Tag: book cover design

New First Ladies Club Cover Reveal

~ Jonna Hawker Turek ~ Leave a comment

First Ladies Club final new cover revealed!

We went inFLC Final Cover a lot of directions with this one, but thanks to some super advice from my friends and supporters, including the Sweet Cozy Mystery Writers Support Group and Clean Indie Reads Facebook groups members, we found the yellow brick road, at last.

A special shout out of thanks to author Amanda Lee for her wonderful design and generous spirit. Traditionally published authors have many advantages over us indies, status being one of them, but they don’t get to experience the incredible sharing and support for those of us banding together to live our common dream of being successful authors.

BUNNY ELDER SERIES COVERS REDESIGNED

~ Jonna Hawker Turek ~ Leave a comment

4 NEW COVERS SNIP

An independent author, especially one just starting out, must become a Jack, or Jill of all trades, writer, promoter, and designer. To that end, I have been learning to use the free image manipulation software products Gimp and Paint.net. The results are above.

I haven’t become an expert, by any means, but I was able to give my Bunny Elder Series covers a more cohesive look, and that’s a start.

I tried to find an affordable cover designer, but most wanted me to select the images and do the creative designing for them to manipulate into cover images, when what I really wanted was someone to design and produce the covers. One day I hope to be able to pay the costs of truly professional cover design, because I know how important that is, but for now, I’ve managed to get one step closer.

Cover Design Update: Back to the Drawing Board

~ Jonna Hawker Turek ~ Leave a comment

Thanks to all who provided input on the proposed cover design I posted.

Everyone who responded seemed to feel strongly about it, some favorably and some not-so-favorably. The colors, style and illustration gave a few people the idea the story was a romance set in an earlier era. As the book is a contemporary mystery/thriller, it was not the impression I was going for.

This was really helpful information.

It is good for a cover to provoke strong feelings, but it is not good to confuse the readers or set them up for disappointment when the cover is a mismatch for the style or genre of the book inside.

While we may not be able to accurately judge a book by its cover, most potential readers use a book cover to assess whether the book will be to their tastes. A cover can make or break a book, and can be as important as the story inside.

So, out with that cover design and back to the drawing board.