Once my poll for the new Prossia cover ran its course, Cover#5 ended up blowing the rest of the competition out of the water. So, what gave me the idea to the winning comp? This particular one went all the way back to James A. Owen suggestion about the original cover being too dark. While I tried to brighten up the covers as much as possible, however, I really wanted to show the cosmos in my cover. Only one problem: space is black. Still, if I needed to brighten things up, I might as well go as bright as possible! :P
I took the Aly picture done in Cover #4 and simplified it, wanting to give this cover an edgier vibe. The blue was just a natural fit as well.
Now that I had a solid direction to go, it was now time to get some insight from some more professional eyes. So, in came my fellow Superstar Writing Seminar attendees. I had noticed many authors had submitted potential covers to the group before and got some great feedback. I was hoping I could get the same treatment, and goodness me, I wasn't disappointed. :) While the monochromatic scheme was cool, many felt the cover was still missing a bit of a punch. On top of that, the font I used for the title was nice, but lacking in originality. It was also a hard one to read from a distance.
Once I got all of the feedback it seemed I would get, I ended up putting the cover on the backburner for a while, given I had prequels and republishing manuscripts poking the brain ;). Even so, I messed around with it as much as I could, whenever I got the chance to do so. In the meantime, I had also called up one of my old college buddies, Brianna Higgins. I had my hands tied with wanting to meet deadlines, doing commissions on the side, and trying to find one of those fancy "day jobs" that offer health benefits. In short, I was in need of desperate help, wherever I could find it. Higgins was an illustrator and graphic designer, like me, but she had a special knack for typography. So, I showed her my Prossia logo and asked if she could make up a font based around it. Long story short, you've more than likely seen the font already, if you've seen my ads. ;)
Good art can take time, in some instances. You think it's done and then you smack yourself in the head when you realize you didn't notice the obvious. Once I finished the new manuscript, I found myself spending minutes to hours working on the final cover, changing the contrast, moving the text a bit to the left, adding a little more white in the corner after if became too busy, and then, as many images do, due date arrives and you have to call it a wrap. In that instant, I got out of my chair, stepped back from my monitor to get a good look at it from a distance. I wish I could say I had something profound to say. Nah, I just went "Wow..."
Days later, I received a box in the mail. When I opened it up, a brand new novel with the title "Prossia" was staring right back at me. I sent the printing house the okay for the book and started going to the proper channels to put my book back on the market. Mission accomplished. Prossia was getting republished...
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