by Ann Mayburn
It probably comes as no surprise that authors tend to be artistic in other parts of their lives than just writing. When you have an imagination that is often in overdrive you find yourself drawn to other creative outlets that give your muse a chance to rest and play. I know authors that knit, make D&D miniature models, design their own jewelry, blow glass(which I would love to do) and just about anything else under the sun that allows us to be imaginative.
Myself, I do cross-stitch, crochet, scrapbook, paint(badly), do pottery(well), and about a dozen other things. I can’t walk through a craft store without salivating at all the different projects. So my husband was actually happy that my new hobby didn’t involve filling a grocery cart full of expensive crafting crap. Instead it only cost us a good art program and some stock photos.
You see, I’ve discovered the fantastic world of cover art. Now, I know what you’re thinking, don’t you like...need to know what you’re doing to make a good cover? Uh-no. With stock photos and today’s art programs anyone can make a cover. Don’t believe me? Have you been to the Amazon kindle books section lately?
Decadent was nice enough to let me design my own covers for myself and one of their other authors. I can’t say how much I appreciate this opportunity, and I promise Val is going to sell TONS of books with the hot little cover I made for her. Feast your eyes on this:
Totally sexy, right? Well if that hotty made you tingle, better buckle your seatbelt for this one. I like to write books about real, flawed men and the women that find them sexy. Anyone can have a guy with a six-pack on the cover, I wanted a guy who actually looked like most of the guys I know.
But wait, it gets even better! Like hot fetish books that push the boundaries of what’s new and hot? Me too! That’s why I designed the cover below to introduce readers to a sassy new kink.
Okay, if you’re done throwing up in your mouth now. I can offer you a palate cleanser. ;) Take a look below at my real cover art done by real artists. Each of these covers is 10% inspiration from me and 90% talent from my cover artists. These ladies bust their butts to make their authors happy and I really appreciate it. Being a cover artist can be a thankless job, we authors tend to get upset when they aren’t psychic and read our minds about what we want. Or when we’re totally unrealistic and/or have bad taste.(cough) So thanks to the ladies and gents with the talent to give our book a face. We love you more than you’ll ever know.
PS- Yes, they are freak’n awesome. :D
15 comments:
I can't wait for my book, Leather, to come out, Ann! You did an amazing job with the cover. And the model? He's off-the-charts hot! I know Heather will be jealous that he's my cover boy! ;-)
I think your Diaper Champ may have caused me psychological damage, I may need counselling! ;)
I love book cover art, sometimes I'll buy a book simply because I've been dazzled by the cover art. I wish I had the skill to design great covers, but I'm hopeless at that kind of thing. As an indie writer one of the most exciting stages of my projects is when I'm thinking about commissioning cover art. I can't wait to see what the artist comes up with and how they'll interpret my words. It gives me so much pleasure to see my hard work gift wrapped in a beautiful cover.
I enjoyed your post,Ann, thank you. :)
Good luck with the book, Val, looks great.
Libby
Glad I read the warning On face book or my morning Protein Shake would have landed on the Computer Screen. :)
I look forward to the New books though I am sorry to admit wont read the Diaper one Not really my Fetish... LOL
Gawd... I'm dying to read Val's book!! hehe And I didn't have such a warning, i was lead here by a feed on my iGoogle home page. Duh, coffee everywhere!
And yes, DP cover artists are incredibly talented and uber patient ;) Me thinks we are an extremely lucky bunch of authors xxx
Ann has discovered an untapped talent at cover artistry. But yeah, that diaper thing? Who knew? Ugh!
*snort!
Let me guess, you have a collection of Sean Penn photos you like to 'play' with?
;-)
Cover art has a huge impact on the books I buy. That's why I'm glad Decadent has fabulous cover artists.
Oh wow, the diaper hunk actually made me shudder. LOL
Love the covers! Excellent job!
How do you blend the differnt images to work together without looking fake? I've seen some covers where you can tell the cover artist obviously cut and pasted the images.
Oh, my gosh. Hilarious! I had an entire story pop into my head when I saw the beer belly cover. I may need that one some day...
You made me laugh. I'm so glad we have the artists we do. I honestly could not have come up with a better cover for STA. It will always be my favorite.
Great post Ann.
Thanks so much ladies and gents. :) With the massive amounts of bad covers out there it wasn't hard to come up with inspiration for my fake covers. Hell, you see some slopy ass photoshopping that makes it look like someone cut pictures out of different magazines and posted them on some random background. Like a ransome letter version of a cover.
We are SO blessed with good cover artists, and I completely admit that getting a shiny new cover motivates me to write a new book. ;)
Laughed water out my nose. Love Leather!. If there was a warning, didn't pay attention so all I could think at first was "Val is going to flip out!" LOL. I do adore your real covers, Ann. They are beautiful and the others made my day. Thanks.
I love the cover for Amber Moon! the Diaper Champ made me snort in laughter... And the beer belly! ROFLMAO!!!
OMG! I SOOOO love the Sean-ster in leather. But I think the boy needs a little cream for that diaper rash.
Good call, Samantha. I noticed that too, was going to give him photoshop cosmetic surgery...but I didn't want to even cyber touch those places. It would make my mouse feel dirty. ;)
The three at the bottom are - picks word carefully - different. Those at the top are FANTASTIC. Er - I didn't get that the wrong way round did I? Diaper guy - mmm. Leather codpiece -mmmmmm.
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