Thursday, January 20, 2011

Final Cover design for REUNION.

Well, what do you think?

After all the votes came in, Cover #3 was the clear winner. I did, however, get lots of input, and made some changes. Here were some of your thoughts.
  • Loose the tagline - I did.
  • Try a different font - I did.
  • Add some color - I did.
  • Loose the "A Paranormal Thriller By..." - I did.
  • Many of you liked the school building - I kept it, but added my own non-royalty paying picture that I took of a school in Kokomo, IN.
  • Many of you liked a character that told you something about the story - I added one - my first born son. He modeled for me. He's not a killer. He's a very smart and creative young man and writes excellent fiction.
  • Many of you liked the light emiting from the school - I kept it.
  • Some of you told me to make sure the title and author name were clearly visible in a small thumbnail - I changed the font, put a space between each letter and got rid of the "The", which allowed more space for "R E U N I O N". I did the same with my name.


I listened to all of your input and came up with what I believe is a very good cover ( I know some people will not like it, but I can't please everybody). All I did was take a picture, upload it to picnik.com and started playing around with the different toys they have there. Unfortunately, I do not know the "recipe" that I used. I had to make way too many adjustments to repeat the process. After I was satisfied with the general concept and all the votes were in, I upgraded ($19.95) to the premium account and used a few more available tools, including the font. I probably spent about 30+ hours crafting concepts and nailing down the final.

Here's the final draft, followed by a few of the concepts that led up to it. Thank you all so, so much for your input and advice and compliments. I really don't think I'd come up with this without your help.




Here were a few of the preliminaries... And as promised, here is the Link to the first 2 chapters of REUNION (available on May 1st). And if you missed the post where I gave the synopsis and reason for writing it, I'll give a quick tagline to sum it up...

"Troubled teen kills eight and summuns the survivors for a reunion twenty years later - at the school."

Synopsis:
David Ray killed eight students and then turned the gun on himself. He thought the shooting and suicide would heal his pain. Instead, he changed Tanner Khan and the survivors forever. Twenty years later, Tanner and his fellow classmates agree to hold a class reunion. Although they all suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, they agree to reunite. When they get inside, they discover that Hell has come to collect a debt… and someone has to pay! 








13 comments:

  1. I like the final edit, looks very good :)

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  2. Thanks M Pax and Shannon. And thank you for the earlier votes and input.

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  3. Outstanding! I like the final look. :)

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  4. Thank you, Tale of Many Reviews! And thanks for your input through the process. It is much appreciated. I'm hoping to send you a copy for review when I'm ready! :)

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  5. Love it Jeff! It looks incredibly professional and enticing. Let me know the release date and I'll add it to my TBR's when my new Kindle arrives in Feb.

    J x

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  6. It certainly came out looking like a best seller. Nice job on this one. I would have had a lot of trouble deciding. I liked three of the covers. Thanks for following the blog. Good luck with the book. I think you have an interesting premise. I bet your son is stoked.

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  7. Hi Draven, He is. And I am as well. I appreciate your comments and your willingness to be active in the world of indie authors. Come back and visit often and share all that you have learned!

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  8. You did an awesome job on revising the cover! I am so glad you're open to suggestions. And that you listened to them. :-) REUNION is a better title too.

    Only one thing I'd suggest: get a short review blurb from a well-known author and add it to top of cover. :-) It'll make your cover look like it's from one of the big pubs.

    All the best!

    Cheryl Kaye Tardif,
    bestselling author of Children of the Fog
    (coming this March)

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  9. Thanks Cheryl. Know any that are open to that?

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