The Making of a Book Cover

by Rachel Knox | Mar 5, 2022 | Dark Academia, Fantasy, Fantasy Thriller, Five Realms, Paranormal, Rachel V. Knox, Requiem, Revenants, Vanar University

While I wait to see what the designer will come up with for the cover of Book 2: Revenants, (it usually takes around 10 days for the first look), here’s how the cover for Book 1: Requiem came about.

I was a bit of a control freak with my first fantasy book cover. I provided all the images and even a mockup created on Pixlr (with my limited design skills). So I guess I didn’t really let the designer do much designing. See featured picture above for the separate images for which I bought a standard license from stock photo sites such as Shutterstock, Dreamstime, and Deposit Photos. Many stock photo sites do promotions and deals where you can get cheaper images, or alternatively, book designers allow you to choose from the stock images they have access to.

These separate images became the cover of Requiem. 100covers did a good job, I think, and it received compliments to that effect. I rather like the dark, moody blue filter.

So what will the Revenants cover be like? In many ways, Revenants is a darker story, faster-paced, with more peril. Requiem was a somewhat lighter set-up for a series that will take the protagonists on a challenging journey of at least five books.

Jude and Hagar will appear on the Revenants cover, but apart from providing stock photos of these two, and one optional background picture to set the mood, I have given the designer free rein this time. It’s up to them to pick what elements of the story will make up the cover background.

Revenants features weather as an antagonistic force, so I have asked for some fog on the cover. There are also the undead spirit beings suggested by the title. It’s set in Vanar University and this time, there’s more of the city of Vanar in the story, including the Undercity and the volcanic peak on the edge of the city. And there’s a dragon too. So lots of options there for possible backdrops.

I’ll leave you with the image I sent as a possible background, which may or not appear on the cover depending on what the designer chooses. It depicts the mood of the book in a way. A threat from imposters, invading revenants, the fog, and a new location in Vanar: the Undercity.