Both approaches have pluses and minuses, and depending on our needs and your ability to let go, either approach can lead to confusion when you see the cover art comp and say “this isn’t what my characters look like”. (P.s. a comp is an example cover design we put together to show you the direction we are thinking of. Also referred to as the mockup or mock.)

Less information equals more freedom to pick photography stock art – tall, short dark hair, muscular lends to a lot more choices for models. Now if the author adds details – square chin, leather boots, piercing blue eyes that MUST be shown on the cover – that narrows our choices and may exclude a potentially incredible image, or may give us EXACTLY what you’re looking for. It’s a fine line:)

This applies to dress style, jewelry, curly or straight hair, any other other nuances that make human beings beautiful and unique. More details equals less chances we’ll find a person adhering to those descriptions at stock sites.

There are also some instances where authors take the time to search through images and provide exact pictures of their characters. In some aspects, this saves the artist a ton of time which can be used in perfecting the image. The downside however are details you may not notice when picking a character – often times, their hair or their sides are cropped off and are completely unusable in a design. And as much fun it is to add “hair scalp” on top of someone who has been cropped off, it looks much more natural when they have their own scalp to begin with

One of the huge and subtle details are visual clues about the story. A lot artists like to have sweeping backgrounds or symbols integrated into the cover to enhance design and to provide more clues as to what the book is about. The less details I’m given – the less pieces I can include. By detail we’re talking about visual subjects – the pyramid of Giza, a leather flogger, etc.

Depending on your needs and preferences for covers, your trust in your cover artist and the position of the moon, it’s up to you to decide how much or how little detail you should include in your Cover Art Request form.

If your book have any of those elements, play them up to get the most exposure! We don’t want your book to look like everyone else – but at the same time, we want it to be identifiable by those readers who are looking for what you’re writing!

So what’s the book about? What’s the genre? Is is a genre that’s hot right now? If so, we need to capitalize on that. Male Male romance is a very popular genre right now – so a cover with two hot guys will immediately catch the attention of readers looking for it. A cover with a single hot guy will also be eye catching, but it doesn’t convey the best marketing tool you have in your disposal – an immediate peaque to the reader’s interest. And pique usually equals to click. And click – if your blurb is well written, if your excerpt is compelling, if the stars have aligned – may result in a buy.

This can also backfire – if your book is about vampires in a market up to it’s ears in vampires, what makes your book stand out? Fangs and blood just won’t cut it anymore – but talk dark and angsty just might:)

Of course, there are some authors who don’t need to do that – they can sell a book on the strength of their name alone. If that’s you – may I have your autograph?

The point of a cover is to do the exact same job of the book – to emotionally connect with readers. In case of a cover, that connection has to happen within a fraction of a second – a reader looking at a thumbnail view of a cover probably won’t notice if a heroine’s hair is light blonde vs honey blonde, but they will care if they see a light airy cover and are in a mood for a dark angsty tale. (I do love dark angsty tales – someone once referred to it as romangst – how cool is that?)

Actually scratch that – readers won’t care. They’ll simply pass over the book and look for something that visually appeals to whatever they are in the mood for. So aside from characters and symbolism and visual keywords, the best thing you can do for your cover artist – and your bottom line – is to give a great visual description of the emotional impact of your story.