Today I'm hosting Janet Nissenson's Serendipity Blog Tour & Giveaway. Don't forget to fill out the rafflecopter form for your chance to win and please visit the other stops on the tour.
Building The Perfect (Book) Cover
I did quite a bit of research before contracting out the design for the cover of Serendipity. I knew I definitely didn’t want to use a stock image that numerous other books had already used (hello – how do you distinguish between the five books currently out that used the exact same image?) And since I have zero skills at any semblance of art or graphic design, coming up with my own cover wasn’t even on the radar. I know that new authors are on a limited budget but some of the covers I had seen either looked like someone’s ten-year-old child had designed it on Photoshop, or that they had persuaded their brother or boyfriend to pose for a not-always-flattering shirtless photo. I knew that first impressions meant a lot when it came to marketing a book by a brand new author, so having a professionally designed, original cover was just as important to me as the content inside the cover.
I wound up using the services of Damon at Damonza Book Cover Designs and I have never regretted the decision. He was prompt, professional and very helpful. He suggests on his website keeping covers simple and straightforward, and more or less discourages using character images. I thought this made perfect sense, given the success of such series as Fifty Shades, Crossfire, and Twilight to name a few, all of which have a very simple, basic image on the cover and no attempt to create images of the characters. Not to mention the fact that I had very specific images of real life people/celebrities in mind when I created the characters in Serendipity, and getting permission to replicate their images would have either been cost-prohibitive at best or impossible at worst.
So many thanks to Damon for his great advice, and I would encourage more authors to follow suit. Having a professional, original book cover is definitely an investment but if it’s in your budget I would absolutely recommend it. If it’s not in your budget, which is completely understandable, then you should at least try to use a different stock image than one that’s already been used on half a dozen books. I would steer away from using character images, especially if they don’t bear much resemblance to the descriptions of your hero and heroine (i.e. a blonde female on the book cover when inside she’s described as having red hair). Keep the image simple and neat, but professional at the same time. Remember that the book cover creates that very important first impression. I know I’ve automatically dismissed some books because the cover looked sort of shoddy and unprofessional, and the thought can’t help but cross your mind that the writing might be of the same poor quality.
Author: Janet Nissenson
Series: Inevitable, #1
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: BookBaby
Publication Date: December 8, 2013
Print Length: 361 pages
ASIN: B00H7K6CZ8
Blurb:
Was meeting again an unfortunate twist of fate? Or was it just serendipity?
Julia McKinnon was convinced she’d found the one – the man of her dreams, the most seductive, experienced lover she’d ever known – and the night they’d spent together in New York was the stuff erotic fantasies were spun from. But with the dawn of a new day came only heartache and betrayal, and her dreams were snuffed out like so much fairy dust.
Nathan Atwood felt like the lowest sort of life form after seducing the incredibly beautiful girl he met in New York, only to break her tender heart with the confession that he was already involved with someone else. Leaving Julia was the hardest thing he’d ever done, and the memory of their passionate night together haunted his dreams for months afterwards.
Now fate has brought them together again, and they are forced to work alongside each other. Will Julia be able to put aside the feelings she still has for her handsome boss and forge a new life for herself in San Francisco? And how long will Nathan be able to resist the gorgeous woman he’s never really stopped thinking about or wanting?
Buy Links:
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Kobo
iTunes
Janet is a lifelong resident of the San Francisco Bay Area, and currently resides on the northern California coast with her husband Steve and Golden Retriever Max. She worked for more than two decades in the financial services industry before turning her focus to producing running events. She is a former long-distance runner, current avid yoga practitioner, is addicted to Pinterest, likes to travel and read. She has been writing for more than three decades but Serendipity is her first official published work. She plans five more books in the Inevitable series, with each one a standalone with new lead characters, so no cliff-hangers or waiting months to see what happens next!
Contact links:
Website
Goodreads
TOUR GIVEAWAY DETAILS:
GRAND PRIZE: $15 Amazon gift card
RUNNERS UP: Five copies of the e-book, sent via Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes
a Rafflecopter giveaway
TOUR SCHEDULE
Monday February 24
Rose & Beps Blog (Spotlight)
Tuesday February 25
3 Partners in Shopping, Nana, Mommy, Sissy, Too! (Spotlight)
Wednesday February 26
Book Monster Reviews (guest post)
Thursday February 27
C&F (Spotlight)
Friday February 28
For Whom The Books Toll (Guest Post)
Saturday March 1
In The Pages of a Good Book (Guest Post)
Sunday March 2
Bibliophile Mystery (Spotlight)
Tuesday March 4
Deal Sharing Aunt (Spotlight)
Thursday March 6
More Romance Please (Spotlight)
Friday March 7
Coffee Talk (Review)
Literary Nook (Spotlight)
Monlatable Book Reviews (Spotlight)
Saturday March 8
The Lusty Literate (Spotlight)
Vampires, Werewolves, & Fairies, Oh My (Guest Post)
Sunday March 9
books are love (Review)
Musings In Fiction alley (Guest Post)
Two Sassy Chicks (Spotlight)
Babbling about Books, and More
No comments:
Post a Comment