How can you get it?

Pre-order here. Kindle eBook will drop 1st Sept.

Print will be dispatched in time for 1st Sept. I’m using Bookvault to supply these. Amazon Print worldwide will be ready on 1st Sept.

I am doing signed and dedicated through my local independent, the All Good Bookshop.

Further eBook and print options to come

Kindle ebook worldwide 99pPRINT £10.99 (UK FREE POST)PLACEHOLDERSigned and dedicated ALL GOOD BOOKSHOP

The point of a cover is to attract you to read the book. More specifically, to stop you long enough to stop scrolling, or to pick a copy up. Typically, you decide in a few seconds. Then, you glance at the extra material/read the back of the book, etc. Or read the first few paragraphs.

It’s important the cover is clear about the genre, the vibe, and maybe the setting. I trust something labelled as lasagne is not apple crumble.

We’ll find out how good my cover really is. Because, in shocking news, the author needs to be careful about their opinion. It’s what their readers need that matters.

People assume the need is to be extraordinarily different. But, if lots of people read ‘this sort of thing’, your cover should resonant with the current covers ‘this sort of thing’ usually has. My partner said my preferred design looks like a lot of existing books, and my honest response by then was ‘Good’.

Choosing a designer

I chose Matt Bright at Inkspiral Design because I liked some of his stuff online, his price and process seemed reasonable, and he’s an approachable guy. He doesn’t do illustration, ie drawing people. The designer my publisher used for my other two novels is great but even his mates-rates were beyond me.

Matt was insightful, unflappable, responsive and a joy to work with. No notes.

The market

I researched Victorian set mystery book covers which fall into distinct approaches. (Note also that tastes and popularity change.)

I am using these as commercially successful designs. I acknowledge these images are copyright, I believe this is fair use, and I respect the moral rights of the designers.

These are

Mysterious lady with back to you – either drawn or sometimes using photos/other imagesOne grim or intriguing objectMostly typographicalIllustrated, which signals light-hearted to menot shown, a spooky scene without people like a grim foggy alley

(BTW, a joy of writing Victorian is most of the art is public domain. Great free visuals.)

The Brief

A big call out to a friend who commissions cover designers. It’s not often the phrase “Use PowerPoint” sparks my joy but he explained the obvious. Designers think more in pictures than words and writers tend to think in words first. And I’ve worked with designers in other fields.

So a Powerpoint set out a brief, a mood board, some possible elements, and some market research.

Matt also did research and we thrashed out approaches

Mysterious Lady, since the protagonist is oneAn intriguing object (since we independently decided which one)Typographical

Matt came back with three design concepts

We quickly eliminated Mysterious Lady since I’d be endlessly fussy; period images that were not young and pretty or old would be hard to find; and the good scenes to use would be spoiler-y.

We then had two options

Golden BeeTypography

I asked Matt to work those up and I did some market research among friends online, my face to face writing group, those who’d read the book, etc.

Here is where I almost went badly wrong. I liked Golden Bee a lot because it is both unusual, and meaningful as you read the book. But the point of the cover is to sell the book I wrote, not be clever. (The same with titles – they are to get you to pick up the book – not produce a smile when 200 pages in you get it!) This coincided with my further thinking about subgenre.

So I did more research in a Facebook Group that’s full of opinionated authors, writing in every variety of mystery, and including many historical fiction and women’s fiction writers too. I think the group is about 85% women. The verdict was the bee was less clear on era, less clear on genre, and it did call to mind some of the modern serial killer novels like Hannibal. They didn’t hate it, but they really liked the typographical one. They made points others had made but with vigour and evidence.

Ultimately it was my choice and I am comfortable with it.

Refinement

Then it was down to Matt doing his dark arts, the sort of subtle change a designer does which sounds like a 5% tweak and makes the thing 25% better. I had to see the final design to understand points Matt and Dan were making.

None of the approaches could convey the spookier side of the book, but as the subtitle is really clear it is “spooky”, I could live with this.

By the way, each of the three “elements” of cameo are on the cover for at least two distinct reasons each.

Getting the actual cover printed correctly

KDP Amazon is the cheaper printer option, but is notorious for printing covers darker and duller than wanted. Matt had already allowed for this but the test print copies were, not dreadful, but a bit underwhelming. A second tweak produced a perfectly acceptable cover.