Cover Design

Boy, it has been quite a day today!  I work a . . . not-so riveting day job and it's been nothing but stress, spreadsheets, and grumpy people all day long.

There have been a few saving graces.  First, I just got a copy of Bill Willingham's Fables Volume 4 at the library, and I love Fables.  Second, on my lunch break I got to give my husband a hug and get some exercise.  And third, I'm eating tortellini with broccoli and chicken in a cream sauce.

Most pertinent to this blog, though, is the fact that things are moving forward with "In a Stranger's Arms," my first erotica.  I started editing it last night and also began corresponding with my cover designer.  She asked me a number of questions in order to determine what sorts of images to use on the cover.

She asked what color hair the protagonist's hair is and whether she and her love interest should be dressed or undressed.  She asked whether they should be embracing or kissing.  She asked what sort of background I wanted?  Cityscape?  Apartment?

Some of these I'd already thought about, and some of them provided food for thought.  For example, when writing the piece it actually never came up what my protagonist's hair is.  I was writing from her perspective, and most people don't spend a ton of time thinking about their own hair color.  There was a lot more detail about her love interest, of course.  In the end, I told the designer that the protagonist was brunette mostly just because I was going for a bit of a an everywoman character, and brown hair is fairly common.

My designer also asked for a summary of the work to aid her in creating the cover.  Here's what I sent her:

Sara Graves has always made the responsible choices in life. She dated the nice boys, went to a good college, flossed. But after her "nice boy" husband cheats on her, Sara ends up in a bar looking to make the first big mistake of her life. She finds that mistake in Terrell, a tall, muscular black man playing pool in the bar. When Sara comes on to him, she finds him more than willing. But Terrell isn't just a powerful lover, he is a tender one as well, and as he makes love to Sarah in the restroom of the bar, his car, and finally his hotel, Sarah realizes that she may have just made the best mistake of her life.

In the end, I realized that I have two goals with my cover.  First is to accurately represent the feel of what is in my story so that readers will know what they're getting into when they start reading.  Second is to create something eye-catching and sexy.  As long as I get those two things, I'll be happy.