Saturday, November 26, 2011

Introducing Ana, the Blood Song cover girl

A few weeks ago I got an email from Zeraphina!

Well, sort of. It was the girl who portrays Zeraphina on the cover of Blood Song. Which you've undoubtedly seen. But here it is again.



I'm still in love with it just as much as when I first saw it. I don't know how Blood Storm is going to top it. At this stage I have no clue as to what the cover of book 2 is going to look like. I am going out on a limb, though, and saying that it's going to be stormy. And dark.

First of all I was stoked that there was actually a REAL GIRL on the cover of my book. I didn't know where she came from, but wondered if it could be an illustration rather than a photograph. Here's the original:


Awesome pose huh? And isn't she beautiful.

This is what Ana had to say about the shot:

I was trying to do some Very Dramatic Sitting With Flouncy Skirt type shots and, thinking I'd got the pose I wanted, hit the remote to start the timer. At some point during the countdown, I tried to move my leg, my heel got caught in the netting under the skirt, I tried to get up so that I could unhook my shoe, lost my balance, and as I was looking over my shoulder to see what I should I aim for when I fell over, I heard the camera click.

Doesn't her neck look just perfect for a vampy book? And the fact that she's looking over her shoulder like there's something behind her? Something scary! The cover captures perfectly a scene towards the end of the book, when Zeraphina is lost in Lharmell and wearing a ball gown. It's a different colour ball gown, but I've never minded as the red is just so gorgeous.

Ana takes these photos herself, and then uploads them to a website where artists use them to create beautiful, haunting artwork. Here's what the artist did with the photo:


I am thinking of ordering a print and framing it. So beautiful.

My cover designer, Astred, then worked her magic on it. A designer friend got the files from Random House to use them to create my launch invitations with, and she told me there are at least four different fonts used in the heading. So much work goes into these things and you don't realise.

Ana's post on receiving her copy of Blood Song is here. She's since told me that she really likes the book. (Phew. Imagine being stuck on the cover of a book you hated.)


Ana posing with the book. Love it!

6 comments:

  1. Oh! Oh! OH! This is just so interesting! I love her description of how the photo happened, too.

    I can't wait to read this Rhiannon! When's it going to come out in Canada (ok, North America)!??! Gah!! I need to worry about their lack of food consumption! ;)

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  2. Isn't it! No Canada/North America news :( You need to have a word in someone's ear for me!

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  3. Can't you get all I AM AUTHOR HEAR ME ASK FOR INTERNATIONAL RIGHTS! on them? Waahhhhh!! I can't afford the insane shipping from UK/AU with the exchange on book price, too. *sniff* and you're like one of my first book bloggy friends and bffs and I can't get the book. It is KILLING ME! GAH!

    THEY NEED TO EAT! FEED THEM! ;)

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  4. What a lovely photo. I've never been sure if those girls on the front of fantasy novel covers were real. Well. Here is the proof. She looks beautiful and so does your book.

    And now that I know you are a fellow Melburnian, I'll definitely read your book.

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  5. So, did the company get the pic from this web site? My cover was - not sure. It was not designed for my book, anyway, because on a net surf I found it on the cover of the European edition of a novel called Red Wolf - exactly the same, except the coer was bright red instead of orange and the wolf was facing in the other direction.

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  6. i loved this book! its so good to see an Australian writer :) cant wait till the next one.

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