Book Cover Reveal! (My Debut Fantasy Novel Design Process)
And a big tantrum… because… I had a tantrum moment
BOOK COVERS ARE IMPORTANT!
I think we an all agree that a book cover is one of the most important decisions… We say “don’t jusge the book by its cover” but let’s be fair - WE DO JUDGE THE BOOKS BY THEIR COVERS. Sometimes we pay attention to a book only because the cover made us stop and stare. In which case: What was the last book cover that stopped you and made you get the book? I’ll start - T. Kingfisher - A house with good bones
How about you?
So let me tell you a story: (And I’ll show you the cover of my book at the end, so keep reading. It’s beautiful.)
6th of June 2025 - YES… I’M THAT BEHIND WITH MY CONTENT.
This week we started working on my cover design with Catherine. To be fair I was extremely excited to get Catherine as I was already following her and I prayed to all the deities to get her. Then… an email from my publisher came, and Catherine was officially assigned to my book.
That meant we were to have a call and discuss what will be needed or wanted. I’m obviously not a designer, and I don’t have any experience in covers, so it’s refreshing to talk to someone, who has all of that knowledge.
After this… there was the good old…
WAITING TIME
And once I got the first ideas of the cover - I had a small panic attack.
The covers I got were missing the genre.
While I cannot really show you the cover ideas I have gotten… Let me just quickly paint you a picture…
My book is categorised as dark fantasy (pop with a dark picture). There are folktale monsters like banshees, licho’s, and more. The general world is based on celtic, nordic, and slavic folklore… and the title “Crown of Shadows” is worn by both male and female rulers.
And the crown on the covers looked like it was taken directly from princess bride.
This is literally what I saw in my head when I saw the first covers design.
While I have nothing against pretty crowns, you can imagine that I couldn’t imagine a big viking guy wearing that crown. Unless they were really strong into their feminine, no judgement. But… they were supposed to be feared… and the crown… is not… cute and nice to the wearer let me put it that way.
So… as you may imagine… I have drafted a professionally sounding, evidence-based email stating that this will not be accepted.
I lost it internally, and tried not to lose it externally.
But I was ready to fight. Here’s why:
Looking at the cutsie crown I’d assume the book is about knights and princess’s… while in reality the book is about… folktale monsters, dichotomy of good and evil, torture, mental issues, and more.
So even if the cover was pretty - it was completely missing its genre. The people that would pick it for the style - wouldn’t like it. My target audience would not bat an eye on it.
But thank gods someone agreed with me, and we decided for a crown re-do.
So after…
MORE WAITING TIME
We got the new cover designs and started the official vote on my publisher’s website. The winner? Yes, this hand-drawn beauty.
I was actually shocked at how many people voted on the cover, but that’s a different topic. I love it.
But! Picking a front of the cover is not all… We need to design a whole wrap.
After the front has been picked, Catherine has gotten to design the full wrap of the book. This included a blurb as well as a short bio of yours truly. Now… I know that some books only do the writer’s bio. But to be fair - I’d rather learn about the book, so I requested the blurb and was actually happy to skip completely on my bio.
But apparently it fit.
So… Behold the full wrap of the book!
How do you like the cover and the wrap? Please do let me know in the comments!
Now hear me out - working with the designer is mostly giving feedback, giving a yes/no/maybe, or I guess throwing a tantrum, which I believe I have done.
And yet a good, visible cover is necessary to make your book stand out in the sea of… well… books out there.
We can say that the book shouldn’t be judged by the cover, yet… I noticed a couple of books thanks to the cover.
So… There’s that.
Do you like what you see so far!?
Actually, since I have your interest - my debut fantasy novel - the white raven tales - crown of shadows is now on pre-sale. You can get in in Barnes and noble, amazon, and more! I would also appreciate if you went to goodreads and clicked “want to read” on it - if you are interested.
It’s a multiple POV (5 to be exact), dark fantasy series with dark magic, folklore themes, dark entities, deeply psychological themes, and even a bit of forbidden romance. If this sounds like it’s down your alley - be sure to check it out and give it a try. Even clicking the “want to read” is extremely helpful for the writers. So thank you for doing that.
If you are interested in my publishing process - check out my other posts on substack!
So, I hope to see you in the next post. If it proved to be entertaining and interesting, don’t forget to give it a thumbs up! I’ll see you in the next one. Bye!
