Laura Hunsaker, #RomanceGem, Has It All Covered With AMETHYST HEAT!

Good morning! As I again set out to introduce you to all my Romance Gem pals, please welcome Laura Hunsaker! Take it away, Laura!

What makes a good cover?

 

Well, that is the question, isn’t it? For as much as we’d love to say don’t judge a book by its cover, we’re all guilty of doing that. The cover is usually what catches our eye first. I bought a book that had a very Keanu Reeves in John Wick feel. I regret nothing. :)

 

When you aren’t in control of your own covers though, you’re at the mercy of your publisher. I’ve been lucky that my publisher listened to my thoughts and applied them to the cover. Although my publisher put my nickname Laurie on the cover rather than my full name. That was kind of odd, especially as my other books through them all say Laura. Add to that, the cover is about 10 years old, and since the story is mine again, I wanted something new.

 

Amethyst Heat is my free short story (it’s like 7 pages long, so it’s a true short story). The old cover is fine. But it doesn’t capture the story as much as I think my new cover does. I sent my cover designer the story and let her have free reign (she’s pretty amazing). And I love what she came up with! Her cover really encompasses the story, short as it is.

 

And you can feel free to judge this story by its new cover.

 

Blurb ~

A sweet romance set in the Highlands of Scotland.

While out riding, Meg McMurray finds herself on unfamiliar lands. Gone are the long expanses of Oklahoma prairie, and in front of her are the wild Scottish Highlands. How did she come to be there, and did Aunt Gilly's amethyst ring have anything to do with it?

M.J. note ~ (Since this is a short story, it's a short excerpt, but even in this you can see what a great story it is!)

Excerpt ~

Meg nervously licked her lips and ran her fingers through her hair. His gaze followed the movements, settling on her ring.
"Where did you get that?" his voice was rougher, deeper, than before.
Glancing down Meg saw his eyes trained on her finger. "The ring? It's been in my family for generations. I recently inherited it." Meg dropped her eyes, hiding her pain at the thought of her Aunt Gilly. The note that had come with the ring was written by Gilly's own hand. It had said that her "destiny awaited," whatever that meant.

You can download AMETHYST HEAT for free here!:

     Kindle   |   Barnes and Noble   |   Kobo   |   Google Play   |   Smashwords |  Goodreads

I've got mine!

Thank you for joining us, Laura! So what do you think? I liked the first cover but the second cover is even better!

~ Sometimes You Have To Call On THE VISIONARY To Get A Beautiful Book Cover ~

I welcome back author Pamela Thibodeaux who is sharing with us the evolution of her novel THE VISIONARY!




In my previous post, I showed/talked about the evolution of covers for my Tempered series and spin-off story, Lori’s Redemption. In 2010 my novel, The Visionary was contracted by Five Star Expressions. Prior to this, I’d had absolutely wonderful results in dealing with covers for my Pelican Book Group titles (you can see those HERE.)

When The Visionary was contracted, I sent my idea for a cover to the editor who, in turn, sent it to the cover department. Here’s what I described…. The eyes of a woman looking back, an old house and if possible a plantation house inset somewhere. After numerous attempts to no avail, I sent them this graphic….

As I mentioned before, I’m an author not artist but this was as close to what I envisioned that I could come up with. You have no idea how many options we went through! But the absolute worst was this… 

Now I ask you, how on earth does anyone even think this is appropriate? About the only thing I liked on this one was the old dilapidated floor and walls.

They also sent me this one…. 

... which had the same floor but the wallpaper looked too modern and pretty. The home on this property was over 100 yrs. old so that just wouldn’t work, but I loved the woman looking back over her shoulder.

So I asked them to put this woman in place of the head popping out of the floor. This is what we came up with….and The Visionary debuted November 2011 in hardcover.

When I decided to self publish the ebook and soft cover edition, I once again called upon my friend, Delia Latham (Heaven’s Touch Designs) and here’s what she came up with…

Delia managed to have the elements I wanted in cover that’s softer and more colorful.

As you can tell, getting a cover can sometimes be time consuming and frustrating, but when someone catches your vision, the end result can be stunning!



Author Bio ~

Award-winning author, Pamela S. Thibodeaux is the Co-Founder and a lifetime member of Bayou Writers Group in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Multi-published in romantic fiction as well as creative non-fiction, her writing has been tagged as, “Inspirational with an Edge!” ™ and reviewed as “steamier and grittier than the typical Christian novel without decreasing the message.” 



Links:

Website address: http://www.pamelathibodeaux.com

Blog: http://pamswildroseblog.blogspot.com

Face Book: http://facebook.com/pamelasthibodeaux

Twitter: http://twitter.com/psthib @psthib

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/pamelasthibodea/

Blurb ~

A visionary is someone who sees into the future Taylor Forrestier sees into the past but only as it pertains to her work. Hailed by her peers as “a visionary with an instinct for beauty and an eye for the unique” Taylor is undoubtedly a brilliant architect and gifted designer. But she and twin brother Trevor, share more than a successful business. The two share a childhood wrought with lies and deceit and the kind of abuse that’s disturbingly prevalent in today’s society. Can the love of God and the awesome healing power of His grace and mercy free the twins from their past and open their hearts to the good plan and the future He has for their lives?

Excerpt ~

Taylor thrashed about and fought the fear clamoring in her throat. Panic stole her breath. The monster held her while Trevor grappled with a gun. She struggled and kicked, but the monster held her fast. She had to get away. She had to stop him! She begged and pleaded, but the monster just laughed. His gnarled, horrid sound sent shivers of terror through her soul. A blast of gunshot, a flash of lightning, and the scream tore free from her throat and echoed through the room. The door burst open and strong arms encircled her. Gentle hands stroked and soothed, a soft voice caressed, tender words flowed over her. Taylor buried her face in Alex’s shoulder while he cradled her against his chest and rocked.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you,” she murmured. A pulse hammered against her skin, a tremble shimmered down her spine. She pushed herself closer, found safety and comfort in his embrace. Alex tightened his arms around her, smoothed her hair.

“It’s okay. That’s why I’m here and exactly why I didn’t want to leave you alone tonight.”

Purchase Links:

Amazon Hardcover http://amzn.to/n8as1b

Paperback: http://amzn.to/1uROE2o

Kindle http://amzn.to/1s23QYv

Print @Create Space: http://bit.ly/1lNvyWD

B&N Print: http://bit.ly/1h9Yhlw

Nook http://bit.ly/1CyPt1c

Smashwords http://bit.ly/167J9So

Deeper Shopping http://bit.ly/19lw1Kc

~ You Can Lose Your Way in a BLACKOUT, Or Find Something Magical ~

I am very excited about this cover for a couple of reasons. One is that the background is my own photo, taken here in town at The Fox and Hound building, which holds The Fox and Hound Day Spa, condominiums, and various offices. It is a beautiful old building in downtown Bloomington, Illinois and the owner, Vicki Tilton, allowed me to wander around and take pictures for the cover of BLACKOUT, my first contemporary romance (without elements of suspense). I threw some of my pictures and some from stock photos at my cover designer, Steven Novak, and I'll show you what he came up with. First, a blurb to both entice you, ;) and give you a feel for what I was trying to capture in this cover.  

Blurb ~

Max. The consummate ladies man.

Max is good looking, but not an absolute knockout. With his charm though, he could have any woman he wants. Once he meets Faith, he doesn’t want anyone else.



Eli. He is a knockout.

But a dark past shadows him and holds him captive. Drinking dulls the pain, but meeting Faith makes him want to change all that.



Faith. She loves them both.


When a blackout brings her together with Eli, she’s happier than she’s ever been before. When another blackout tears them apart, Max is there to pick up the pieces. But can she forget the man who first made her whole?

So, we gots ourselves a little love triangle here! These are both great guys. Faith couldn't lose anyway she chose~but, at the same time, she does suffer a loss in choosing. Sigh. Anyway, that's what we going for. Love triangle, contemporary, both guys are construction workers at the beginning, Faith is a waitress. Let's take a look at what Steven came up with from the images I sent him.

Okay, I actually love this cover. The colors are beautiful. Like the font. It says contemporary. But this cover doesn't say love triangle. And while it does say construction, it doesn't give us HOT construction worker, just hardworking construction worker. And who needs that? ;)  Granted, these are images I sent him, but sometimes it's hard to know until you see it all together. Next--->

Okay. LOVIN' this one! The background picture is a set of stairs at Fox and Hound. It captures, for me, the mood of the book, the many layers and building of Eli and Faith's relationship, with all its twists and turns. It also gives that angsty feel, I think. I love how the guys are shadowy, like she's conjuring them up in her mind while trying to decide on which to choose. I like the way she is turning, looking over her shoulder, like she is knotted inside by this decision. She's looking back at her past relationship with Eli, while still moving forward with Max. You almost get the feel that she'd like to run away from this decision altogether. One problem though. As I'm sharing this cover with writer friends I keep getting the same response. The guys look too alike. Upon further examination I discover the reason why they look so much alike is they are both photos of the same model! Well, at least I am consistent in what I like in men. So, we can't have that, and I ask Steven to change it.

Okay, better. The guy on the left really captures Max. But the guy on the right isn't exactly Eli. And we've lost that neat translucent effect. 

Now we've got it! He's added the tagline and the collection name. I like the backlighting on the title and my name. The guy with the longer hair really captures the soulful look of Eli. With two hunks like this, how can she choose? You'll just have to read the book to find out! 

BLACKOUT will be available June 1st with a release date of June 15th! 

Thanks for joining me! Any thoughts on the evolution of the cover? 

Join Me for Cover Work and Another Romantic Knight!

Sometimes Steven and I connect on the first shot, sometimes it takes a bit longer. For instance, the first cover for LEAP INTO THE KNIGHT. I sent Steven some images I found for the characters and asked him if he was up for a challenge. I told him I wanted half of each character's face in the blade of a sword--a laser sword--like it was etched or a reflection. I had three books, three main characters, I thought this would work nicely. 

Here's a blurb to give you an idea of what's going on in Book One:


Sir Darius Lee is a Knight of the High Order.

But when Darius discovers a stranger in his room in the middle of the night, and the intruder turns out to be a beautiful woman, he begins to question how he is meant to live his life.

Princess Megan of Bethyea is being held captive.

But when two knights help her to escape and bring her back to her home planet, she finds the home she knew no longer exists.

When The Council of Twelve questions Darius about his relationship with Maggie, she tries to flee from The Academy of the High Order to prevent him from losing his knighthood.

Will Darius and Orion find Maggie before she leaves Albion? And if they do, how can they face the decision of The Council? And what about the feelings Orion has developed for the princess?

Here is what Steven sent me! --->

I absolutely loved it! It is even better than I imagined. He captured the intensity of Darius--it's great! The only suggestion I had was maybe bringing the color up a little. Making it look more vibrant.

The result? --->

What can I say, the man is fabulous!

He always gives me just what I ask for!

So in just two tries I have my first cover for the series!

And so I began my quest for Book Two,
LADY OF THE KNIGHT. This one is about
Maggie!

The blurb:

Can she betray the man she loves in order to save him?

Newly wed, Maggie is trying to figure out how life married to a Knight of the High Order is supposed to work. Then an explosion rips her husband away from her. Everyone believes him to be dead, but in her heart she knows it’s not true. How is she supposed to find him when others think she’s crazy for even looking?


Will he betray The Order to make his way back to her?

Darius’s captor wants information about Council members. If the Knight is killed keeping The Order’s secrets, his newfound life with Maggie will come to an abrupt end. Will duty win out over love?


And will he betray his best friend for the woman he loves?

Orion has learned to keep his distance from Maggie, but when circumstances throw them together in a very intimate way, how can he be expected to remain a loyal friend to Darius? He may be a Knight, but he’s human, too. He wants to do what’s right for all of them, but what’s right is becoming increasingly unclear.


When hearts are pulled in separate directions, each painful decision they make could affect them all. Join us for another ROMANTIC KNIGHT! 

Steven sent me this:

Granted, I sent him the image, but this is not Maggie. Too doe-eyed. Not strong enough. I asked him to try one of the other images I sent.

Okay, DON'T like this one!

She looks mean! The next one he sent I felt we finally got the image right.

Digging the image, it has the intensity I was after. ...But now I don't like the red. If I was looking at the book for the first time I would think it was hell fire, and the hilt almost looks like alien/devil horns. I suggest purple. 

And I get the final cover! 

I love it! I hope you enjoyed watching the evolution of this cover and will come back for more. Please share your thoughts below. Do you think the changes we made improved the cover?