From the Archives: After The Story The Cover Is The Thing

Veronica sez: Here's a post from the Archives that's kinda timely because the Judge A Book By Its Cover (JABBIC) Reader's Choice voting is going on now - many beautiful covers to enjoy and vote for. Voting is open here: https://jabbic.hbarwa.com/rc/  through the 9th of February 2015. (Full disclosure: My cover for Magic of the Nile, which I discuss here, is on the JABBIC list.)

When Carina Press published my first book, Priestess of the Nile, they asked the wonderful Frauke Spanuth of Croco Designs to do the cover because, well...crocodiles! Ms. Spanuth just did a terrific interview with RT Book Reviews about the importance of cover art that will help attract Readers to your book, especially for self published authors. Guess which book was the first one she mentioned when they asked her about some of her favorite covers? As I've told her, the fabulous cover she gave me for Priestess was the absolute icing on the cake when it came to the sheer happiness I felt for having my first book published.

Sadly, she wasn't available to do my next book in the Gods of Egypt series, Warrior of the Nile, but we collaborated on Dancer of the Nile, which was self published. We had some really good back and forth discussion on the cover model photo for that one - based on my experience searching for good images to suggest as part of the "feel" I have for what should be on the cover, I can tell you it's hard to find photos that do justice to the glory that was ancient Egypt. Too many fall

into the stereotypical "walk like an Egyptian" meme, which is totally wrong for a serious novel that blends history, romance and magic. And my budget as a self published author sure doesn't run to doing my own cover shoot - don't I wish! Maybe someday...(I am so envious of the cool Katy Perry "Dark Horse" music video out right now, for the costumes and that set!) But Frauke has a knack for finding the perfect photographic elements and combining them in just the right way to achieve the magic.

And now she's has created the latest cover for the new release, Magic of the Nile, which is the self published sequel to Priestess. I'm getting ready to send her a request for the Work in Progress, tentatively entitled Ghost of the Nile - will be interesting to see what she comes up with for that!  I think she's given me a beautiful framework for letting the Readers know it's a series, and conveying the romance and unique story they'll find on the pages inside the cover. She's very protective of the "feel" of the time and the setting, which I appreciate. As she discusses in the article, sometimes the author has ideas for a cover that just don't work - showing their favorite scene, or trying to put every detail into the art versus conveying a mood. I'm not admitting which non-artistic things I might have suggested LOL. But she has saved me from myself on occasion!

Frauke also talks about the right font, both for the title and the author's name. OK, I am so clueless about fonts once we leave Times New Roman and Calibre. I don't know what I don't know so I was very appreciative of the lovely font she established for the series right from the first cover. So flowing and graceful, in my opinion.

To sum up, I love my covers and I hope my Readers do as well! If you're a self published author, or a Reader curious about what goes into the making of a successful cover, I highly recommend checking out the RT Book Review article.

The story for Magic of the Nile:

After a childhood spent scorned and ignored by her family because of her crippled foot, Tyema was magically healed then installed as the High Priestess of his temple by Sobek the Crocodile God. But Tyema is still haunted by her memories, scarred by the abuse she endured. Despite Sobek’s protection, as an adult she’s become a near recluse inside the temple grounds…

 Until Captain Sahure arrives in her remote town, sent from Thebes on an urgent mission for Pharaoh, requiring High Priestess Tyema’s help. From that moment on, her quiet, safe life is upended in ways she never could have expected.

 But after a whirlwind romance with Sahure, the two part as Pharaoh orders him to undertake another assignment on Egypt’s dangerous frontier, far from Tyema’s remote town.

 Heart-broken, Tyema is ready to return to her life of loneliness, official duties and, now, regret. But the Crocodile God has other plans for his priestess: she must uncover the sorcerer who threatens Pharaoh’s life with black magic. Soon enough, Tyema finds herself thrown into the chaos of Pharoah’s court, neck deep in intrigue and danger. Just when she thinks she can’t take the pressures of a very public court life and her secret investigation for the Crocodile God any longer, Sahure re-enters the scene.

 But is her former love there to help or to hinder? Can they resolve their differences and work together to find the dark sorcerer who threatens Pharaoh and Egypt? Will the love between a proud warrior and a shy priestess lead them to a future together?

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