Melissa found a photo of a blond girl gazing wistfully across the River Thames toward the magnificent St. Paul’s Cathedral. She cropped it for maximum effect, sized it, and added the title and author name, then created a spine and back cover playing off the soft, blue color scheme of the photo. St. Paul’s was special to me; I remember how it captured my love and admiration across the wide river just like it seems to have done for this girl. Due to unforeseen circumstances, Melissa was unable to finish the cover, so E. Kaiser Writes graciously gave it its final tweaks and voila! I had the final product and could publish. The proof copy soon came in the mail, and it was even more beautiful in person. Blue’s my favorite color, so I am beyond pleased that I finally have a book with my name on it to match!
Here is the full cover, spine and everything:
I love how Melissa designed the spine! It’s one of my favorite shades of blue, too.
Here are the two Six Cousins novels together:
Lord willing, there will be more to add to the set in other pretty colors. And so, I say thank you, Melissa and E. Kaiser Writes, for contributing your skills to this project!
In other news, I upped my word count goal for Camp NaNoWriMo, as I prayed I’d be able to do, to 15,000 words. If I keep going at my present rate, it looks like I will be reaching it very soon! When it’s all said and done I’ll have some reflections to share.
Also, I wanted to share five articles on Word Painters that you may be interested in; one of them is mine:
To Write, Live
Plot Twists
Social Media 101
Gifts for Writers
Reality’s Mirror
Do you design your own covers for your published or unpublished works? Can you give a short summary of where you get your ideas, and how your process works?
I love hearing behind-the-scenes in cover design! :) I also enjoy doing my own cover design. I have found that the inspiration for most of my covers actually come from romance novels (even though I don't read them). :) There is just something in them that I like! I usually get on CBD and scroll through the books to get ideas. :) From some covers, I might get just ONE idea (as in, the border) -- others probably couldn't tell that's where I got the idea from. I then design the covers in Photoshop Elements (yes, I know that there are better programs for this, but that's what I have) and work away with layers. :)
ReplyDelete~Amanda
"And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;" Colossians 3:23
Thanks for sharing your process, Amanda! I have seen your covers and they look very professional. You do a great job of gleaning inspiration and putting it together. :)
DeleteAs Amanda says, it's always fun to get a look behind the scenes in cover design, and being a part of behind those scenes makes this even more interesting! Glad we could help!
ReplyDeleteIt surely did print out nicely, didn't it? ;-)
It'll be fun to see what else you add to that stack.... and I can't wait to see the cover design for your next book!!!
Take care,
Elizabeth
Thank you again for your help, Elizabeth! It's such a lovely book. : ) It's so nice to have skillful people to help one out.
DeleteYes! I can't wait, either! I have to write the story first, but I have a cover idea and color in mind ...
Thanks for your comment!