion on the stem he held and put the curtain behind him and the title and name in front of it and presto! The cover I'd always dreamed of for this book!

Next up? Mamarazzi! I knew I wanted flashing lights to portray Hollywood and I had some other ideas as well, but I don't want to go into detail too much so as not to spoil the big cover reveal. I promise to choose a date for it soon! The cover is created and I can't wait to share! The book comes out September 11th with a release day party happening all day September 15th! More details on all that soon!