Okay, the title is a little misleading. I’m not really in a rut so much as I’ve been focusing on the same thing for too long that now I can’t see the forest for the trees. Have you ever been there? It’s kind of frustrating. Here’s my problem: I need to come up with a book cover for my next book and I’ve got nothing.
Well, not nothing exactly, but the vision of the cover is just not forming in my mind. I can see pieces, like for a puzzle, but they’re not fitting together into a cohesive picture. So, I’m asking for your help. This book is the third in the Grounded Series and I want the cover to be very similar to the first two. I know you’ve seen them before, but here are the first 2 books to refresh your memory:
Now, for the third book, I see shades of green (the book is set in the spring) because I’m keeping with the earth tones for this series and I see a man at the top, preferably looking down like the other 2 covers, and the woman at the bottom. But, other than that, I’ve got nothing.
And, before you ask, I don’t have my long or short blurbs really figured out yet either (I know right?) so I’ll have to just give you some basic facts. I’ll start with the characters:
Gage, my hero, is an American Indian man who’s working on a joint task force with the FBI, Border Patrol and Homeland Security (yeah, that’s a lot of entities), but he’s really just a one-man show doing what nobody else has the skill set to do. What that really means is, he’s an Indian which gives him unlimited access to Indian land across the state of Arizona. He’s tracking Mexicans who are coming across the border and using Indian land to get to sanctuary cities. (It’s not a political book that’s just what he was hired to do.)
My heroine, Qiana, is also Apache. Her normal job is office-related, working for the Department of Justice under the Attorney General in the Tribal Affairs Office. She’s a bigwig with a fancy office and title to match. But, she’s been working mostly from home for almost a year due to breast cancer and complications from surgery and chemotherapy. (This part I do not need help with, as I am only too familiar with it.) Her sister is one of several young women on local reservations who went missing from a party.
In a nutshell, Gage has stumbled upon a human trafficking operation that focuses on kidnapping Indian girls and indoctrinating them into a cult for the purpose of starting a new tribe with an unadulterated pure bloodline. (I know, weird, but that’s essentially it. Think Hitler and his desire to be the supreme race.)
So, there you go. Any ideas? You can shoot me some pictures if you think of something appropriate. I’ll even consider any doodles or cartoon renderings. Seriously folks, I’ve got nothing for this book. I guess I could just have my cover designer put something together and see what they come up with, but for both of my previous books, they struck out. At least with the photos of the people.
Which brings me to my second quandry: I’m also looking for free stock photos to use for my book cover and for marketing purposes. I have some photos that I love, but they are not free (that I am aware of) and I cannot find the source of the photos for others so I’m not going to risk using them. In particular, I’m looking for Gage. Here’s the photo I love:
But I need something I know is royalty free (or cheap to purchase) that captures the same rebel, smart-Aleck look with longish shaggy hair. I’d rather he not have facial hair, but that’s not a deal breaker for me. Here’s one I found on Pexels, which is free, but I’m not in love with it:
Anyway, I’d love to see some photos that you’d recommend for my hero. Links to the photos would be great. You can post those in the comments or shoot me an e-mail. Or just links to free stock photos, where you think I might find some nice-looking men to fit my description. I strike out every time I look at the free stock photo sites. For some reason all the men look effeminate to me.
I appreciate your help. I’m looking forward to seeing what you suggest. I’m also looking for some suggestions for my next series of books already in the works. For more information about that, be sure to sign up for my newsletter. (You can do that at the end of this post.) Here’s a teaser: I’ll be offering some lovely prizes.
Where do you turn when you run out of ideas? Where do you get your free stock photos? Do you have trouble getting your book covers right? If you’re not a writer, do you look for anything specific in a book cover? Ladies, on romance book covers, do you find bare-chested men more appealing than men who are fully clothed? Come on, fess up. There’s no judging here.
Word of the Day: Abiogenesis
Fun fact about me: I spend way too much time looking at free stock photos. I find some amazing things on those sites.
Original post by Jansen Schmidt, March 2020. Images by Pexels and Google Images.
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Use a picture of the hubby. He’s looks like a nice-looking guy who would take names and kick a– when the situation called for it.
As for abiogenisis, I know all about it. I did an ancestry.com and it turns out my great, great (to the one millionth power) grandfather used to be a small rock at the bottom of the Pacific.
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Al, my husband will be flattered at your comment, but he’s the farthest away from American Indian as a man could get. While he is hunky, he’s just not the image I’m looking for. Thanks for the suggestion
And, I think we might be distant cousins as I too am related to a small rock at the bottom of the Pacific.
Thanks for visiting and sharing your thoughts.
Patricia
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Putting on my graphic design hat here – one thing that stands out to me about your covers is that they not only have a common composition, but in both, the heroine is doing something active in a scene from the book. So maybe go over the scenes from the current book–are there any in which the heroine is doing something physical?
I’ve been in somewhat of a rut myself, only mine is with the plot of my WIP. Taking an online workshop helped me shake some ideas loose last week. Sometimes listening to music, and yes, looking at photos can help too (especially with cover ruts–yep, that happens to me too). I get my stock photos from istockphoto, Dreamstime, Bigstockphoto, royaltyfree123 and others. They’re not free, but they’re relatively inexpensive.
Bare-chested men on covers don’t do anything more for me than fully-clothed men–I like whatever’s appropriate for the story. Although either way, I do prefer for their heads not to be cut off. Hope that helps and good luck!
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Thanks for the suggestions, Jennette. Covers, like books, are so subjective. I don’t have to LOVE the cover, but it does have to match with my vision of the story itself. I think that’s why I’m having so much trouble with this book. Gage is doing most of the physical stuff and Qiana is the worker bee who doesn’t really “go” anywhere. People come to her. She’s the heart of the working parts so I can’t really find an appropriate image of her to depict her role in the story.
I’ll check out some of the photo sites you mentioned. Maybe something will leap out at me there.
Thanks for visiting and joining the conversation.
Patricia
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Covers are so haaaaard! And I’m terrible at knowing what is marketable, so I’m so thankful I don’t have to worry about it with my contemporary series, and I leave a lot of it up to my cover designer in my PNR series – but she always runs ideas by me first so I feel like I have some input. 🙂 You might want to check out Tease Me Images https://www.facebook.com/groups/TeaseMeImages/?source_id=1839207792791290 – she does the hard work of slogging through all the photos and coming up with the best ones. They only cost $4 each (if you buy 10). Saving the time and frustration of going through terrible photos is definitely worth it for me! There may be some extra loopholes (and fees) if you want to use an image for a cover, but she’ll help you out if you find the perfect one. Personally, I’m sick of all the generic bare-chested covers out there.
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Thanks for the suggestion. I’m not opposed to purchasing an image or two if I really like them, but I have to find them first. I’ll check out the FB suggestion.
Of course it would help if I had my entire vision first so I knew what to look for but it’s just not coming to me this time. I’m working backwards on this entire project. It’s weird.
Anyway, thanks for the suggestions. I appreciate all leads. Have a great rest of the week.
Patricia
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I don’t make my own book covers. I don’t have the talent or the patience, so I really can’t help you — other than saying that I love your plot.
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Thanks Melanie. I don’t do my own covers either, but I’ve found that when I provide images that I like my designer does a much better job with the entire design than if I just let them choose the people. They never choose people I like.
But, I’m determined if nothing else so I’ll find something.
Thanks for your support.
Patricia
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Oooh creating a book cover is really exciting! 😀
I am afraid I don’t have any photos for your hero, but if you need to use any of my forest photos as part of the background, you are welcome to. Please just let me know.
Good luck with the photo finding, I bet the finished cover will be awesome.
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Josy I would LOVE to use some of your photos. I’ll let you know if I find one I like. For this particular cover, right now, I’m looking for my two lead characters first. I think once I land on that the rest will be easier. I sort of design around the people and what they’re doing.
Thanks for your kind offer. Believe me, it will not be forgotten.
Enjoy the rest of your week.
Patricia
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Yay! Well, feel free to. I am glad you like the idea!!
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