In the previous post, I mentioned the cover re-designs for ‘Devon’s Dozen.’ You’ll find the new covers on the ‘Titles’ page and associated images of the paperback versions here.

Now they’re all dressed up for Halloween, and picking up the pace from a sales perspective as one might expect on the back of such excellent work.

With that in mind, it’s fitting to name and link to the gifted professional cover artists responsible for these twelve masterpieces. Quality graphic design is an exceptional game. Knowing what works to make a book ‘pop,’ including the correct typography, colour palettes and ensuring everything remains ‘genre specific’ etc. is a whole additional skill taking years to master, for those who even achieve the coveted rank of successful cover designer.

First to mention is Debbie at ‘The Cover Collection,’ here in the UK. Debbie was a dream to work with, offering multiple typographic variants of each title for me to choose from. ‘Maria’s Walk’, ‘The Shackled,’ ‘Pilgrim,’ and ‘Dead Eyes’ are examples of her brilliance. The new cover for my first horror title, ‘Maria’s Walk,’ (which I’d never marketed much, as it was the first) secured a 1:69 click-through rate during a BookBub promotion, racking up an impressive 1:4 sales conversion statistic. The book rose from obscurity to chart in the top 50 for ‘British Horror Fiction’ and ‘British & Irish Horror’ in the United States, and is still receiving minor Kindle, paperback sales, and KU reads on a daily basis, weeks after the promo and advertisement ended. All that with scant ratings and reviews, on account of its previous limited exposure. Kudos to Debbie!

Next we visit Bengal, where Paramita from ‘Creative Paramita’ wove her graphic wonders into ‘The Lychgate’ and ‘Underwood.’ The wraparound paperback versions with additional rear graphics are superb. Paramita is also a solid professional who addressed my minor modification requests to perfection on a rapid turnaround. Nice job, Paramita. I appreciate all you’ve done.

The remaining six titles, ‘Nevermere,’ ‘Caveat Emptor,’ ‘Maypole,’ ‘Scribe,’ ‘Penanggal,’ and ‘White Hill’ fell to the multi-national super squad that is ‘Miblart.’ Their creative teams conjured true cover magic based on my exacting requirements, blowing me away. Two of my favourite elements are the shadowy figure of Meoria on the exterior balcony of the house on ‘Caveat Emptor,’ and the epic visualisation of that weirdest of vampiric creatures from Malaysian folklore: a ‘Penanggal.’ That book’s cover shows the beast in all her hellish glory, swooping through caves beneath Nottingham. Special mention goes to project manager, Nadia, for acting as a wonderful go-between on five of the books, plus Tania for ‘White Hill.’

And there we have it. Five years on from the start of my horror journey, those cherished works have finally received clothing worthy of the love, care, and attention that went into crafting the stories.

I hope you enjoy admiring the new covers as much as I do.

Happy Halloween, if we don’t speak before.

Devon.