The cover of Solace: Unchated Territory

I didn't get a chance to go into the cover art for Taken, but it's important to me that I do go into cover art.  I know you can't judge a book by its cover, and I don't.  However, to me, the cover is important.  I love when I'm reading a book and I get to a part where I have to stop reading and glance at the cover.  In that moment,  I think "oh, that's cool!" or "now it makes sense!"   It's probably a just me thing,  but I love it.  😊  So of course, now that I'm in charge of making the cover, I do my best to put a part of the story on the cover.  

The picture above was my first attempt at the cover of "Solace: Uncharted Territory".  The concept had lots of potential, however it is horribly done here.   This was my very first time attempting to make a cover.  The covers for "Taken" were done by a friend of my sister, Tammy Boneburg.  And I loved them, but cover art is expensive even when you're getting a discount.   Plus, more importantly, I had this awesome idea in my head that I really wanted to tap into.  Obviously, I didn't have the skills nor the software.  

This cover never made it to paperback, and I have no doubt that it would have been changed much quicker if I had attempted to use it on a printed copy.  (I've discovered printed covers show a lot more flaws than ebook covers.)   Anyways, the whole concept I was trying to reach across was  that they were on the planet in the Middle of Nowhere (The sky is grey, there's fog that sinks down hiding everything around you, the black trees with branches that have sharp points and no leaves...) and the orange chain that binds them together is "vividly" seen because that is a big deal to me, especially since it's the reason Jack and Karissa don't kill each other.   So there it is.   My failed attempt to portray something I see so clearly in my head.  

Moving forward, I came up with the present cover (pictured above) while trying to create a cover for Solace: Lost.  I had been working on another project at the time (I want to say it was "Not Human" because that was the next and last cover I made with my Dell computer) and I was going back and forth between the two, trying to come up with cover art and titles.   It's kind of funny how I can remember vividly that I was at my oldest son's middle school football game, but I can't remember what exactly I was working on.  Except that the new concept hit me, and I was so excited I couldn't wait to get home.   I knew exactly how to tie the two covers for "Solace" together.  The cover is an image that Jack and Karissa see before they crash land on the planet in the Middle of Nowhere.  The ship had begun to spiral out of control, and when Karissa looks up at the window she sees, not the dark inky universe, but different shades of grey spiraling.  I then, easily, decided that the title had to remain orange because of the chain (I still refuse to let go of that).  The cover was perfect for this book because the landing on this planet and the orange chain result in an outcome that is far from Karissa's expectations.  Giving the subtitle dual meaning.   She is both externally and internally in uncharted territory.