When Jennifer first approached me about doing her audio book cover, we were both excited to create something new. Jennifer wanted specifically to try and use one of her favorite vintage portraits, which has a mysterious Mona Lisa quality. We were not sure that it would translate, but were looking forward to giving it a shot. Now, the use of a portrait breaks one of the cardinal rules (suggestions) of book cover design, which warns against showing your reader just how your main character looks. But, some rules are just begging to be broken, right?
I still love the cover that resulted (see above.) But, Anna Blanc is funny and charming, and it turns out this lovely lady comes across as a fairy tale princess under a curse - sad and a bit mystical. So we moved on.
I tried several more layouts attempting to capture the whimsical appeal of this fantastic novel.
In the end, we could not escape the fact that what we really needed was a design that tied in directly to the look of the already published book. What we really needed was brand consistency. We were always headed there. We just had to get a few things out of our systems first.
The original published book cover by Nicole Lecht.
And at last, the final audio book cover. There is very little here that I can really take credit for. The final design is purely a reshaped version of the cover (audio book covers are square), simplified and brightened as it will need to work well as a (small) thumbnail image. But, I think it is exactly what was needed, and it fits seamlessly with the Anna Blanc brand that is being created, as we all anticipate the next installation in the life of Anna Blanc.
PS. I heard the first chapter. Moira Quirk is amazing and the audio book is going to be wonderful, and will be available Thanksgiving 2016.