Tweaking a cover

For a long periods of time I put aside the books I've written as in I don't think about them. If they are finished, that's that. Sometimes it is that. In any of the creative arts, it's a balance between tweaking something to a finer level and screwing it up by one too many adjustments where the energy of the work is then lost.

When I decided to have a free day for From Here to There, I looked at the cover with a more critical eye. It didn't work for me at all. I changed the sky and font but that didn't help enough. It wasn't that anything was really wrong with it, but it didn't do enough to depict the story. 

The text of the book still stands as I wrote it. It is a love story of the West today and true to my intentions for it. The outside of the book though-- not so much.  Was it as good as I could do? It was okay which is a bad sign as I am coming to hate that word okay. Okay is not good enough.

I began to think of other ways to approach the cover. I looked through my own photos as well as stock images I have purchased. When I blended my own photo of Slough Creek in Yellowstone with one of this young couple, I was on my way.

The words, from here to there, are in the heroine's deceased aunt's journal which she had left for her niece in the hopes it would help her someday. The meaning is that life is lived between here and there. If we live in the past or the present, we are missing what is right in front of us.

I decided to use the image for the current cover which is itself a blending of one of my photos of Montana with two purchased stock images. The redo became more about the couple's transition. It showed them in two modes. Night to day-- yin to yang-- dark to light. I liked it well enough but when I added some ranch work images, it became cluttered. I tried it with just the couple kissing but frankly it didn't do justice to the fullness of the story. Yes, it's about love but two love stories as well as the love of land.

Unless I find new places to show the book, it's had too many giveaways for me to think it will get new buyers just based on a cover change. For that, I have to find a new place to have the book seen. This one was for me, but I am changing the cover to the one below. Putting out a book is about more than making sales or finding readers. It's about doing the best job I am capable of doing on all levels. For now, this cover is that. I won't say it's particularly like others I've seen, but it stands up well as a work of its own-- in my opinion-- and it's more than okay.