If you missed the memo, the winning title for my short story was Pursuing Prayer. As we count down the days until next month when I hope to send this story free to all my subscribers, we have one more competition. How would you like to pick the cover of my story?
What catches your eye first? Which cover makes you want to read this book?
If you missed the blurb release, here it is again.
Everything should have been Catherine’s and hers alone.
In London 1733, Catherine Fox expects to inherit everything from her father until he remarries just before passing away. With a possible heir jeopardizing their future, Catherine’s husband is furious. Not even the possibility of the babe being a girl soothes him, but surely, sharing her inheritance with a sister must be better than losing everything to a little brother. Perhaps prayer will help. Only, can she trust God to give the right answer?
As time passes, Catherine begins to wonder if the pursuit of prayer ever results in anything more than bruised knuckles against the closed doors of Heaven.
A side note about designing book covers.
I have a new appreciation for designers. I stroll the aisles of bookstores and scroll willy-nilly through Amazon. I dismiss most covers and casually pick the interesting ones. Never had I considered how much work, effort, and hours are spent on those designs.
Did you ever consider that a cover tells you something about the book? It has to grab your attention and then subtly, silently explain the major parts of your story. Yeah, that's right. When we see a cover, we have certain expectations about what the book will be about. If the cover either doesn't catch your eye or sends the wrong message, the book fails.
All this I have taken for granted and ofttimes dismissed, and it takes hours to do. It's bad enough trying to summarise my story in 200 words or less. It can feel impossible to capture in one picture. And then there are the hours spent tweaking the tiniest details like white text or very light grey or a smidgen of blue... 'Is size 34 or 36 text better? Should it be here or there or somewhere else entirely? And maybe I ought to scrap the whole thing and try again with something else.' It's almost a miracle the above selection was narrowed down to three.
If you are feeling guilty now for selecting one of the above covers at a glance. Don't. A cover is supposed to be chosen in an instant. That's just how they work, and now, I'm going to applaud all the people who do this for a living. They are remarkable.
Comment #1, 2, or 3 below or on my Facebook page to cast your vote!
Max two votes if you comment here on the blog and the Facebook page.