Ever since we came up with a logo for Zeiger Adventure Publishing or ZAP, I’ve been working with my cover artist to update all of my covers. The adventures were fairly straightforward. All I really wanted was the logo added to the spine and back cover.
With Quaking Soul, I knew more needed to be done. I love the original cover for QS but after selling the book for a while, it became obvious it didn’t quite hit the fantasy feel. I’ve written before about how, for the most part, you can tell a book’s genre by the cover art. When people couldn’t figure this out with QS, I knew I needed to update things.
Thankfully, I have a wonderful cover artist. When I asked him for updates, he was more than willing to make them happen despite the end of the year being his busy season in his regular job.
So while I was back in Colorado recently, I found a handful of brittle, yellow aspen leaves and practiced burning them. Then took pictures to send to Justin. He handled everything from there, and I couldn’t be happier with the outcome. It’s not always easy making changes like this, but this time, it was worth it! Take a look at the full dust jacket at the bottom of the post.
Blessings,
Jennifer
P.S. I’m currently at 75% on the beta edit of HMII and I’ve started working out details with the professional editor. It’s slow progress with our upcoming move demanding more and more of our time, but it’s steady!
Ooh, love the updated cover! The burning leaf is a great touch! 🙂
I’m so glad it turned out right! Trying to explain what I wanted was oddly tricky but then, I’m trying to portray something from a mythical creature who can see a plant’s energy, so it’s not surprising 🙂🤷♀️
Love it. The quaking aspen leaf with burned edge, yes, mysterious and releases the imagination(s)
I love it when people pick up on the connection with the title! The main character may be a quaking aspen dryad 🙂
This is so clever! Love it!
I often find if I can give my cover artist or illustrator a visual reference for what I’m asking, it’s much easier to communicate what I want. This one challenged me until my husband basically said, “We have dead leaves and fire. We can take pictures.” I’m so glad it worked! 🙂
It’s lovely, and thank you so much for sharing from my review! I love just how alive it looks. Hmm, might just need to get another copy. I’m definitely looking forward to Book 2, but know how demanding moving is, so wishing you the best of luck with everything!
Thank you, Kat 🙂 and I greatly appreciate the review!! Another thing I’ve noticed at conventions is that people will read the back cover and then immediately move onto the reviews inside the front flap. I cringed a little every time this happened because my original layout did not work for this. So I’ve had it in my head for a while now to include part of your review on the updated jacket. 🙂
Love the new cover!! Yay!!!
Yay!! 👏😄
Love the new cover and at the same time glad to have an original. Words, words, words…
I still really like the original. It just doesn’t convey the right feel for the genre 🙂
How nice you were involved in this creation. Hmmm. Maybe, in the future, you’ll find the QS books, with ‘original’ covers, are of more value (collector’s item). 📚🙋🏻♀️
Someday maybe!! 🙂