Covers!

 

 

I published my novella yesterday (for pre-order) despite the fact that the cover just wasn't right. I knew I'd have to change it, so I spent about an hour browsing Canva for something that would work.

I've never before used a pre-made template. There's something about doing so that rubs me the wrong way. Like I'm cheating. But not finding an image I liked, I grew desperate. I must have chosen five or six ready-made templates and modified the text, and in the end I only actually liked one of them. Yes, they all looked "professional" with their fancy fonts and all, but none of them conveyed the image I had for the book.

I'm pretty strict about using a woman's image on a women's fiction cover. This book isn't a thriller, although it has that theme running through it, but in the end it is what it is.

So, what did I do? I went back to the original image I'd chosen and messed around with the font style and size and color. And that is what I'm using. At least for now. My book needs to reflect my vision, not some generic graphic artist's. 

Just for fun, let's take a look at all the templates I tried, with my final version intermixed:

 

See? None of them are good. The one that's eye-catching looks more like a horror novel, but I was tempted to use it simply because it really stands out. And I do like the white cover with an almost translucent flower. It would be an excellent choice for some other book; just not this one.

As these things tend to go, I found an image I liked that would fit another of my books, so what the heck? I changed that cover, too. I do make a lot of changes. Amazon must hate me.

The ticking clock will tell me if I went with the right choice for Whispers. Yes, there's still something about it that nags at me, but I'll let it simmer for now.

I always loved the cover design part of publishing, but this time it completely frustrated me.