This is one of my favorite parts about finishing a new book. The cover for Buried for Now is done, and I hope you react the way I did. My cover designer is Lorena Martin at premadeebookcovers.com, and the photos are purchased from depositphotos.com. I originally designed my own covers, and it's obvious that Lorena does a better job. She chose the fonts and the colors to create a theme for the series, but the hard part is finding the images that cause a reaction and whether or not it can be used. It's amazing how many photos get rejected because they don't work with the colors, and then there's the size. Would it work if it was larger or smaller? Would it work if we just cropped out part of the photo?

Having some idea what the book is about (yes, I just said that), I tell my wife what I have in mind without telling her the plot or any details. Together we scour the catalogs of professional photos on a large screen TV, and she gets a sense of what I want just by how I react. I might just say to her, "Go back to the last page and expand the picture on the bottom row." She knows which one I want to see even if there are 20 or 30 on that row, judging by what I've already been drawn to. Eventually, there's that "wow" moment. We see what we agree would work, and I do a rough cover from screenshots. Lorena and I send things back and forth between South Carolina and London, and because she's the professional, she makes recommendations.

When Lorena sent the last set of variations on this angel, my wife and I zeroed in on one in total agreement. We both had feelings about whether or not her wings are opening or closing. Is she lowering her eyes to look down, or is she raising her head to look at you? In other words, we saw motion, and I got chills when I felt like she was raising her eyes to look at me. That's what I want a cover to do for me, and I hope it does the same for you.