YA Book Cover Creation Process
Readers Attention Please!!
Read till the end for my new Ya Cover Reveal!
Two years ago during the first round of Covid quarantine here in Kansas. I wrote the first draft of Lily’s Guide to Releasing Antique Spirits. At that time the book title was “Touch and Tell”. The writing of the draft took a few months to complete.
The minute I started on the long, harsh road of editing, my book cover ideas were beginning to form in the back of my mind.
The book is for Catholic Teenager girls. Girls who enjoy a little bit of supernatural mystery with their fiction stories. So the title had to really ‘POP’! DO I want an old vintage look, dark and mysterious? Or should I go with a lighter color, with the modern simplistic kick? Two of my favorite book cover’s are the Spiderwick Chronicles and Peter and the Starcatchers series. I would love it if my book cover has that feeling and mysterious charm.
I plopped down at my desk, opened up illustrator for some idea creation.
Do you want to see what I came up with?
😅 Warning! These are rough drafts so be nice.
For this one, I wanted a vintage gilded corners vibe. Something that makes you think Old and elegant.
2nd working title “A Trunk of Memories”
The trunk at the bottom, was a image I drew based off of my own antique trunk, that I purchased earlier that year.
The top logo with the series title “Lily’s Guide to Releasing Antique Spirits” was far from done. I played with this title placement multiple times trying to make it fit nicely without it taking up the entire front cover.
I liked this idea, it’s going in the right direction, but it just does not look professional or eye-catching enough.
I played with this design, changing the book color, switching around the designs and adding different trunk logos. Still did not make me say “YES, THAT’S LILY’S BOOK COVER”!
Here’s what the full cover Idea ended up looking like. For someone who has never created a book cover before, I’d say, “You have a good idea. But, do you want a okay cover? Or an AMAZING cover?”
Honestly. this first couple attempts at a book cover were pretty darn good. The problem was I did not love them. No matter how much I messed with them, there was something important missing. That ‘POP’ this is my book feeling.
The title for the series was perfect. But, the book title needed more work. It wasn’t clicking with me.
My Editor and I started a list of possible names for the book 1 title.
The list grew each week. Shortly after we started the list, the title “Trunked by a Spirit” was added.
Ironically I passed over this title for a few weeks. The title was good, I was concerned that it was going to be too corny for the cool teenagers of the modern world. So I kept over looking it, searching for a better title.
Book cover under new management.
The first draft was only a few long chapters away from being finished!
My editor, Donna, insisted that I needed to decide on a official title before the book was done. Otherwise, I might be in trouble. 😅 I had an entire page full of title ideas to choose from, but I kept waiting for one to jump out to me.
Finally the title for Book 1 was chosen, “Trunked by a Spirit.”
With Donna happy, and the book title and book series title decided on, we could update all the drafts and move on.
New Management: Mandi Lynn
Remember when I said “I’m going to do it myself to save some money.”
Well, it was a fun attempt, but never-mind. I tried and decide to shift the plan for the book cover.
Enter Mandi Lynn: Author, hiker and Freelance Designer.
I was fortunate enough to be on YouTube one day browsing for author info, how to self-publish a book when the Author Mandi Lynn popped up.
I watched a few of her videos, subscribed to her channel, and found her on Instagram.
If you are a new Self published author, I highly recommend taking a look at her on social media. She’s an amazing inspiration!
Check out her author journey here:
https://instagram.com/mandilynnwrites?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
Mandi has a freelance job on top of her Author career, she creates and sells book covers, stickers and even a book launch planner! Which I absolutely love the fact that she shares her knowledge and expertise with her fellow authors.
After perusing her website for a few minutes I landed on the book packages she offers.
Out of her four packages I picked the One with the biggest return! The Diamond Package! HAHAHAHA Feel the power of the exclusive Diamond package~
This package came with eBook, paperback and hardcover covers, and formatting.
In total I spent $530 on this package.
Was the Diamond package worth it?
🤩 ABSOLUTELY! 🤩
The biggest benefits of handing over the majority of my hard earned paycheck for this bundle:
- less work on my side
- professional work done by an Author who has done this before
- All 3 book formats done in one swoop
- Expensive for me, but worth every single penny!
Final Result
Remember, Book cover reveal of Lily’s Guide to Releasing Antique Spirits coming up so keep on reading.
The entire process took slightly longer than we both expected, due to vacations and the ever-shifting waves of life. In the end it was for the best, giving me more time to finish up some last minute book stuff.
Does anyone else find that when something that they’ve been waiting for is completed at last, you freeze? Fear that I wouldn’t like the final product wrapped it’s thorny fingers around my hands every time I tried to open the email from Mandi. Thus, I avoided the email for a few days…
It was a long two and a half weeks before I opened up the zip file holding my precious finished book covers and book interiors. Haha yeah, I know, I shouldn’t let fear of failure hold me back. I didn’t! It took me some time to open it, but when I did I was good and ready for anything.
SIDE NOTE: while I was avoiding the email, I did end up finding out that my IngramSpark account had been deleted by the company because they upgraded a few things and I did not get the upgrade emails. So, I contacted IngramSpark IT team, fixed the problem and created a new account while the email hung out in my email box. Productive, I was, just not with that email. 😅
Book cover reveal!!
OKAY, as promised it’s time for my YA book cover reveal~
This cover took blood, sweat and tears to create. It started with me, my editor Donna threw some thoughts into it. My illustrator Tanya took it and worked her magic, before Mandi stepped into the picture, creating the masterpiece it is today.
I am very proud of this cover and grateful for all the wonderful teamwork from these amazing people.
Without further delay, here is Book 1 of Lily’s Guide to Releasing Antique Spirits: Trunked by A Spirit by MCF.
Mysterious, gold gilded corners. Lily falling off the antique trunk! The dark colors with gold and yellow pop. EEEEEEEEKKKK! Excuse me as I squeal with delight!
It is everything I wanted for this book. Thank-you so very much Mandi for taking on this book cover!
If you want to see the entire book cover, you are just going to have to wait a few more weeks until the book is available for pre-sale.
What’s Next?
I uploaded the books into IngramSpark already.
Once my two book proof copies get here, I will look them over, and if all is well, than I can approve it on the website.
Once these beauties are approved they will be available for purchase all over the IngramSpark world! How exciting is that!!!
It’s been over 2 years since starting on this YA book and it now coming to an exciting climax!!
I can’t flippin wait! Stay tuned for more book updates, it’s crunch time and book’s are coming to life over here.
Have a lovely Sunday and thanks for reading with me on this Author journey of mine~
***Disclaimer, I am not being sponsored by Mandi Lynn. I have no affiliation and get no money from promoting anyone’s business or products on this blog.
I am sharing Mandi’s work because I have found it useful and maybe you will too ***
Full time Author ~ Here I come.
Thank you for reading until the end. As a new blogger any and all support is appreciated and welcome.
Write on~
Cecilia
