Wednesday, June 11, 2014

A Cover for DRAVEN'S LIGHT

Dear imps, I need your help . . .

We are in the process of deciding a cover for my upcoming novella, Draven's Light, which will be releasing next spring (but should be up for pre-order this fall).

My regular cover artist, the wonderful Julia Popova, felt that this particular project was too dark for her talents, and graciously asked to bow out of it. We are definitely keeping Julia on as the artist for the fairy tale collections, but we are now looking for a new artist going forward with the Tales of Goldstone Wood series.

So we are hosting a cover design contest. And so many wonderful designs were sent in, it makes my head spin! But out of all of them, two different artists with two very different designs kept standing out to us.

And now, we need your input. We are asking you to give your vote on which of these two designs you like best! This is possibly the ONLY time we will ever have a quandary like this, so I hope you will enjoy participating in this fun event.

Keep in mind that the text is not final. You are voting only on the cover image itself. Our Rooglewood Press typesetters will be applying the final text to the winning image, so it will match the other books in the series. The two artists simply inserted text so that we could have a visual of what it will look like.

Also, keep in mind that these are not the final images. The artists have not purchased high-resolution stock yet (it's expensive, and they want to know if their design wins before they purchase anything!), so there are "shutterstock" and "depositphoto" watermarks. Try to ignore these and focus simply on the design itself!

Which one stands out to you? Which one makes you most interested to read the book? Which one looks the most magical and enticing?

THIS IS THE LINK if you would like to go see them and vote.

And this is the back-cover description:


In the Darkness of the Pit

The Light Shines Brightest


Drums summon the chieftain’s powerful son to slay a man in cold blood and thereby earn his place among the warriors. But instead of glory, he earns the name Draven, “Coward.” When the men of his tribe march off to war, Draven remains behind with the women and his shame. Only fearless but crippled Ita values her brother’s honor.



The warriors return from battle victorious yet trailing a dire curse in their wake. One by one the strong and the weak of the tribe fall prey to a ravening illness of supernatural power. The secret source of this predatory evil can be found and destroyed by only the bravest heart.



But when the curse attacks the one Draven loves most, can this coward find the courage he needs to face the darkness?


19 comments:

Jenelle Leanne said...

Oh gracious! I see why you're having such a hard time!!! Those are both amazing!

How does one vote? I see the star-rating thing under each picture, is that the voting mechanism, or am I missing something?

Anne Elisabeth Stengl said...

Yes, the star rating is the voting mechanism! (I think . . . I haven't done this before.) :P

Hannah said...

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHhh...this is too much unexpected awesomeness. Oh these covers are amazing and that summary is amazing and ohhhhhhhhhh...

I love the first cover the best by far, it's most like the novels. But the other continues the style of the novella...still...that first one...

Hannah said...

It won't let me submit my votes on the submit feedback button. Am I missing something?

I vote for the first one, by the way.

Unknown said...

They were both FANTASTIC. My eye was immediately snared by the first cover, though--I like the man's stance and just the atmosphere, as though he's standing against the darkness surrounding him...

Anne Elisabeth Stengl said...

@Hannah: I think the site was glitching for a few moments there. Maybe try again in a little bit?

The poll will run for several days . . . the winner won't be picked until Saturday. So you have time to keep trying if it continues to be stubborn!

Hannah said...

Yep, it works now!

Unknown said...

Ohmygosh! They are divine! : D I voted for the second, since I thought it drew attention to the light, although the arms were super cool. : ) And that blurb! : D

Unknown said...

And I forgot to mention: I will be sad to see Julia Popova go from TOGW! Golden Daughter is so ridiculously beautiful!

Finaorlena said...

I like the arm up and back, near the vines on the tree. But I didn't like the creepy arm (on the left) at all... But I really like the other one better! :) They are both very interesting! The stairway with light makes me want to read it!

Merenwen and Luthien Inglorion said...

Is there a difference if you vote for the one with/without the text?
Just wondering because it seems kind of odd to have both options up for voting. I mean, because there would have to be text on the final cover...
Both totally cool, though I, personally, go for the first one. My sister likes the second!

Anne Elisabeth Stengl said...

Yes, I know, that is probably a little confusing. I wanted to put both up though so that viewers could see it with the text as well as the whole image without. But I'll tally up all the votes for one design (with and without text) against all the votes for the other design (with and without text), so it shouldn't matter too much in the end.

Jenelle Leanne said...

Thank you for clarifying! :) I managed to vote! Hooray!

Very hard decision. I think I'm drawn more to the 2nd one (the close up) simply because it seems to fit the title and blurb better... but, honestly, I think it depends on what you want the focus to be on. The first one seems to indicate that the focus of the story is Draven, while the second indicates that the focus is on the Light. :)

Thanks for letting us help out with this! Cool idea.

Meredith said...

What a neat idea to have fans vote on their favorite cover! The back matter is terrific, and now I want to read the story! Sounds amazing!

Sara said...

I keep changing my mind! The first design seems to fit more with the covers of the previous books, but I like the close-up too. And while I like the overall design of the second choice, there are a lot of small details in the first that I love. It makes it hard to choose, but I think I'll be happy no matter which way it turns out! By the way, the storyline sounds amazing.

Deborah O'Carroll said...

The first one's my favorite! It's just so... EPIC! Aaaahh I love it. <3

This is such a neat idea to have voting for it. The previous covers have all been AMAZING though!

Rebekah said...

@Hannah: Yep, that was it about the first cover. It seemed more in sync with the rest of the series.
And these are much more dark, yes, but not necessarily in a bad way.
Oh, and ... I CAN'T WAIT TO READ THIS BOOK! :D

Rae said...

I voted for the first one. As some other people have said, it fits better with the previous books, and looks a litter cooler. Those skeletal hands on the back cover are REALLY creepy, though...

Rae said...

I'm noticing a bit of a pattern here: Full-length novels get girls on the cover, while novellas have boys. :P