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You are here: Home / Fiction / Mystery/Suspense / Cover Contest: No Stranger to Death by Janet O’Kane

Cover Contest: No Stranger to Death by Janet O’Kane

By Book Goodies 14 Comments

No Stranger to Death by Janet O'Kane

No Stranger to Death

Cover Designer: Kim McGillivray

Comments about cover design
After an exchange of emails agreeing the business side of things, Kim asked for a copy of the novel. Before our first meeting I did some online research about briefing a cover designer. From the many websites by and for indie authors, I gleaned the following advice:
• Don’t be prescriptive. You choose a designer for his/her creativity, so let them get on with it.
• Never use the words ‘I like’. A book cover has an important job to do, and personal tastes shouldn’t come into it.
Kim and I talked about the prominent features of my novel and who I envisaged it will most appeal to. We also looked at many examples of book covers, some but not all within the crime fiction genre: ones I feel do their job well and also a few I don’t rate at all. One of the biggest creative challenges to Kim was to come up with a design which works in wildly differing sizes, from a thumbnail image on a Kindle or tablet to a physical paperback.
He presented me with three concepts: two representational and a third which concentrated on capturing the mood of my novel. We looked at paperback-sized printouts of each of these, then moved to a laptop to see them as they would initially appear online, as thumbnails. Immediately, the ‘mood’ cover jumped out at me. Even in its infancy it was great. Then Kim put it up on the screen alongside the thumbnails of published book covers I had sent him. To say I was stunned would be like saying Agatha Christie sold a few books. It looked fantastic. Suddenly No Stranger to Death was no longer just words in my head.
Having agreed on the concept, Kim and I then discussed details of the design. We agreed to include a teaser, a small detail on the cover, the significance of which will only become clear at the end of the book. And he even managed to incorporate my favourite colour: turquoise!

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense


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Comments

  1. Laurana H says

    September 2, 2014 at

    I like this cover because it looks dark/spooky. Nice color combination also.

    Reply
  2. Nick Elliott says

    August 19, 2014 at

    Coupled with a strong title, this cover really evokes the dark events upon which the story is based. It drew me in wanting to know what the tale was all about.

    Reply
  3. Siri Weber Feeney says

    August 12, 2014 at

    Congratulations, Janet and Kim,
    The thought process for your cover and your choice makes for an excellent, effective and compelling result. Great to read about good working relationships between author and designer — and great cover!
    ~Siri

    Reply
  4. Yvonne says

    August 12, 2014 at

    Great cover!

    Reply
  5. Barbara says

    August 12, 2014 at

    Very atmospheric cover – love the trees and colours (and the intriguing poppy)!

    Reply
  6. Linda Huber says

    August 11, 2014 at

    You look once because it’s so striking, and then you look again to see the detail. Excellent cover.

    Reply
  7. Jane Isaac says

    August 11, 2014 at

    This cover is eerie, atmospheric and intriguing. Fabulous!

    Reply
  8. Tess Makovesky says

    August 11, 2014 at

    This is so atmospheric, and draws you into the picture in the same way a good blurb draws you into a book.

    Reply
  9. Cath Bore says

    August 11, 2014 at

    Great cover, very striking.

    Reply
  10. Lexi Revellian says

    August 10, 2014 at

    Love the pink and blue – really subtle – and the details when you look further.

    Reply
  11. Deborah Carney says

    August 8, 2014 at

    Congratulations! This cover has made it to the finals! Vote for this cover by commenting about what you like about it, and by sharing on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest using the links above. The more shares, the more votes this cover will get!

    Winners are determined by number of comments (one or two word comments don’t count) and combined number of shares. Please only share once a day, we don’t want to spam any social media!

    Reply
    • Dave Sivers says

      August 11, 2014 at

      This subtle, atmospheric cover is almost a mystery in itself and immediately makes the viewer want to see what’s inside.

  12. C.E. Martin says

    June 30, 2014 at

    Magnificent

    Reply
  13. Phil Steer says

    June 16, 2014 at

    Well, I’m certainly no expert but Id say your approach definitely paid off — I think the cover looks great!

    Reply

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