Indie Life: book covers

So it's that time of the month again. No, not that time (!), it's time for the Indie Life blog hop where us indies who have joined up talk about anything related to the indie writing life. I've been writing and self publishing for two years now and I must say, I'm loving every second. Okay, maybe not every second, but pretty close to that. The editing process can be a pain in the ass sometimes because its relentless having to read through the manuscript so. many. times. Yeah, it gets boring. But it's all worth it when the reviews start coming in along with the fan mail (yes, I do get fan mail... how cool is that?!).
I'm in the middle of writing my sixth book at the moment so shortly I'll be planning the cover. That's one of my  favourite bits about the whole indie author shebang. I love coming up with ideas of what I'd like to have on the cover and then relaying that to my cover designer (in this instance, it's the awesome Ravven) and waiting to see her interpretation. Here's what's she's done so far:

The Ghost of Josiah Grimshaw

I explained to Ravven that I wanted two girls, one with pale skin and dark hair and the other with dark skin and afro-like hair. Ideally, they should be on or near a beach. I also told her the ins and outs of the story and asked if she could do something with wavy lines and a nice font (I know, I know, I'm pretty useless at explaining!). It was also important that the font used / series title would follow through to all the Morgan Sisters novels Anyway, she got to work straight away, coming up with a few different options. This was my favourite. She did a few tweaks and then it was done. It's beautiful, isn't it?

Daisy Madigan's Paradise

The second book (a novella) was Daisy Madigan's Paradise and again, I told her a little about the story and that I wanted a girl with reddish / orange curly hair and that she should be in a cemetery / on or near a gravestone. This was the result. I instantly fell in love with it. Ravven excelled here, didn't she? I'm constantly getting people asking me who did my covers.

The Raven Saga

All my other book covers were created by the lovely Emma Michaels, who offered to create a whole new look for me (I'd originally created the covers myself and they were, let's say, very boring). She blew me away with the results and people often ask me about them too! Here they are:

If you click on the images, you'll be taken to their page on Amazon, if you'd like to learn more about them! Oh and remember both Raven and Daisy Madigan's Paradise are FREE!

Have an awesome month! :D

YA Indie Carnival: Cover Love

As a writer, getting the cover right is one of the most important decisions you'll have to make. After all, the cover is your very first impression you're going to make on potential readers.
My first cover (for Raven) was a bad one... horrible actually! I designed it myself... it was a photo of myself that I photoshopped to make me look like a teenager (!). It wasn't a bad picture, of course, but it didn't get the right feel across that I wanted. So I opted to buy an image from a stock photography site instead. I added the words in Adobe Photoshop and voila... the cover to Raven was born.
I did the same for December Moon... and I have to say I love it even more than Raven. The picture I found is perfect, the girl looks exactly how I imagined the main character to be. Result!
But when it comes to other people's covers, there are so many beautiful ones out there. Here is a small selection of some of my favourites:

For more Cover Love.... check out my fellow Carnis below.

1. Laura A. H. Elliott author of Winnemucca & 13 on Halloween, Book 1 in the Teen Halloween Series
2. Bryna Butler, author Midnight Guardian series
3. Heather Self

4. T. R. Graves, Author of The Warrior Series
5. Suzy Turner, author of The Raven Saga 

6. Darby Karchut, author of GRIFFIN RISING
7. Lexus Luke 

8. PJ Hoover, Author of SOLSTICE, Blogging at ROOTS IN MYTH
9. Cheri Schmidt, author of the Fateful Trilogy 

10. Rachel Coles, author of Into The Ruins, geek mom blog
11. K. C. Blake, author of Vampires Rule and Crushed 

12. Patti Larsen, The Hunted series and The Hayle Coven series
13. Courtney Cole, author of The Bloodstone Saga 

14. Amy Maurer Jones, Author of The Soul Quest Trilogy
15. Dani Snell's Refracted Light Reviews 

16. Fisher Amelie, author of The Understorey
17. M. Leighton, Blood Like Poison Series, Madly, The Reaping 

18. Abbi Glines, author of Breathe and The Vincent Boys
19. Kimberly Kinrade, Bits of You & Pieces of Me, Forbidden Mind 

20. Madeline Smoot, Missing, Summer Shorts, and The Girls
21. Cidney Swanson, author of Rippler 

22. Nicole Williams, author of Eternal Eden, Falling Eden
23. Gwenn Wright, author of Filter 

24. Abbi Glines: Breathe, The Vincent Boys, Existence
25. Ten Things Authors Should Know About Social Media

The grand reveal: December Moon book cover

I'm very excited to reveal the cover for my upcoming release, December Moon, Part II of The Raven Saga (out September 2011). I just love it!! Do you?

Raven new book cover

As I've been working on December Moon (The Raven Saga Part II), I've realised that my cover artwork for Raven wasn't up to scratch. It lacked something... it didn't look very professional, in fact it simply looked too amateurish. So I now have a new cover which I am slowly adding to all the social networking sites that I'm a member of (yes, it's taking me AGES!) I also have the cover for December Moon which I will reveal soon.

But for now, here is the new cover for Raven (The Raven Saga Part I)...