Book Cover Models

I am so fortunate to be surrounded by willing individuals who don’t mind pacifying me – this one being my son, Taylor. I needed broad shoulders and the outdoorsy look for BRUNO. I had the body available and I had the photo taken in Arizona near Sedona. I just didn’t have them together, but easily done as I sat down with my friend, Photoshop. After deleting the background around Taylor and adding more of the coat to look cozier, I placed him in front of the background – found I needed to flip the photo horizontally for the movement to work and magically – there it was! I added the font in InDesign and suddenly the Arizona story came alive and Bruno was visually brought to life. 

A Perfect Model and a Review

a perfect model:

While editing A Hint of Satin, only one model would work for the cover: Summer. And when asked, she immediately said Yes! We tried several background settings, but as it turns out, none of them mattered as I inserted my own (the same satin material as the foreground). The progression is as you see it: remove background, insert foreground, insert background, and add the title.

Summer is my daughter-in-law and a pediatrician – yes, this lovely young lady is not only beautiful, she is also dedicated. We are so lucky to have her in the family and feel as if she is one of us (just hoping she feels the same).

a review:

Louise Wise, British author who also writes book reviews, recently offered her opinion of Hint of Satin. The review is much longer than the one here and I only included the good parts. I am ignoring all the negative comments as I am sure she didn’t have her daily dose of chocolate and vodka, and was feeling a bit cranky. If you want to read the review in its entirety, you can bribe me to tell you where on the internet it is located.

The title Hint of Satin has an erotic feel to it, and I'm wondering what I'm about to read. The blurb, however, indicated mystery crossed with a bit of horror.

But over all, Hint of Satin is a sweet romance, nothing erotic (not even a sex scene!), between two people thrown together in exceptional circumstances.

The book was visual and it did have two very likeable characters who you rooted for throughout the book. There were some terrific lines and scenes of intense sexual tension, and even comedy with Blake and Macho as they argued and teased one another.

Hint of Satin suggested at more to come, maybe there will be a Hint of Satin 2, there was certainly enough intrigue and plot for more with Lee's background history.

Kathy May Davies is an author who can only grow and get better. Hint of Satin has lifelike characters embroiled in intrigue and sweet romantic moments.
….Louise Wise, author: Eden, A Proper Charlie, Hunted

From Cocoon to Butterfly

...the kids were home for Christmas holidays. The house was bustling. The nights were full of laughter and good humor and the mornings were late and lazy. As I got up to make coffee and start the bacon sizzling on the stove, I realized the night had created an unusual event in West Texas. Snow covered the ground. When I opened the front door, I saw the picture as clear in my mind as if I had just clicked the camera - the perfect book cover for Mist in the Valley. The book is about a pregnant woman. (I had a six-month pregnant woman in my house). The book is about a winter storm. (Snow covered the ground just outside my front door). The book is about mist lying heavily in the trees. (In Photoshop, I can create both mist and trees).

"Crockett, I need you," I called.

I waited for my daughter to dress and then took a succession of pictures with my Ipad because it creates high-resolution images that can be used for printing book covers. For paperback books, 300 dpi (dots per inch) resolution is required. For an online image, 72 dpi is used. It makes sense to start with a high-resolution image to create a paperback cover and reduce it for the ebook cover image. Traveling the other direction does not work where pixels are concerned.

Creating the cover took several steps. I removed the background but left the porch section. I added trees and then created a cloudy effect that settled over the image like mist. Voila! Mist in the Valley cover was born. And three months later, Everett Ruth joined us. Writing a book is substantial. Creating a cover is icing. Having willing participating family members is the chocolate part of the chocolate-covered strawberry that tops the entire process.