Of Covers and Conferences

How is it possible that RWA 2015 is only one week away? The 2014 Golden Heart Dreamweavers have been a busy crew since last year’s conference with dozens of new releases and more to come. My first historical romance HOW THE DUKE WAS WON won’t be out until May 2016. The Avon art department is working on a cover right now and my editor told me it will most likely feature my hero and heroine sharing an intimate moment. I say, amen! Bring on the passionate clinch!

I can’t wait to share my cover with you but in the meantime here are a few gorgeous covers for upcoming releases from three of my Dreamweaver sisters.

HISTORICAL

AN INDECENT INVITATION 
Laura Trentham
August 2015

Product Warnings : This book contains spies, scandals, naughty liaisons in houses of ill repute, men who think they know everything and women who know they do not.

LB: What input did you send Samhain about your dream cover?

Laura: For my Regencies, I got quite a bit of input up front. I filled out a character questionnaire for my hero and heroine which included attaching pictures. Then, I was forced to scour the internet searching for models/actors who resembled my characters. Go google “Hot male models with dark hair”. I promise you won’t come up for air for an entire afternoon. It’s a tough job, y’all:)

LB: What surprised you about the cover process?

Laura: You can ask for a change. This has happened both with my first Regency and my second contemporary. For the Regency, the first cover they offered, I really liked, but my agent thought it resembled another cover too closely. And, she was right. My agent has a much better eye than I do. So, the artist went back and offered another choice. Different models, different background, different clinch. That time they nailed it, and I love it!

LB: When you opened the email with your new cover, what was your first thought?

Laura: It’s a little nerve wracking! Especially with my Regency. I’ve lived with these characters for so long, I wanted to do them justice. So maybe my finger was shaking a little bit over the mouse. And, then I stared. For a really long time. Seeing your first cover is the tangible realization of your publishing dreams. It was even more surreal to see my name.

LB: What’s one of your all-time favorite historical romance covers from another author?

Laura: I’ve got an old copy of Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase that has the heroine laid out in a field of flowers and the hero–shirtless, of course!–half-laying on top of her. Since then, they redid the cover to feature just the heroine. Also, Valerie Bowman’s newest book, The Irresistible Rogue, has a really hot, eye-catching cover. I did a double take the first time I saw it.

PARANORMAL

VIKING WARRIOR RISING 
Asa Maria Bradley
November 2015

“Move over Highlanders…the Vikings are coming!”-Rebecca Zanetti, New York Times bestselling author of the Dark Protector series.

LB: Did you send Sourcebooks any photos of celebrities or models that reminded you of your hero?

Asa Maria: I sent them a picture of model Ben Kaufner where he poses in a way that totally reminded me of my hero. I also sent them some pictures of the Norse mythological Midgard Serpent to show them how I envisioned my hero’s tattoo and the rune alphabet.

LB: What surprised you about the cover process?

Asa Maria: I had heard stories from so many writers about publishers who didn’t listen to them and how they ended up with covers who in no way had anything to do with what their characters looked like or what their books were about. My cover process was delightful. My editor sent me a “mood board” of covers that she liked and the kind of intensity and feeling she’d like the hero to convey on the cover. It had all these amazing covers and pictures from one of heroes in Spartacus. I started crying when I saw it, because it was like she totally understood the book and the hero and showed it in those pictures.

LB: Who did you show the cover to first and what did they say?

Asa Maria: I showed it to my husband who said it seemed like a nice cover. And then I showed it to my best friend and the members of my local RWA chapter and they all said “YUM.” [LB: Heroes & Heartbreakers agreed!]

LB: What’s one of your all-time favorite covers from another author?

Asa Maria: This is so hard! I can’t pick just one. I love so many of the covers the other 2014 Golden Heart finalists ended up with. The cover deities have smiled on our little group. I love many of the covers of Susanna Kearsley, they’re beautiful and dreamy. And I love the motorcycles and hot guys on Julie Ann Walker’s Black Knights Inc series. Some of the most stunning covers I’ve seen are the ones on Alma Katsu’s Taker trilogy.

SCI-FI YOUNG ADULT

FORGET TOMORROW 
Pintip Dunn
November 2015

Imagine a world where your destiny has already been decided…by your futureself.

LB: What input did you send Entangled about your dream cover?

Pintip: I filled out a cover art form early in the process, telling my publisher about my likes and dislikes, describing the hero and heroine, and explaining any ideas I had for the cover. In particular, I told them that I had a preference for covers without faces, although I was certainly open to this element (as there are plenty of stunning covers with faces!! Case in point – Laura’s and Asa’s covers above!)

LB: When you opened the email with your new cover what was your first thought?

Pintip: A good friend of mine warned me to wait a full 24 hours before deciding if I liked my cover. The reason being, covers are so personal and they almost never match what the author originally envisioned. This was exactly my experience. My first thought was that the cover was gorgeous. However, I wasn’t sure how I felt about it being the cover for my book. It took me a few hours to get used to the idea of it, and by the afternoon, I was absolutely in love with it.

LB: Who did you show your cover to first and what did they say?

Pintip: I showed it to my husband. He looked at it and said it was nice. He might have also said it was a good cover. Which are high compliments, coming from him. Haha.

Hope you enjoyed! What attracts you to certain covers? What are some of your favorite covers?

I’ll be coming to NYC from Geneva so if you see me at the conference, ask me for some Swiss chocolate…I’ll have a purse full 🙂

LB