~ HOW WE GOT FROM HERE TO THERE WITH THE COVER FOR THE HEART TEACHES BEST ~

This week I am adding a new feature to my blog called For The Cover Conscious. Here I am going to show how book covers evolve to become the image that the author chooses to use. I'll examine my covers, and others, to give you an idea of all that goes into cover design. I may even interview some cover artists.


I am going to start off by examining my newest release, THE HEART TEACHES BEST. I will take you step by step through the process, putting up a new cover design each day this week, until we get to the final masterpiece!

You’ve got to know what we’re trying to represent in this cover, so here’s the blurb:

Cooper Sullivan is the cop in charge of investigating a murder outside of a Los Angeles night club. The famous romance author, Sydney Essex, has been found strangled in the parking lot. When the young officer returns to the scene of the crime the night after the murder, he gets involved in a fight in order to protect a woman, who he realizes afterward, is the victim’s sister. Soon he finds himself torn by his attraction to the irresistible blond teacher, and his need to maintain a professional distance.

Laney Essex is distraught over her sister’s death, so the high school English teacher returns to the bar where the crime occurred to find answers. To her dismay, she is only left with more questions, many centered on her developing relationship with Cooper Sullivan. Is the pull she’s feeling towards him reciprocated, or is the handsome detective only showing her professional courtesy, or, perhaps, even pity?

When Laney receives a threatening phone call from Sydney’s murderer, it quickly becomes evident that the man who killed her sister is after her, too! Can Cooper figure out who the killer is before it’s too late? And if he does solve the case, will it just be another file stamped “CLOSED” in red and locked away in a drawer, or will the sparks that have been flying between the two finally ignite?



So my cover needs to say romance. It needs to say suspense. And it needs to say, “This is an M.J. Schiller novel.” Branding.

And let me just mention here, covers are very subjective. You might love what we started with and hate what we ended up with, and that’s fine. I’m just trying to show you my thought processes as I made my decision.



The first thing my artist—who is brilliant, by the way—came up with is this: 

I’m going to be blunt here. More blunt than I was with my designer. I HATED this cover! He looks like he’s at a disco—which wasn’t, actually, too far from off, because the murder happens at a nightclub—but not the feel I was going for. When you’re looking for a certain “feel,” it’s hard to communicate it to another person. I also didn’t like the “phantom” legs and the city shot I was looking for was from above the city, looking down at the lights. There is a scene where Cooper and Laney are up in the hills over L.A. looking down on the city. Did I communicate that effectively to my cover artist? No. As you can see here, he just inserted the tagline from my previous cover as a place holder until I got him a real tag.

Tune in tomorrow to find out how my artist responded!

Part Two- 

At this point you might be beginning to understand how patient a cover artist has to be. This is my cover. The first thing my reader is going to see to represent my story. I’m going to be picky! And it’s very hard to communicate what you want at times because you’re not even sure what you want…until you see it. But because God loves me, He shined down on me and gave me Steven Novak of Novak Illustration. Steven sent me this. Okay, much better. The lights of the city are much closer to what I was looking for.  The “feel” is right, but it’s not screaming suspense, in fact you can’t even tell he’s a cop. I like the banner, or block of color, behind the title, though. But there’s something wrong with the posture and the way the guy’s hands are.

Part Three -

Steven—no doubt cursing me at this point, but still being extremely pleasant to work with—sent me two possible covers to look at next. Cover number one (to the left). I’m digging this. It has more of the feel, we’ve got the badge giving us the cop thing…but the hands are still bugging me.

Cover number two (below). REALLY digging this! But it’s missing the romance element. I

suggest we add a woman’s hand on his arm. And color. It needs some color. Maybe the title in red. And hey, my name’s not on there. And now I have a tagline: Murder might be her last lesson.

 And this is the cover I got next:

Really falling in love now and getting excited about this cover! But the girl’s hand looks too claw-like. It looks like she’s trying to take the gun from him. It’s also at an unnatural angle. You are blending two images here, so it’s almost impossible to make it look natural…unless you’re ace cover artist Steven Novak! So I ask Steven if he can move the girl’s arm closer to his and give her red fingernails. Here’s another place where it’s hard to communicate because I’m not sure what he can physically do. (Although Steven seems to be able to do anything I ask him!) I ask if the red for the banner and title font can be made a more vibrant, metallic, shiny red, or a red that pops more. 

Hand placement is better , but her pinkie finger seems to hang in space. The banner and font color definitely pop more, but still not what I’m looking for. Have you ever tried to describe a color to someone? I Google shiny, red , metallic and come up with a picture for him. 

Seriously loving the banner here! Love the tagline, the city, the image. Title font color is off though. Steven, can you wave your magic wand, please?And thus we ended up with the final image. It says romance, with the woman’s hand, suspense, with the gun. We’ve got the image of the city. The banner is similar to the banner on UPON A MIDNIGHT CLEAR, which gives me the branding—in other words, makes it clear that this is an M.J. Schiller book and part of my Real Romance Collection. All these books have a similar look. It’s eye catching, has just the right amount of color, I love it! And poor Steven doesn’t have to hear from me for a couple of months. 



It’s not as easy as it seems, is it? Lots of nuances 

to consider. So what do you think? Did you find it interesting to see how it all came together? I love finding out stories behind how things came together, from a book, to a piece of music, to a cover. Let me know what you think! And thanks for reading.

You can buy THE HEART TEACHES BEST at:

Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Itunes

You can find M.J. at:

www.mjschillerauthor.blogspot.com, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+