Book Cover Strategy with Sorchia DuBois_

Please help me welcome… (Be sure to check out her adorable author pic!!)

Sorchia DuBois__Zoraida Grey and the Family Stones currently for sale and a preview of upcoming release Zoraida Grey and the Voodoo Queen

Book Cover Strategery

Don’t judge a book by its cover is a great metaphor for life and relationships, but when it comes to literal books we do literally judge them by their literal covers. In a few weeks, I’ll be sending my request for a cover to my publisher. While I don’t have total control over the result, I can make suggestions. Trouble is—I’m never sure what to ask for. So I’m asking for help.

We authors put a lot of time and effort into designing covers people will notice. We try to make the cover an illustrated promise of the content. Two things that have a huge impact on a cover are genre and audience.

Now my book happens to be:

• A romance.
• The second in a series of three.
• About witches. Not green ones, but modern-day, cat-loving, job-having, curly-fry eating, car-driving witches who just happen to have a particular skill set.
• Set in present day time in locations including Arkansas, New Orleans, the Gulf of Mexico, the Yucatan jungle, and Scotland.
• Infested with voodoo and modern day pirates along with seductive male witches, evil priestesses, Columbian emeralds, betrayal, hurricanes, and true love.
• About the protagonist’s growth as a woman as much as about romance and mystery and magic.

My audience is primarily women over 21. I don’t think there is an upper limit because I’m mumblety years old myself but I still think of myself as a vibrant and youngish person.  They are a free-thinking, independent group and they have the scars to prove it. They like challenges and mystery, and they like men—or is that redundant? They also like diversity, adventure, and spooky stuff. They want steamy romance as long as it isn’t gratuitous and they dearly love twists and turns. They are intelligent and will not put up with stereotypes. Each and every one of them has a quirky sense of humor. They do not adhere to cultural norms unless said norms make sense to them—they don’t follow the crowd.

So how do I appeal to these gals with a cover that begs them to read the book? What will pique their interest? This is where I need your help because I suspect the preceding paragraph is a description of YOU.

If you want to help, follow this link https://goo.gl/forms/g9tzwNtXosXeHaYi1 to fill out a short survey of your cover preferences. It will take you about a minute and a half to do this and your responses will help me immensely. If you are interested in seeing the results, I’ll post them on my blog at www.sorchiadubois.com on August 25. You can hop over there and follow the blog or you can follow me on Twitter or FB.

As a reward, here’s a tiny preview of Zoraida Grey and the Voodoo Queen, book 2 in my Zoraida Grey series. I hope to release this book Fall 2017.

The wooden screen door, swollen with the summer humidity, rasps as he pushes it open. “I never knew such a place existed where you could go naked and still be too warm.  It is like walking about in a warm bath all day. ”

“So––feel better after your shower? A little less like an asshole, maybe?”

“I said I was sorry.” Shea balances his sandwich, two glasses, and the depleted bottle of Laphroaig in one hand. Even in the near dark, his gaudy Bermuda shorts give off a subtle glow.

“Who picks out your clothes anyway? Or do you find them in dumpsters?”

The whisky he hands me is cold but neat. He sinks into the lawn chair beside me. “I’ll have you know these shorts come highly recommended as standard American togs by no less than Constable MacCaig himself. I have three more just like them.”

Short, round, nearly bald, but with a detective’s discerning gray eyes, the image of Constable MacCaig makes me smile. Nothing in Black Bridge, Scotland, gets past Constable MacCaig––not even the witches in Castle Logan.

“Who knew Constable MacCaig was such a fashionista? At least we won’t have trouble finding you in the snow, come winter.” The faint light of the crescent moon shimmers faintly from indigo tattoos twining up his right arm and down his torso. I give myself another mental shake and concentrate on my whisky. “How did you and Constable MacCaig get so chummy?”

He does not reply immediately, but takes a drink. The muscles in his jaw knot. “We did not start out as chums.”

“And thereby hangs a tale, I guess.”

“Not a pleasant one. He accused me of spiriting his daughter away.”

After he pulled me out of the oubliette, Shea sent me to Constable and Mrs. MacCaig. A nurse, Mrs. MacCaig bandaged my wounds. Since I fled wearing only my underwear and bathrobe, she gave me clothes for the journey back to Arkansas––her daughter’s clothes. The coat, sweater, and jeans are tumbling in my dryer right now.

“MacCaig wouldn’t accuse you if he didn’t have reason.” My tone is harsher than I intend. I am an expert in the way male Logan witches manipulate, persuade, seduce. “That’s something I would expect from Michael, more than you.”

“Really?” His profile is black against the glow of the streetlights and the sky. “In this case, you would be mostly correct.”

A chill crawls down my back like a spider with eight cold feet. “What happened to her?”

He shakes his head, concentrating on the glass of whisky intently before he drains it. “I’m not certain.”

How deep into Michael’s plans is Shea––how much has he done and how much more does he plan to do to keep Michael’s trust? Whether he intends to prove his loyalty to Michael or to take Michael’s place as laird of the Logan witches, he’ll need help. He’ll need the Stone of Adamantine.

Johnny Lee Hooker slinks along the porch rail. His tail twitches and his ears cup toward the woods as the moon breaks free of the tree branches. A whippoorwill calls from the fringe of woodland, but this bubble of peace extends only so far. Outside, the world is uncertain and scary. On my very own porch, Shea Logan is proof of that.

Pick up the first book in the series, Zoraida Grey and the Family Stones.

Blurb:

Granny’s dying, but Zoraida can save her with a magic crystal of smoky quartz. Too bad the crystal is in Scotland––in a haunted castle––guarded by mind-reading, psychopathic sorcerers.

Getting inside Castle Logan is easy. Getting out––not so much. Before she can snatch the stone, Zoraida stumbles into a family feud, uncovers a wicked ancient curse, and finds herself ensorcelled by not one but two handsome Scottish witches. Up to their necks in family intrigue and smack-dab in the middle of a simmering clan war, Zoraida and her best friend Zhu discover Granny hasn’t told them everything.

Not by a long shot. 

Barnes and Noble: http://bit.ly/ZGandFSBN

Amazon:   http://bit.ly/ZGandtheFS_AMZN 

KOBO: http://bit.ly/ZGandFSKOBO

Wild Rose Press:http://bit.ly/ZGandFSWR

Author Bio:

Sorchia DuBois lives in the wilds of southern Missouri with seven cats, three fish, one dog, and one husband. She enjoys a splash of single malt Scotch from time to time and can often be found at Scottish festivals watching kilted men toss heavy objects.

Her stories blend legends, magic, mystery, romance, and adventure into enchanted Celtic knots. Halloween is her favorite time of year (she starts decorating in August and doesn’t take it down until February) and her characters tend to be mouthy, stubborn, and a bit foolhardy. Nothing makes her happier than long conversations in the evening, trips to interesting places, and writing until the wee hours of the morning. Well, chocolate cake makes her pretty happy, too.

I’m online everywhere.

Blog/Website:

www.SorchiaDubois.com

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/SorchiaDubois

Pinterest:

www.pinterest.com/SorchiaDubois/

Facebook:

www.facebook.com/SorchiaD

Amazon author page:

http://www.amazon.com/SorchiaDuBois/e/B00B60NOUQ/

Goodreads  author page:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6879978.Sorchia_DuBois

Google +:  google.com/+SorchiaDuBois