You might be surprised to learn that I have many tasks that are aspects of my work but have nothing to do with writing books. I’m between drafts of book 9 right now and I like to let the story sit for a while before I jump into the next draft. This is the time when I catch up on my work that isn’t actual book writing. This blog is one example. I enjoy staying in touch with you readers, but it’s also part of my job. Another example is the books I’m reading. I will be moderating a panel of authors at the Tucson Festival of Books next month, so I’m reading those author’s books. Then I’ll come up with questions so we can have an interesting conversation about them. Though this can be time consuming, it’s another thing I really enjoy. I’m also going to be on a panel, which means I need to re-read one of my books so I’ll know what I’m talking about.
One of the things I’m not fond of doing, is designing things—using one of those graphic design sites to come up with a new bookmark or just a pretty post for Instagram. I am not a graphic designer and the process can be really frustrating for me. And rarely does the end product look like it did in my mind.
And that brings me to book covers. Right about this time of year my editor will ask for a short summary of the book and some cover ideas. I like being able to give some input to the cover design, and I love my covers and think my cover artist, Sarah Gibb, is wonderful. But at this point, nobody else has read the manuscript—and it’s not done. Things can still change, so I have to suggest an image for the cover that presents the feeling of the book and a few hints to the plot without giving too much away.
Here’s what I sent for George and Frances Roll the Dice: Frances and George standing behind a Hazard table, Frances has just thrown the dice. A croupier is off to the side, reaching in to rake the chips and coins off the table, but instead of a rake, he has a bloody polo stick and it is leaving blood spatter behind on the table. They are in a fancy villa on the Normandy coast. There might be potted palms off to the side, maybe even a window behind them looking out to the sea in the distance.
Kind of gruesome, huh? In addition to this, I had to describe George and Frances, send photos of a period correct Hazard table, polo sticks, possible clothes they might be wearing, and an image of the Deauville seaside from an actual seaside villa. What the artist drew is the image at the top of the post. It’s much more subtle and I think it’s great!
Want to do another one? Here’s my idea for A Daughter’s Guide to Mothers and Murder: View of a theater stage with Frances and George in the audience, so our view is from behind them or over their shoulders. They could be in profile, one is holding opera glasses, the other is holding the poison pen letter, reading “I know what you did”. On stage is a young woman over-acting a death scene, (I included a photo) and three or four other actors, looking on. (Description of the other actors) They should all be holding a murder weapon—a pistol, a knife, something used to bludgeon.
And here’s what I got! I love this cover! The colors are so striking that adding the details I gave would be too much. What is truly amazing is that this is the Sarah Bernhardt Theater. At the time the book is set, the walls inside the theater were covered in yellow velvet flocked paper. While I mention it in the book, I never told the artist about that.
Even though I’ll be sending in ideas for the cover soon, I don’t want to give away anything about book 9 yet. I’ve just realized that this is the first time I’m sharing the cover of book 8 with you. I’ll tell you all about the book in future posts, but in the meantime, here’s the cover! It may be a lot of work, but I hope you’ll agree it’s worth the effort!
I so enjoyed this post, Dianne. It was a hoot to hear your descriptions and then see what your extremely talented cover artist created in response. It sounds like so much fun to do that, sparking my imagination about what my book covers might look like someday ( ;