I wrote last time that my brother-in-law did the artwork for the cover of my cookbook. Sadly, he died much too young just over a year ago. I couldn’t think of anyone else who could help me with a cover for my Susan Hunter book.
I tried cobbling my own cover together with my desktop publisher by using stock photos and good-looking fonts, but nothing looked right or conveyed the light, breezy theme of the book. I finally asked my sister if she would ask her daughter to give me a hand.
In the meantime, I thought I should see about getting a website for the book. I was ready to call our internet provider and request a domain in my name when it dawned on me that I already had a website I wasn’t using, and OH.MY.GOSH, I had named it Breezy Books when I set it up six years ago. It wasn’t my main website and it’s been dormant for several years. My nickname when I played racquetball was Breezy (dumb blonde act, not quite pumped up full air – or so they said), and who knew all these years later that goofy nickname would still serve me well.
My sister told me that my niece would be happy to design a cover for me. She takes after her father and is quite artistic herself. I was ready to have her start the work, but I didn’t have the extra money to pay her, so I was going to have to wait a while. I would never take her for granted and ask her to do it for free even though that’s what I did to her dad. 🙂
I’m not averse to playing the lottery. You have to be brave though to spend $20 on a scratch-off ticket, and I did just that a few days later. Woo-hoo! It was a $500 winner. I paid a few bills with the money and then set some back for three covers because I was pretty sure I could write three books for the series. My niece started right away on the first one.
I’m delighted with her work. She captured the fun, girlie – and pink – atmosphere of the story. When I sent a check to her, I included the copy of my cookbook that I found at the used book sale. She was surprised and said she had obviously seen the cookbook in her mom’s cupboard for years, but she never knew her dad had done the artwork. I know he would be proud of the work she has done for me. I think it’s pretty neat that two generations of one family have helped me with my self-publishing efforts.
The perfect website already in my possession. The perfect book cover. Priceless.
Breezy Books 
I have wondered where you got your art work for the book covers. That is so cool that your niece does that! I like the covers. It fits your book so well. Sorry about your brother in law though. Now I will look at the covers with new eyes! 🙂
I am delighted with the work she has done for me. I don’t know what I would have done without her. She is getting better the more she works with her programs, and she has reworked Sunshine Hunter and Sin City Hunter. I think she’s going to rework Big Apple Hunter, and then all of the existing covers will be how we both want them. It’s really been a fun project for both of us.
I bet it has! It’s nice the two of you can work together on that. 🙂
Special!! Have you a few numbers for me to play over here in our Euro Millions? I’ll split the difference when we win! 😉 5 numbers between 1 and 50 and 2 luck star numbers between 1 and 11… go on!! You never know!!!!! 😉
AJ, I LOVE playing the lottery. Check out this post. I give pointers on how to increase your odds on scratch offs. https://breezybooksblog.wordpress.com/2012/09/13/dont-play-the-lottery-maybe-you-should/