Cover Reveal: Phoning It In

Way back in the late 90s, I took my first step into the work world: I accepted a job at a call center.  It was one of the most awful jobs I've ever had.  Fresh out of college and disillusioned with the necessity of paying my bills by doing a job that made me miserable, I started writing a novel inspired by my own experiences.

Life happened, and the manuscript sat partially finished on hard drive after hard drive until I rediscovered it earlier this year.  At first, I didn't think I could do much with it. The technology in the manuscript was so out of date it made me laugh out loud and the book was painfully overwritten.  But the more I read, the more I realized how much I loved the characters, especially Melinda. I had to save them from languishing on my hard drive, so I finished the novel and then started editing with extreme prejudice.

My novels are always near to my heart, but Phoning It In is special because I can identify so closely with the main character.  Melinda is not me, but she feels a lot of the same things I've felt--a lot of the same things many of us feel when life turns out to be not quite what we expected.  If you've ever been a twentysomething trying to figure out how to navigate your way through life--or if you're in that position now--I hope you'll enjoy Phoning It In.

Phoning It In (a romantic dramedy)

Melinda can summarize her life in a few words: dead-end job, nonexistent love life, and a contentious relationship with her older sister—not exactly the rosy picture she had of life at 25.

When Benoit walks into her life, she falls hard.  Gorgeous, funny, and smart, he’s everything she’s ever wanted in a man and more, but she can’t fathom that he could possibly want a plus-sized girl like her. 

Tired of going through the motions, Melinda tries to find the courage to pursue her dream career, but working for a publishing company would mean moving away from everyone and everything she knows and loves.  Is she content to remain in her comfortable rut, or is it time to strike out on her own and seize her chance at getting what she’s always wanted?

To be published:  December 22, 2012

Final cover reveal

Now, I never pretended to be an artist, but I thought I'd give the cover a go...and quickly realized I have no ability whatsoever in this arena.  I'm completely okay with that as I've never had any illusions about being an artist!

Enter some truly amazing pre-made book cover sites!  There are varying degrees of quality out there, and many just didn't fit with the theme of my book.  But then I stumbled upon the perfect cover, and it was instant love.

Just looking at it makes me feel giddy!

I ordered it from the fantastic Razzle Dazzle Stock site.  For $30-$50 you can get a pre-made cover, including changing the text to reflect your book's title and your author name.  There's a great selection and the service was fantastic, so I would highly recommend it.  I'm currently working on a chick-lit/women's fiction manuscript, and I plan on checking Razzle Dazzle out for covers for it.  They also do custom designs, but you'd have to contact them for pricing.

So what lesson have I learned in my self-publishing journal?  Don't try making your own cover unless you're also a graphic artist.  Trust me, that little pearl of wisdom will save you hours of frustration!

Updated cover

After taking in various sources of feedback, I have changed the cover to look like this.  This isn't set in stone yet, so further feedback is appreciated. :)

Fun with covers

When I decided to self-publish my novel, there were many things I worried about (aside from whether it would sell--but I think that one goes without saying!), from whether it would be difficult to format the novel for upload to KDP (it wasn't--thank you, Scrivener!) to if my blurb does enough to convince people that they must read my book (jury is still out on that one).  The one thing I didn't stress all that much about is the one thing that has turned out to be the most stressful aspect of all this: the cover.

Now, if I were independently wealthy, I wouldn't even attempt to make my own cover.  I'd hire some talented artist, admire their work, and be done with it.  Hopefully, I'll get to that point someday.  But because I'm just starting out, I decided to tackle my own cover, with a great deal of assistance to my husband.

Fortunately, my husband is a great photographer, so finding images wasn't a problem.  He had taken this fantastic shot of a castle called Bouillon, which he took when we were visiting his family in Belgium.  It's a magnificent site, a castle whose initial construction dates back to the 8th century.  I liked the aged, somewhat ruined look of the picture and was sure it would make a great cover.  After some quality time with Photoshop, my husband created a cover for me, and we both thought it looked really cool.

However, while I do still like the cover, while watching my sales figures, I began to suspect that maybe the cover wasn't really conveying what I wanted it to convey.  I started to wonder if it was too unclear what it might have to do with the novel and that it might be difficult just by glancing at it to get an idea of what to expect from the book.

That said, I made a marketing decision to create a new cover.  After more time with GIMP and Paint.Net than I care to admit, I've come away with a whole new appreciation for graphic artists and cover designers and with some prospective covers that will hopefully reach an audience more effectively.

I would really love some feedback as it will help me to get a better picture of what will work.  Please vote in the comments with the number of your favorite, and any suggestions as to what you think might help improve the cover.  So, without further ado, here they are:

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