They say those truly dedicated creative souls sometimes bleed for their art. Well my tale today includes not only blood, but also a bit of sweat and tears as well.
Hello Dawn and friends. My Name is Christine London and I write romance with a twist…a decidedly British twist. It was late 2006 when my first contracted work, Sunninghill Snow was in edits and in need of book cover art. My wonderful publisher had sent me a questionnaire asking about my vision for the cover. Knowing exactly what I wanted in my mind, I filled in the query with ease.
My web mistress, Alex Kent, just happens to be a very talented digital artist as well as being married to a professional photographer. Long story short, we collaborated to create a mock up of the cover for Sunninghill Snow to send to my publisher as a map of sorts. Being a complete newbie, I really didn’t know the protocol and thought this visual would be nothing but a service to their artists.
Well the initial photos came out pretty well. In the meantime I noticed that some other authors in my publisher’s stable used other book cover artists and indeed read that it was an accepted practice. One of the great benefits of working with a small press is their desire that the author is as happy as possible with the final outcome of her cover. I also did not realize the difficulty on their part in finding stock photography to portray exactly what an author wants for her cover. No wonder my team was able to get it “just right”!
Said use of stock photography arrived in my mailbox much to my chagrin. I had not expected that my pub would be working on the cover as I had told them I was putting something together for them to look at. Crossed wires I expect. Anyways…my digital artist, her hubby and I did one last shoot and bingo---great, neah fantastic results. We sent the cover off to my publisher and the rest as they say is history. They loved our efforts!
Now here’s the blood part. Whilst posing me with knife propped in hand, my web mistress accidentally ran her fingers along the (very sharp) blade. Gush! We were mortified, jumping about to find medical intervention. Drip, drip on the floor, beads of sweat rising to foreheads as the sight of blood sent us all into a tizzy. It still brings a tear thinking how the injury could have been so much the worse. Alex has a bit of numbness in those fingertips, but the wounds did not require stitches; well healed.
At the end of the day we have a great cover that brings much attention and sense of mystery from the viewer. “Why does she have a knife? Why he a key? Why is she in her underwear? Hmmm…must have to read more. Lol. Gottcha!!
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