Farewell to Kindness cover
How low can I go? Doing the cover limbo rock
And here’s another view – this time in with a whole lot of other covers (some of mine and most belonging to other people). Most people will see the covers on a virtual bookshelf. On the scrolling ‘People who bought this book also bought’ list on Amazon, the images are small, and in the chat threads on Goodreads they’re even smaller – not too different in size to what you see below.
Can we make our covers work at this size? I think some of these work. You can still read my name on the Candle cover, and Lucinda Brant’s Dare Devil is striking, though only the face and her name are legible. Her name is legible on Autumn Duchess, further down the page, too.
Some are beautiful, but they’re not legible, and they’re not noticeable put in with a heap of other books.
This experiment changed my mind about the blue cover. I just don’t think it stands out enough. What do you think?
Latest set of covers – nearly there
I sat on the commuter train with the designer this morning, and we did more work on one of these to make the words ‘pop’ a bit more. I’ll post that when I get it. Meanwhile, what do you think? Which colours and elements do you prefer, and why? UPDATE: I’ve just added the sixth one, where the words are a bit easier to read.
Troubles in coverland
I do make trouble for myself. I have this concept for the cover of Farewell to Kindness. Since Anne’s ability as an archer is a pivotal plot point, I want the cover to feature a woman in regency dress with bow and arrow. I put the image on my working cover together from several other images – one person’s hair, another person’s body, and a random background. But all along, I’ve planned a cover shoot for the real cover.
I have a photographer (the charming Britt, who drew the chair for Candle). She has organised a model. We have a selection of places for the shoot. But do you think that we can find someone who will let us borrow their long bow?
I’ve tried the prop hire firms. Long bows are apparently not much in demand for New Zealand movies and television shows. I’ve tried the archery clubs. Some archery clubs do have long bow enthusiasts, but not within easy driving distance of my model and photographer.
I’m pinning my hopes on the re-enactment societies. I’ve made several approaches to different groups, and I think I may be getting somewhere. Yesterday, I spoke to someone who has spoken to someone… But no call last night, so if that hasn’t worked by next weekend, I’m off to the annual joust half an hour from here, where they’re advertising traditional archery.
Watch this space!
Meanwhile, here are the four designs (wrong photo, but experiments to look at typography and placement) Britt has sent me as concepts. What do you think?
