A Gentleman of Means: Building a cover

Creating a book cover is one of the most fun parts about being independently published. Of course, I don’t actually get my spoon in the soup, as Snouts might say, but I do usually have a concept in mind. So, when I was looking for images for the cover of book eight, A Gentleman of Means, I knew a couple of things. One, that it would feature Tigg (because who doesn’t love Tigg?) and two, that we would be in the air.

The next problem you have to solve is actually locating images on the stock photo sites. I’m not yet at the point where I can have a custom photo shoot done, so my pool of possibilities is limited. And yet—what are the odds that a young man of color of the correct approximate age, AND wearing steampunk garb would be one of my choices? Naturally I leapt at it.

But sadly, there are no shots of any kind looking like they might have been taken inside the gondola of an airship. Hm. I wonder why no one has rectified this deficit? Never mind, we’ll do as Lady Claire might, and improvise. What can we do with the research shot from Paris—the one taken from behind the clock at the Musee d’Orsay?

Definite possibilities there. Now we need some clouds … and a spot on the schedule of the amazing Claudia at PhatPuppyArt.com … and oh my. If you’re a subscriber to my newsletter, you’ll see the result next week when I send it out. And if you’re not … well, my goodness. What are you waiting for?