Book Covers: from Vague Ideas to the Reader's Hands

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

Naomi Rawlings here, and I thought I'd share a bit about book covers with you today. Have you ever looked at a book cover and thought, Oh, that looks interesting? 

If so, the next thing you probably did was pick up the book and glance at the back cover copy to find a little more about the story. Perhaps at this point, you put the book down and realized it wasn't quite like you thought it was going to be. Or maybe the paragraphs on the back of the book made you even more curious about the story. So then you find the price, flip the book open to the first chapter, and decide whether you want to buy the book.

Or perhaps the opposite is true. Have you ever seen a book cover that made you cringe and walk to the other side of the store?(Don't feel bad. I think we've all done that before).

I'm currently in the process of gathering cover information for my next book (The Wyoming Heir, which releases January 2014). And while every publisher goes about creating book covers a bit differently, they all have the same goal in mind: To make a cover so eye-catching readers will take a moment out of their busy day to give the book a second glance.

For all of the Love Inspired imprints (Contemporary, Suspense, and Historical), authors fill out a cover form on the computer called an Art Fact Sheet. This sheet asks for all kinds of information about the story. The year and place in which the novel takes place, the themes of the book, the looks of the hero and heroine, etc. On top of that, I also have to provide a summary of the novel, as well as pictures of famous people who look like me hero and heroine. For example, my hero, Luke Hayes, is a rancher from Wyoming and looks a little like . . . Paul Walker.

My heroine teaches advanced mathematics at a girls preparatory school, and she looks like . . . Amy Adams.

Furthermore, the story takes place in 1893 upstate New York. So then I had to dig up some pictures of New York in the fall.

 

And then, I'd really like for the story to convey that my rancher isn't very comfortable being called to New York and thrust into all the business his late grandfather left behind. So I thought, why not have a western cowboy on the cover with a fancy white mansion in the background? I found this picture of a mansion:

All in all, Love Inspired writers have to give the Art Department three different scene ideas for the front cover. Then the Art Department decides which scene they think will do best on the front of the novel and use that.

So what will the cover for The Wyoming Heir look like when all it's done? I have no idea! I've got to wait until this fall to find out. But I do know that the art department will try very hard to create a cover that will appeal to readers like you.

So now I'm curious. Is there a book cover you saw recently that you loved? Please do share. I'd love to know what some of your favorite book covers look like. As for me, one of my best friends (Melissa Jagears) has a debut novel releasing in October, and I'm completely in love with the cover.

What do you think?

What are You Reading?

We here at the Craftie Ladies are wondering what you're reading right this moment?

E-book or print? If e-book, what device do you prefer to use?

Was it a Christmas gift?

Please share! We'd love to hear more about you and your reading preferences. And we'd love to hear from some of you who are lurkers who don't usually comment. :)

While I'm popping it today to help fill in (we have scheduled authors who are moving and who are sick), I'd love to share my new cover with you!! I'm so excited! It'll be out in April...

One of those Ahh.., moments

Pat Davids, here.

I recently had one of those, Ahh...moments. You know what I mean. One of those tiny treats in life that brightens your day and makes you smile. A small blessing.

My treat came via e-mail. A woman wrote to tell me that her daughter was the cover model on my book, A Family for Thanksgiving. It was Gianna's first modeling job. I'm sure there will be many more. She's really cute, isn't she? The proud mom asked if they could get a copy autographed if they sent me one.

Well sure. Then I thought, wait a minute, I get advance copies. I'll sign them an mail them to her. She objected, wanted to pay for them.

Ha! Suck it up, honey, and take the free ones, I replied. I wasn't about to get paid for this treat. That would spoil it somehow. I asked for a list of name so I could personalize each. I wrote little notes to grandparent, aunt and uncles, and preschool teachers in the front of the books.

It was so cool. Just had to share. What was you latest Ahh.. moment?