Halfbreed Contessa

[Demesnedenoir]

I don’t know whether this will be the cover, in the end, as I’ll be shopping this book with Trad… But, I will be using it in promos either way.

 

[Ankari]

I was always advised to never show detailed facial features. Doing so can alienate readers who did not picture the protagonist (or any character) as the cover shows.

Also, this gives off a historical fiction with strong romance subplot vibe. Is that your goal?

 

[TWErvin2]

Demesnedenoir,

Hope you find success with the trad route. The cover looks sharp to me.

I was always advised to never show detailed facial features. Doing so can alienate readers who did not picture the protagonist (or any character) as the cover shows.

Also, this gives off a historical fiction with strong romance subplot vibe. Is that your goal?

I get the historical vibe too.
I've not heard the advice to not show facial details. The cover is a marketing tool, usually seen before the reader forms a mind's eye view of the characters. I've never come across anyone with that complaint, but I've never done a formalized study, which may be out there.

For me, as a reader, I sometime picture the characters in my mind in a way that doesn't match the book's description of them. Doesn't bother me, and I enjoy the tales just as much.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

I’ve heard the advice, but I put minimal value to it when you see lots of indie covers doing it. And in this case, the artist went off my description but got a little carried away with cleavage, LOL. I considered a more Victorian era dress, but… I also saw the artist’s point, and initial customer reaction suggested he was right. I expect it’ll be more for advertising than final cover, but everything depends. It does have a little more of a historical fiction vibe, BUT the story is as conceived low magic, so it’s a bit tricky to work around that with a visual. It’s difficult to workaround that The full-sized print cover will also have the city and a ship in the background, but I brought this one up close while playing around. It’s actually a bit more Count of Monte Cristo revenge oriented, I think, in the end, it works because the character is the name of the book. We tried to brainstorm good ideas that’d work around the face thing as well as making it more “epic” but nothing really seemed to work.

Hopefully, some publisher will hire someone to make the official cover, LOL.

 

[Ned Marcus]

Good cover. Her face is done well. Did you have an artist create this for you? I'm assuming it wasn't created from stock photos, but if it was you got lucky.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

An artist in Poland I believe, but I’ve no idea how he produced it. For the Whispers of Ghosts cover, he said he used a certain pryamid for his basis, but whether he took an image and built on it or what, I don’t know. A lot of his stuff I’ve seen is clearly original work.

Good cover. Her face is done well. Did you have an artist create this for you? I'm assuming it wasn't created from stock photos, but if it was you got lucky.