Cover Girl

Perhaps one of the most important elements of any book is its cover. As much as we like to deny it, everyone does, in fact, judge books by their covers. This is why I stressed so much about the appearance of Sirens from the moment I decided to self-publish.

One of the great aspects of choosing to self-publish is that I had full control over what my cover looked like. It’s common knowledge that with traditional publishing, authors may have input in the initial cover drafts, but it is not likely that they will have the final say. Fortunately, from beginning to end, I had complete control over what Sirens would look like.

The Theory Behind It All

I knew from the start that I wanted the Sirens cover to be sexy. I wanted the cover to be sultry and enticing in the way that the Sirens virtual reality game in the story is. In the world of the Sirens game, the virtual female characters are built to seduce players, after all, so this is exactly the approach I wanted to take from the start with readers.

I toyed with ideas of a woman’s leg being dressed in fishnets and other mildly erotic imagery. As the back cover will tell you, sex sells, and I wanted Sirens to be outwardly sexy and visually appealing with the hopes of intriguing readers into experiencing something more (just like the players of the Sirens game).

Ultimately, I decided on the image of a woman’s lips. There are multiple reasons for this but one reason is that black and white of course makes the bright pop of red lipstick on the cover the focal point. Not only does our main character, Michael, express a preference for red throughout the story, but I wanted this red to reflect the way these virtual characters capture the players’ attention. When players are plugged in, these avatars are the only thing that matters, just like the cover girl’s lips appear on the front.

Finally, the fishnets used on the spine and back cover were a touch I pictured from the moment I started brainstorming ideas. Not only is it a sexy element, but it reflects the way these virtual lovers capture the attention of their players, tangling them up in this fantasy world as if with netting.

Putting It All Together

So how did I make the cover? Well, fortunately for everyone I didn’t make it. I’m not good at anything visual and graphic design is frankly not my passion. However, I have a close friend who is quite skilled at graphic design, and for as long as I’ve known her she has been dressing up my ideas and mistakes. So I turned to her when it came time to create the cover for Sirens.

Not only was Gabby able to listen to all of my wild ideas, but she was also able to take all of my elements and make them even better than what I’d been picturing.

Some of the pieces that I sent her were a few photos of a friend who did not hesitate when I asked her out of the blue for pictures of her lips for my book. I reached out to a former coworker/friend who I knew did makeup well and frankly had nice lips. Emily was gracious enough to help me out, and I’m very grateful for the fact that she (at least outwardly) wasn’t weirded out by the request.

I’m incredibly fortunate that I have friends who were flexible and eager to collaborate with me when I asked. Of course, there are many options for hiring professionals out there, but I think this cover means even more to me knowing that it reflects the support of my friends.