Ideas for new covers

During the blog tour last year for The Princelings of the East, one comment made by a reviewer suggested I should rethink the covers for the trilogy, or at least for the first book.  Joshua, at Published Bestsellers said “Overall outwardly the book title and cover is very deceiving however the plot is absolutely brilliant.”

Asking around, I think the problem is the covers don’t imply action, although they might be slightly mysterious.  Danielle English (my illustrator) and I have been working on this off and on, and Dani has come up with these concept sketches.  I suggested we should be thinking about electrical sparks from Castle Marsh in the first one, and more action at sea for the second.  I’m still not sure about the third, since I love the original Lost City cover.  We’ve just gone more 3D with it, and Dani suggested trying it central.

PrincelingsThumbs

I also like the titling.  In many ways I love the freshness of the drawing, but then as you know from the illustrations, I tend to be a bit scribbly myself!  They will of course be tidied up and in colour for the final versions.

What do you think?