Don’t judge a book by…

It’s cover of course!!

I got my cover art sheet for STAND-IN STAR (my next Carina Press release, scheduled for 1/1/13) this week and it got me thinking that maybe there might be some people out there who’d like to read about the cover experiences I’ve had for my books. When I do talks or simply chat about my book to friends or customers in our shop, I’m asked a lot about the cover!

Do I know the lady on the front?
Did I design the cover myself?
How much input did I get?

The answers:  I have no idea who the woman on the front is and I didn’t get any say in the design process.

They are usually HUGELY surprised when I say that for JILTED, I didn’t see the cover until it was FINAL! Within seconds of my publisher sending it to me, I’d forwarded it onto my best writing buddies so they could SQUEE over it with me. I’ve been lucky so far in that I’ve been blessed by the cover fairies with two fabulous covers – here’s hoping the good luck continues.

I guess because I’ve been pursuing publication for a long time, I’ve learnt a fair bit about the industry and come to accept that things like covers are not the author’s domain. I’m more than happy to trust my publishers to choose the right cover for my book!

With my Carina Press books however, I do have input so far in as I have to fill in an Art Cover-Sheet with info about how I see the tone of my book, characters, etc. For anyone interested, I’ll come back and talk more about this process tomorrow.

In the meantime, I have to know… What do YOU like to see on a cover?! What makes you pick up a book straight away? What turns you off?