A Novel Cover

They say - Never Judge A Book By Its Cover - Well, I hope my story is as good as the cover Jay Aheer created for me.

Several months ago, a fellow author had her book published and had Jay create the jacket for her book. After researching Jay's website, http://www.simplydefinedart.com I knew that this was the artist I wanted from my book.

Now, as a writer I know that a cover is important, but it wasn't something I gave much thought to. I simply expected to pay someone to design it. But, Jay needed an idea and so I had to get to work. I looked at the books in my library and found I was swamped with ideas. I simply didn't know what I wanted. Then I came across Michael Crichton's icon cover of Jurassic Park and realised that less was more.

I loved the simplicity of the design and the iconic image that is recognisable the world over with this number one best selling book. So, I thought about genre of my novel - papal/political thriller. The pope - recognisable the world over. His mitre, his vestments, his crosier... I thought, what if my fictional pope became the cover for my novel. Simply yet instantly recognisable. I sketched this the following and sent it to Jay.

When I showed a close friend what I had sketched she couldn't stop laughing down the phone when she read the email. Then I felt embarrassed that I had sent the above to such a talented artist. But, the following day on phone call with Jay, she told me that she knew what I was looking for and to leave it with her. Days later this arrived........