Branding your work? Cerise DeLand offers a partial list of graphic designers!

My logo for Book covers, promo

Branding your work is no easy task. It requires a lot of thought on your part beginning with deciding what you write, how you write it, what characteristics define your market segment and finally, your look.
All this you should do before you ever talk to an artist. In fact, it requires you think about it in depth before you decide on one artist over another.

And in this marketplace, with new authors trying their wings daily, the market is filled with marvelous designers.
In fact, the list I am about to produce for you here shows the variety of their thoughts and tools, the marvelous talent and the dramatic differences among those designers.

First of all, let me tell you, I am an author. A communicator. I am not an artist. But I have worked with professional designers of everything from giant highway billboards to tiny, intriguing business cards for more than 42 years.

My logo for FB and Twitter!

Secondly, why do I have this list?

Ah, my guilty secret is that I LOVE looking at the offerings of so many delightful artists and often after I sit down each morning to work (and yes, write!) I take myself on a magic carpet ride on the internet to gaze at the beauties they have offered up for our enjoyment. (I could go to amazon and surf, but trust me, that way, I am reading plot lines, not imbibing the skills of the artistry.)

Furthermore, if you look at these artists' works like I do, you become inspired by their imagination. I play a game with myself called, What Title Goes With This Cover?

Try it. You'll be smiling.  \And like me, you may find yourself refreshed and ready to hit the keyboard. If you have problems tearing yourself away, then do hit the stop watch. You could spend the day doing this! (Yes. I have.)

My publishing logo

Know too that not every artist is right for you and your work or even all of your work. Many are better at one particular kind of rendering, much like Rodin was better at sculptures of nudes and men in action or torment. But he probably would not have achieved fame for, say, painting like Delacroix. Nor could Chopin compose works that had the fell or drama of Beethoven. If you write Regency romance, an artist who does superb sci-fi romance covers might not be your best choice. But if you wrote about Mr. Darcy on Mars? Well, then! Give that artist a good go!

Each artist has different requirements of clients, different ways of working. Each tells you that, usually up front. If you have questions, ask. Note how each works and see if that set of principles works for you, your temperament and your ideas of professional relationships.

AMAZON FREE!

I have collected these sites for a long time because it suits my own artistic temperament. Looking at art (painting, sculpture, installations) opens up my own mind, makes me ask questions of myself that are vital to my existence and my growth as a writer. I hope you enjoy this list and use it to your prosperity and in the best of health. And if you know of an artist who is not on this list, please send it to me! I will make another list for all to use and enjoy!

A few things you must know about this list:

It is in no order.
It has no qualifiers, including pricing.
It represents, I am certain, only a smattering of those who offer up delicious work.
I do not say this list is complete, or the definitive list of those who can and should aid you.
Many designers go in and out of business, and change their names. So many here may have changed their status.
I do not advocate for one more than the other.
I do not receive any compensation from any of them for this listing.
But I have employed some of them.
I would employ a lot more if I wrote faster and had more books!
In fact, I have in my computer, far more book covers by artists whom I have employed than works I have yet written! (Yes, I am that enamored of great art that I salivate to possess it. Kind of like a woman who must have a certain man she adores! But I digress.)

And so here is my list:

https://thebookcoverdesigner.com

http://designsbybmb.com/site/

http://www.coragraphics.it/

http://telltalebookcovers.weebly.com/

http://www.wickedsmartdesigns.com

www.pandngraphics.com/

http://ebookindiecovers.com/

http://www.mybookcoverdesign.com/

http://www.coveredup.net/

http://melodyypond.weebly.com/

http://litteradesigns.storenvy.com

http://vwzdesigns.com/

http://www.bookcoverbydesign.co.uk/

http://www.kam.design/#!book-covers/c192n

http://www.gobookcoverdesign.com/

http://www.coveredup.net/

http://www.roseannawhitedesigns.com/

http://jessbuffettgraphicdesigns.weebly.com/

http://www.theillustratedauthor.net/

http://www.syneca-originalsyn.com

http://www.glassslipperwebdesign.com/

https://victoriamillerartist.com/

http://sherimcgathy.com/

http://sweettoheat.blogspot.com/

http://winterheart.com/

https://fantasiafrogdesigns.wordpress.com/

http://www.tibbsdesign.com/

http://fionajaydemedia.com/

http://cheekycovers.com/

http://yocladesigns.com/

http://najlaqamberdesigns.com/

http://damonza.com/packages/

http://www.okaycreations.com/

http://www.kfadvertisingservices.com/

http://seductivemusingsdesigns.blogspot.com/

http://pickymeartist.com/

http://coveryourdreams.wordpress.com/

http://thekilliongroupinc.com/

http://spittyfish.wordpress.com/

http://fantasiafrogdesigns.wordpress.com/

http://safariheatbooktoursandauthorservices.blogspot.com/

http://www.romance-covers.com/

http://koreymaejohnson.com/

http://www.readycovers.com/

http://aeternumdesigns.com/

http://seductivemusingsdesigns.blogspot.com/

http://dusktildawndesigns.com/

http://www.premadeebookcovershop.com/

http://www.leahsuttle.com/

http://www.sydgill.com/

http://www.tamianwood.com/

http://www.selfpubbookcovers.com/

AMAZON

http://judgeyourbookbyitscover.blogspot.com/

AMAZON KU

http://www.creativeparamita.com/

http://www.georginagibson.com/

http://www.michelleleedesigns.net/

http://atomicwerewolfstudio.com/

http://www.coveredup.net/

http://www.raemonetinc.com/

And for my commercial, here I've added a few of my own covers (designed by two different artists) that I adore and you can readily see the difference in tone, treatment and, I do hope, genre!

YOU CA N ALSO SEE HOW I ASK MY DESIGNER TO COMBINE THESE ELEMENTS FOR OTHER USES!

Happy viewing!
Cerise DeLand

#99cents for limited time! STANHOPE CHALLENGE, the #REGENCY #boxset about a family cursed to never find happiness w. those they love

THE STANHOPE CHALLENGE is my first boxed set Regency release.  Starring a family of brothers who believe in the family curse, they are reluctant to fall in love and to marry the ones they love.

Only 99 cents for 4 novels, the box set is on sale for the introductory time!

The books in this series sat on 3 different bestseller lists for over 12 weeks.

Now the stories are expanded. One is poignant. One is funny. One is sweetly heroic and the last is a spicy adventure on sea and in a pasha's harem!

So this is a set you do not want to miss!

99 cents! Run!

Allromance ebooks https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-thestanhopechallengeregencyquartet4regencyromances-1666892-166.htm

Amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PCJR1MY/ref=rdr_kindle_ext_tmb

Nook http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/THE-STANHOPE-CHALLENGE?store=allproducts&keyword=THE+STANHOPE+CHALLENGE

Kobo http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/the-stanhope-challenge

iTunes

Regency Romps! My new cover reveal for LADY VARNEY'S RISQUE BUSINESS!

My new branding look and re-release of best-selling
LADY VARNEY'S RISQUE BUSINESS

What do you think?
Do you like the feel?
The colors?
The white space?
Yes, my own cherry logo, too!
This cover debuts my new branding look for my Regencies, a process that took me a long while, spending (gulp!) HOURS in stock sites.

As a former PR and Advertising exec and owner of my own business for more than 20 years, deciding on a new branding look was one of my first priorities for reissuing Regencies whose rights had been returned to me recently. Yes, I will self-pub these.

Why?
I wanted to experience the opportunity to create one look, one brand, one market outreach that would (hopefully) place me in the minds (and hearts) of Regency romance readers.

When you write for a house, they decide the covers. With a series, the artists in house do try often to give you an individual look, but not always.
Defining yourself across different publishing platforms creates the challenge of giving readers a look to search for and immediately identify as this author's or that.

Too often too, I find that certain graphic designers who are popular are giving their clients within a sub genre the same kind of look.  For Regency, we often have the house in the background or the landscape indicating a manor.

Here, I wanted a look more sweeping, brighter and in keeping with the fact that my Regencies are very sexy and have been, by nature of the houses that published them, considered erotic. Indeed, I hold forth that mine are very similar to many historical romance novels.  While that is for the reader to decide, I nonetheless wanted to position my novels as close to those. And this is the result.

What do you think?  Would you pick up LADY V. and what would you expect the story to be from looking at the cover?