To say the least I never thought I'd be posting on another cover that had to get changed right now. I thought I had figured out covers; and the one From Here to There had, although complex and not the norm for romance covers, seemed to suit the book.
This particular book has now had more covers than any of my others, I think. When I began (summer of 2011 before I was ready to put out the books), it was with digital painting. I wasn't happy with the first and did a second before I actually ePublished. That was when I learned readers of indie books tended to see my digital paintings as amateur offerings.
It does not pay to get your feelings hurt if you want to put out any creative work; so I rethought my concept. I selected one of my own photos from the area (book is set in Montana on a ranch). It was up for awhile but didn't really work for me even if readers didn't object. At least they didn't take the time to write how much they hated it if they did.
This was about the time I learned about buying images and when I did that, I set two models into one of my Montana photos and thought-- voila. By then I had gotten into Select and was giving away copies. When I did get comments, it appeared readers thought it was ugly.
About here is where I learned two things. One I had no idea what readers really wanted and two, I was very stubborn about doing this myself. It wasn't just the cost-- although that's a factor. It was because I knew I could do it and wanted it as part of my overall offering.
So I tried again to get the flavor of this book onto a cover. This time I used two equal images which is admittedly unusual on these covers; but this book is about two love stories. There is first of all the couple today who have realized they began a marriage with no idea what a marriage was all about, and there was the woman's aunt, now deceased, who had left the journal of her own love story for her niece to read. Two images and I had it made. Who could find fault with that?
When the first negative review appeared regarding the cover, it was about the same time I had made the change; so I thought maybe it was the old cover the reader had hated. Recently along came another negative review of the book's cover, and this time there could be no doubt it was this cover.
Stubborn I might be but I do take into account what I read on reviews. It does me a favor when I get such a comment because doubtless there are other readers who simply won't read the book at all because of a cover that doesn't work for them.
This time though I was pretty much sick of using people on the cover. In December 2012, I had written a Christmas novella which was set a few years later on this ranch. I had used no people on its cover-- A Montana Christmas.
So I went back to an earlier idea-- the land. This book, From Here to There, is about several things. One is the love story of two couples. Two is the mythology of the old and today's West. Third is the love of the land. I found a photo that expressed my own feelings about this part of the West.
I think probably the phases it has gone through have been good for me because in the end the book has to be about what I feel is most important in it. I can hope it works for the reader but when a story like this one (which is an adult romance) is not just about love between two people but also love of the land, then a cover of the land should work.
Hopefully it will find readers who feel likewise. It has a trailer which I don't think I will change because the trailer has a chance to say it all about the book, not limiting itself to one image (plus, the cover I have at the end has never actually been used on the book-- which means it has had seven covers.
Will the one at the top be its last? Who knows. I am open to what comes along where it comes to these covers. I might see something that stimulates some other part of the book in my eyes. For now, it is what it is and I like it. In the end though it's what readers think that matters the most for book covers. They are the ones who decide/or not to purchase a book of mine. I should put up all the covers inside maybe.
Actually I do have a link to an extended trailer at the end of From Here to There because of my great love for that country. It's not on YouTube and only available to purchasers as often trailers that go on too long tell too much of the story which isn't a problem to someone who already read the book. This is its YouTube trailer:
