Welcome to Open Book Blog Hop. You can find us every Monday talking about the writing life. I hope you'll check out all the posts: you'll find the links at the bottom of this post.
Post your favorite cover from your books and explain why it's your favorite.______________________
The books are dramedy in tone (part drama, part comedy), and my first publisher (now defunct: you can read about that saga here) played up the comedy aspect with bright colors and focused on the torsos of the heroes.
I liked those, but in the marketplace, they proved a little misleading, making readers think the books would be funnier than they are--comedy primarily instead of secondarily.
When we decided to release some shorter work in the universe, novellas and short stories, Falstaff wanted to do something that set those apart, but still made them feel connected to the longer works, so they came up with the rays of light/stripes and brighter color palette, while still using the silhouettes. I love that! Those rays are so old-school comic book feeling!
Since this volume contains all the short work collected, the cover designer worked to meld the look we were using for the novels with the look we were using for the short work, and we ended up with these lovely sunset colors, a subtler version of the rays, and the silhouettes and cityscape.
So I was really pleased when the team at Falstaff Books came up with the new branding. The novels would all use silhouettes and city scapes, beginning in pastels and adding darker/brighter colors and more detail to the silhouettes as the series progressed:
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| Top row: the novels; Bottom row: the shorts |
So my favorite of the bunch is the cover for Agents of Change.
I really admire the work of a good cover artist, and I'm so happy to have worked with a great team to get covers that capture the vibe of my work. The cover is the best advertisement for the book, giving the reader a feel for the tone and genre as well as the content. So the right cover makes all the difference!
What works for you when it comes to book covers? Are there tropes you find off-putting? I'd love to hear about it in the comments!
The Good Will Tour is my favorite. I like the color combo.
ReplyDeleteThanks! That combo does pop. I like the peek-through of pink.
DeleteThrough Thick and Thin is another eye-catching cover.
ReplyDeleteThanks! Those rays of light on the novellas and short works really do stand out, don't they?
DeleteIt really shows the branding side of publishing, each book is definitely by the same author which makes for good recognition for the reader. And I like the font and the rays too.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I can't take the credit for that consistency--that's my publisher's work. But I recognize the value!
DeleteThose are really eye-catching covers. I do like them.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much!
DeleteI like 'Friend or Foe' best. Nice covers, Samantha.
ReplyDeleteThat one does have the "uh-oh green" so popular with stories with mad science!
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