A book without a cover is like...

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A book without a cover is like a person without clothes. Yes, the ones who love you still love you when you are naked, but before you go out and meet strangers, you should put on some cover.

I make my own covers, and I also make covers for the other writers who publish through Misque Press. Currently, there are only two of us, myself and Mathiy a Adams. She publishes Cozy Mysteries. 

Up until now, she's working on The Hot Dog Detective series. She just finished the final manuscript of the last book in the series--Book 27! Wow! I'm still working on Book 9 of my first series.

You can read the first book of The Hot Dog Detective series free. Click here and get it now.

We eat lunch and discuss books together. She had a number of different ideas for what she wanted to work on next and finally decided on a Paranormal Cozy Mystery. (Her previous series is Cozy, but not Paranormal.)

I admit, I might have put in a plug for the paranormal element. 

I am starting to read more mysteries than I used to, but I still prefer a fantasy or science fiction element. Witch mysteries are fun, as a psychic/medium mysteries. 

I also designed the covers for her first series. Red and yellow are quite unusual for mysteries, but I went with that because, A, hot dogs make me think of ketchup and mustard, and, B, although it's "cozy" in that the ex-cop hero is not working through the police department, it's not quite as "fluffy" as some mysteries, with cupcakes and kittens. It's a bit more gritty than that, but not fully noir.  The "cartoony" look indicates that it's filled with gore. Originally, it had some cussing, but I think the author is planning to edit any explicit language out.

For the new series, I chose a softer palette. The books in this series will have a stronger romance subplot, and the series is set in the picturesque coastal town of Crystal Cove. I also wanted a "cartoony" element to indicate the tone of the book, which is light and funny. Hence the cute ghost.

When I make a cover for a book in a series, I want to make sure that I will be able to carry through the them to later books. For instance, if I find a cool picture of a cover model to represent the hero, but then the series has 27 books, am I going to be able to find 27 pictures of that same model in different poses?

Probably not. Arg! 

So as I tested out the new look for the Crystal Cove Cozy Ghost Mystery series, I didn't just make one mock up, but three. After that, I was confident, I could repeat the process.

Speaking of covers that don't have enough stock art support, will you forgive me if I whine about a project that gave me no end of such grief?

Roxy Hood, daughter of Little Red Riding Hood, I'm looking at you!

I wrote three outlines and a prequel for this Urban Fantasy series, but never finished it. Is it possible that lacking a cover held me back?!

Yes. Yes, I think it's possible.

When I have a cover ready to go, I feel inspired to finish the book that will wear that cover. It's exciting. I can't wait to fit the two together. Maybe it's backwards, maybe it's like getting married to wear a wedding dress, but, honestly... the wedding dress IS one of the best reasons to get married. 

True story: I cried when I had to take my wedding dress off. I loved that sparkling white, puffy cloud of white silk and glitter so much. And no, I can never wear it again. That waistline is never coming back...

Where was I?

Oh, yes. Roxy. 

It turns out there are only two kinds of stock art/phots of Red Riding Hood. Either five years old and cute as a puppy chewing a sock, or 18+ ready to go to a Naughty Halloween Party with the Sexy Bad Wolf. Neither look was quite right. Even when I found a one-off picture that would work, where did that leave me for later books in the series?

So I've been playing around with revamping the whole covers, hopefully inspiring me to return to the series and put out at last the trilogy I outline. And who knows? If it's fun for me and popular with readers, more could come. 

So, what do you think? Any good? You can grab this novella for free HERE and compare with the cover I had for the novella before.

Here's what the first book in the series (Hood & Fae is a Set-Up/Prequel) would look like:

This is not set in stone... I'm still playing with it. But this is a start. These are simple covers that would be easy to make and hopefully would draw the right reader for this series. I leaned a bit toward the "Witch Mystery" look rather than "Urban Fantasy" look, but I might try out a more gritty, "real" look and compare which one readers prefer.