Cover design Archives

Birth of a Series – Part Three

July 19, 2015 by Mona

As I write this, I’m busy working on Book Three of the Series.

Before I started writing any of the books, I considered marketing. Most authors will tell you that there are two aspects of being an author that are a pain – one is writing a catchy blurb, and the other is marketing. I would have to agree.

From what I’ve observed, each genre requires slightly different marketing. There are dozens of books willing to tell you how to do it, but frankly I’ve found that experimenting works for me. Yes, every once in a while an ad or a promo is a complete bust, but I’m not likely to forget it and repeat the mistake.

ForeverChanged 200x320 My first consideration was the ‘look’ of the covers. I wanted to convey an emotional read, and as I said in an earlier post, each story is about a woman at a turning point in her life. Issues so far have been work-related, health-related, and the one I’m working on now is about the end of a relationship.

Look on any e-book sales site these days, and ninety percent of the romances have either a hot looking man with no shirt and 6-pack abs, or a male and female in a clutch. Makes sense… the author and cover designer are showing you what to expect when you start reading.

ThisTimeForever 200x320 I’m taking a bit of a chance with this new series. I’m portraying just the female protagonist on the cover. Each story will have a romantic interest involved, but he won’t make the cover. Not because the man isn’t important, but because I want the series to stand out as something just different enough to attract a potential reader’s interest. Each book is a romance, but it’s primarily about the story.

NowAndForever 200x320 After much discussion back and forth, Elizabeth Mackey has come up with an amazing series of covers. I’ll post four of them here, and I hope you agree with me that she’s done a wonderful job.

Time to get back writing. These darn books don’t write themselves! Release date for the first three looks to be somewhere in the middle of August. I’ll be sure to let you know.

ForeverMyLove 200x320 ps: If you’d like to receive notices from me on new releases, and free or discounted books, please sign up for my e-mail newsletter. Sign-up form is on my facebook page. See the envelope graphic in the left-hand panel; that’s where you sign up. Here’s the link: https://www.facebook.com/MonaIngramBooks?ref=hl

Singing Praises…

September 12, 2013 by Mona

How refreshing. Sometimes I feel that all I do is talk about myself… mainly my books. Sure, I want you to like them enough to buy them, but first they have to catch your eye, and that’s where my cover designer, Suzie O’Connell comes in.

Suzie has done quite a few of my covers. You can probably tell which ones; they stand out from the others. I met her through a writer’s group, where she did a quick cover concept for someone else, and I fell in love with what I think of as her “brush-stroke” style. She uses this effect cleverly, sometimes blurring the otherwise hard edges of an image, or to create a plain background for title/author name, and other times the ‘brush strokes’ blend two images together.

Today I’m debuting the new cover Suzie has created for Book Two in my series The Women of Independence. I was torn between two breathtaking images, one with a sunburst, and one with the image of the woman on the horse. Suzie combined the two images and I’m sure you’ll agree the finished product is amazing.

I’m still writing the story, but the work has become much easier now that I have this lovely image sitting beside my computer. If you haven’t read the first book in the series, it’s called Loving From Afar. Guess who did the cover art?
Loving From Afar links:

US Link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DGFXDLO

UK Link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00DGFXDLO

Suzie’s website: http://www.suzieoconnell.com/indieproud/servicesandprices.html

A couple of things…

May 10, 2013 by Mona

I don’t often post about my freebie offerings here, but since I’m ramping them down, I thought I’d share the current one with you.
FOOL ME ONCE is free through 11 May, and it’s currently #2 on the Free in Kindle Store list. For those of you who don’t know, that’s pretty amazing.
Here’s the link:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00563EYAS

Next, I’m proud to show you the new cover I’ve had designed by a talented cover artist.

It’s for my book Moonlight Dancer, and sales have already picked up, thanks to the new design. This pleases me, because it’s a good story that had been overlooked in the past. It’s a special story to me, because I was inspired to write this book when I saw an actual Dance Hall in a small community in southern Saskatchewan. Built around 1929/1930, it was the centre of the community and guess what? It’s still going strong! If you’d like the name of the artist, message me through my facebook page and I’ll be happy to send you a link to her site.

Here’s the link to Moonlight Dancer:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0051QFLGG

Then Came Love

October 25, 2012 by Mona

One of my favourite things about writing is that I get to design my own covers. I try to wait until I’m about two thirds of the way through before I search for the right image. It’s my treat to myself, but sometimes I can’t wait.
I don’t always get it right. This is the third cover for Then Came Love, but this time, to quote Henry Higgins, “I think she’s got it!”
I hope you agree.

Something new…

June 30, 2012 by Mona

I enjoy designing covers. The act of creating a new cover is a gift to myself…generally when I’m almost finished with a new book.

Recently I started re-assessing all my covers, and decided regretfully that one should be replaced. I say regretfully, because it’s the first one I did, and it was fairly involved. The helicopters were flying the other way in the image I purchased, and I had to cut some out. I then had to figure out how to extend the cover vertically by using bands of colour at the top and bottom. That was biting off quite a bit for someone who had never used the program before.

But I write romance, and although visually interesting, this cover didn’t exactly shout romance.

The new cover will go live on Amazon in the next 24 hours. There’s a scene like this in the book, which makes it evocative for me, and I hope for you, the reader. Let me know if you think I did the right thing. I’d love to hear your opinion.

When I’m Wrong, I’m Wrong

May 17, 2012 by Mona

There are some times in life (or in my case, in writing) where having the guts to admit you’re wrong turns out to be a good thing. Actually, it’s always a good thing to acknowledge it when you’re wrong, no matter how difficult it may be.

Take for example my latest release. Creating covers for my books is something I enjoy doing. I save it for when I’m near the end of the book. It’s my gift to myself for having done most of the work, for being able to see the light at the end of the long, lonely tunnel.

My first cover was not only artistically lovely, it had some relation to the story. There is a scene in the story when the two main characters go for a ride in a canoe. “Perfect” I said out loud when I found it…then proceeded to do what’s necessary to turn it into a cover.

But covers are clever little devils. They speak out loud when no-one else will. Sort of like the kid on the bus who says “Mommy, why is that lady crying?” when everyone else is trying to ignore the poor woman. Yeah, they’re like that.

My first attempt was too dark. It got lost in among thousands of romance offerings. I usually check the Amazon sales pages for the first few days after I upload a new book and a couple of times I scrolled right past it myself. Now how’s that for non-eye-catching?

So I manned up and made a new one. It’s bright, it’s noticeable, and the book is already doing better. A lesson learned? I hope so.