16. The messy truth behind Aether Guardian’s cover

So I worked on it some more. A little on the edits here, got some social media stuff ready there. It was a lot of waiting and I felt like I was behind schedule. I knew I wasn't, but hey, I've never published a book before so I had no idea what was "standard" or "normal."

But about 4 months before I had planned to launch, I got the next round of revisions back. I was super pumped and got to see these versions in color as well!

#1 was an amalgamation of the previous #1 and #2. Kept the base of #1 but added a sword and shortened the cape to what Cecilia would have actually worn. The ray of light was sweet and I loved the background clouds and shadows. The hair needed some adjustments since Cecilia has a long braid, but that was ok for now.

But wow the second design was winning me over. The color of the smoke and touch of fire behind the pendant really made this one stand out for me.

I reaaaally liked the smudgy lettering of "Aether Guardian." It felt like it stood out more than the clean lettering of #1.

Both were good, but I finally decided #2 was best for one key reason: Visual Story Telling.

Look at both pieces of art and tell me what you see...

#1 shows a female warrior facing off into the distance. A ray of light shines in from above against a backdrop of smoke/fog/clouds. She doesn't face us, but shows resolve and strength through her stance.

Great!

But what does it tell us about the story we're about to read? How does it speak to the novel itself?

Well... There's a strong female protagonist! Cool, but what about her is strong? Why her? Does it teach us anything about her? Her struggles? Her journey?

It screams "Strong Female Lead!" But why? Because she's on the cover and she's boldly facing away? Because the beam of light tells the reader "Hey, She's the main character!" It doesn't tell the reader much beyond that. It's a great shot! But it doesn't speak directly to Cecilia's story - only to Cecilia as a character in a book.

Now option #2, what does it show you?

There's an object here? But what is it? It's a shield but with a weird black gem in the middle. Ok. Shield --> Guardian. A fair comparison.

What about all that smoke? What is it? Well if Shield --> Guardian, Then perhaps the black fire pouring upwards is this "Aether" thing in the title. And wouldn't you know it - That's exactly what it is!

The fire behind the gem. This has multiple meanings. It represents the actual fire and chaos found within the story that centers around this shield. It also represents the inner struggles that Cecilia faces throughout her journey.

But why is everything so dirty? Why are the letters all smudged like that? Why does everything look so messy?

As you read the story, you learn of the messy story that Cecilia has to wade through. She's seen as an enemy and is constantly bombarded with dirt, grime, trash, and hate from the people of the city of Erebus. It's not a clean story, and even the letters on the cover show the reader its a gritty mess of a life for our protagonist.

The smoke itself speaks to this also, while also showing the reader directly what Cecilia's power looks like before they even open the book. The shield also looks sharp or pointy - menacing even! This leans into why the people of the story reject and hate her - and even a little of why Cecilia hates this object as well.

All of it working together to visually show the reader "This is what the book is going to be about."

This is why ultimately I felt option 2 would be a better fit.

I hope you agree and super excited to hear what you think about the other concepts!

Let me know what you see through the cover and what story you think it tells!