A Collection of Covers...with Stefanie London

Even though I'm a writer, I'm an extremely visual person. So, getting a cover for my book is really one of the most exciting moments of the process for me. Seeing how a cover artist has interpreted my story and brought it visual life is fascinating! 

My editor shared this awesome image (which you can see better here) which shows the process of how Harlequin covers used to be made. Very cool!

These days the Harlequin covers are photos, and could either be a custom picture or a manipulated stock images. 

With my first book, Only The Brave Try Ballet, the original photo was a stock image with a woman's bare feet wrapped behind a man's back. The team digitally included the pointe shoes and tutu to suit my story.

  

The are the English language versions (Australia with the red banner, US with the pink, and UK with the blue) which all use the same image.

Personally I LOVE the pink KISS covers - not just mine but all the ones they made when the line was still around. They just had such a fun, bright, flirty tone to them. It was a perfect match to the books.

  

Here are the non-English versions (Lithuanian with the orange, Hungarian with the red, and German with the dark red.)

Which ones do you prefer?

And I'm curious, for covers in general, what draws you in? 

• Do you like a couple on the cover or a single person? 
• Does it bother you if the people on the cover don't match what's inside the book?
• Anything that makes you just go "no way!"?

I'd love to hear which covers you love, if you have a favourite, then leave it in the comments below so I can check it out.

Winner of Anna Campbell Giveaway!

 
Huge thank you to everyone who popped in to read and comment on Anna Campbell's post about the creation of the  gorgeous cover for her Christmas novella, Her Christmas Earl!  She has a giveaway of a download of the novella and it's my great pleasure to announce that the winner is...  


Bronwyn Houldsworth!!



Congratulations, Bronwyn!  You can contact Anna Campbell on anna (at) annacampbell (dot) info to collect your prize!

Biography of a Cover

with Anna Campbell

Hiya Love Cats!

And a specially big hello to Sharon Archer who invited me to be your guest today to talk about my latest release, the novella HER CHRISTMAS EARL, which is currently available as an ebook for the princely sum of 99 cents! 

Picture 1

 



This is my third Christmas novella (following THE WINTER WIFE in 2012 and “His Christmas Cinderella” in the free anthology A GROSVENOR SQUARE CHRISTMAS in 2013). I love having something out to fit the season – makes me feel like the Regency Romance Santa Claus. 

Picture 2

I’m particularly proud of the cover for HER CHRISTMAS EARL because for the first time, it’s an image based on a photograph I took. So I thought I might give Love Cats and visitors a whole new love story – Anna Campbell and her new cover, a happy ending for all! 

 

Picture 3

On 30th August, I attended the annual Picnic at Pemberley at the Abbey Museum at Caboolture north of Brisbane. One of my friends Michelle Skidmore was dressed in a gorgeous red Regency ballgown that would have made Mr. Darcy drool. As I was snapping some pics of Michelle, the other friend I was with, Lisa Barry, said, “Wow, that would make a wonderful romance novel cover.” I don’t know if the Abbey has bells but one started to ring in my mind. I asked Michelle if she’d mind a new career as a cover model and she was most excited to set up as Fabio’s rival. 



Of all the shots I took, there were three I particularly liked (the first three pictures in the blog). I emailed Kim Killion, the designer I’d chosen, and asked her if any would be suitable. To my delight, she picked number three, the one of Michelle standing in the doorway to the church at the Abbey. The others were apparently a little bit dark. 



So then I waited in suspense to see what she came up with - and the answer was the lovely cover with my image of Michelle superimposed against that pretty arch so that it looked like my heroine Philippa was standing on a Regency garden terrace. I love all the red – it looks like Christmas to me. I wasn’t however so crazy on the white writing which appeared a little bland to my eyes. 


 

However, I’d been caught before with choosing covers that look great on my desktop computer and then fade to nothing in a thumbnail (the world of apps is completely unknown to me, but I’ve been told that’s the case with earlier indie books of mine). I asked Kim to change the writing to gold which had a more festive look. But checking with my more tech-savvy friends confirmed that the gold was very insipid in the smaller image. 






A plea to Kim to come up with something that popped in a thumbnail resulted in the final version of the cover, this very pretty red one with the filigree decoration around the title. And I have to say I love it! It’s romantic and Christmassy – and Michelle really does look fabulous in her red dress! 

 
So that’s the biography of the cover of HER CHRISTMAS EARL: A REGENCY NOVELLA. 


Here’s the blurb for the story inside the covers:
 
No good deed goes unpunished…

To save her hen-witted sister from scandal, Philippa Sanders ventures into a rake’s bedroom – and into his power. Now her reputation hangs by a thread and only a hurried marriage can rescue her. Is the Earl of Erskine the heartless libertine the world believes? Or will Philippa discover unexpected honor in a man notorious for his wild ways?

Blair Hume, the dissolute Earl of Erskine, has had his eye on the intriguing Miss Sanders since he arrived at this deadly dull house party. Now a reckless act delivers this beguiling woman into his hands as a delightful Christmas gift. Is fate offering him a fleeting Yuletide diversion? Or will this Christmas Eve encounter spark a passion that lasts a lifetime?

You can read an excerpt on my website: Click here

HER CHRISTMAS EARL is available at the bargain price of 99 cents from:

Amazon:
 
Smashwords:
 
So what do you like to see on a cover? Clinches? Girls in pretty dresses? Something symbolic like a locket or a shoe? A bare-chested hunk? Do covers influence your book purchases? 

I’ve got a download of HER CHRISTMAS EARL: A REGENCY NOVELLA for someone who comments today (international). Good luck!