What Do You Know About The 13th Floor?

Christine Rains is here today to talk about the evolution of her covers for the 13th Floor series. They are some of the most awesome covers I've seen around! Check this out:

 

 

The 13^th Floor Complete Collection

By Christine Rains

FINDING THE PERFECT COVER

I recently posted on my blog about this topic and discovered people do judge a book by their cover. It's the first thing a potential reader is going to see. If the cover doesn't win them over, they aren't going to pick up the book and read the blurb. You could have the best blurb in the world, but it won't mean a thing if no one reads it.

I agonized a long time over the cover for The 13^th Floor Complete Collection. I wanted it to represent the series as a whole, but I couldn't find anything that managed to do so. I had images in my head of intense and casual group shots of the tenants. If only I could get all the models together and pose for me! I also had a picture of the 13^th floor hallway with each door accompanied by something to symbolize each tenant. 1301 would have a red glow coming from under the door, and 1303 would have a lance propped up against the door frame.

Those would be great covers, but they're way beyond my creative skills. I needed to stick with simple like I did with the novella covers. I love my covers for the individual books. Dark, intense, and dramatic. Maybe I could do something like that for the Collection's cover.

Below is a rough draft of the first version of the Collection's cover. Each tenant has their own “door” to frame them. It's clean, dark and dramatic, but intense? I don't know. It also wasn't something new. Everyone has seen those images (except the image of Veenya from “The Shadow” on the spine). Would it attract new readers? Maybe. Does it represent the series as a whole? Perhaps. Does it represent the 13^th floor? No.

Plus, the barcode would've covered Xan's chest. We can't have that.

I continued my search for images, and after several hours, I found the perfect staircase. Old-fashioned, paint chipped, and eerie lighting. It had the right atmosphere. The only thing it lacked was the romantic aspect.

Thankfully my meager Photoshop skills could remedy that. And voila! I had a cover that represented the series, and more importantly, the 13^th floor.

 

Title: The 13^th Floor Complete Collection

Author: Christine Rains

Genre: paranormal romance

Release date: October 13^th, 2013

Blurb:

Six supernatural tenants

Living in a haunted apartment building

On a floor that doesn't exist.

Six novellas telling their tales.

A retired demon acquires a price on his head.

A werewolf is hunted by her pack.

A modern day dragonslayer misses his target.

A harpy challenges Zeus for the soul of the man she loves.

A vampire is obsessed with a young woman he can't find.

A banshee falls in love with someone who's death she has seen in a vision.

And a sweet ghost must battle a primal monster to save them all.

All the stories take place at the same time intertwining their lives together on the 13th Floor.

Includes “The Shadow,” a bonus short story.

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18460150-the-13th-floor-complete-collection

Author Bio:

Christine Rains is a writer, blogger, and geek mom. She has four degrees which help nothing with motherhood, but make her a great Jeopardy player. When she's not writing or reading, she having adventures with her son or watching cheesy movies on Syfy Channel. She's a member of Untethered Realms and S.C.I.F.I. The 13th Floor series is her first self-published series. She has eight novellas and twenty-one short stories published.

 

Website: http://christinerains.net/

Blog: http://christinerains-writer.blogspot.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorchristinerains

 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/@CRainsWriter

 

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4017568.Christine_Rains

 

Thanks so much for sharing with us today, Christine!