As a few of you know, I've been cobbling together a new humorous fantasy cozy mystery series that started out as a very serious stand alone historical novel without a lick of mystery.
But more on that wacky journey some other time.
The first book of the new series is thisclose to publication (January 2022, to be exact), which means I was really overdue to get some clothes on that baby.
And by "clothes" I mean a cover...because it would just be weird to put a nappy on a novel (then again, there are some pretty poopy novels out there, so maybe the nappy would be fitting).
Anyway, that's a long, rambling way for me to say, "It's time for a cover reveal!!!"
But before we do that, let's take a little look back at the cover-creating process for Hoard It All Before, the first book in the Circus of Unusual Creatures series.
Buckle up for the idea, inspiration, and complete fail fiasco!!
Trigger warning: If you are an art or design enthusiast, there are covers below that will make you cringe.
Getting Ready with a List
As is often the case, I started this cover with a few notions in mind (notions which tend to get chucked out the window ten minutes into the process)...
- I wanted the covers to hint at the cozy mystery inside (cozy mysteries tend to have colorful covers with graphics as opposed to photos, and bold, pun-filled titles)
- I wanted something that could easily be changed for each of the books in the series, which should be about 10-12 books long. This meant something with graphics or backgrounds that might just need a color swap.
- I wanted something that screamed "CIRCUS" and "DRAGONS" without looking like a kid's book (which was not easy) or an epic fantasy novel.
- I wanted an element from each story represented on the cover
- Because of rules over at Apple and Kobo (and a few other retailers), I needed to make sure the series title got squished onto the cover somewhere (even if it's not easy to read).
- I wanted to take care of my series pet peeve (more on that below)
Getting Inspired with Elephants
The process began with a few rough sketches of what I thought might work. These sketches will...
Keep reading, see the cringe-worthy first attempts, and the final results (including covers for more books in the series) at https://tammiepainter.com/2021/11/11/unusual-circus-cover-reveal
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