So in the author questionnaire I filled out for my publisher, I was asked my ideas for the cover design of Hurricane Baby. I’ve been asked this one other time, and my idea for the cover hasn’t changed–I wanted a faded black-and-white or sepia-toned photo of the barrier islands on the Mississippi Gulf Coast with the title and my byline in italics so it would look like the words were being blown across the page. My publisher thought that was a neat idea.
So last time I checked in with the publisher, she said I could start working on the cover by creating a “mood board” of pictures that I would like to see. She suggested I use Shutterstock, but I don’t have an account there, so I used Morguefile instead, a free site I have used before for blog post pictures back when I was guest blogging.
I used the keywords of “Hurricane Katrina Mississippi Gulf Coast” and got lots of pictures. I didn’t want any that were of graphic direct hurricane damage–i.e. houses broken down to matchsticks or anything like that, because the hurricane damage in Hurricane Baby is largely psychological, rather than physical. I didn’t want to give away much about the story, so I didn’t want an actual baby on the cover. So I pulled three photos that really evoked the mood–one of a clouded-over sky, another of surf on the beach, and another I really liked: a tree standing alone on the beach having not been knocked over by the winds.
That picture particularly struck me because Hurricane Baby is all about people who survive the storm but are changed forever because of it. They are still standing–but they’re scarred and alone in their inner turmoil.
Anyway, I sent those to the publisher and she latched onto the tree one as well. So that was happy. I told her that I wasn’t wedded to any particular picutre that I sent and she was welcome to send me any others when the time came to select the cover, but that these three represented the vibe I was going for. So once I get the manuscript to them after this edit I’m currently in, I will see what they come up with for the cover and have fun!
So if you will excuse me, I will go back to editing! Happy Sunday and happy writing!
Julie Liddell Whitehead 