Book Cover Torture

I must applaud those fabulous artists on DeviantArt and those insane individuals who actually brave the tortuous world known as PHOTOSHOP. I am majorly intimidated. Which is why I am using a Superhero skilled Photoshop guru for the final copy of UNDERTOW (and live models . . . which is a whole different post for a different day).

Anyway, I wanted printed ARC copies of UNDERTOW for reviewers. This also meant I needed an ARC cover – something different from the final cover because I needed more time to shoot the models. This basically left me with one choice for the ARC cover: ME. Heaven help us all.

My computer savvy brother (knowing full well I did not have Photoshop due to a severe phobia of such a complex program), suggested I build the cover in POWERPOINT. After declaring him NUTS, I gave it a shot and, low and behold, it worked!

That’s right – you can use Powerpoint to build a cover, convert it to a jpeg and then save it as a pdf. Holy Smokes! And Powerpoint is pretty darn simple – for me at least.

With my fear partial lessened and a program that didn’t send me screaming in hand, I simply needed a face. Turns out this was more of a project than I previously thought – until my daughter posted HER FACE on Instagram.

That’s right – the face above is that of my daughter. I think it works pretty good! Above is the full book jacket – front, spine and back. I like the colors and the darkness of the overall feel.

Getting the back cover blurb right was a hair pulling experience as well. The following blogs helped greatly with trying to get the blurb right. THE BACK COVER IS CRITICAL!!!! Romance University’s blog helped as did The Creative Pen.

Another great resource for fabulous book blurbs is the online book sellers themselves – Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, etc. Read what the top-selling books have for blurbs. What grabs you about them? What makes you love them?

I will probably tweak my back cover once again, it’s true. But it sure feels good to have a cover for a story that has been in the works for several years :)

Happy Writing Everyone! Oh! And I AM LOOKING FOR REVIEWERS FOR UNDERTOW. Spread the word, y’all!