Cover Art

This past week I had a thrilling experience--I received my Cover Art Form from my publisher.

I knew it would come and yet it was a sort of out-of-body experience. Suddenly it was all real all over again. My book is truly going to be published. It was no joke, dream, or mistake.

The Cover Art Form is a guideline from me, the author, to the artist who creates book covers. Somehow I am supposed to convey my story to a artist who hasn't read the book. This artist then captures the essence of the story on the cover in an effort to entice readers. Amazing! Um, impossible. I'm no artist. You should see my stick figures. Thank goodness I don't have to create the cover all by myself.

On the Cover Art Form, I answered many questions about my story. The first was asked to describe the hero. And so I did, in as much detail as I could. What he wears and his attitude, how he looks and how he acts.

Next, I described the heroine in the same way.

The artist wanted to know about the setting and any other things that could be in the picture. I described what sort of mood I wanted depicted.

Anything that the author specifically doesn't want on the cover should be listed. Ahem, I had some opinions about that too.

I also added examples of covers from Samhain that I really love so they could see what I had in mind.

This was really fun. I am grateful Samhain cares about my opinion because I know of other publishers who do not allow the author's input. The covers do, after all, belong to the publisher.

Oh man, oh man, I can't wait to see my cover. I'll post it here when I get it.

What are your favorite covers?