History of the Book Cover For Find My Baby

Over the course of writing, editing, rewriting, revising, cursing, etc., I toyed with different covers for Find My Baby.  These are several iterations of the covers I considered at one time or another.

This was the first cover, developed for my Nanowrimo author’s page way back in November of 2011.  I liked this one at the time, but then an artist friend pointed out that the shadow on FIND and the shadows on my name were opposite of each other.  My name was also a little too prominent on the cover.  This works for known authors but does nothing for me.  Eventually, I abandoned this one in favor of the next.

The font changed to give it a ransom note feel, and my name was reduced to a smaller font.  It has a very dreary feel to it, and I abandoned this one pretty quickly.

 

This was the second cover, developed around the time of the rewrite of Find my Baby for the 3 Day Novel challenge, mid 2012.  it has the ransom note feel to it and elements of an ancient manuscript – a storyline that was added to the outline for the rewrite.  And look at that, my name is huge on the cover, again.  The picture of the silhouetted child is a modified picture of my son’s passport picture, taken in Ukraine when he was 22 months old.

Here, I wasn’t even going to tell anyone I wrote it – my name is nowhere to be seen.  Notice the cryptic writing is more emphasized.  This is using a font based on the Voynich Manuscript, which the Heusel Manuscript in the story is derived.  This cover was done in 2013, and I was tinkering with the story and emphasizing the ransom storyline over the adoption storyline.  I never liked this cover, which may be why I never put my name on it.

It’s starting to have the feel that I wanted.  At the recommendation of an agent, I simplified the title to one word, Find, since the focus of the story was less about the adoption at this time.  I abandoned this shorter title.  I abandoned the altered storyline  and went back to the original rewrite that emphasized the adoption.  I also abandoned the agent, but that was mutual.  The photo is courtesy of M. Wej, by the way.

Finally, this is the book cover  as it will release.  Done in late 2013, the couple has been added, walking in the stark light.  The title stands out clearly, my name is understated and not too big, and the dark cover thumbnails well.  The book was in the editing phase at this point, and my preferential editor was not available.  I was working with an editor I had not used before and we were developing a report, but it was slow going.  Finally, the book was finished and scheduled for release on July 1st, 2014.

 

Book Trailer–FIND MY BABY