Cover Reveal - First Change: Legends From the Eyrie

Designing a cover. Do you want a tantalizing scene of the fantasy word? Your name is larger print that the title? Or a half-naked hunk?

These are a few thoughts that went into the design of the cover for First Change: Legends From The Eyrie. 

What made things more challenging was that this was the fifth volume set in the world of the dragshi. For those who haven't followed them, the dragshi are more than just a man or woman, but two beings—one human, the other a  dragon. The pair share one body in space and time and are able to change forms with the other at will. But be warned, a dragon form comes with more than just the freedom of the sky.

Unlike the four full-length novels which recounted the tales of the trader girl Anastasia and the Dragshi Lord Branin Llewlyn, First Change is a collection of several novellas and short stories. None of the tales are related other than they all take place in the world of the dragon shifters. The events take place in a different era, with different characters. 

A cover design could use elements from all the stories or from just one. In the end, Fire and Ice was used as the basis for the cover design. The setting of the Nerelan equivalent of the Far East, a beautiful empress, and the green token that determined her fate were the elements selected. And so without more ado, here is the cover for First Change: Legends From the Eyrie. And thanks to Fantasia Frog Designs fro creating it.

  
For more information on the legends of the dragshi told within First Change, click on the cover.  

And here's a list of sites where First Change is available for pre-order.

https://www.books2read.com/u/49PMZp

Cover Reveal - Hatchling's Vengeance

How time flies. It seems like only yesterday that the Dragshi Chronicles was just a short story written to help a coma victim relearn to read. Then later, the novel was used as a reward for completing their physical therapy. Each day after they therapy, they got a new chapter or scene. Now it is years later and the story expanded beyond the original tale of the trader girl Anastasia and the dragon shifter Lord Branin Llewlyn to include the next generation.

But this post is about covers. It was supposed to be a reveal, but if you paid careful attention you'll see the cover for Hatchling's Vengeance was already added to the blog banner and is on my twitter feed. So I chose to discuss what went into the cover design.

A point to remember when dealing with a series, is how they relate to each other. Hatchling's Vengeance is the 4th book in the Dragshi Chronicles which meand that there are three other covers already in existence to relate to. If you look at cover banner at the top of the blog, you'll see how the colors for the series are coordinated. 
 
Another major consideration when designing a cover is whether or not to include a person. That leads to the characteristics, such as hair color, wardrobe, and pose. For fantasy, an additional item might be the choice of weapon. Long bow, short bow, sword, or halberd. 

Although a traditional seating arrangement is boy-girl, boy-girl. A different approach was taken with the Dragshi Chronicles. The first book was Dragon Destiny and the character featured was Anastasia. For Hatchlings Curse, instead of reprising the same character, the other main character, Lord Brannin Llewlyn allowed himself to be pictured.

If I went with the traditional approach, the next book in the series would feature a woman.  The character Glyn, bodyguard to the shifter Lady Lexii Beylnea, was introduced in Hatchling's Mate and could have been used. However, Hatchling's Mate was more Talann's story rather than Glyn's. Which left Glyn to be pictured on Hatchling's Vengeance. Several models were looked at before the one finally chosen. 

The back image carried the same color from the front. However, without the character to pull the eye, the back presents  a major tone of the story. The clouds lay across the land like the evil influence of the cult leader, the Parant. 

A special thank you to Fantasia Frog Designs for their skill in selecting and blending images to create the fantasy world of the dragshi.

Now that you've been introduced to Glyn and the rest of the dragon shifters, click on the covers in the banner for excerpts and a read of the first chapter.

Hatchling's Vengeance - Ebook available for pre-order at  Amazon Barnes&Noble   iTunes  Kobo. Stay tuned for news about the print version.

~Till next time, Helen  

 

What Makes A Good Cover?

Covers have been on my mind a lot recently. And I mean a lot. The final two books of the Dragshi Chronicles recently underwent their final production and along with it a review of all material, including the cover design notes.

Did the overall design of each book in the series blend? Check.
Does the cover reflect the storyline? Check. 

And a full-moon surprise. My first series, The Windmaster Novels, is going to be re-released. Of course, with a new publisher comes a new cover, and its accompanying model search, and element review. A reveal of the cover and its design points is coming.

Now to the inspiration of this post. An article by E. Ayers made me take a critical look at the covers. Before you think about your next cover, read the excellent perpective by Ayers on "What Makes A Good Cover."

The link is https://authorsofmainstreet.wordpress.com/2016/06/17/what-makes-for-a-good-cover.


~till next time, Helen

What's in a Cover, Return to the Darkside

The series, "What's In A Cover," began with non-fiction. Taking advantage of a short hiatus from flying with dragons, I thought I'd celebrate the upcoming release of From the Back Street to Main Street… And Beyond by sharing its cover design.

Unlike the colorful covers for the fantasy series, the Dragshi Chronicles, the design for From the Back Street to Main Street utilized a different principle--KISS. Or for polite company, Keep It Simple SXXX (you fill in the blank.)

Unlike the previous non-fiction books, which covered multiple topics over an extended period of time, this one is about a single group for the shorter time span of only 180 years. And the final critera? The entire design one had to be suitable for a church.

Selecting a title was the easiest of the cover triad of title, image, and back matter. Combining the title of a slide presentation from an earlier anniversary celebration with a suggestion from a church member resulted in From the Back Street to Main Street… And Beyond.

The simplicity of the overall design meant the image increased in importance. A scan of the possible images grouped them into three possible themes: people, building, and objects.

Each category had its own issues. If a person, or group of people) was selected was from among the ministers, congregation members, or events received the honor? Various objects including the stained glass windows were evaluated and discarded. Only one window survived the demolition of the Main Street sanctuary and it was not available. Pictures taken over the years were not of production quality. The communion set seemed more appropriate for an antique reference. Early documents blurred into unreadability when seen in thumbnail size. Which left buildings.

No known image existed of the earliest sanctuary which left the landmark red brick building that graced the center of town for 100 years or the modern church of today.

For a history, some claim the older the image the better. But production issues such as crispness still had to be acknowledged. Laying out a selection of images in different formats from several eras helped narrow down the front cover image to three possible ones, then to one. A black and white cover wasn't wanted so the background became a solid color. Encircling the image with white provided contrasts for the art.

My personal approach to have a cover reflect the story raised the question of how to incorporate "And Beyond."  Putting both the old and new buildings made the cover too busy, especially with the long title. A reminder that the history book would be published in paperback as well as in digital format solved the problem of incorporating present and future with the past. The modern sanctuary went on the back cover.

Introducing From the Back Street to Main Street… And Beyond.

AVAILABLE AT: Paperback: Amazon   Barnes and Noble   

 ~till next time, Helen

What's In A Cover, Summary

The parts of a book that go into marketing a work can be the most difficult for an author. Our hearts and souls, blood, sweat and tears went into the novel’s creation. Now we not only have to change gears, but read someone else’s mind… capture and interpret the thoughts of someone we’ve probably never met in person—our reader.

Besides the blurb, a good cover is critical. Do we want a simple title and author on a solid field of color, or a graphic that combines three elements into a single, coherent image.

 As authors, we may need to sublimate our own desires to reflect the expectations of the genre or the demands of a publisher. Both of which contradict the naturally possessiveness we’ve acquired in the days, months, or even years of writing the book. Even if you are independently publishing the book and have hired an excellent design artist, knowledge of what works and doesn’t as a cover is useful information.

Reality Check – I’ve always been a firm believer in corollaries of the Peter Principle. Just as you cannot please every reader with a give book, no single book cover will entice every reader. You do your research, come up with a visually pleasing design that looks good in both full-size and thumbnail, then cross your fingers and pray you were correct.

Different writers have different preferences for where to get their design ideas. Some like to scan the top-selling books on sites such as Amazon. Another research venue are cover contests such as Preditors and Editors. Some contests group by genre, others take a snapshot of books submitted that week or month. Another place to see what covers are popular are review and reader sites. Or follow blogs that showcase covers or have cover reveals on a regular basis. 

Hint – As an author you should already be a member of or at least familiar with several of the sites in your genre.

When you plan the book release events, be sure to incorporate places to show-off the cover. Imprisoned in Stone appeared in the Uncover Monday feature at Calissa Rhose’s Ranch. (Info on submitting your own cover can be found here.)

~Till next time. Helen

What's In A Cover - Pt 5, Hatchlings Curse

For an author-created cover, the production section provides more use than if using a designer cover. The designer would be the one to track the sources of the images they used.

However, if there are attributions that need to be made in the book or restrictions on the images use, the Cover Art Sheet could keep that information close at hand for you.

Just because you filled out a Cover Art Sheet as a means to organize your thoughts, the detailed sheet does not necessarily have to be handed to your designer, a summary of the pertinent items could be sufficient. An example of a precise generated from a Cover Art Sheet is in the sidebar.

And now for the result, courtesy of Fantasia Frog Designs.

Drum roll please.

Thank you for following this series on creating book cover. And as a final reminder, a copy of a Cover Art Sheet can be downloaded at

http://www.joycescarbrough.com/index.html. Just click on the writers resources tab.

And if you want to learn more about Hatchlings Curse, excerpts, buy links, and  free read of the first chapter is found here.

~Till next time. Helen