~ NO DAMAGE DONE TO THIS COVER! ~

I may have to rename this segment "The Steven Novak Worship Corner" because I just love my cover artist's work! Today I'm going to share with you the development of the cover for my newest release DAMAGE DONE.


Okay, so this one is set in Ireland...I'll give you a blurb ~


When an unhappy youth leaves him damaged, will Teddy Mckee be able to find love?

“Teddy Passmore McKee was born in Cork, Ireland, with a limp and a chip on his shoulder that threw his balance off all the more.” When he falls in love with the dark haired beauty born of an Irish father and a Spanish mother, will Gabrielle Quinn be able to restore his balance? And what about the charming Sean Hennessey? When Gabby catches his eye, too, will Teddy’s playboy best friend cause his own damage?


Fourteen years later, will Teddy and Gabrielle’s son be able to overcome the damage done to him in his childhood?

“Even through bloodshot eyes he could see she was different.” But can Michael leave behind the bottle, and his womanizing ways, to win over the lovely Tess Flanagan? Tess has sustained some damage of her own. Can she and Michael overcome the terrors of the past and learn how to love each other?


And if they do, will they be able to elude those after them who want to create their own damage?

On the run after an altercation leaves their boss in a pool of blood, will Michael and Tess be able to stay one step ahead of their pursuers? Or is it simply too late to correct the damage that has been done?




I sent this blurb to Steven along with this, copied and pasted from my email:


So, a lot going on here! A book told in two parts. The love triangle of Sean (good looking blond), Gabrielle (dark-haired, dark eyed), Teddy (brown hair, plain features, but handsome) in the first part. And the love story of Tess (long,red hair, green eyes) and Michael (looks a little like Johnboy Walton).


What I see: I like the covers we've been creating lately! The REAL ROMANCE COLLECTION generally has that banner with my name, some handsome hunk or couple or something, and the setting at the bottom. Setting is Ireland so you could go with green fields, thatch roofed cottage, sheep, or cliffs and sea (there's an important scene that takes place there). We've also got barns, bars, and churches as major scene settings. Color wise I'm thinking maybe mostly white, with a splash of green for font and/or banner. But as always, I'm open to your brilliance. I attached some images that I got off of BigStock to make my teasers with. Oh, yeah, and I'll be wanting a couple of your fab, teasers, too. I'll send some quotes in a separate email when I get the MS back from my first editor in a couple of weeks.

In short, the cover needs to say Irish romantic suspense and be consistent with my branding. I'll show you the first two covers from the collection.

THE HEART TEACHES BEST is FREE for the month of August to celebrate my release of DAMAGE DONE! (Had to get that plug in there!) ;)








The first cover Steven sent me for DAMAGE DONE was phenomenal. I just loved it. But it was wrong for my book.

We have the whole sexy thing here, the pub, even bikes. (Sean rides a motorcycle and that's touched on several times in the book.) But with the image blown up more, I notice the girl's nails, and to me, they're hideous! And it's just not saying Irish to me. The pub could be a bar, and we all know there's a huge difference there. I'm just kidding, but I needed more Irish. These were images I sent him, by the way. I'm sure he was like, but these are the images she sent me! But being the great guy that he is, Steven made me up another cover from the images I sent. Now, keep in mind, you may not agree with the decisions I made to come up with my final cover, and that's fine. I really did love this cover. Sigh. I even love the colors. So here's what he came up with next--->

Again, I love it. We have the Cliffs of Mohr, they say Irish. I like the couple. She looks pensive, the bottom's a little spooky, I think that can hint of suspense. I'm actually pretty sold on this...but I want to mess with it some more because I'm just that much of a pain in the backside. I feel like the all white with the fonts is washing it out a little bit, and my girl has red hair, and I don't really want to change it. It's kind of one of her outstanding features. So Steven works his magic and I get this--->

Much closer. We've got a tagline now. I'm feeling the Irish. But there is a strand of the girl's hair near her face that's blond and bugging me. I also ask Steven to change the title, which I just told him to make green, back to white. That's how I roll.

The next cover is great. 

The title looks good in white, he's gotten rid of the blond hair...but we still need a little more tweaking. I've been looking at the girl's hair and it looks fine when it's small, but big it comes off brassy. And there is a green mist behind the title now that gives it a sci-fi feel. Plus my editor wants me to take the "to them" out of the tag.

The girl's hair looks slightly less brassy. It's a subtle difference but I think we are as close as we're going to get. The final change I ask him to make is again to the color behind the font. The white, I feel, washes it out. I ask Steven to make it grayer, like in the first cover with this couple. And here's our finished product. --->

Did my changes make it better, or screw it up? We'll all have our opinions, but I feel Steven has done an excellent job of capturing my book in visual form.

I hope you enjoyed this. And now, if you think you'd be interested in the pages behind the cover, here is where you can purchase DAMAGE DONE:

You can find DAMAGE DONE at:

Amazon: http://amzn.com/B00LU7719K

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/damage-done-mj-schiller/1119955011?ean=2940149795697

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/damage-done-1

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id899251690




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What are your thoughts on cover art? 

Does the cover weigh in a lot when you're choosing a book?

Is there anything that tends to annoy you on covers?