Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Another gorgeous cover


I got this cover from Cerridwen Press for my time travel novel, Angels on Crusade.
It's very evocative and I think it captures the mood of the story perfectly.
When you get the publishing contract, the publisher usually sends you a cover request that you fill out. I'm terrible at covers. I usually just tell the artist, "Do whatever you want - this is the story, here is an excerpt - have fun."
When you do ask for something specific, like in my Secret of Shabaz - they usually do the opposite. For Shabaz I wanted a cover that was wintery - (the whole book takes place during one winter) and I thought blues and grays or silver would look cool and fit the book. I got tropical green and orange.
For Horse Passages I specified that it was a space-cowboy sort of feel - reds, oranges, dusty, desert, cowboys, horses...I got something totally science fiction with horses with huge sparkling horns on their heads (I have no idea where that came from - not in the book - I had to Add them in edits.) All you can do is believe that the publishing company knows best, grin, and bear it. But Book Covers Sell Books.
That is SO true. My Argentine Lover had a terrible cover and I asked (begged) them to change it and they did - and sales shot up.
So you can imagine how happy and excited I was when I got this cover. It is truly beautiful.

5 comments:

Wynn Bexton said...

Very attractive! Makes me start thinking about what kind of a cover they'd do for my book!

By the way, I haven't started to read My Argentine Love yet but I will soon. I feel so discombobulated lately...

Anonymous said...

I love it! You're right about covers. If one catches my eye I'm much more likely to pick it up then buy it :) This one is a fabulous one!

Erin

Sam said...

Thanks Wynn and Erin!!
Wynn, I hope you feel better soon.

Sam said...

Well, I promise that's what I did with this one, lol.
I knew Syneca would do a wonderful job, lol.
I even got another new cover this week but I'm waiting to post it until I get a publishing date (Llewellyn's Song)
I just love getting new covers.

Karen Scott said...

I love this cover Sam!! It's fab!

I've never understood why publishers wont let authors have more of a say when it comes to book covers becuase more often than not, the covers ruin a perfectly good book.