Cover art love!

I know that I've always been attracted to a book primarily by the art on the cover - if it doesn't appeal to me then I'm not likely to pick it up. Yes, that may make me appear shallow but I think it's true of most authors and publishers that the cover art is a Big Deal and for that reason you have to always look for the best way to present your work visually. You might have a helluva great read but if the cover art doesn't match the contents or worse, misrepresents the book as one genre and is actually another, the damage can be irreparable.

So, without further ado, let me put up a round of applause for the Carina Press art department for delivering four fantastic covers for my "Blood of the Pride" series.

 

As you can see the art department knocked it out of the park for all four covers. The same model and the same font, the same background changing just a wee bit for each book. It's pretty easy to see that they're all in the same series.

When I was asked what I wanted for cover art I wasn't sure, not having any background in art other than scribbling with crayons - so I had no idea what really would work for my readership. Carina knew and, I think, they got it right.

And not only in digital form - I'm thrilled to announce that all four books have been picked up by Harlequin to be put into print form for their Direct-To-Consumer program. This means that if you subscribe to certain Harlequin lines you'll be getting a paperback copy of one of these books (or already have, in the case of the first book!) in addition to your regular subscriptions.

But there's more! (as the ad men would say!) After the initial print run for all of these books there will be extras available for purchase from the Harlequin web site, here - so if you've enjoyed the books in ebook form and would like some hard print for your shelves or want to pass them onto a friend or family member who doesn't like ebooks, here's your chance. The last book, "Battle Scars", will be releasing in digital form at the end of October and will be going to press in February 2014.

My thanks again to the faboo art department at Carina Press and I think this is a great example of how cover art does make a big difference! Whether you're self-publishing your own work or working with a publisher the cover art can make or break a sale - and I think I got some excellent cover art here!