Designing a Book Cover

 Hey there! I decided to design the cover for a steampunk romance novel I'm about to publish under my imprint, PH Press. First, I mocked up several cover ideas and posted them on social media, inviting friends to vote on a favorite. This is the first-place winner:

The favorite is eye-catching and the girl looks mysterious and compelling. But once I reviewed the book description I had written, I realized my friends' second choice was a better fit.

A story of passion and peril in alternative Victorian England.

It's the late 19th century. Bold inventions usher in a new age, while genetic and cosmetic sciences reinforce an age-old class system. For the rich, immunity to disability and disease justifies their hold on power. Born disfigured, Mordecai Michaelson has employed his musical talent to rise above a life of poverty. Philomena Paulson appears no less perfect and no more talented than her upper class world requires. But she has secrets only Mordecai understands. Acceptance, trust, and a passion for music compose bonds of forbidden love between them. When chance discovery of Philomena's darkest secret threatens scandal and revolution, she's determined to save Mordecai from the gallows. But Mordecai is just as determined to keep her from social suicide, even if it costs him his life.

After reading the description, do you agree with my choice? Because the alternative setting is pivotal to the novel's plot, I think picturing the setting on the cover will orient readers to the type of story they'd step into.

Now that I've chosen a design idea, I'll purchase the stock images at the proper size to begin cover design. I will probably post regarding that process, so stay tuned!

I'm Choosing a Cover Design

 Hi! I just created several book cover designs for The Surface, a vacation horror story that will be available soon in e-book form. Here's the synopsis:

Jenny spends every summer at her family's lakehouse in a vacation community that closed its ranks to outsiders generations ago. Here, old school ties and unwritten social codes present a united front as cool and tranquil as the lake, itself. But darkness moves beneath the surface and when Jenny is sexually assulted on the way home from a midnight party, rescue comes from an unlikely source far more dangerous than her attackers.

I designed with the type style and color contrast that would make the title easy to read at thumbnail size. I chose my images to instill a sense of forboding. I work in Photoshop. Which design do you like best?

Getting a Professional Book Cover Design

In his book How Come That Idiot's Rich and I'm Not?, Robert Shemin emphasizes the importance of a Dream Team to help you achieve your business goals. I enlisted professional cover designers into my Dream Team when I first made the decision to self publish my Dark Fantasy anthologies and vampire novels. I hired Derek Murphy of Creativeindie Covers to design the cover for Bloodroom. I learned about Derek when Joanna Penn interviewed him in her blog, The Creative Penn. He designed the cover for her thriller, Prophecy. I saw from his online gallery that he was capable of creating for a diverse range of genres, and I liked his designs for paranormal novels.

We began with my sending Derek images of book covers on the market in my genre. I told him why I liked these covers and I gave him a thorough description of my book. I also selected composite photos from 123rf and iStockphoto. Derek created about 8 rough, preliminary designs within 2 weeks. For "rough", they looked pretty polished to me. Here you see two of my favorites. However, the third shown here was my ultimate favorite.

I liked the strong image of the book's central character, Julian (the story is told from his point of view). But I asked Derek to tone down the shine on his face; he looked too scary for the leading man in a vampire romance. I wanted him to look like a bad boy who might ravish you, but not rape you. The blood-drippy title was my idea, but it was unreadable at thumbnail size. Derek produced several different text treatments and ornamental flourishes. He was very patient with me. I think I had a crush on this cover. I wanted to marry it. It had to look just right. And so it does! Here's the finished cover for Bloodroom.

I have found most book cover designs run from about $400 to $800. For those of you writing and self-publishing, consider Shelley Hitz, the self-publishing coach, whose blog, newsletter, and Facebook page offer great tips for free or inexpensive resources -- including book cover design! She has been tremendously helpful to me. Also, use OPM (Other People's Money, to borrow Robert Shemin's phrase) and try Kickstarter, a crowdfunding source that focuses on creative projects. In his blog, David Gaughan described his successful experience using Kickstarter to fund production of his novel A Storm Hits Valparaiso. I intend to try it myself next time.