I’ll never forget the rush of excitement when I saw my very first book cover for the very first time. For so many years, I dreamed of being a published author, but it always felt so far away and for a while, I seriously doubted it would ever happen. Seeing the cover of The Peasant Queen made it sink in for the first time that my dream was really coming true.
Since then, I’ve looked forward to the day that I get to see the cover for my second book. I have published two short stories in the nearly two years since The Peasant Queen came out, and actually helping design those covers with my friend was exciting enough. But there’s something about a book cover that is so much more exciting and fulfilling. Novels require an incredible amount of work, and seeing that cover is the first time you actually start to feel like all your struggle was worth it.
When it came time to order the cover design for The Love of a Princess, I knew I had to work with Roseanna M. White again. She designed the gorgeous cover of TPQ, as well as did all my interior formatting–plus she’s one of my top favorite authors ever, so working with her in general is a huge honor and thrill!
Roseanna has gotten considerably more busy with her free-lance design work (plus all her other many entrepreneurial endeavors) in the last two years, so this time she wasn’t able to get started on my cover for over two months after I placed the order with her. I filled out the same cover questionnaire as last time, giving Roseanna all the info about the book, character inspo pictures, my vision for the design, plus instructions for the cover to work well with that of TPQ. And then I patiently waited for June to get here!
After days of anxiously checking my email, dying to see what Roseanna had come up with, there the email was. The rough draft of TLOAP’s cover.
I hastily opened it and nearly screamed in excitement right in the middle of the large office room I work in, surrounded by thirty other employees. I immediately turned to one of my friends and showed her the cover, and then found my other work besties and showed them. My heart was pounding, my hands were shaking, and I felt on the verge of tears.
It was utterly beautiful! Exactly what I envisioned in my head, but even better.
My biggest request was for the background to be a wall of stained glass windows. The chapel in Trilaria’s palace has windows like this, and it is the site of multiple important scenes. I could think of no better place to feature in the design. Not only would it be significant to the story, but the bright colors of the windows would stand out beautifully on the cover. And man, did Roseanna deliver! She was able to find the EXACT same church as in my story inspo pictures! These windows were the ones I always imagined being on the cover, and now they actually are!
I asked for Adelaide’s hair to be dark brown and very long and curly. I also asked if she could be in either a dark blue/dark blue and emerald gown, since those are the royal colors of Trilaria. Roseanna found the perfect model to represent Adelaide and gave her the perfect gown and hairstyle!
She also used the same fonts on the title and my name as she used on TPQ, so that the two covers would have a clear link.
After all my initial excitement wore off, I made myself study every inch of the cover to see what should be tweaked. I ended up asking Roseanna to remove Adie’s jewelry and give her a **very significant** wedding ring instead. I also asked for her dress to be made fuller.
Here is version two, with my requested changes made, along with the edges of the model cleaned up so the photoshopping isn’t so obvious. Having her dress bigger made such a difference! I was worried Adie looked like she was kind of floating there on the cover, but now she looks more natural to me.
Then my husband pointed out how the swashes cross through the C and make it look like an E, so I asked Roseanna to fade them like she had done on TPQ, as well as add the series title I came up with. In just a few minutes, the little changes were made and the final cover was in my possession.
Isn’t it so pretty? The fading of the swashes and addition of the series title also made such a difference to me, making the design feel complete. I’m so in love with the colorful window backdrop, Adie’s blue velvet dress, the dainty beading along her cuffs, the sapphire wedding ring, her sparkly crown, the fact that you can tell her eyes are blue, and her pretty curls. I feel like the cover perfectly represents both Adelaide and her story, and I haven’t been able to stop looking at it since! I adore TPQ’s cover, but this one… I think I love it even more!
What do YOU think about TLOAP’s cover? Do you love it as much as I do? Be sure to let me know your thoughts on it!
PS: Stay tuned for the full cover reveal (with the spine and back included) closer to release day! Once Roseanna does the typesetting, she’ll be able to finish the design! I can’t wait to see how it turns out!
