The Cover Story

Cover artist Zalantina Zareva 

We all know we aren't meant to judge a book by its cover.  I mean, really. The saying's used as a reminder not to base our opinions on outward appearances. But...

It happens all the time.

For example, check out these fun facts listed by Aaron Gouveia:

Tall people are paid more.

Overweight people less.

Blonds, gym addicts, women wearing makeup, 'attractive' people' all get more, unless you are female and VERY attractive. Then you can forget about being hired for the position traditionally held by men.

Bottom line; we humans judge books, and other things, by their covers and like it or not, we might as well use that trait to our advantage.

Cover art by Alexander Jannson

Which is what the marketing department in a publishing house is for. They decide what's trending in which genre and do everything they can to apply that to your book, without outright stealing the design.

Though apparently there is stealing at times.

Meanwhile, when it comes to Fantasy, unicorns on the cover are down, dragons up. Crowns and thrones going like hotcakes, stilettos not so much. 

Note: crown and castle double whammy!

In YA Romance, the girl in the dress is still a classic, though being replaced by crowns and thrones and castles/citadels.

The designs shift but the facts remain, the cover is the first thing that draws a reader to the book.

It also tells a story of its own, hopefully, one that correlates to the pages of the book!

And now, in the digital age, it has to look awesome when the size of a postage stamp as well.

For me, I'm all about the artistry of the cover, but that is so individual, it's near impossible for a marketing team to predict.

How about you? What draws you to pick, or click a cover?

Thoughts?

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Kim Falconer's New YA Fantasy Series is out March 2020 - The Crown of Bones. (Writing under A.K. Wilder)
Also, check her urban fantasy  - The Blood in the Beginning - and Ava Sykes Novel and the SFF Quantum Enchantment Series. 

You can find Kim on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Or pop over and throw the bones on the AKWilder.com site.

Contact at kimfalconer.com or akwilder.com

Judging Books by the Cover

Her Silent Silhouette by Arcipello

Hi Everyone,

It's exciting times as I talk cover art, blurbs and quotes with my publisher and editor at Harlequin Australia. The Ava Sykes series starts with The Blood in the Beginning, steamrolling towards a July release.

Meanwhile, I'm putting a lot of consideration into the cover design talks. As Jeff Goins says:
 

Books don’t just speak with words. They also speak with the way they are designed.  

When my agent asked me to create a mood-board of favorite cover art and why it sparked me, I didn't hesitate. Here are some favs, but note: I purposely didn't choose any today that are linked to Sup or other authors I know and love. This is a pure, outside source, fact finding mission.

I'm looking forward to sharing with you what the Harlequin Design Team came up with for Ava Sykes!

For the de-saturated colors

For the cool cape morph

For the contrast!

For the Elements

To go deeper, you might want to watch this fabulous TED talk about designing book covers. Very quirky-smart entertaining!

How about you? Have an all time favorite cover? Feel free to share in the comments. xxKimmy

Kim Falconer is a Supernatural Underground author writing paranormal romance, urban fantasy, YA and epic science fantasy novels.

You can find out more about Kim at the 11th House Blog, and on FaceBook and Twitter.

She posts here at the Supernatural Underground on the 16th of every month and runs Save the Day Writer's Community on Facebook.

Epic! New Wall Of Night Series Covers Revealed On SF Signal!

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On 1 August I unveiled the new US cover for Daughter Of Blood, the 3rd book in my Wall Of Night series, right here on the Supernatural Underground. 

And just a few weeks back, on September 1, I shared some of the great cover quotes that grace the cover for Daughter Of Blood, too.

Today, I'm very excited that all three, new US covers for the Wall Of Night series have (finally!) been revealed on Hugo-award winning site SF Signal — and couldn't wait to share the Moment of Squee-ee-e with you all here on Supernatural Underground!
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[EXCLUSIVE] Making Covers New: Creating An Epic Look For Helen Lowe’s THE WALL OF NIGHT Series

Do click on the link and check out the awesome—but there is more awesome yet!

The post accompanying the Great Cover Reveal(!) takes you behind the scenes on the whole book jacket development process: from my perspective as the author, but also sharing the perspective of my editor, Kate Nintzel. I do hope you find it interesting!

Judging The Book By Its Cover: A Few Favorites!

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With a new season of the TV series, A Game Of Thrones, currently being promo'd, I was reminded that one of my all-time favorite book covers is the Steven Youll cover for A Game of Thrones. I remember the first time I saw it, clear across the room in a (now, sadly, gone) indie SFF book store—and the whole look of it just reached out to me and said: “Buy me, I’m your kind of story!” And it really was! The cover both spoke for the book and was true to the book in a really powerful way.

Guy Gavriel Kay’s Tigana is another of my all-time favorite stories and I love the Mel Odom cover. It's stylized rather than realistic, with a formality that reminds me of a Renaissance-era tapestry, which is entirely appropriate for the book—but also speaks to what I call the “High Fantasy Romantic” nature of the story. In this case I already knew the author’s work, because I had read and enjoyed The Fionavar Trilogy previously. Nonetheless, the Mel Odom cover was still a compelling factor in drawing me to read Tigana.

When it comes to cover art, I love just about anything I’ve ever seen by Kinuko Craft. Particular examples include her Wildwood Dancing cover for Juliet Marillier, the Japanese-styled cover for Nahoko Uehashi’s Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit, and her many covers for novels by Patricia McKillip—although I think Od Magic is probably my favorite of those covers. These also (imho) highlight the versatility of Craft’s work.

So how about you—what are your favorite book covers? What cover has made you buy the book—and did the story live up to the cover’s promise?