Anatomy of a Cover

Part One: How to Cover a Song

As my publisher makes the final touches on The Northern Queen in preparation for its end-of-summer release, I thought it would be fun (and informational) to blog a bit about the cover art process.  

I first need to point out that my level of involvement in the cover art design is highly unusual; however, one of the perks of being published by a smaller press, as well as an editor who cares very much that the author be completely happy with the final product, is that I have had the opportunity to give a lot of input into the cover design.  Not only has this been pretty exciting from an author's point of view, I also have learned a great deal.

The story--and thus, my first post of the Cover Art series--really starts with the cover design for The Song and the Sorceress.  Last Spring, while I was still riding the wave of excitement that my book was going to be published at all, Eric T. Reynolds started sending me emails asking what I wanted on the cover.  What did I want on the cover?  Me?  I can honestly say that I had never given it much thought.  I know Steve Gould, at Viable Paradise XI, had given a lengthy talk on what happened after your novel was accepted; however, I was fairly certain at that point that I really didn't need to worry about that, so I'm afraid I didn't listen as well as I should have (Sorry Steve!).  However, I was pretty sure that a lot of authors didn't ever really get a say.  In fact, at other writer's conferences, I had heard authors bemoan horrible cover art and bad marketing choices, and how those affected their novel sales.  Yet here was a real live publisher asking me what I thought!  How cool was that?  And, when I really thought about it, how intimidating!  Oh, the pressure!

One thing I knew for sure was that I wanted an active cover.  I wanted something that would draw the eye and make people wonder about who the characters were, what they were doing, why they were posed that way.  I spent some time in bookstores, both real and online, trying to figure out which covers jumped out at me and which didn't, and why.  At the same time, Eric started emailing me samples of art: did I like this, or that?  What did I think of this character, or this model, or that scene?  Did I like the mood of this piece or that?  Eventually, we came up with a possible cover for Song.

Our first cover design, pictured at left, stemmed from a piece of art we found on www.deviantart.com.  The picture was made from free photo stock images  posted of a model from the Netherlands named Marjolein Gulinski (visit her website here).  Eric and I liked this image quite a bit because it's active-- the model is doing something (aka skulking) that interests the reader.  The composition is quite nice as well.  The picture also hints at some of the action in the book, although more indirectly.  

However, there were some drawbacks that ultimately led us away from this image.  While the main character, Ki'leah, does get lost in the forest in the opening chapter, she never actually skulks around the forest floor in all of her finery.  We also had some other concerns about the picture that I really can no longer remember, although one of my major issues was that the model looks too much like Giselle from Enchanted (which was actually the point of her photo shoot, I believe).  Ki'leah isn't really a Disney princess, and we didn't want to lead readers to think along those lines.  We tried different things-- adding and removing elements, removing the pink ribbons via extensive photoshopping-- but ultimately, something didn't seem quite right.

After much more discussion, and searching, and bookstore-visiting (oh, the HORROR) we eventually found another image of the same model from a different photo shoot.  We liked this photo because, although the character isn't as active as in the first image, she still invites questions from the reader.  Once we decided to use that model, Eric went to work, adding in and tweaking different elements to create the cover that now exists for Song.  My good friend Heather McDougal also incorporated some of her own design expertise to blend some elements, make others pop, and enhance the title.  The end result is to the right, a cover that is striking and receives plenty of compliments at every signing.

Here's the fun part, and the thing most people don't know: there are many symbolic elements that Eric and I worked into the cover of Song.  The full moon over the mountains, the stone arch, the position of the woman at the entrance to the arch, the sword, the roses-- even the number and colors of the roses-- all mean something.  No, I'm not going to tell you what they are.

But the first person to figure out what the white and red roses stand for and This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it might just receive a free copy of The Northern Queen.

Coming Soon: Anatomy of a Cover Part II: The Northern Queen