I like to make cover art. I wasn’t very good to start. And then I practiced and practiced and worked and practiced more, and I got to be pretty much okay. Now I’m starting to actually be happy with most of the covers I do for us. (Even if I take forever to come up with a design I really like.) Here are some I’ve created.
Kit Rocha Novels
The original Kit Rocha covers were much more simple than this, with the grunge and logo at the top and bottom, but mostly naked artsy ladiez on them. That made vendors sad, and–in all honesty–was getting difficult to work with new covers. Right around the time when Beyond Pain came out I updated our series with these, and now I can’t imagine not having them. Tough and gritty and sometimes sexy, they get the job done.
Kit Rocha Novellas
When we decided to start doing novellas in the series, I wanted two things: for readers to know immediately that these stories were related to the BEYOND books, and that they were something slightly different. By giving the novellas a slightly different design, I made it easier for readers to know immediately whether they were looking at a novel or a novella.
Last Call Stories
The Last Call series consists of short, one-off paranormal erotic stories that share a location in common: a supernatural bar where your drink represents your deepest desires. These were reissues, and the first covers had a lot of skin–another vendor no-no situation. So I was despairing of finding the right idea until I found some of these drinks. They are so very bright and colorful and vivid, and while a bartender could probably call fact-checking hijinks on a lot of them, I like the final result.
Down & Dirty Novellas
These were kind of a branding challenge. Post-apocalyptic gunslinging werewolves who have lots of sexy sex. I struggled for a long time with how to get all of the important aspects–the western theme, the steamy romance, the less-than-human characters. These were also reissues with covers I updated a second time, and I love these most recent covers. I think they represent the stories very well.
DreamMakers Novels
I don’t often do covers for other people, because I have terrible time-management skills and really need to keep most of my time available for slacking off on my own projects. But Vivian Arend is one of my author BFFs, and she and Elle Kennedy had already gone through two rounds of covers trying to hit on something they felt matched their stories. They’re light, fun, sexy romantic comedies set in San Francisco, and I mocked up all three of these in a fit of weird inspiration while I was watching the 2014 RITA Awards Ceremony vicariously via twitter. (Viv was a finalist! Wheeeee!)
