The cover for The Excalibur Vow started out completely different. In my Master of Fine Arts program, students were required to design a cover for their thesis novel, whether they created all the art, or compiled elements from other sources. This was the first incarnation (photo courtesy of Pexels: Ferdinand Studio):

Not Quite There…

The problem was the witch in my story wasn’t the main character, and it didn’t seem fair to future readers to mislead them. When the cover doesn’t ‘match’ the story, I know I’m irked. It feels like I’m being mislead. The whole “picture is worth a thousand words” saying makes me feel like the thousand words around this picture won’t reflect my story.

Next!

This was the next cover:

It’s a huge improvement. Not only does it show the hammer and anvil, the tools of the main character who is a blacksmith, but the pictured action fits because he broke off a sliver of Excalibur, the basis of the whole story. And I added the title and a short blurb. It fits, but… it doesn’t have the oomph factor that I wanted. (Photo courtesy of Pexels. J.mt photography).

DRAMA, Please!

I need nuance, drama, complexity. As industry experts will tell you, unless you’re an accomplished artist or graphic designer, don’t make your own cover. (Hand-drawn covers with pencil or crayon are the worst). If a book cover looks cheap, wonky, amateurish, or slapped together, it’s going to turn buyers away. I have walked away from books with bad covers. If the cover looks bad, how can I trust that the writing and the story will be good?

And The Winner Is…

So we come to the final cover, designed by artist Grady Earls.

Notice the details like the corner gems, the play of light in the sky and on the typeface, the sharpness of edges and carvings. You don’t get that with free art. It’s obvious that he’s an excellent artist. Plus, he sizes the ebook cover, and does the wrap (front and back covers, and the spine) for paperback. For that alone, he’s a saint.

I want my book to be quality. I used a professional artist and formatter. An editor wasn’t needed because my MFA professors critiqued the manuscript (but I used an editor for other books soon to come, like The Frankenstein Vendetta, but that’s a different post!).

Your book reflects what you put into them. I realize it doesn’t guarantee bestseller status, but it does guarantee peace of mind that I created a quality book. And, who knows? A book cover this beautiful is like a personal invite into the story.

Next post: What would Excalibur have looked like?