One of my favorite tasks that comes with being a self-published author, is choosing the covers for my books. It helps that I work with an incredible team. My friend, Vicki Killion Guess, paints incredible illustrations that we pull from for each cover, and then my friend and graphic designer, Crystal Wood, does her design magic which pulls it all together. I have been so pleased with all my book covers and I credit the talents of these two women.
Usually, as the three of us are working on each book, I have a vague idea in my head for what I want on the cover. I brainstorm with Vicki about the cover picture and then once that is painted, Crystal adds the finishing touches and gives me some book cover options.
For “The Button Box” I knew I wanted a picture of the actual button box on the cover. Originally, the painted buttons next to it were generic buttons and my daughter, Anna, said, “Why aren’t you using actual buttons from the button box on the cover?” Smart girl. Vicki then added buttons from inside the button box (such as the Lincoln button) to the cover picture. It was Crystal’s idea to wrap the button box around the spine of the book and onto the back cover. It was also her idea to use the checked background for the book. I loved it. Here is one version I considered and the final cover.
Since my second book, “Which Came First?” was a farm story, I knew all along that I wanted a picture of the barn from the story on the cover. Vicki sketched and painted the barn, and then Crystal added the chicken wire in the background and the words to the front. I was delighted with it! Of all my books, that was the easiest cover to decide on.
“The Day The Turkey Came To School” was based on a true story that happened at my children’s elementary school in Portage, Michigan, so I gave Vicki an actual photo of the school…Angling Road Elementary. She painted the school for the book cover, then added the tree, car, school bus and the turkey right in the center, since the entire story centers on him.
With each book cover, my goal is to give the reader a sneak peek of what is inside the book. “The Button Box” is a more serious story and I believe the cover reflects that seriousness. “Which Came First?” and “The Day The Turkey Came To School” are both funny stories and the illustrations and book covers are more whimsical by design. You will notice that Crystal added fun images on the spines of all three books…a button, an egg, and turkey footprints.
I didn’t know what kind of cover I wanted for “The Halloween Scare” until the book was almost finished. With so many characters in the story, I couldn’t figure out what kind of cover would reflect the type of book it was. I finally asked Vicki if there was a way she could make a frame for the cover and add in the characters in the order they appeared in the book. She came up with the frame and we both thought it was perfect!
I knew I wanted a blue background to indicate a night sky for Halloween. We darkened the color a bit and Crystal added the ghostly white background in the center and the spooky title font and we had our cover. Here’s the original color of the cover and then the final cover. I think the darker background does a better job of enhancing the cover artwork.
I have six published books and I’ve only had trouble deciding on the cover for one of them. “The Christmas Church” was my first book for adults and all I knew was that I wanted a red Christmasy looking cover and I wanted the Christmas church on it. Crystal did so many covers for me that I’m surprised she is still my friend to this day. Here are some of the 12 covers I considered and then the final cover…which I love!
Crystal added the snowflake print on top of the red cover and the white lettering seemed like a no brainer. She also added a wreath to the spine of the book. Although the illustrations in the book are done in watercolor paints, the colors are still vibrant, so I think the pretty red cover works very well with the rest of the book.
For my most recent book, “Love Hearts” we considered using several of the inside illustrations for the cover but ultimately I decided I wanted more of the frame idea that we used for “The Halloween Scare.” It’s a happy, whimsical cover that reflects the story inside very well. Here is the light purple cover I considered before settling on light blue for the background color.
I’ve heard there are cover rules such as green book covers don’t sell but I don’t really believe that…do you? (Think “The Giving Tree.”) I also like to have attractive back covers and I’ve included some of mine for you to see. I think the real goal is to create an aesthetically pleasing cover that does a great job of introducing the story inside. I’m very satisfied that I’ve been able to do that so far. Tell me, do you judge a book by its cover?
This is fascinating! Thank you for sharing the process, and I think you made the right decision every time.