Book Cover Fiddles

Posted Tue, 02/07/12

In between the releases for all eight books in the Collective Obsessions Saga (due to come full circle in 2013), I sometimes fiddle with book cover designs for each title. The writing portion of the series is complete, so all that's left is the infernal waiting for release and concocting covers for the remaining five books.

The publisher will take my suggestions into consideration on occasion, which occurred with The Twain Shall Meet:

Original cover for "The Twain Shall Meet" cover       Final cover rendition for "The Twain Shall Meet"

Left to right: My idea for The Twain Shall Meet cover; and the final rendition.

I'm no expert in cover design, but I do enjoy the process. I have enough software tools to get the job done, thankfully. I've found that beginning with a blank slate (color dependant on overall design) is the best way to get the ball rolling. My corral of software utilities includes Color Picker (to determine the exact six-digit hex code for a color already present in a layout or design), Adobe Photoshop Elements (to create the blank slate, colored inserts, text, and various image sizes of the finished product), a rather old version of Microsoft's Digital Suite (to insert other images onto the blank slate and to add borders if needed), and finally, on occasion I use the free online services of the Luna-Pic Editor to create 3-D borders or transparencies when needed.

Whenever I need a break from long hours of writing or client-related web design, I typically turn to fiddling with book covers. Last week I churned out a few more:

Tentative cover for "Enthrallment" (Book #4 in the Collective Obsessions Saga; due for release in Summer 2012).

Tentative cover for Enthrallment (Book #4 in the Collective Obsessions Saga; due for release in Summer 2012).

The blonde inserted onto the cover comes from the "beauty" category at Magickal Graphics, which offers a selection of Gothic graphics for use on Facebook and My Space, among other places. The images of people and objects remain the copyright of the individual artists, most of whom are unknown at this point. Specific images will not be used in the official end-product book cover art, nor will they be utilized as such in the future.

Being on a roll, here's the rest of the lot:

"The Keeper's Journal" by Deborah O'Toole writing as Deidre Dalton - COMING IN LATE 2012!      "Hearts Desires" by Deborah O'Toole writing as Deidre Dalton - COMING IN 2013!

"The Twilight" by Deborah O'Toole writing as Deidre Dalton - COMING IN 2013!      "Megan's Legacy" by Deborah O'Toole writing as Deidre Dalton - COMING IN 2013!

Left to right (top): The Keeper's Journal (Book #5) and Hearts Desires (Book #6). Left to right (bottom): The Twilight (Book #7) and the final in the saga, Megan's Legacy (Book #8).

The red-themed chair and lamp on the Hearts Desires cover was created by an artist known as Anatolymax (no other name or source available as of this writing). The image reminded me of a scene in the book where two of the male characters get into a tussle of sorts, after which one of them is left bloodied and beaten in his sitting room. Their relationship is one of the focal points in the book, so I thought the scene rather symbolic.

Most of the female characters residing within the Collective Obsessions Saga are dark-haired - they are Irish, after all. However, two blonde women enter the fray on opposite ends of the moral spectrum at various points. One of them is evil, manipulative and murderous (Carly O'Reilly in Enthrallment), while her daughter Megan (Megan's Legacy) is nearly pure as driven snow.

It's not my intention to be deliberately vague, but I don't want to reveal too much before the actual books are released.

Needles to say, I'm anxious for all eight books to be available now. Such a notion is unrealistic, of course. I'm not the only author in my publisher's writing stable.

Tags: Collective Obsessions Saga; Photos & Other Images