I am not an artist. I am a writer. I am married to a talented artist - talented, at least, at using photos and Adobe Photoshop, not drawing or painting. Though I suspect he might be good at that to if he had ever thought to try. He’s created some stunning wall hangings and a few great book covers. But he’s busy with other projects right now, and I frustrate him with my indecision! He did, however, take time out to design something for my latest work, originally titled The Inheritance. (The title was lager changed to A Will of Deceit. Read about that in the post titled ’The Title Dilemma’.)  

A friend and my younger daughter loved the cover hubby designed.

I always worry about what other people think… well, in this case I should be worried about what readers think, shouldn’t I….  

So I posted the suggested design on a Facebook cover critique group page.

The criticisms came thick and fast. 

• “It a cover for a text book”
• “It’s not a cover for fiction”
• “It’s not right for the genre’’
• “It’s very nice, but not appropriate”
• “It won’t display well as a thumbnail.”
• “The words are too cluttered and hard to read. And the title doesn’t stand out enough’’

….and so on.

One kind soul began a very helpful private conversation, using Facebook’s Messenger facility, making suggestions to approach the task with a different mindset. 

Another kind soul designed an alternate cover that was lovely but, sadly, completely inappropriate for the tone and theme of the story (which she had not read).

A third very kind and generous soul offered to put together some alternative designs if I could offer some guidance on what I thought might work.

And a friend who lives nearby - a fellow author who had, in fact, provided the initial concept - created yet another concept based on my idea that boots trampling a Will might work. 

The dilemma continues. The cover debate is far from settled. It’s always difficult! I failed art classes at school, except for in Year 7, when I hit on the idea of only ever drawing cartoon mice, and my teacher actually approved! Other art teachers insisted on much more variety, and I simply couldn’t manage anything else.

Some of the early cover ideas (before the title was changed):