Creating a Book Cover

I love my cover designer! Of course I may be a bit biased since she's my daughter, but when I have an idea she can make it come to life on a book cover.

My soon to release book is the 7th in the Shandra Higheagle Mystery series. My daughter came up with the banner across the top of all the books when I sent her photos and said, I need a banner that says, Shandra Higheagle Mystery.

The most recent book cover, I sent her a note that said, I need a cover that has a Christmasy looking street scene with Sheba(Shandra's dog) pulling a sleigh with presents and a dead body. We both scoured the places we use to purchase photos, and I sent her several street scenes I thought would work. We ended up with this one.

Next I sent her three photos I found of sleighs. She asked which I was partial to. I liked the antique child's sleigh.

We talk over how she could get a body in the sleigh. We couldn't find any online that would work. The body in the sleigh is that of my twelve-year-old grandson. She put him in a wheelbarrow and took the photo to make it look like a body sprawled in a sleigh.

The logo "My Roots are Rural" is my daughter's blog. You can follow all of her DIY projects at there.

With the background, the sleigh, and the dead body, the next important image was Sheba. I picked out the image for her when I started writing the series. We've used it on bookmarks and promotional material. This is the pose used for the cover.

My daughter sent me the first draft of the cover. It had the background, the sleigh with my grandson in it, and Sheba, sitting in front of the sleigh. I said, now we need the presents and Sheba needs a harness, so it looks like she's pulling the sleigh. These are the photos my daughter used to add gifts and the harness to the scene.

 

She then drew tugs from Sheba to the sleigh to make it look even more like the dog was pulling the sleigh. It all looked awesome until I looked real close at the background and a sign gave away the the street wasn't in the U.S.. So she blanked out the sign and hung a wreath on it. 

 

Once that little thing was taken care of, she sent me the finished cover and I loved it! If you need a cover, check out Covered by CLKeerins.  Here is the finished product. 

This book will be available Nov. 15th. 

Here is the Blurb:

Yuletide Slaying

Book 7 of the Shandra Higheagle mystery series

Family, Revenge, Murder

When Sheba, Shandra Higheagle’s dog, brings her a dead body in a sleigh full of presents, her world is turned upside down. The man is a John Doe and within twenty-four hours another body is found.

Detective Ryan Greer receives a call that has them both looking over their shoulders. A vengeful brother of a gang member that died in a gang war is out for Ryan’s blood. Shandra’s dreams and Ryan’s fellow officers may not be enough to keep them alive. 

All photos purchased at canstock except for the wheelbarrow.