I have no clue. Unlike my friend Joy who could describe the cover for her book while she was still writing it, I have no inkling, no concept, no idea for my book cover. So I wasn’t the least excited when I received the email from my production manager saying it was time to design the cover. Egad! Couldn’t an editor just read the book and come up with something nice??
Anyway my production manager sent me a series of questions to help me get my “designing” juices flowing. Yeah right. He asked the age of my target audience, the feeling or mood I wanted the cover to convey, the color or colors I wanted to use, the objects I wanted on the cover and the like.
I knew I didn’t want to use pink or violet – too feminine (sorry ladies!) or brown or black – too masculine (sorry guys!) on the cover. I wanted a neutral color that appealed to both sexes. After doing some research, I found psychologists say blue is such a color so I picked blue. Besides blue is my second favorite color (red is my color but I think it’s too bold for this book). I went on-line to find the shade of blue I wanted as well as pictures of the objects for the cover. Off they went with the email answering the questions. Artists work your magic cause I’m still flailing around about the design!
Ten days later I received three possible designs. As far as I was concerned, the first two were DOA – dead on arrival. Nothing about them, the objects, font or color, excited me or spoke to the book’s topic. I realized the artists used pictures of the objects I sent but they weren’t working. The third design, after looking at it for a couple of days, had promise; it was blue. I sent it back with directions for tweaking.
Ten days later, I received two designs. I looked at them. I considered them on a computer screen. I considered them on an Ipad and a Kindle. I reflected on what message each design conveyed to a potential reader. Unlike with my photo for the back cover, I only asked one person for an opinion. After living with designs for a few days, I picked the one that conveyed the message of my book perfectly! Thank you artists at Tate Publishing!
My Journey to Me - The Discovery 