by Roseanna White | Mar 20, 2019 | Book News, Cover Designs
Twenty-one years ago, I had an idea for a story. Specifically, this idea came to me on Good Friday. The story of a woman there in the crowd at Jesus’ trial. A woman who went to said trial eager to see Barabbas find justice. A woman who instead, collided with mercy, grace, and the eternal power of the blood Jesus shed for us. That day, when I was fifteen, I sat down and wrote a short story which I called “
A Stray Drop of Blood.””
Over the next six years, I slowly turned that short story into a book. A long book. I finished writing it during my last few months of college, finishing it up the same week I graduated. The next year, my husband published it as the launching title of WhiteFire Publishing. That was in 2005. Not much happened with that hardback version. We just made (literally, in our basement) a few hundred copies and boxed them up.
Shockingly, we eventually sold out of them. So in 2009, we decided to put out a paperback version.
This, my friends, was the start of something. I just didn’t know it at the time.
In those four years, I’d learned so much about writing and the publishing industry! So I totally rewrote the book. I cut it from over 200,000 words to a “reasonable” (ahem) 180,000 (yes, that’s still two normal-sized books. Insert me shrugging, LOL). Kindle was just getting on its feet, so we put up an e-book.
And over the next couple of years, this book that I loved so much, that had taken up so many of my thoughts for so many years, began to truly sell. WhiteFire began to grow. Through this book, we gained the attention of other writers and began adding them to our list. In ten years, we went from a publisher with just me to a publisher with 50 authors and 115 titles. In that same ten years, I went from having that one book out with my husband’s company to have 22 books out or under contract. It’s been quite a decade. And it really all started with that 2009 version of
A Stray Drop of Blood.
In January, we looked down and realized that 2019 marks the 10th anniversary of this book as it is now. The 10th anniversary of WhiteFire as the publisher it’s become.
That seemed big. So we decided to celebrate.
First, with another hardback. To harken back to that first version we literally hand-crafted (we’re not doing that this time, LOL. No apologies). Second, with a re-designed paperback (with typos corrected, haha). And third, with some bonus content. When I created the 2009 version, I also created a Companion Guide with some of my research, which had been available on my website. I added it directly to the book for all three of these new versions, including the digital one.
I am so, so excited to bring you this new version of this old book! I’m in love with the new cover. I’m in love with the idea of having a hardback-with-dust-jacket version again. And mostly, I’m in love with the idea of recognizing formally the journey that we’ve been on and thanking God for every step along the way.
Since the sequel to
Stray Drop had been designed to coordinate, I redid the cover for it too. And I have to say, I’m just as in love with this new look, LOL. As I was reviewing the PDF for
A Soft Breath of Wind before submitting it to the printer, I spot-read a bit here and there and was also reminded of how much I love
this story, how God orchestrated things in ways I never would have dreamed to hand me the time to write it, seven years after the idea for it first came to me.
Last week, after I finished up some edits, I focused on getting these new versions ready to print. I had to pick a release date, so I just looked at the calendar and chose one that seemed logical. Only afterward did I realize that the date I selected — April 8 — is pretty significant.
April 8 is what David and I always celebrated as our dating anniversary. Which would be the date that began this journey. Because it was that decision–and the resulting argument with my best friend over it, LOL–that led me to sit down on the couch that Good Friday with my Bible a few hours later and read about the day. That’s what led to this story. So when I realized that the date I chose is, in fact, the anniversary of the short story…I had a “wow” moment.
So…yeah. I’m super excited about this re-release, as you can probably tell. 😀 And I’m also excited to be able to offer you bargain pricing on the Classic Edition if you’d like the chance to read it for cheap. Now, these are the original press run, which has some typos that have since been corrected–fair warning. 😉 But other than corrections and some styling, it’s the same as this newest version.
I realize not all of my readers are fans of biblical fiction, and that many prefer the lighter style of my historical romances (my bib-fic tends to be pretty intense). And of course, my writing has evolved a good bit since 2009. But I still love these books so, so much. And I’m so excited to celebrate the last decade of writing with you!
Would you be interested in seeing a
Behind the Design on the cover process for these two new ones?
If so, let me know in the comment section!
In case you’re curious about these books…
READ THE FIRST TWO CHAPTERS
~*~
PURCHASE THE CLASSIC EDITION
~*~
PURCHASE THE 10th ANNIVERSARY EDITION
Hardback (Releases 4/8)
Paperback (Releases 4/8)
E-Book (Available now)
~*~
by Roseanna White | Feb 13, 2019 | Books, Cover Designs
Time for another Behind the Design of the book cover process! This time, I’m backing up a few months to a cover that remains one of my favorites: True Nobility by Lori Bates Wright.When I read the answers Lori filled out in the questionnaire, I knew I was going to love doing this one. She wanted the cover to feature her heroine–face not fully visible–in a beautiful blue hoop dress. Now, I confess: I love historical covers with gorgeous dresses. I think they grab the eye immediately. I love them as a reader, I love them as a writer, and I love them as a designer, LOL.
As a designer, these are far easier to find images for than everyday historical garb. Go figure, I guess they’re more fun for models to take pictures in. 😉
In this case, I began with the dress. I wanted to find something accurate to the era, and I was thrilled when I stumbled across public domain images from the Met galleries. When I saw this one, I knew I’d hit upon a winner.
In general, this fit the description Lori gave me very well. My only concern was that this fabric had a pattern, and I wasn’t sure that was exactly what she had in mind. But I figured it was worth a try, so this was what I started with.
As always, I started by selecting just the dress from an image in the collection that I liked best. I enlarged it until it filled the frame pretty much entirely.
Next was finding a model to put in it. When putting together images like this, the primary concern, of course, is matching angles. I tried several, eventually deciding that this young woman would work quite well. Her hair style was perfect, the body angle was right, and I liked the emotion and movement in her body position.
So just putting this girl’s face behind the dress, I got this.
Now, obviously we’re missing something here, LOL. And there was some other tweaking to be done too. First, I found some arms–from a different model–that I could put over top of the dress.
It was surprisingly challenging to find those! And then, of course, I had to make them look like they were natural, so I added some shadows.
And then, the hair. I had to move it so that it wasn’t tucked into the dress, and I also had to darken it just a bit.
Now, the other thing Lori had specified was that the character had a blue and silver brooch that she wore on the dress. She told me what it needed to look like, so off I went in search. I found plenty that were close…but never quite it. I also needed something at an angle, to match the body position, not straight-on. Finally, I found this one.
It was almost perfect, except that it needed to be silver instead of gold. But that was a simple matter of de-saturating that part of the design. I then positioned it onto the bodice of the dress, and voila!
I was loving how this was looking! But next came the background. I tried quite a few, trying to find something that would identify the Southern setting…but when I plugged this one in, I fell in love.
Even that much is great, right? It was really starting to come together. But of course, I had to fuss with the lighting a bit. I made it warmer and added some sunburst effects to soften the line between dress and background.
And then I added a Sutro filter and some shading to the bottom so the title would stand out.
Which means it was time for the title! For fonts, I wanted something with just a bit of flourish to it, but largely a nice, bold serif. So I used Requiem Display for True and then one called The Last Font I’m Wasting on You (LOL) for Nobility.
Then, of course, the author name, and a divider to frame the title and separate it from the author.
Almost done! It was only missing the series badge, which I added into the upper right corner, choosing one that matched the style of those dividers. And so here it is–the finished cover!
I was SO pleased with this, and when I sent it to Lori, she loved it too! We did try a few more backgrounds…
The sailboat is important to the story, so we liked the idea of those…but ultimately, we agreed that the original background was the best, and we decided to just incorporate the ship element onto the full cover.
I think one of the highest compliments I got on this one was from my husband who, when Lori sent me a copy, mistook it for one of the books I’d just ordered from Bethany House, LOL.
About the Book
Alone in an unfamiliar country where her noble title is useless.
Everything she believes in is shattered. Driven by desperation, she
risks it all to return to the one man whose love promises to be true.
Lady
Victoria Haverwood, beloved daughter of a widowed Earl, has spent years
at a fashionable boarding school longing for the day she can come home
to finally take her place as mistress of Wrenbrooke. But when she
becomes the target of a murderous plot, her idyllic plan is swiftly
turned upside down.
Nicholas Saberton, an accomplished American Naval
Captain, is commissioned to escort the earl and his daughter safely
across the ocean to the lively shores of Savannah, Georgia. Pledged to
protect her with his life, Nicholas is determined to remain immune to
Victoria’s innocent charm. Focused on building his shipping empire, the
Haverwood heiress and her quirky relatives become an irresistible
diversion.
Danger shadows them. Soon the repercussions of her
father’s past ensnare Victoria in a web of deception that threatens to
consume her. Only her love for Nicholas will give her strength to
discover the truth. But will it be too late?
Purchase Links
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
What do you think of the cover? What’s your favorite aspect of it?
Do you have any technical questions about how a particular step is done? I’m always happy to share, though I try not to get too technical in the posts as a whole, lest I bore the majority. 😉
by Bookworm Mama | Oct 10, 2018 | Book News, Cover Designs
It’s that time again!
I confess: seeing my covers is one of the most exciting parts of the whole book-creation process. I mean, I love writing the story. And holding it in my hands for the first time can’t be beat. But getting that first glimpse of a story’s face? Yeah. That’s pure awesomeness right there.
And though
An Hour Unspent only released a month ago, I’m already fully immersed in my next series, The Codebreakers. If you’ve read
A Song Unheard, then you’re hopefully (LOL) already a fan of this next heroine.
Margot De Wilde, little sister of Lukas, takes center stage, all grown up and helping England with her cryptography skills in the mysterious Room 40, intelligence hub of the British Admiralty. Haven’t read Shadows Over England yet? No worries–characters they have in common will just appear like secondary characters, and it won’t be assumed that you’re already familiar with them. 😉 But if you the Ladies of the Manor series, you’ll be excited to know that
those characters appear too! Brook actually spurs
Margot into a rather funny decision… Anyway!
So, bit of backstory on the cover. On my birthday (August 14) I got an email from my editor that wished me a happy birthday and said they’d actually just wrapped the cover photo shoot a few minutes ago, so he sent me a candid shot from it. Best. Gift. Ever. It was fun to see the set they used (which involved a window set up on blocks and held upright with a clamp) and the model they’d chosen. Aaaaggghhhhhh!!!!!!! That glimpse was enough to know I was going to love the final product.
Then a few weeks later, I saw the cover itself. Oh yes. Total LOVE. It was EXACTLY what I’d asked for. Margot, at an old window, foggy rain beyond it. Writing the number 18 on the glass with a finger. Wearing a long, belted cardigan, hair in waves. Bethany House always does an amazing job on my covers, but this is the first time that my exact suggestion was used, so it made me all the more excited.
So are you ready???? Here it is!
Isn’t it gorgeous??? I love the model they chose–she definitely has that European look that Belgian
Margot should have. The expression on her face is
perfect. I adore the red of the cardigan–in the story originally it was blue, but I promptly changed it to match, LOL, as we all agreed this color was perfect for the cover. The art deco touches and font is spot-on, and that 18 she’s writing on the window…
What’s the significance of that? Well, you’ll just have to read it in June and find out. 😉 Though, funny story. I showed the cover to one of my writing partners, and she loved it. Then read the manuscript that weekend and had to come back with a thrilled email of “THEY PUT 18 ON THE COVER!!!!” A detail that doesn’t mean a whole lot until you read the story. And then it means everything. 😉
Here’s a bit more about the book:
Three years into the Great War, England’s greatest asset is
their intelligence network—field agents risking their lives to gather
information, and codebreakers able to crack every German telegram.
Margot De
Wilde thrives in the environment of the secretive Room 40, where she spends her
days deciphering intercepted messages. But when her world is turned upside down
by an unexpected loss, for the first time in her life numbers aren’t enough.
Drake Elton returns wounded from the field, followed by an
enemy that just won’t give up. He’s smitten quickly by the too-intelligent
Margot, but how to convince a girl who lives entirely in her mind that
sometimes life’s answers lie in the heart?
Amidst biological warfare, encrypted letters, and a German
spy who wants to destroy not just them, but others they love,
Margot and Drake
will have to work together to save them all from the very secrets that brought
them together.
(other retailers not yet available)
What do you think of the cover? Do you like the mood? Do you find the image intriguing? Make you wonder about that message on the glass? What’s your favorite part?
by Roseanna White | Jun 20, 2018 | Cover Designs
Sometimes authors come to me with very little idea of what they envision for their cover…and other times, they know exactly what they want. Now, knowing exactly what they want can occasionally be difficult, if that “what” is complicated. 😉 But other times, it makes it oh so easy to deliver a cover they love, quickly.
Pepper Basham has come to me several times with a very clear, very doable idea of what her next cover should be–she’s done several herself, and she has a great eye for what works. Occasionally she just needs me to handle some of the details.
Such was the case for her WWII novella, Facade.
She knew exactly what she wanted. This model…
…over this background.
Pretty simple. So arranging that and sizing it correctly, we have this.
Not bad from the get-go, right? But Pepper hired me to punch it up a notch, so I figured I’d get punching. 😉 A quick one-two. First, I traded out that blue sky for something a little more interesting–a bit of sunset, golden flare.
Then, of course, I had to tweak the model’s coloring and brightness to match.
There was also a little bit of fine-tuning in there. The background image is an original WWII image, so it’s a bit grainy. I put a surface blur on it to smooth it out and then fooled with the highlights a bit to reflect my new sun as well.
One more small touch–an airplane. We added one of those to the top corner, tweaking lighting to make it reflect that sunset.
A little bit of work, but honestly, not a whole lot. This one came together very quickly. I was happy with the overall image, so it was time to turn my attention to the fonts. I figured something art deco would look great, so I chose Fragile, which I’d purchased in a package of fun fonts. I decided to keep it simple and put both the title and author name in the same font, separating them with an art deco bar. Then I just added a bit of a filter to the bottom to make those words pop.
And there’s our front!
For the full cover, I used the same background image as the front, with a paper texture overlay. Added on all the type and logos and author info, and voila! Full cover.
What do you think?
About the Book
A reclusive academic
who would do anything to save her brother.
A reluctant spy
willing to risk his life to save the woman who broke his heart.
Olivia Rakes has the unique gift of observation, which suits her well since she prefers her books over the general populace, but when her brother goes MIA over France, Livy’s unique skills and her determination to save her brother force her into a world of espionage, deceit, danger…and the most frightening of all–romance.
Agent Christopher Dawson has never forgotten his childhood friend, and first love, Livy Rakes, but since she broke his heart, he’s avoided seeing her for years…until the search for his best friend brings them both together in the most unlikely of ways.
In a world where war changes the rules of life and love, can Christopher and Livy work together work together to unveil the mascarade before the enemy catches them?
You can also find Façade in the Timeless Love Novella Collection NOW AVAILABLE! (And whose cover I also designed, LOL)
by Roseanna White | May 16, 2018 | Cover Designs
At this point in time, I have designed more covers for Melody Carlson than any other author–something I certainly wouldn’t have imagined I could claim a few years ago, LOL. But given that she now has sixteen books out with WhiteFire and more in the works…yep. That’s a lot of covers. 😀
Her upcoming series with us is set in 1915 Oregon, so I rubbed my hands together in anticipation over this one. It’s an era I obviously know well in terms of fashion, having researched it for years. Which of course means I also knew how hard it was to find stock images that get it right.
But I had a secret weapon up my sleeve when I sat down to tackle the series concept for this one–Matti’s Millinery. I’d contacted this wonderful seamstress’s site before about the possibility of using their images, and I knew they were willing to chat, were reasonably priced, and had some great Edwardian selections. So after some conversations with them and Melody, I did indeed find a model who would work perfectly for Anna, the heroine of Melody’s new Legacy of Sunset Cove series. Yay!
The first book in the series is Harbor Secrets. Newspaperwoman Anna McDowell finally goes home to Sunset Cove with her teenage daughter after running off to get married as a young woman–but only because she receives word that her father has suffered a stroke. Desperate to make things right with him before its too late, Anna goes back to the idyllic coastal town only to discover it’s not so idyllic anymore. Oregon’s statewide prohibition has brought trouble to the town in the form of rum runners. Can Anna, with her investigative reporter’s instincts, keep her father’s newspaper afloat and help weed out the troublemakers from Sunset Cove?
For this first cover in the series, Melody said she’d like to see the character from behind, small and distant rather than in the foreground. That means I’d need full-length images of the model, which Matti’s Millinery did thankfully have.
This was our favorite for this first book.
It’s really perfect. Anna, a no-nonsense businesswoman in many ways, frequently wears suits that are nearly masculine in style, so this jacket is perfect. And even the hair color is right! Pleased that I had the oh-so-important model figured out, I turned to backgrounds.
Each book in the series will feature a beautiful Oregon coast scene. For Harbor Secrets, I really liked this one.
Sizing it for the book cover–which involved stretching the sky a bit–gives us this.
Then we add the model. Eagle eyes may notice that I flipped her around so she’s facing the water and the largest portion of the cover, and also that I deleted the hand that had been positioned on the column, cutting it instead at the elbow, so it looks like both of her arms are in front of her.
This is a fine foundation, but I wasn’t wild about having the dress be brown, so I decided to make it a teal/blue to better coordinate with the water color.
So this is good…but I wanted the cover to be a bit moody, to better hint at the mystery Anna is out to solve. Step one was to add the Sutro filter.
I was loving that, so it was time to turn to the title. I wanted to go art deco, to really solidify the era feel, and I tried out So. Many. Fonts. Eventually I decided on Carlton. Here it is with just the title…
Obviously needs something more, so I decided to add some art deco elements to frame it.
That’s better! Plus it gave me a good place to put the series name and number, just on the top and bottom…
Nearly there! The only thing left to do was add Melody’s name. And voila! The finished cover!
So there we have it! A cover that hints at mystery, establishes the era, and features a small-sized heroine from behind, as Melody requested. She loved how it turned out, and so did I! What do you think?
A B O U T T H E B O O K
A Peaceful Coastal Town…Threatened by a Storm of Secrets
It’s 1916 when newspaper woman Anna McDowell learns her estranged
father has suffered a stroke. Deciding it’s time to repair bridges, Anna
packs up her precocious adolescent daughter and heads for her hometown
in Sunset Cove, Oregon.
Although much has changed since the turn
of the century, some things haven’t. Anna finds the staff of her father‘s paper not exactly eager to welcome a woman into the editor-in-chief
role, but her father insists he wants her at the helm. Anna is quickly
pulled into the charming town and her new position…but just as quickly
learns this seaside getaway harbors some dark and dangerous secrets.
With Oregon’s new statewide prohibition in effect, crime has crept
along the seacoast and invaded even idyllic Sunset Cove. Anna only meant
to get to know her father again over the summer, but instead she finds
herself rooting out the biggest story the town has ever seen and trying
to keep her daughter safe from it all.
by Roseanna White | Apr 11, 2018 | Cover Designs
I have a blast designing book covers for all different genres–and sometimes I’ll have particular fun doing one in a style I’ve never attempted before. But then there’s my comfort zone…and for me, that’s historical covers.
When Meghan Gorecki contacted me about designing the cover for her Civil War novel, I knew this would be a “comfort zone” cover, which made me smile. I’d critiqued the first couple chapters for her already and also knew the synopsis, so I had a bit of a feel for it before going on. That’s always nice. And of course, Meghan had some ideas.
1.) Must have roses. “Somewhere, anywhere,” she said. 😊
2.) Must have heroine only
3.) She liked sepia tones, mauve, dark red, browns, maybe a splash of navy
4.) She absolutely adored this cover for Joanne Bischof’s upcoming novel (which I also love, and which my book club will be reading as soon as it comes out!)
Some other elements she mentioned were the script/letter overlay (as letters are an important part of the story), a Pennsylvania farm, maybe a Civil War battlefield…
My first attempt included something else she’d mentioned, but which she decided would, in fact, be a spoiler, so I won’t even mention it or show you that first cover. 😉 Suffice it to say that though it was a no-go, we both fell in love with the coloring, which gave me direction for what we did eventually go with. Which began with this…
I have no idea where this picture is actually from, but living in a state that borders with Pennsylvania, I can verify that this could be a PA farm. Or WV farm. Or a MD farm. Or any other number of farms in the mid-Atlantic. 😉 The rolling mountain in the background, the green grass, abundant trees…yep. A perfect background. I did have to do some resizing, though, and actually stretch the grass and sky both, to end up with the needed format…
So then it was time to go in search of a heroine. There aren’t a ton of stock photos that have a genuine hoopskirt dress, but I liked the colors and positions of this girl…
The dress wasn’t wide enough, and the face and hair didn’t fit the description of the heroine, but those can, of course, be changed. Let’s start with the new head. I liked the expression on this girl’s face, and the body position was the same, so that would work.
Putting this head on the first body/dress and widening the skirt, I ended up with this…
Not a bad start! Next, of course, came the roses. I played with a few different options. First I thought maybe I’d do a trellis…
But that ended up obscuring too much of the background, and it was hard to get all the edges to look neat and tidy. So I ended up going with this shot that was in the color scheme I wanted.
Aren’t they pretty? I made them the foreground and ended up with this.
Of course, the coloring of the three different images doesn’t exactly match in this, does it? It looks like a mash-up. Looks “Photoshopped.” Isn’t natural. So I added a filter.
Much better! Isn’t it amazing how a photo filter over the different layers can draw them together? This one is Nashville, part of the Instant Hipster Photoshop Action pack.
So this is our basic image. There are, of course, still a few crucial elements missing, and some tweaking too. For starters, this girl’s hair is too dark, so I did some lightening. This can be a tricky step, actually. Darkening is easier, and making it red is the easiest of all, LOL. But with some detailed changes to the curves, brightness, levels, saturation, and coloring, I ended up with a result Meghan and I were both happy with.
Next came that text overlay, up in the sky. Had I just plopped it in there in a normal fashion, it would have looked like this:
That wouldn’t do, of course. I changed the layer blend mode to Overlay, however, and got this.
As an added bonus, this even brightened the sky, which I loved!
So now the image part is finished. It’s time to turn to the title and series name, etc. First, I added some fade layers so that the words would stand out.
This actually has two different fade layers. A cream one more in the center, where the title would go (currently where my logo is) and a teal layer on the bottom, for behind the author name. So plugging that important text in there…
The normal serif type here is Oldstyle, which has a bit of a typewriter look. I used that for both “Amongst the” and “Meghan M. Gorecki.” We tried out a few different scripts before we found the right one, and we decided on Marcella Script.
The only thing left was the series! The series Title is Keystone Legacy, and I knew she wanted a keystone incorporated into it, so I found one with stylized elements on the side, made it gold, and put the name in there.
So adding that one, we have the final front cover!
And here’s the full cover too.
The War Between the States shakes Margaret Bryant out of her comfortable
upper-class life when her father enlists in the Army of the Potomac.
Despite being safely ensconced above the Mason-Dixon Line in
Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, Margaret finds her strength tested by
opposition from familiar faces and Confederate threats. Will she let a
young man from a lesser station into her heart even as war rages ever
nearer to the homefront?
Restless Connor Doyle sees the war as a
way to escape from his family’s farm and his identity as a poor
Irishman’s son. His brother, Adam, torn between duty to country and his
family, enlists alongside Connor. Adam dares to hope in a future with
Margaret when he begins a courtship correspondence from the war front.
The two brothers make a vow to protect one another at all costs, but
when faced with death and destruction from all sides—will they be able
to uphold it?
The three bloodiest days in America’s history brings
these three together at Gettysburg and tragedy’s cruelty threatens to
tear two hearts apart—and bring two unlikely allies together.
If you follow the link I have on the title above, you’ll see that the Kindle version releases tomorrow and the paperback is already available. 😁
I hope you enjoyed the peek into the cover design process on this one! What’s your favorite part of the cover?
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.