Judith Ashley is the author of The Sacred Women’s Circle series,
romantic fiction that honors spiritual practices that nourish the soul and
celebrates the journey from relationship to romance.
Earlier this month I wrote on Secret Messages. Today I’m
talking about Subtle Messages and using The Sacred Women's Circle book covers as an example.
When you look at a book cover, there are certain things
that, depending on what you read, you want to see (or maybe not see). I love to read historical romance so seeing a castle, period dress and a more ornate
font tells me at a glance that this book might be one I’d like to read. I then
check out the back cover blurb to see what the bare bones of the story is
about. Then I make my purchase.
I also like to read contemporary romance and those covers
are going to look different than the historical romance covers. Two of my
writing friends write paranormal romantic suspense and I do read their books
although I don’t normally read in the genre.
In The Sacred Women’s Circle series, I wanted my covers
to depict more than just ‘contemporary romance’ because the stories had so much
more than the outer journey of the heroine and hero. I also wanted readers to
get a hint at what was an additional story line without telling them on the
back cover. And I latched on to Lois’s idea (she is a friend of mine) about
another way of ‘branding’ the books.
And here is the key to the Subtle Message you’ll see on each cover:
Overlay
Color
Crystals
Tell me what you see and if you would have noticed without
my pointing them out.
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© 2018 Judith Ashley
